Belize
If Andy Warhol were watching an Ambergris Caye sunset . . . .
Can you tell I have a new camera to play with?
Rose brought me back a waterproof Olympus TG-870 “Tough” from her recent visit to the States for daughter Caira’s graduation from Arizona State. The camera has all sorts of artsy filter options on it (Kind of like an iPhone camera) plus a bunch of options for different shooting conditions.
Can you tell which image is the “natural/normal” setting? (I can’t remember.)
Watching the Belize sunset, you travel easily and gently through the wide range of emotions each of these photos might elicit, as the colors across the sunset canvas shift from blues to grays to burnt-and-brilliant oranges to an array of reds — and the water changes from blue-green to a burnished metallic blue. And eventually all falls to black with a stunning pattern of stars above.
Sunset is my favorite meditation.
As soon as the currently brewing storm passes — come on rain!! — I plan to take the camera out to the reef. It even has a couple of settings specifically for taking underwater photos. I always wanted to take underwater photos with a “fisheye” lens. It just seems like a natural thing to do.
I also like the idea of a camera that is waterproof, dust proof and shock proof. Living here on a salty wind-kissed island is hard on things like computers, coffee makers, toasters and especially cameras. This little point-and-shoot seems made for the island. All those “protections” may give it a fighting chance of lasting more than a year.
These photos were taken at sunset on what we call the Lagoon Side of the island. That’s where the water is calmest and shallowest. Excellent for fly fishing, crocodile watching, kite/sail boarding and plopping down into four inches of soothing Caribbean Sea with a drink in your hand. And, of course, sunset watching.
On this night (Wednesday) we were up at The Truck Stop for the weekly dinner and a movie (“The Big Labowski”).
Not a bad night — great food, funny movie, good friends and a beautiful sunset.
Once more to Caye Caulker and a bunch of other stuff, like Reef Week
As small an island as Caye Caulker is, there is always something — or someone — new to be discovered.
Like the kids in the picture above. I have never seen kids have more fun in four inches of water. I’d take a picture and then the kids would all run over to see themselves on the screen. Then I’d take another picture and they’d all run behind the camera to see themselves. Then I’d take another picture . . . . you get the idea.
We could have kept this up all day. Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s to living a trashy life in San Pedro, Belize
There are so many great things to do here on Ambergris Caye and I don’t think picking up other people’s trash is high up on anyone’s list.
And yet, many of us do find ourselves doing exactly that from time to time.
I’ve written so often about the First Friday Tres Cocos Trash Pick-up group that you might think that’s all I do. Truth is, I am quite fond of this bunch. They are neighbors and friends and island visitors who willingly give up some time to make the first stretch north of the Sir Barry Bowen Bridge look nice, for a day or two.
It doesn’t last but we keep coming out swinging . . . Â swinging out trash sticks and garbage bags. Read the rest of this entry »
The continuing adventures of Plastic Trash Man in Belize
When we first met Plastic Trash Man he was wrestling a wild conch atop a post on the edge of the shore in northern Ambergris Caye.
I spotted him as I was walking down the coast toward home and, well, why not, I took a photo. Hey, it was found art on a well traveled path. Or maybe it was just good theater, frozen in time, waiting for a script.
The picture made it into an early April blog post, sharing space with a lizard sitting on top of an abandoned motorcycle helmet.
It was kind of a weird walk. Read the rest of this entry »
More dancing in the breeze in Belize
Recently, as I walked north along the eastern coast of Ambergris Caye, I encountered a lovely bit of eco-pagentry. Â Colorful silken curtains on a beach pavilion were tossing and twisting in the wind, forming beguiling shapes for split seconds at a time. An endless permutation of form, Â shape shifting on every fluttering gust of wind.
Walking back home, the palm trees swayed and sashayed in the breeze, the exotic choreography of a chorus-line of palm fronds, full of rustle and bustle.
On Caye Caulker, on Monday, it was a different sort of dance all together, albeit to the same music: a gentle moist breeze, seed pod dancers twisting and turning. The dancer mobiles were for sale at a little art shop on the main drag.
Spellbinding.
On Caye Caulker, “Go slow” is beginning to sound like a plea rather than a way of life
So Monday was a national holiday — Labor Day. Lots of our favorite places are closed for the day, and some, like The Truck Stop and Casa Picasso for the entire week. And there is family in town.
So, naturally that calls for a water taxi ride to Caye Caulker.
Shockingly, neither Rose nor I have been to that island since last year’s Lobster Festival. And “shockingly” doesn’t begin to sum up the changes that have taken place. The island mantra — Go slow — now feels more like an admonition. Read the rest of this entry »
This is Belize: Each dancing on a different breeze
Another walk up north, along the shore of Ambergris Caye today. Stiff breezes and high tide made some parts of the beach simply disappear.
The island feels deserted. I may have run into four or five people at most, not counting resort staffs which were raking up the turtle grass and tying down the canopies and hammocks.
This pavilion stood alone and empty, although a sign out front offers a boggling array of pleasures for the body and soul.
Each hanging cloth was dancing its own dance in the wind. Some seem to take on shapes, fleeting sculptures of intense detail, like the prostrate one on the upper right which seems to be offering up a jug of wine?
I tried to capture them all but I must go back again, when the breezes calm a bit and the dances become more balletic and less like whirling dervishes.
San Pedro Sunday morning: Covering ground for a good cause
This morning was the second annual Autism Awareness 5K Walk/Run in San Pedro.
Rose and I chose the walk option off the menu, out of deference for me being completely out of shape thanks to back-to-back surgeries in the past year or so. So Rose prepared for the 5K by rising early and running a 7K. I prepared by looking for my ancient running shoes, which I searched thoroughly for scorpions, lizards, spiders and other creatures who seek shelter in musty, dark places in the back of closets.
The good news is, I found none of the above.
But the shoes. Oh, the shoes! Read the rest of this entry »
‘Criminal Minds’ in Belize? After screening, even worse than we imagined
On a balmy Friday night a couple dozen expats gathered beside the lagoon here on Ambergris Caye for an outdoors screening of this week’s episode of the spin-off CBS show “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.”
Since its original TV airing on Wednesday, expats and Belizeans all over this tiny country have been convulsed in paroxysms of laughter. To be honest, some have been convulsed in paroxysms of rage.
This week, the elite FBI team lead by a heavily botoxed Gary Sinese drops into Belize to find a young American honeymoon couple who have gone two days without posting anything on social media, thus raising suspicions of foul play.
Let me say this: We all know Hollywood makes stuff up. That is what they do. That is their job and we mostly appreciate it.
But, seriously? Read the rest of this entry »
“Criminal Minds” episode in Belize? It was just criminal
My first inkling that the CBS series “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders” dabbles in geographic bullshit was the network press release last week that touted Wednesday’s episode “Love Interrupted” taking place on the island of Belize.
It seems an American couple honeymooning on this mythical island is abducted and the FBI’s highly specialized foreign troubleshooting and extraction team drives to Ambergris Caye from the International Airport to rescue them.
Yeah, you read that right.
Drives to Ambergris Caye. Read the rest of this entry »
Bound for Belize 