saturday afternoon to monday afternoon

saturday cont: After a rest from our morning adventures, we watched some TV and then prepped for dinner. Chicken, chips and salsa, carrots and pineapple. yummy! when the dishes were done, we walked back to the store to find some more mixers for our after-dinner happy hour. decided on cran-apple juice and rum. back to the apartment for drinks, cards, tv and listening to the waves on the near-by shore. excellent way to spend an evening!

sunday morning we scrambled some eggs with ham and enjoyed it with toast. afterwards we walked Main St from our end of town to the opposite end and then back on Front St (along the water). The walk ended up being a couple of hours, so on the way home we stopped at el cafe again, but for lunch this time. We shared stewed chicken with rice/beans, potato salad and a burger (not sure what the meat was, but it was ok and didn't cause any problems). the chicken and rice/beans were the best we've had here and the potato salad was great. we were the only ones in the place (again), so we were able to chat with the owners, alejandro and iris vernon (garifunas). the belizean people are very friendly and anxious to share their heritage and knowledge. when we got home we napped for a while and upon awakening discovered our walk had led to our first layer of sunburn. today is the warmest/sunniest it has been since we have been here. guess we didn't realize the possible strength of the sun in February! for dinner we threw together ground beef, onion, peppers and okra and served it with tomatoes, salsa and cheese over corn tortilla chips. finished the meal with the rest of the pineapple for dessert. another winner! after dinner we watched a steven king movie and planned our next adventure.

monday morning we awoke early anticipating another adventure. we had a quick breakfast of oatmeal and juice, packed up our travel bag and hit the road. our first stop was the nim li punit mayan ruins discovered in 1976 but dating back to 400 AD. the gentleman who oversees the ruins met us and showed us around, explaining the flora of the area and some of the ruins that had been brought to the office for preservation. we then took a self-guided tour of the area, an extensive archeological excavation over a very large area of land. after leaving the ruins we drove to machaca hill lodge, a lodge high in the jungle with tree house like cabanas that are outfitted with decor fit for a palace. the front desk receptionist showed us around the lobby (surrounded by exquisite tropical flowers), pool (with negative edge) and spa and then showed us one of the rooms. the cabanas are huge with incredible views, mosquito netting over the beds and a screened-in balcony. the showers are the biggest i have ever seen in a hotel room! she told us that howler monkeys and toucans are often seen from the lobby deck and recently a large group of coatimundi was eating the berries off of one of their trees. the restaurant was on the upper level and served 4 course meals to their guests for only $50 pp + drinks and tips. whatever was cooking smelled incredible, but that price was a bit out of our range. drove back into town and stopped at waluco's for lunch. linda had enchiladas and rick had garlic shrimp and fries, both washed down the food with beliken beer. the enchiladas were served on delicious home-made flour tortillas which prior to now we had not been able to find. we requested a dozen to go and the cook prepared a batch for us from scratch. after lunch we stopped at the butcher shop and picked their brains while picking up some cubed pork. we then headed to the pharmacy for some treatment for ricks skin issues and then to the grocery for carrots, onions, peppers, soy sauce, rice, black beans and chocolate chips :) home to store our purchases and then off for a long overdue swim in the gulf of honduras with some of the local children. the temperature and atmosphere were wonderful!!! after a shower i tried to nap, but was not successful. the blog was calling to be updated, so i did so while rick prepared dinner...pork stir fry and rice. yummy!