We normally don't go out for Valentine's Day, but for our first one in Belize, we decided to treat ourselves to a dinner out at the Funky Monkey, just a mile or so south.  Actually, it was my idea, as most meals out are.  Dale had posted about their Valentine's special meal on Facebook, and it sounded tasty -- and reasonable at only $40 BZD per person, including dessert, so it was a date.  Of course we'd be riding our bikes.  We left early while it was still plenty light.

We arrived early enough to catch the tail end of Happy Hour, so we started at the bar with a couple of two-for-one rum & pineapple juices from bartender Javier, then moved over to a table.  Right before the end of Happy Hour, Barry ordered us another round of half-price drinks to see us through our meal.

While we were waiting on our dinners, we noticed a paperback swap bookshelf right near our table.  Barry suggested I go over and check to see if they had the next book in the James Patterson series I've been reading.  Since it's a newer book, I couldn't find it at the San Pedro Public Library or the Aquarius used book shop in town.  Of course I never expected to find it on a small bookshelf -- I mean; what are the odds?

Much to my delight and amazement, what should I spy but the very book I'd been looking for?  Although I didn't bring a book to swap, of course, Dale was kind enough to let me take it home -- I'll just bring it right back when I am done.  

Our dinners arrived, and they were lovely.  Grilled shrimp, garlic mashed potatoes, and sweet glazed carrots, and a pretty hibiscus flower to top it off.  

As we started eating, all of a sudden we started feeling bites.  And seeing mosquitoes around and on us.  Before we knew it, they were practically swarming.  We were slapping right and left, and it was taking all the joy out of eating our meal.  Thankfully, about this time, Javier came by and asked us how our meals were, so we were able to let him know about the evil mozzies.  He quickly brought insect repellent, and Dale also came by and lit a coil under our table.  Instantly, the little devils were gone, just as fast as they appeared.  This is seriously good stuff -- nice scent and DEET-free!

Now we could really enjoy our dinners!  They also served us a Valentine's Day dessert -- red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  Scrumptious!

On the way home, we used Barry's headlamp to guide our way.  Mine, unfortunately, has crapped out since its last use.  The case was already cracking, but tonight, only the lowest light power worked, and that's not nearly enough light for biking in the dark.  Looks like it's time for a replacement.

We woke up to a cloudy morning and headed into Placencia village on foot.  We saw lots of birds along the way, so the walk was leisurely, with many photos taken -- stay tuned for a "Birds of Placencia" post to come later.  We took in more sights of the town, which was very quiet at this time of day.  Wish we'd had sunshine for better photos.

We ate breakfast at De Tatch, since we'd enjoyed it the night before.  We had excellent veggie omelets and toast served with delicious local guava jam.  The coffee was excellent and half the price of many San Pedro restaurants ($2.50 BZD vs. $5 in San Pedro).   We must have been hungry since we forgot to take any photos!  A squall passed through while we were eating, so we were glad to be under a roof.  The rain had stopped by the time we left.

After breakfast, we walked around some more and stopped in at one of the local groceries.  We checked prices on a few of the items we purchase frequently and found them to be much better than in San Pedro in all cases and better than Brodies in Belize City in many cases as well.  Too bad we couldn't bring a suitcase of groceries back to San Pedro with us!

When we got back to Casa Placencia, we ran into the couple staying in the one-bedroom apartment there.  They were from the St. Louis area and had been in Placencia for the month of January.  They own land in Maya Beach and plan to build eventually.  We ended up chatting with them for close to an hour, sharing experiences and information.

We were looking forward to taking a bike ride up north and planned to ride to the Maya Beach Bistro for lunch as Jacki had given this restaurant her highest recommendation.  Our room came with two nice (new!) beach cruiser bicycles, so we had one of the workers doing some construction at Casa Placencia adjust the saddle and handlebar height for us, then we took off.  

We stopped in at the car rental place next to the Placencia airstrip and made arrangements with Winston to rent a car later that day so we'd have it early in the morning, as we were planning to drive up to Red Bank to see the Scarlet Macaws that typically feed in the area from January through March.  Winston said he'd come pick us up at 4 pm to come do the paperwork, then we could drive the car back.  Nice!

