Mangroves and such...

Had a couple of questions about some mangroves I'm trying to put on my beach.  Like many things about living here, this is an experiment for me as I don't know much about mangroves.  But here are a few pics and some of my thoughts...

I don’t much about mangroves but started trying to transplant some seedlings a few weeks ago.  Purpose is to preserve the beach and keep some vegetation for the wildlife.  From a bit to my north side of the seashore to a long ways to my south all the beach has been cleared.  So adding a few mangroves is high on my priority list.

I took a seedlings from an area thick with the trees and a friend gave me some she had.  I planted them about 12 feet above low tide line.  High tide gets close to the seedlings.  I piled sand and sea grass around them to try and protect from high tide and hot sun.

About 25% have survived and have some green as can be seen in the pics.  I plan to plant some more in the same area to try and get a root system strong enough to hold up in bad weather.  As that grows I’ll try and put some more closer to the sea line to keep building a root system.

We have had a fair amount of rain lately so I suspect that help.

If anyone has some seedlings near the peninsula I can get I will keep putting them in the ground.  If you have ideas on growing them here let me know.  In the meantime, I’ll keep anyone interested posted on how this is working out…

Bramin, Japanese style

Come & Explore Jungle and Fishing Deep in The Heart of Belize

Beach on one side, jungle on the other side, in a small ecletic Central American country.

Angle's Cabins in the sothern end of the comminity of Riversdale offer a nice ombiance.  Now I will provide two disclamers right up front:  1.  I have not stayed there as a guset.  I know the owners since I live here and they are good peeps. 2.  I have no financial interest in thier business.  but I do think it's a nice area and with the family owned bidnez you can have a lot of fun.  Mr. & Mrs. Alberto can help you with food, fishing, diving, tours, and all kinds of stuff.

I visited the cabanas and the property is super clean and very nice -- right on the beach.

I will invite the owners to comment with info on prices and contact should you want to come visit out lil beach by the jungle.

Cachal Peck

Hello fellow travelers, friends, family and other assorted scoundrels.  I have been very slow in getting some of my updates up here on the blog.  But I did want to mention a little more of our stay at the Parrot Nest Lodge. 

http://parrot-nest.com/

Last time me and the Old Hen went up to San Ignacio area for a Mayan Festival (the one that never happened) we stayed at this lodge in Bullet Tree Falls.  The lodge is nestled back in the forest on the bank of the Mopan River.

Short and to the point, a very cool place to stay at a decent price.  The owners (Theo, Marcus, girls, several friendly dogs, cats, rabbits, parrot, etc.) are all a great family and made the stay there very nice. 

We stayed in cabin 5 which was very private, two beds, fan, and private bathroom.  Had a nice deck facing into the woods with chairs and hammock which made for a nice spot to chill.  Community open-area room had books, drinks, and breakfast & dinner served in a B&B style.  We had dinner with the other guests which had good food and good times chatting with the other walkabouts.

Tubing on the Mopan was fun as we hadn’t done that in a while and Marcus set up the tubes and gave us all the info needed.  The firefly show at night made my fireflies envious.

I’ll try later to update with some more details, but if you want to be near the Cayo action but a lil out of town, I give Parrot Cove Lodge a big two thumbs up.  You can get more info and contact on their website.

Jaguar Inn & Almond Beach hotels

Opps

farted

Answer

Marriage.

And the question is?

http://ambergriscaye.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/428087.html#Post428087

New high-rise tourist hotel in Riversdale

Is 12/21/2012 the End of the world?

I am going to try and make this critique relatively short.   That should juxtapose the length of the lecture, which you’ll find is my major criticism.  But the primary reason I intend to be short-winded here is that attending this lecture is the first of several events that I plan to attend relating to the Maya 2012 phenomena.  That and I didn’t take any pictures.

