Home Again!

And I can see!  The surgery was easy, with dramatic results.  I stayed in Dallas a week and returned home Saturday.  More about the stay in Dallas in the next post(s); today I am focusing (get it?) on the last leg of the journey home.  I left DFW at 11:04am Central Daylight Time and arrived at PGIA in Belize at 12:30pm Central Time - a flight time of just under 2.5 hours.  Belize stays on standard time year 'round since we are so close to the equator.  PGIA, Belize's only international airport,  is pretty small with only one runway and one taxiway.  It was about maxed out on how many international fights it can accommodate when we landed, so the airport with its extra covid screening process was a zoo.  I just did make my connecting flight to Placencia at 1:30pm.  I was able to sit in the co-pilot seat, my favorite spot on these small planes.

Posted placard just in case I get a hankering to try to fly the plane!  

Big planes lined up at the terminal.  My American Airlines plane is second from left with the striped tail.  

The day was perfect for flying.  Once we were airborne, the pilot  switched on autopilot and was hands off until we neared our first stop at airstrip in Dangriga.

The beautiful Belize River adjacent to PGIA.  Several times I have been lucky enough to spot manatees swimming in the river as we flew over, but not this time.

Belize City, the capital until it was levelled by Hurricane Hattie in 1961.  You can see the municipal airstrip jutting out into the sea at the upper left of the city.

A view of the Northern Lagoon with the sea to the left.  The strip of land between the lagoon and sea is very low and marshy during the rainy season.

Just south of the Northern Lagoon is the equally creatively named Southern Lagoon.  We are over the sea here, and the water is so clear you can see the sandy bottom.

Sea, shrimp farms, mountains in the distance.

Flying low over former shrimp farm ponds on the right as we make the approach to the Dangriga airstrip.

Jungle below and then the airstrip up ahead.  Dangriga is to the right.

We made a 10 minute stop in Dangriga to let a couple of passengers off and then continued flying south to Placencia, total flight time of 40 minutes.

Placencia airstrip, spans nearly the entire width of the narrow peninsula.

Until 4 or so years ago, when we landed in Placencia, once we got off the plane and collected out bags, we would walk back down the runway to the canal you see on the right of the runway.  Someone would be waiting for us in a boat to bring us straight home.  After a little oopsie at the airstrip in which a plane clipped the top of a car on the road at the far end of the runway and fell into the sea (minor injuries, car and plane totalled), national aviation safety had a review of procedures at the airstrip and changed things up.  Now there are barricades that come down to block the road when a plane is landing and no one is allowed to walk down the runway.  Now we must take a taxi to the dock in the village.  Probably safer, but not as much fun.

I got home around 3:30 on Saturday and was ecstatically greeted by Dennis, Clove, and Barnie - it was a grand welcome.  The only bad thing is that I caught a vicious cold somewhere along the way and have been taking it easy except for walking the dogs.  I haven't even completely unpacked.  Today is rainy with lots of thunder this morning.  Scaredy-cat Clove decided she was a lap dog so I could properly comfort her.

8:40am

10:30am

10:45am

She is on the foot of the bed now that most of the storm has passed, but she still insists that my foot must be touching her.  What a wuss.

Traveling Away From Home

I've kept a low profile for the last month or more because I have been busy with traveling (and other things).  First, by boat from our place to the airstrip, dodging the light sprinkles of rain.  From there I caught a flight on a small plane to the international airport.

The purple line marks the route of our boat from WilDen (our place) to the canal next to the Placencia Airstrip, 15 miles.

The Placencia Airstrip, serviced by 2 local commercial airlines - Maya Island Air and Tropic Air.

Placencia Airstrip to Dangriga Airstrip, 35 miles.

On the Tropic Air flight at the Placencia Airstrip.

Taxiing down the runway.  The canal to the left is where I got dropped off in our boat a little earlier.  I hopped out of the skiff and walked down the runway to the terminal - after looking both ways for planes.  ;-) 

In the air over the Placencia peninsula.

Looking toward the Cockscomb range with shrimp farms in the foreground.

Looking down on the north end of the Placencia peninsula.

Banana farm below, with jungle on either side.

Maya Mountains and jungle in the mist.

A development called "Sanctuary" near the village of Hopkins.