As we pedaled away, we noticed incredibly dark clouds over the sea and knew we'd be caught in a squall very soon.  Keep in mind that January through May is "dry season" in Belize, so we were surprised by a day like this.  We heard from many people here that the weather during our visit was highly unusual for this time of year, and turns out that San Pedro was also getting unusual amounts of rain.  Sure enough, it started to rain as we got just a little ways up the road, so we took cover under the overhang at the Maya Island Air terminal.  A couple from England was doing the same.  The rain came down in sheets for a short while, but stopped within ten minutes (very typical for rainstorms in the tropics).

We continued riding north through Seine Bight, where many locals live.  We were enjoying the paved road, which wasn't totally smooth but beat the cobblestones and sand of many San Pedro roads.  I was wishing for my bike helmet since we were on a higher-speed road than anything in San Pedro, but everyone was very courteous and gave us a wide berth when they passed, and the road had a nice shoulder, so we were able to stay far to the right.

It started looking like rain again, so we stopped along the way at Blue Crab Beach just south of Maya Beach.  This is a small beachfront resort run by the couple who make the Goss Chocolate we enjoy so much.  We'd hoped to say hello to Linn, but another couple who had also stopped for cover there said that there was a note on the door that she would be back around 2 pm.  This time, the rain only amounted to a light shower with heavy winds, so we only waited for a few minutes, then hit the road again.  

Our next stop was the Maya Beach Bistro, which was in a beautiful setting right on the beach.  Unfortunately the wind was so strong, they had had to put down their wind shades, thus obscuring the view.  There was a large table that got their orders in right before us, so we had to wait awhile for our lunch.  While we were waiting, we enjoyed a Panty Ripper (pineapple juice and coconut rum, a very popular drink in Belize).  Barry had a baguette with shrimp, bacon, cheese, and banana, which he said was delicious but a bit heavy.  I had the blackened fish tacos with black beans and rice.  Mine was tasty, but the fish was a bit overcooked.  So, this did not rate as our favorite place to eat in the Placencia area, and the prices were similar to nicer restaurants in San Pedro (i.e., higher than most Placencia eateries) but Jacki swears by the dinners there, so we would probably give them another try if we were to visit again.

After lunch we turned our wheels southward and headed back towards Placencia.  There were still no cars at Blue Crab Beach as we rolled by, so we weren't able to say hello to Linn -- hopefully on our next visit.  The ride ended up being around fifteen miles, which is pretty long for a beach bike.  Traffic was light and conditions pleasant, but I was wishing for my usual saddle by the end, since I wasn't wearing bike shorts.  Owie!

Along the way we saw the sign for Sunsail and the Moorings, companies that charter sailboats out of Placencia, so we biked down their road and looked at the docked boats on the lagoon.  It was a beautiful setting with the mountains in the distance  (though they were off to the right so don't show in the photo; you'll have to take our word for it.)

The road to Placencia goes all the way around the airstrip in a hairpin-turn shape, and we got to see a small plane take off over the sea as we rode by on our way back to Casa Placencia, which is just a little over a mile south of the airstrip.

When we got back to Casa Placencia, the sun finally came out, so we took another walk into town to grab a couple of photos, then walked back to wait for Winston to pick us up.  

Just when we were wondering if he'd forgotten, Winston showed up around 4:15 to pick us up.  We ended up with a green Dihatsu and hoped we still remembered how to drive after five months with no behind-the-wheel time!   The car rental was $82.50 US for one day.  We could have gone to Red Bank with a tour company, but Jacki recommended the car rental and had arranged a Mayan guide to take us up to the lookout at Red Bank, which would save a bit of money over a tour and would give us more flexibility, so we decided to go with her suggestion.

After we parked the car back at Casa Placencia, we walked into town yet again, looking for the Hokey Pokey ferry dock.  We planned to take this ferry on the trip back, but our map didn't seem correct as we found only a private dock with no Hokey Pokey sign, so we figured we'd ask Jacki exactly where it was.  We walked around the attractive residential area around the lagoon and looked at homes and boats.  Once again, I was reminded of the Florida Keys, and was struck by the fact that Placencia seemed cleaner and tidier than San Pedro.

We ate dinner at a local Creole restaurant, Omar's.  Surprisingly, they didn't have a liquor license, so I had to walk to the Barefoot Bar next door to score a Belikin, which I could bring into Omar's ("no problem").  Beers were $3.50 BZD versus the typical $5 BZD ($2.50 US) in San Pedro - nice!  We honestly didn't know that liquor licenses were required to sell beer in Belize as we've never encountered an eating establishment that didn't sell Belikin!  