The Belize National Institute of Culture and History, along with some partner organizations, are sponsoring several events throughout belize this year to bring awareness to Mayan Culture.  Being that the “Western” year of 2012 is believed to be a milestone in Mayan predictions makes this a great time for visiting Mayan sites and learning about the culture.

Beginning the 2012 events in Belize were some lectures given by DR. Mark Stone.  Dr. Stone is unquestionably qualified in the subject and his insihts were thought-provocing to a novice like me.

“About Mark Van Stone, Ph.D., G.F.

Speaker, Author, Maya Expert, Professor of Art History, Southwestern College

Mark Van Stone is a Maya expert specializing in Maya Hieroglyphs and calligraphy. Van Stone’s books include “2012: Science and Prophecy of the Ancient Maya” inspired by Maya inscriptions, astronomical knowledge, math, and myth, and “Reading the Maya Glyphs”. Responding to the upsurge in interest in “the Maya prophecies”, Prof. Mark Van Stone has spent the last several years researching what the Ancient Maya actually said about 2012.”

Me & the Old Hen took a drive up to San Ignacio to hear Dr. Stone speak about the current chatter on the idea that the ancient Maya predicted that December 21, 2012 would be the end of the world.  I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not, but everytime I hear about this the old REM song ets turning around in my brain:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY

But I digress and I was going to keep this short and to the points of “the good, bad, and ugly.”

Ugly – None.  Besides me and the Hen getting a lil road trip for fun, the info Dr. Stone shared with us was mostly very interesting, and helped novices like me understand a little better what all this “2012” stuff is about.  Plus the professor seemed like a cool guy and for sure he enjoys the subject.

Good – As mentioned, Dr. Stone is very knowledgeable in the subject.  The information about how the Maya counted dates, the numbering system, and interpretation of artifacts was very cool indeed.  It is a very complex field to understand, much more so to try and explain to peeps like me.  But I felt the Doc broke it down (the 2012 subject) enough for me to get an appreciation for some variations of interpreting Maya “predictions” as well as a greater appreciation for the culture/civilization itself.  The numerology itself must take years of study.  More good – I don’t think this December will be the end of the world.  Oh yes, the slide show pics were very nice and added great detail to the lecture.

Bad – Even by Belize time, this thing started way too late.  The event staff didn’t seem to be prepared.  I can’t find the guy’s name right now, but the man that introduced Dr. Stone spoak almost as long as the lecture itself.  He spent way too much time discussing, well, nothing, instead of making the introduction and getting out of the way.  I really enjoyed the lecture about the 2012 prediction, which is why I went there, but Dr. Stone’s biggest problem IMHO was trying o put too much info into a one-time lecture.  Most of the peeps there were novices like me, too much “detailed” info that would be appropriate for students put us to sleep.  And there were too many pictures and stories of trees.  Anyone that attended will know what I mean.  Last bad comment, at the question and answer time too many audience members got religious.  I think that comparing & contrasting religions and cultures makes for an exciting discussion.  But the purpose of this lecture was supposed to be about the interpretation of Maya stuff. 

BIG PROPS to NICH for coordinating the many events scheduled this year.  I’m looking forward to getting to most of them.  Next stop for me and the Old Hen’s Maya trips, -- January 21st Cahal Pechand then the  Altun Ha on Feb. 18^th.  And don’t forget the Japanese drummers at the Bliss on the 19^th…

Home grown Cassava cooked as fries...

Cassava Fries

Visit to Gales Point Manatee

A visit to Gales Point in Belize.  Sorry, I have been really lame at getting this info posted.  So I will at least get started here...  We went to Gales Point Manatee off the Costal highway for Christmas.  The idea was to see the Christmas "brammin," the Manatee santuary, and have some real origininal Creol food. 

we were succesful.  I'll start here with the lodging since I have been so slow in getting this posted.  Basically we stayed at the Manatee Lodge since the B&B's were all full.  The lodge was closed but Clifton Bailey let us stay there and he had to head up northward for some personal bidnez, so me and the old hen had the whole place to ourselves.