The Coastal Highway.  Travel at own risk during the rainy season.

Citrus farm next to the Hummingbird Highway.

Misty jungle with nearly hidden farm clearings.

Airstrip at the town of Dangriga.  This was a quick stop to take on additional passengers.

I flew on the the international airport just outside Belize City to catch my flight to the US.

Dangrigia to Philip Goldson International Airport, 45 miles.

 The photo below was taken in my destination city. 

Where was eye?

More coming soon.

Saturday Trip to Placencia

Last Saturday Dennis and I made a little trip to Placencia to meet our friend, Dena, and her friend, Peggy, for a visit and lunch.  We made a brief stop in Monkey River Village before driving to Placencia.  On the short boat ride to the village, we noticed waterspouts out at sea and I managed to get some photos while we were in the village.

Dramatic sky with sun beaming through dark clouds and a waterspout in the distance.  I took processing liberties using a function called "HDR-ish" in Picasa to highlight the drama.

We saw as many as seven waterspouts at a time.  They usually don't last too long, maybe 20 minutes, and their winds max out at about 100MPH - nowhere near as destructive as their tornado cousins.  Still, you don't want to be near them when you are in or on the water.

They were fairly far away, but you can make out the water spray at the sea's surface under the leftmost spout. 

Soon we were on our way up the Monkey River Road in the Subaru.  We had plenty of time and stopped to take a few other photos.  Like the gorgeous blossoms of the Provision Tree below.  The blossoms on these large trees are as big as your head.  The very phallic buds peel open like a banana and the long red-tipped stamens fan out. The fruit is roughly the size and shape of a football (American football, that is.  Not soccer) and contains edible nuts.  I haven't tried them yet, but will if I get the chance.

Pachira aquatica, Provision Tree.

We also saw what I at first thought was a bird-of-paradise flowering at the edge of the jungle.  But I am not so sure now.

Bird-of-Paradise?  Probably not - it looks different than most that I see growing in the wild round here. Maybe it is a Canna flower.  They are in the same order (Zingiberales) as the bird-of-paradise and the gingers. Another mystery to solve!

After having a delightful lunch with Dena and Peggy at Dragonfly Moon Restaurant in Placencia (which we highly recommend, also see more about them here), we had coffee at Above Grounds Coffee House (also highly recommend).  Drinking our coffee (or, in my case, a caramel macchiato) on the deck, we were approached by a Maya woman selling wooden bowls.  I bought a bowl to use as a bread bowl. It is a lovely thing, made of tamarind wood.  As you can see in the photo below, I soon put it to good use, making French-style baguettes and southern biscuits (aka "scones" or "johnny cakes", depending on what part of the world you are in).  Tamarind, which is called tambran around here, is a very hard wood and takes a nice natural polish to its surface.

The tamarind wood bowl is the perfect size for mixing biscuit or bread dough.

From waterspouts to wooden bowls, you can never tell where the road in Belize will take you.

Going to Market, Part Two

After finishing the shopping and errands in Indy, our taxi driver took us back to the public dock where we boarded Houdini and set out for Placencia.  Placencia is the name of the village at the tip of an 12-mile-long, narrow peninsula also named Placencia.  The peninsula runs essentially parallel to the mainland from north to south, with the village at the southern tip. 

Starting from the Indy public dock (purple asterisk), we traveled along Mango Creek to the Placencia Lagoon and headed toward the southern tip of the peninsula.  It is about 5 miles by boat.  If you look closely, you can find the blue marker for the Plaencia airstrip almost due east of the Indy public dock.

In the center is the canal that runs along the airstrip.  Small, 12-passenger prop planes land here.  It is serviced by 2 commercial airlines - Maya Island Air and Tropic Air

Partway across the lagoon, we were passed by the Hokey Pokey water taxi making its return trip to Indy from Placencia.  By road that trip would be 42 miles instead of 5 by water.  The road down the peninsula was paved just a few years ago.  Prior to that the 12 miles was a dirt road full of pot holes and ruts.  That was not a trip to make lightly!

The Hokey Pokey Water Taxi in mid-lagoon.  They do a thriving business.

We accessed the lagoon-side of Placencia by navigating into a canal along which numerous houses, vacation properties, and businesses have docks. 