The restaurant was packed and loud, but the food was good and cheap.  We both had versions of grilled snook, rice and beans, and green salad.  It was certainly the least expensive seafood dinner we've had in Belize at $50 BZD total ($25 US).  

We'd managed to save a little bit of room for a visit to the Tutti Frutti "gelateria", and it did not disappoint.  The gelato looked beautiful and tasted even better.  You could get two flavors layered in a small cup or three in a medium, so I tried caramel and peanut butter flavors in my cup; and Barry went with mint chocolate, chocolate chip, and Bailey's.  This stuff is seriously rich and delicious, and the price was surprisingly reasonable.  We paid $10 BZD ($5 US) for both cups.  Unfortunately, the shop is closed on Wednesdays or we would have been able to visit again; as it is, we will have to wait for our next trip.  This place is a MUST if you visit Placencia -- don't miss it!

We got caught in another heavy rain squall while we were safely under the overhang eating our gelato -- it absolutely POURED.  But once again, the rain was short-lived, and soon we were able to walk back to Casa Placencia in the dark.  
This was to be an early night since Jacki admonished us to get on the road to Red Bank by 5 am -- ouch!  We are not normally creatures of the morning, but we really wanted to see the Scarlet Macaws.  Barry actually had planned this trip mostly if not solely for that reason, while I was just as interested in seeing Placencia village, but I did want to see the famous birds as well.  

Before turning in, we noticed a HUGE black insect (maybe 3" long and skinny) on the wall of our room.  Yikes!  Barry bravely trapped it under a cup and was able to humanely relocate it outdoors.  Just a little reminder that we are in the tropics!  Sorry not to provide a photo of said insect, but we were scared it would fly off if we took too long in dealing with it!

We set the alarm for the ungodly hour of 4:30 am before turning the lights out at 9:30 pm.

Stay tuned for Day 3 - Red Bank and the hunt for the elusive Scarlet Macaws

What a fun night!  We rode our bikes into town early Friday evening to attend the Saga Humane Society's pasta cook-off at Mojito's Bar and Grill on the San Pedro beachfront.  These monthly events, featuring a different food theme each time, support a wonderful cause, and really, who can resist pasta?  In addition to pasta, there were special prices on "Meow-itos" (mojitos), "Bark-aritas", and other drinks.

We met our friends Robert and Maureen there, and were early enough to get a great table.  We were supposed to meet our "virtual friends" Bill and Debra (Taking Belize blog), whom we've been corresponding with for quite some time, as they were arriving in San Pedro this very day to begin their retirement dreams here in Belize.  Unfortunately, unlucky Friday the 13th struck them, and they missed their original flight out of Houston due to difficulties returning their rental truck, so they arrived on the island too late to join us.  

The four of us enjoyed some mojitos and great conversation and bought some raffle tickets from the darling local children circulating around.  When we brought our pasta dinners back to our table, we had fun discussing our favorites.  With nine delicious entries, it was really hard to decide!  When it came time to vote, Robert chose the chicken parmesan fettucine, Barry and Maureen picked the pork lo mein, and I chose the spicy bowtie pasta.

When the winners were announced, Robert's favorite came in third place, and Barry and Maureen's pick came in first!  My favorite, unfortunately, did not place.  I guess some folks just can't take the heat.  :)

We were all getting a little tired by this time (hey, we're retirees!) so didn't stick around to see who won the raffle drawings.  I am assuming we would have gotten a call by now if we had, so I'm not holding my breath.

We used our headlamps again to ride home on a beautiful dark and starry night.  The road from Reef Village up to Grand Caribe had just been re-graded, making for a smoother-than-normal ride.  There's honestly nothing much more fun than night riding.  Kinda makes you feel like a kid again! 

We'd been collecting Belikin bottles for awhile as I'd been enjoying the Sorrel Stout holiday brew leading up to and during the holidays.  Barry, silly boy, doesn't really care for Belikin, so I can't even blame any of the empties on him.  A few days ago, renters in the unit next door to us left us a large number of empty (and some full as well) soda bottles and a soda case that they hadn't had time to return to Belikin for their deposit.  It looked like free money to us, so who were we to say no?  

Since we don't have a golf cart, we have only one way to get such a load back to the distributor, and that's via bicycle.  Fortunately, Barry has some excellent utility baskets on the rear rack of his bike that enabled us to get the whole load of bottles back to town.  Good thing the biggest and only hill is the Sir Barry Bowen bridge, as this was quite a heavy load, but Barry was up for the challenge.  I bet Sir Barry Bowen himself would have been proud!

