19 January, 2012

The day dawned with a pink and grey softness.  

Allen is just visible in his canoe as a little speck to the left of mangrove trees on the right of the photo.  He paddles over from Monkey River Village at day break to work at our place with landscaping and handy man projects.
In the few minutes it took Allen to arrive, the day has brightened a bit.  You can see Allen beaching his canoe at the south end of our lot. 

Our cabana looks serene and sleepy in early morning light.

It is almost too beautiful to leave, even for a day trip. But there is an auction calling us, so off we go with Sue and Chris on an adventure in Mennonite country near the inland village of Armenia.  Sue had seen ads for an estate auction; everything, including livestock, household goods, and farm implements were on the block.  How could we resist?  
The estate being auctioned is at the end of this road.  You can see some vehicles already parked there.  Look at that fabulous tree in the mid-ground!  In the grey, drizzly day it glows as if it is afire.
Close to a hundred folks showed up for the auction, and with the exception of 4 (you know who those 4 are), all were Mennonites.  The Mennonites were very welcoming to us and explained the auction process.  This particular event was to sell off all the worldly goods of a recently deceased elderly couple whose decendents had their own households.  The auction was to turn the assets into cash which could then be easily split between the decendents.  Dennis and I had quick look around and then left Sue and Chris at the auction while we went to the town of Belmopan, which is actually the capitol of Belize, to pay our land taxes, an adventure in itself.  When we returned to pick up Sue and Chris, they had not bought anything, but enjoyed watching the bidding.  Apparently the woman of the house was well-known for her canning abilities; her canned vegetables and fruit (even canned pineapple!) were all sold at high prices.  
This fine fellow was roped to a fence post to graze along the road near the auction.  Look at those horns!
The mountainous countryside is beautiful with pastoral scenes check-by-jowl with wild jungle.  All in all, it was a fine day in spite of the drizzly greyness. 
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12 comments:

  1. A real paradise Wilma.
    That tree looks stunning.

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  2. Yeh this country side is wonderful and it feels like a dream. Beautiful shots Wilma.

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  3. Great photographs and post Wilma.
    Costas

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  4. Hi there just found your blog and am so glad I took time to read your latest entry and scan a few others. What an interesting post itemising your BIG adventure with beautiful photographs and such informative text as well. I will be back to follow your activities. Thanks for this.

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  5. It looks just perfect there and the place at auction looked pretty inviting too.

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  6. It looks a beautiful area to live.

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  7. Keith - the photos don't really do it justice.

    Chris - thanks. A dream soon realized, I hope!

    Costas - thank you.

    cuby - thanks for visiting, reading, and commenting. Hope to see you again.

    Alan - yes, it is pretty darn nice.

    John - that area is very lovely. For such a small country, it has a wealth of different climates.

    cheers,
    Wilma

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  8. Hi Wilma, it's lovely to visit you again and to find you in your favourite place :-) it is sooo beautiful and always makes me feel so envious especially on a dull Winter's day in England!

    Lovely photos as always but I particularly like the first, so tranquil. The tree is really beautiful too.

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  9. I'm so stunned by the beautiful landscape and the good pictures you got. It's nice to travel with you ;-)

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  10. Jan - so happy to see you back again. Thank you for visiting.

    Chris - glad to have your company. ;-)

    cheers,
    Wilma

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  11. Wilma, I've just noticed that you are back blogging again and wow, and wow again. You must wake up and pinch yourself every morning, what a place and lifestyle that you guys have found for yourselves there in Belize. Its something dreams really are made of and no doubt achieved by a lot of hard work, but what a reward for it all.

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    1. It does seem like paradise to us, but it wouldn't be to many people. It is very basic; no air conditioning or hair dryers at our place and there's not a movie theater in the entire country! But who needs movies when the natural world provides such entertainment? It will actually be cheaper for us to live in Belize than to retire in the US.

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