Belize

 It has been a couple of weeks since I have posted.  Once again this post will be light on stitching because not much stitching is going on around here.  Since I have been cooped up all winter, I try to spend as much time outside as I can.  I do take my stitching to the terrace but if it is windy or dusty, I don't like it being outside.  I have been traveling and reading to keep my idle mind going. 

 Last week we were in Belize.  Not to insult any one's intelligence but Belize is the country right below Mexico in Central America.  When I booked this trip, I thought it was an island in the Caribbean Sea.  Shows I know little about this world.  We flew into Belize City and took a small plane to San Pedro which is an island about 15 minutes flying time from the mainland.  Belize is a hidden gem.  It is a British Territory so they speak English as a primary language and Spanish is their second language.  The country is poor but the people are so nice and friendly.  The condo we stayed in was guarded but it was only surrounded by a two foot high wall and a guy with a billy club so I don't think they were expecting much trouble.   My husband enjoyed the diving and had a dive master that he was very comfortable with.





The Phoenix

Above is a picture of the condo complex from the sea.  We had a lovely one bedroom condo in the building in the back of the photo.  The kitchen was granite and stainless steel, it had a large bathroom, laundry, a great deck, and maid service twice a day.  This is not a place where you go for the beach which does not matter to me because I enjoy sitting by the pool.  Their beaches where small and kind of dirty with sea weed.  The food was wonderful.  I ate fish about every meal.  They were big on shrimp and I really like shrimp.  Their curried, coconut shrimp was on a lot of menus and it was delicious.  This trip was so great that we booked a week in February before we left.  If you booked before you left, you get 20% off your next visit.  

View from the terrace of the Caribbean Sea

View from the beach towards the dive shop

The bed on our first night

Chicken Drop

One of the big things to do on Thursday night is go to the Chicken Drop.  No animals were hurt but I would guess if this happened in the US, PETA would be all over it.  Rumor has it the birds are feed beer all day.  The board above is used in the chicken drop.  The squares are numbered one to one hundred.  You buy a square for a dollar and there is a new chicken every 20 minutes for a couple of hours.  A chicken is brought out to someone in the crowd.  The person holds the chicken, circles it around three times, shakes the chicken, blows on her behind, and puts the chicken on the board.  Where the chicken craps is the winning square and the winner gets the $100 dollar pot.  It was hysterical.  We did not win nor did we blow on a chickens behind.  I guess when some chickens feel the air, there have been some accidents on the tourist doing the blowing.  The chickens way of getting even for her humiliation. 

While I was on vacation I did read a lot.  I read Bloody Mary by J A Konrath.  It was a good beach read about a Chicago Detective/murder mystery.  It is the second book in the Jack Daniels series.  I read The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer.  This book was down right depressing but I wanted to read it because it was set in Budapest in WWII.  I read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins in a day.  This is a young adult book but it was really good for any age.  The Snowman by Jo Nesbo is this months book club book.  This book has been compared to The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo because both authors are from Norway.  It was a good book and a good mystery to read on the beach.  Still Missing by Chevy Stevens was a really good book.  It was kind of like The Room where someone is kidnapped and held hostage for a year in a small shack.  The writing style of this book was interesting.  Finally, I read Unbroken:  A Wold War II Story.  This book got 5 stars by 3,000+ people on Amazon.  I am one of the few people that was not blown away by this book.  It was good but every time I would think it could not get any worse for this guy, something else horrible happened to him.  I would have enjoyed a little more positive in this story. 

We are going downstate this weekend to visit my family for Father's Day.  I am not looking forward to the drive.  It is so much easier to see them in Florida than drive three hours south.  Tonight is a dinner with 15 of our close friends and Sunday night is a street fair in my neighborhood so it is a packed weekend. 

Hope you have a great weekend!