Moved Again...

Hello from Hopkins Belize! We are happy to have some water and beach here! We headed South this morning around ten o'clock and have been on the road most of the day!!

The kids did great and I was again thankful for the back pack full of things to entertain the Little's!
We were on the road until about six thirty this eve. We did make a few stops to eat, which can take hours here!! The food does not get one bit started until the order is placed so it takes a really long time for the food to come to our table! You would be amazed at some of the tiny kitchens in these places!

We covered a lot of ground today and saw many beautiful mountains and citrus trees!! The farther south we come the more cleaned up and tourist friendly the towns are! We had so much slop and every now and again we would get a really HEAVY downpour!! The roads some places are a real mess and it takes much longer to get around!!

We are excited to be farther South! We have a cute two bedroom house type thing rented for the night here. Perfect for us.

We visited a Mennonite house today and learned much on the way they live here. The cost of living for them is a fraction of our cost of living and Dave could hardly get over it! I think he figured out we spent as much on this trip that they would make all year! Everyone we meet is so nice and being able to speak the same language makes the whole experience so much more fun and relaxing!

Many things are closed here because of Christmas. We had some recommendations on places to see and great places to eat in San Agnacio but all of them were closed because of Christmas~! Fire Works are the thing around here over Christmas!! They are going off in the distance most all the time!! (just the small loud poppers!)

We stopped at "Marie Sharps" to check out how our favorite hot sauce is made but they were closed! Many other things are closed and at times we drove back really really nasty roads to check out something we had saw a sign for only to find it closed, but the scenery on the route there was great. We saw mango trees, banana trees and many more types of citrus trees!

Down below are some of the mountains we saw today... Many places the clouds were below the mountains and we could see the rain hovering over the rain forests that we had just come from!...:)

Many towns are very busy with people everywhere! They have many stray dogs running around and pretty much everybody has chickens! A hut type is the norm for the houses we saw so far yet these people seem so content and very friendly.

We plan to head south tomorrow to spend time in Placencia and then we are heading to the southern tip of Belize to Punta Gorda for a night there.

We are eating lots of "Rice and Beans" and it comes with a meat and most dishes all are unique in there own way so it's always been good so far! Jordan had to shed a tear this evening when the few options we had to choose from did not include corn tortillas, he had to opt for Rice and Beans again. He does enjoy them but he just had that earlier today. He was not disappointed though and was happy to see the corn chips and salsa coming that is always a highlight! Some places serve them regardless if you order them or not.

My two most adventures guys did make it out to the river canoeing yesterday! It took them like three hours to do four miles! I was a bit nervous after they didn't return for so long, we had been told many canoe places were closed due to higher then normal water! Justin came back with a huge scratch on his back and at least 30 mosquito bites! The worst thing Justin said was that they saw a snake slither through the water as they were trying to get back on the boat after falling overboard!

He also said the water was deep and it was hard to get back on the boat a few times!! I'm not always sure if they are trying to scare me or not since I wanted to "lose my cool" about them going in the first place!! (I have my reasons) Let me tell you the "Dave style" canoeing then you can tell me what you would think of the idea or if you would even worry!!??

He goes down river looking for a place that rents out canoes... okay, then he sees a private guy with his own private canoe. He asks the guy about canoeing and of course the guy is probably looking to make some money from these tourists so he offers to rent them his canoe, and then pick them up an hour and a half later down river and bring them back! He has no life jackets for them and we were told the currents are strong some places due to the heavy rains! Oh well I was not about to "lose my cool" again.... so off they went and it was a huge highlight for Justin! They had no idea that I was praying for their safety every few minutes back at the house and even starting to get knots in my stomach by the time they came pulling in the drive after almost four hours!! Am I crazy for worrying a bit~!??

We were ready to move this morning. We felt we left the house we were at really dirty because of all the mud puddles from the rains and being in and out so much! We are doing okay living out of suitcases. I reorganized everybody's  suitcase this morning and since I was able to do laundry there we are stocked on fresh clothes for now.

Here are a few pictures of our last few days in Belize... I was able to get this picture since I heard the hollering coming down the river past our house!! They made an awful racket when they saw this huge Iguana!!


My crazy canoers!

Iguana that looks like a tiger!

Some of the mountains and definitely the nicest road we traveled all day!!

Our lunch stop today...

my Belizian coffee today... It always requires cream to make it drinkable!!

 

The flowers are so beautiful!!! I declare again I'm a summer girl!

 

 

So happy to see the water!!

 

Our place for the night...

 

This is where we landed for the night... Justin and Dave just went next door to get some ice cream to share and we discovered it comes from the Western Dairy we toured the other day...:)

 

I guess it is my turn for my body to adjust... I started with a fever last evening. I slept okay and was feeling achy as I packed up today but I'm glad for my Melaluca bag that made it across the border and also my Body Balance. The guys got me some Apple Cider Vinegar a bit ago and I'm off to take a shower. I am so cold even in the warmest conditions! Dave has the air conditioner cranked in the bedroom (for good reason) but if it stays that cold in there I just might just end up on the couch.

 

Dave and Jordan had a turn with adjusting to the food but my stomach seems fine but it's a fever of 102 this evening. Prayers appreciated. I can not remember the last time I had the fever!?:(

 

Thanks for tuning in... I think this blog is the biggest blessing on a trip like this because after a while it would all run together and I would never be able to keep it all straight.

 

 

The Little's are in bed after an exahsting day of travel, my guys are playing "Dice" and they are like flies over my blog once I hit publish!...:) We will so enjoy this blogging in years to come!...:) 

 

I'm off to shower and Doctor myself up. It is normal so I'm not to worried just hoping to shake it off overnight so we can enjoy the rest of the trip more! Mom cannot be sick on vacation but then again I'm glad it's not the kids either!

 

Have a great Week-end. I will be back as service allows which should be pretty good here in the south...:)