A Real Hot Day Trip

Life is moving along slowly here in South Englishtown.  On Tuesday, Dennis and I made a trip to Belmopan, the capitol of Belize.  We had unknowingly picked what was to be a day of record setting heat across all of Belize, indeed across the entire Yucatan Peninsula, for our excursion.  It was Real Hot in the Shade; click here to chill out to the music of Third World Reggae - one of my favorite reggae bands - as you read the rest of this post.

We needed to arrange for phase 2 of the solar power installation in May or June and to pick up some hardware supplies and food items that we can't find more locally.  The trip takes about 3 hours each way, so we made an early start in order to get back home before dark.  

We drove along the Monkey River Road (red) to the Southern Highway (yellow) to the Hummingbird Highway (purple) to get to Belmopan, about 100 miles there and another 100 back. Plus what ever driving around for the errands.  The thin grey lines are the boundaries between the 6 districts in Belize.  We live in the Toledo District and Belmopan is in the Cayo District.

We were on the Monkey River Road (dirt road through jungle and orange orchard) by 7:30.  Although the road was quite dusty, it was in very good shape - it only took about 30 minutes to travel the 12 miles to the Southern Highway. The Southern Highway takes you through the low coastal flats of orange groves, banana farms, and other agricultural endeavors surrounded by jungle and open savannah.  We made our usual stop at the Shell Service Station at the beginning of the Hummingbird Highway to buy a chicken and bean johnnycake (for me) and chicken torta and coffee (for Dennis).  

The Hummingbird Highway is breathtakingly beautiful.  It passes through the jungle-covered Maya Mountains which rise up steeply from the coastal flats; the scenery and vistas are stunning.  Equally breathtaking, in a very scary way, are the 7 just barely single-lane bridges that cross over creeks and rivers cascading down the mountains.  In theory, you take turns with oncoming traffic to cross over the bridges.  In theory.  Click here to see what happens when somebody isn't paying attention.  It is not as grizzly a scene as it could have been.  Of course the big tanker trucks carrying crude oil from the oil fields in the town of Spanish Lookout get the first turn every time.  The tanks clear the bridge rails by mere inches on either side. Major chunks of concrete have been knocked off the guard rails where drivers have mis-judged the clearance.  We don't drive this road after dark.  I'm sure you can understand.

We did our business with ProSolar to get on their installation schedule, did some window shopping for a new gas generator in the event ours needs to be replaced, took a quick look at Hummingbird Furniture (nice, but too expensive for what you get), and got all our shopping done at Builders' Hardware all before lunch.  For lunch we split a warm brown rice salad and fajitas del mar at Blue Moon restaurant; both were excellent.  I had a tamarind juice to drink, which was quite refreshing.  The day had gotten hotter and hotter; it was up to 104F (40C) by the time we had finished lunch.

With the AC blasting, we drove to our next stops - a new-for-us hardware store called Gallardos, a Chinese grocery store, Brodie's Supermarket (it actually is a supermarket, although on the small side by US standards), and a produce stand. We were back on the road by 2:00 and back to Monkey River by 5:00.  Elan picked us up at the river's edge in his brother's boat and helped us get our various purchases over to our seaside dock at Englishtown.  Fortunately, it doesn't get as hot here on the coast as it does in the interior of the country - the high was only(!) around 96F, but it was still real hot in the shade and it stayed real hot well after sunset.  Lucky for us, it did cool down some during the night and while the next day was hot, it was not real hot.  

I will close with a handful of photos that I took  when it wasn't too hot to take a slow stroll around.

Crinum lilies with a visiting bee of some sort.

Moon flower.  They are open at night for one night only; I caught this one early in the morning before it closed.

Orange flowers on an unidentified tree.  The color is so intense that the camera can't quite cope with it.

Weed with yellow flowers.

Small butterfly, not phased by the heat.

Orange spiny caterpillar.  I believe this will be a Gulf Fritillary butterfly,  Agraulis vanillae.

The heat has broken several days ago.  Didn't even need to use a fan last night.  

Flowers, Fruits, and Insects

It was a bright, sunny day today with a nice breeze.  A good day to wash clothes and get them on the line to dry.  After getting the clothes hung, I decided to have a wander around and take some photos of various plants that had caught my eye over over the past few days.  One of the brightest spots was this big yellow flower on a sort of morning glory-looking vine.  I don't know what it is, it grows wild along the edge of the marsh.  

The insects seem to like the glands at the center of the flower.

While getting that shot, I noticed that the leaves were infected with a rust fungus.  The undersides of many of the leaves were covered in spore-bearing pustules.

The leaves seemed unaffected by the fungus.

 I had also noticed that the pricklypear cactus (Opuntia sp.) was flowering.  Numerous buds and spent flowers were obvious.

You can see the shadow of my clothes on the line.

Tomorrow, this tightly closed bud will open.

 

Wish I had gotten this shot yesterday; it looks a little wilted here at mid-day.

 

I was struck by the intense burgundy color of the new leaves on this mango tree.  

The variety is white mango.  It hasn't fruited yet, so I don't know how they taste.

 Behind the mango, at the edge of the marsh are these massive ferns.  They are over 7 feet tall!

 

What looks like burned tips is really the spore-bearing portion of the fronds that are covered in velvety spores.

 Summer before last, or maybe even longer ago than that, I planted a Moon Flower Vine at our house in Minnesota.  It grows wild here!  The white flower to the left is one that was wide open last night.  They open for only 1 night.  I want to plant some next to the cabana so I can see what pollinates them during the night.  There are 2 buds on the right side of the photo.  This too, is in the morning glory family.

 

We planted this tamarind tree about 6 years ago.  It got a rough start and was moved to several different spots before we found a place it likes.  It is beginning to bear pods in significant numbers.  These will fill out and when ripe contain large hard seeds covered in very tangy paste.  I love to eat them straight off the tree.

 

Last week this lime tree was covered in blossoms and now there are clusters of little fruits.

 

And some bigger fruits, too. This tree bears small numbers of limes throughout the entire year.

 

Another citrus tree we planted, a sweet orange, is putting on new growth and will flower soon.  The aphids on the new growth are being tended by ants.  We will wash these off with soapy water from our grey water system.  Otherwise, the trees won't bear many fruit.

 

I love to walk around and see what is growing, blooming, fruiting, etc.  Never a dull moment here in the tropics.