The purple arrowheads mark our route along the canal.  The red asterisks mark the Shell Carver's canal-side outdoor studio and another location of Ming's Store.

 We proceeded slowly down the canal, which is a "no wake" zone.

The entrance to the canal from the lagoon.  Vacation rental properties abound.

We pass small, unprepossessing holiday accommodations, Belizean homes, expat homes, and second homes.

This is a nice Belizean-style home.

Lots of sail boats and motor boats.  The sailboats are pleasure boats, for the most part, either owned by expats or rented to vacationers.

Assorted boats are docked at this small resort.

 We pull up at the MnM Hardware store dock, just behind the Hokey Pokey dock.

The MnM and Hokey Pokey docks are adjacent.

We buy our fuel, both gasoline and diesel, at the MnM dock. 

Richard lines up the fuel carboys for filling.  You can see that Houdini is a very basic fiberglass boat with 2 builtin bench seats with plywood flooring between them.

 From the MnM dock we can walk to various stores, restaurants, and produce stands.

We can walk from the MnM dock (purple asterisk) to Main Street.  Today, we stopped at Wallen's hardware and homestore (yellow asterisk) and a produce stand (red asterisk).

Even though there are some produce stands in Indy, the produce at Placencia is more varied, fresher, and higher quality to cater to tourists.  Placencia is definitely a tourist and expat village, whereas Indy is not.  We go to Indy because the basics are significantly cheaper there.

Our favorite produce stand in Placencia.  Grapes, asparagus, eggplant, yellow and red sweet peppers, fresh mushrooms, leaf lettuce, endive, and spinach are things we can find in Placencia but not in Indy.  Watermelon, cantaloupe, limes, oranges, star fruit (carambola), hot peppers, plantains, bananas, onions, carrots, okra, potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, corn, avocado, mango, celery, root vegetables, and many other things are also available.

In the 10 years we have been spending time in Belize, the variety and quality of produce, and really all goods, has increased to an amazing degree. But we still get excited to find Brie cheese, Italian pasta, real port, triscuit crackers, brussel sprouts, nice apples, bread flour and many other things.

Roadside muffler repair.  Another casualty of the potholes and ruts.  This is in front of Dawn's Grill-n-Go restaurant where we pick up lunches to go.  Her fishballs are excellent!

 On our way to the produce stand, we stopped at the Grill-n-Go to place an order to pick up on our way out.  This time we got the fried chicken and mashed potatoes, which was wonderful, but her fishballs are even better.

The inside of the Grill-n-Go decorated for the upcoming holiday.

The Belize flag with the enigmatic motto "Flourish in the Shade"

September is the slow month for tourists, so many restaurants have closed for the month.  Omar's is open, though. 

Omar's has very attractive decorations and smells great when we walk by.  We need to try it out soon.

 After picking up our to go lunches, we walked back to Houdini. I decided to keep walking north on Main St to another Ming's store.  This one in Placencia has items not carried at the one in Indy.  I got 2 kinds of Brie, goat cheese, and some other treasures. Back in the boat, we went back up the canal and made a stop at the shell carver's studio for some items Joy had commissioned to sell in her gift shop.

The shell carver's open air studio next to the canal.

A boat repair yard is next to the shell carver's studio.

 From the canal we went out to the open sea and soon passed the channel markers for Big Creek. 

Big Creek channel marker.  Maya Mountains are visible in the distance.

Soon enough, we recognize signs of home. 

Great Monkey Cay is flanked by our neighboring SteppingStones and Monkey River Village.  Our place is hidden by the key.

Home at last. We arrived at noon, 4.5 hours after we set out.  We still have to unload the fuel cans and all the groceries and other supplies that we brought back. By 12:30 we are through and can enjoy our take away lunches in the shade on our veranda.  It took the 4 of us 5 hours to get set for another week.  No running back to the store to pick up a forgotten item; that will have to wait until next week.

 

We don't always go shopping by boat; sometimes we drive.  But when we drive, we can only go too Indy; Placencia is too far by road to make a day trip for shopping.  Our car, a Subaru Outback, is all wheel drive and can handle the mud on Monkey River Road.  But sometimes in the rainy season the ruts and potholes are too deep; only a SUV or truck can make it.  I'll do a future post on making the trip by car.