Seasons

They may be subtle, but Belize has definite seasons.  I can track them by the way the shadows fall on west veranda.  This afternoon of the winter solstice is shady and very pleasant.  By the end of March, the afternoon shadows will shift south, bathing (baking?) the west veranda in direct sun.  The screening that we put up to add some shade is working out very very well for the little plant nursery.  

Seedlings and kitchen herbs.

Arugula, 20 feet from the kitchen sink.  It prefers the shadier side of its little bed.

Malabar spinach seedling (back row) and Cuban thyme.

I'm very thrilled with the provision tree seedlings.  I started them from seeds I collected a tree about a quarter mile up the beach from us.  The pods are giant fuzzy brown rugby ball sized things which crack open to reveal 50 or so large seeds.

Section of a provision tree seed pod with seeds.  The seeds are golf ball sized.

I plunked each of the 8 seeds I collected into its own small pot, just nestled into the soil on 16 July.  I watered and waited.  And watered and waited.  And watered and waited.  Finally, 2 October saw the first little sprout emerge ...

The first seed sprouted!

In the end all but one sprouted, but in the meantime I planted one that washed up on the beach and it sprouted, so I wound up with 8 little trees.

Ready to plant outside. on 20 December.

I planted 4 of them out on the grounds.  They are supposed to be able to tolerate wet, brakish soil, so I was able to put a couple of them in spots that get wet when Black Creek floods during the rainy season.

Thrive, my brave little tree!

I put this one in the middle of iguana town, with prime nest sites about 12 feet to the east and west.

Provision trees have the most gorgeous flowers.  The buds look like a yellow banana and they peel open to reveal a mimosa-like spray of bright pinky red anthers.  I know I have photos of them, but I can't find them right now.  In the meantime here is a link to one that was photographed in Belize.  I can hardly wait until these trees bloom.

I also set out the Malabar spinach and the purple passion fruit that I had been nurturing in the shade nursery.

Malabar spinach is a vine and a prolific grower.  A couple of years we were able to share huge bagsfull of spinach with families in the village.  I hope we will be doing that again soon.

The purple passion fruit seedling was given to me by a friend who knows how much I adore passion fruit juice.  The trellis is half of a double security door that we no longer used.  We have a sort of pergola thing happening above this bed that passion fruit vine will spread out over.

Dennis has also been busy with various seedlings.  He started kuri squash and got them set out in a raised bed a couple of weeks ago. They seem happy.

Kuri squash, getting ready to escape the raised bed and take over the world.

A few years ago, we set out some jacks of red bananas.  They are finally coming into their own and it looks like we will have plenty to share in a few weeks.  These are not the tiny red bananas exported to supermarkets in the US.  I don't think these are suitable for shipping.  They are quite large and chunky.  I look forward to trying them.  They have the most gorgeous flowers.

The red banana plants and the bananas themselves are very robust.

Amazing flowers.

Various wild creatures also enjoy the west veranda.  

Clove stood stock still, staring at the young basilisk lizard for about 5 minutes.  She really wanted to get at it and shake it to death.  Her prey instinct is very strong.

I don't know if it is the same individual, but I have seen praying mantises on the veranda a number of times and just a couple of days found one right next to an egg case.

I love their eyes.

Same one as above, but arms up and ready to fight now.

Could be the same one - who knows? This photo was taken 10 weeks after the 2 above.

Egg case.  I will keep watch to see if I can catch them hatching.  I don't know what the incubation period is, so I will have to be vigilant.  Lucky for me, the egg case is right next to the clothes line and I can see it from the bedroom window.

So, we have been busy and now I must post this right now and take the dogs for their last walk of the day before it starts to get dark on this winter solstice!  Enjoy this longest night.

The Winter Solstice at a Maya Site

You may have heard about the “end of the world” as reportedly predicted by the Maya Calendar to occur on Dec 21, which also happens to be the winter solstice.  We are in the heart of Maya territory, with major Maya sites surrounding us.  One of our neighbors, Craig Pearlman who has Bare Bones Beach Bar 1 mile up the beach from us, arranged a small tour led by Christian Beck of Kiskadee Tours to go to a nearby ruin to watch the sun rise on the morning of the winter solstice. 

We left Englishtown at 3:00am and met Christian at the Monkey River Village dock parking lot.  We were a quiet bunch of 4 children and 8 adults as we drove in the darkness to Nim Li Punit, a major Maya site that has been partially excavated.  It is known for the large number of astronomical and commemorative stellae located throughout the site.  We got there and were positioned on the main pyramid overlooking the central plaza to the east waiting for the sun to rise.  Our group of 12 was the only group there.  Two rangers who live on site joined us later.  Although the night had not been cloudy, there was a low lying bank of clouds on the eastern horizon that together with the tall trees blocked our view of the sun until it had been up for about an hour.  Never-the-less, I did get some nice pictures of the sun and the site. 

Christian has a wealth of knowledge about the Maya and the natural history of Belize.  I am looking forward to returning to Nim Li Punit to learn more and also to see the sunrise at the equinoxes and the summer solstice.  

The sun rising over a stella at.

Same view, a little later.

Another plaza.

You can see how easily the jungle takes over.

View from one of the pyramids.  You can see the lowlands and more hills in the distance.  Out of view is the ocean to the left.  In the lower right corner is a some cultivated maize.

Leaf-cutter ant carrying a HUGE piece of leaf.  They use the leaves to grow fungi on which the ants feed.

Another leaf being carried to the nest.  These ants farm the fungi and each nest has its own fungus that it passes on to new nests when a new queen leaves to start a new colony.

A path leads from the ruins to the visitor center.

One of several ceremonial stellae which have been relocated in the visitor center.  The carvings are quite intricate

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View of landscaped grounds in front of the visitor center. 

To no one’s surprise, the world did not end or even get shaky.  ;-)