Snorkeling on New Year's Eve in Belize; even though it wasn't the outing I'd envisioned, it was still fun. We were back in time for happy hour -- coconut rum mojitos were the evening's special, and they were tasty. Dinner was a special with goat. Not the best goat I'd ever had, but good. There was a Garifuna drum group that evening too. The Garifuna are people descended from Carib/Arawak Indians and free blacks. It's another of the rich cultures of Belize. I was impressed with the leader of this group, and when they were done, I got his information for our programming folks at the museum. Black Indians is a very popular and important topic.
There also was a special two-hour yoga class, with a party to follow. I opted out of that; I just couldn't see a two-hour class. My friend didn't either, being even more of a beginner than I, so we played cards in the lounge and had a great time. And if I'd been at class, I would have missed the end of the drum group and getting their info.
The party was really nice, with amazing appetizers--goat cheese stuffed tomatoes, marble pound cake with crème anglaise, crazy-good barracuda sandwiches, dark chocolate dipped fruit, …. It was quite fun.
The next morning, New Year's Day, we had a late practice instead, 10a. Interestingly, the instructors thought we were all so much more awake and into it! Odd that several of us had suggested this at the start, giving people time to have breakfast and such, but they didn't want to do that. It didn't really change the schedule for the rest of the trip either. It was a balance class, which I really liked. "There can be no lotus without the mud."
By now, the bruising on my arms was becoming apparent and the sandfly bites looked like they were gone. (Deceptive -- they would start in earnest the next day.) But no-see-ums had attacked in the evening, and my elbows were driving me crazy. From here on out, all of us were itchy all the time.
Many of the lodge staff were off because of the holiday, so the chef gave some of us a tour of the organic garden that afternoon when he went to pick what he needed to make dinner. The garden supplies a lot of the produce and herbs that they use, and it was really great fun.
The big cotton tree at the entrance to the lodge grounds, and for which the lodge is named.
The gazebo. I went to read over here one afternoon, the same afternoon they needed to power wash the structure next door. Ah well.
Banana trees dot the grounds. They don't actually eat these bananas as the trees are part of the filtration and sanitation system.
There are cacao trees everywhere too. Yum, chocolate!
And yes, soursop. None was ripe while we were there, sadly.
Chard. We had some of this for dinner New Year's Day.
New lettuces getting started.
The drying chamber. The green pods are sunflowers.
Goat. There is a herd. While we'd had one for dinner the night before, four were born one of the following days, and some of the girls went to milk another one morning.
Chickens. They are kept penned so that the vultures and the pumas don't get them. Vultures took one of the baby goats the day before we left.
Cacao. Oh this room smelled so good!
Almost dried. Yes, you can eat these as they are. Yes, I did. I'm a big fan of cacao nibs.
In the fruit orchards there are also lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, starfruit, mango, and avocado trees. The garden also contains chia, sweet potato, beans, tomatoes, lemongrass, ginger, culantro (a relative of cilantro), mint, and more. There are also pigs.
The big game this evening was frustration gin. It's a version of gin rummy, but with changing hands. I had such a good time playing games again! It has been a really long time.
It also turned out to be karaoke night, to my chagrin. For someone who doesn't like public settings, public speaking, large parties, being the center of attention, etc., karaoke is really really hard. I've actually successfully managed to avoid it all this time. But with a group of ten…. I managed a back-up role in one song, then when a group retired to play games, that was my out. I knew I was letting the others down, but I just couldn't.
However, I was redeemed, and in a big way. The party was nearing its end, and they were discussing one song. Someone in my game group made a comment about not knowing the song; I opened my big mouth to say that I actually did because of Jazzercise. And with that, their interest aroused, I was forcibly removed from the game in order to convert the karaoke into karaoke-Jazzercise. Thankfully it was a warm-up song with easy choreography.
A quick lesson, and then one of the young lodge staff started singing. The group followed as I led, and it was going surprisingly well. No accidents, everyone laughing and having a good time. It went too well -- just before the final chorus, everything stopped. We'd killed the internet and the power, with everything going very black and very silent, very suddenly. Eventually the generator kicked in, but we were done.
Interestingly, those three minutes were a highlight for the group, and something that came up repeatedly over the next few days together. In fact, the standard for anyone to "beat" us in future karaoke sessions at the lodge includes having choreographed dance routines that the entire group participates in and taking out all the power in the process. My guess is that we're pretty safe.
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