And we're off to town!  

At our destination, we unloaded all the bottles and made $13.75 (BZD, half that in US dollars) for our efforts.  This would have gone towards a Belikin "party can", which is the easiest and least expensive way for me to buy beer for home consumption here, but they were all out.  I guess that was a popular holiday item.  

Since party cans were sold out, I had to content myself with a few bottles of Belikin from the grocery store, thus beginning yet another bottle collection.  

Normally we almost always ride our bikes to town together to run our errands, but this morning, Barry woke up with a sore throat, so I was on my own while he rested, drank tea, sucked on zinc, and tried to stave off a cold.  Yes, even in the tropics, viruses happen.  

Since he wasn't around to do the photography, I apologize that this is an almost photo-free blog posting.  I was just too hot and sweaty while riding around to want to prolong my journey even more by taking photos.

My first stop was to drop off cookies for a couple of friends down south.  Baking in such a humid environment is an adventure in and of itself, not to mention wrapping plates in bubble wrap and transporting them in a bike basket on a hot, sunny, and humid day.  I honestly didn't expect it to be quite this warm on Christmas week, especially considering it was quite a bit cooler many days in October and November.  This week it's been 80 degrees by 8 am every morning.  Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right?  Fortunately, everyone was at home and this little Christmas elf was able to make her deliveries.

Next I stopped at Maria's for some vegetables to make some chicken soup for the sickie back at home.  I also left a plate of cookies for Maria, since she was in town at the time.  She's been so good to us since we moved here I wanted to say thank you, though I never could thank her enough for her kindness and generosity.

On the way through town I stopped in Central Park for some water, and snapped a photo of the new town clock.  Much has been written about this ill-conceived and poorly placed architectural mistake elsewhere, so I will refrain from saying more, other than that the addition of the electronic billboards really takes the cake.  Tacky, tacky, tacky.  I didn't realize we were in Vegas, baby....

My next stop was at Orchid Tree to pick up Christmas cupcakes I'd ordered awhile back as a surprise for Barry.  Unfortunately, after traveling home in the heat in a bike basket on the bumpy road, they looked WAY worse for the wear, icing had melted, and a couple had tipped over.  Definitely not picture-worthy.  Again, it's the thought that counts, and I am sure they will taste much better than they look.  I plan to find out by helping him out with the eating part!

Finally, after an unplanned stop at Casa pan Dulce for a loaf of sinful garlic bread to accompany the chicken soup (I'll get you for this, Ruthie!), my time in town was complete.  I arrived home dripping sweat and ready for a rendezvous with the pool, which had rarely felt better.

The chicken soup is now well underway and is smelling really good.  I put a hot pepper in to help with Barry's congestion, so hopefully he will be feeling much better by Christmas Day.  He was also sick last Christmas, where it actually snowed in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, so at least we are guaranteed a much warmer holiday this time around.

This Sunday morning we decided to do something different and ride down south of San Pedro rather than our usual route up north.  The road south of Victoria House is much improved since the last time we rode down there and appeared to have been recently graded.  Traffic was almost non-existent, and the mostly smooth sand made for some great riding, especially after the jarring cobblestone roads in town.  There was still the occasional puddle, but many fewer than our last attempt at this ride.

We made it down to mile 5.5 south of town, which appeared to be about as far as you can go, though we might be wrong about that.  Barry had already ridden 13 miles in a north loop before picking me up to join him, so we figured this was far enough.  We were getting pretty hungry by this time anyway, and we planned to have brunch in town, so it was time to head back that way.

We decided to get our brunch at Estel's on the beach, where we had a table in the sand with a perfect view.

Breakfast was slower in coming than usual because the place was packed, but it was worth the wait.  I was so starved I dug in before Barry reminded me about the obligatory food shot!

Today was a big day for me as I went over 2000 miles of cycling for the year.  Most in Chapel Hill on my road bike, of course, but a good number since our beach cruiser bikes arrived in Belize in September.  This is the most I've ridden since my cycling accident in 2005, so I'm delighted to have been able to accomplish this, since I'm certainly getting no younger.  Fortunately, cycling can be enjoyed at any age for healthy folks, and I hope to do so for many years to come!

Today we were looking for some bar end attachments for Barry to give him more than one hand position on his bike to keep his hands from going numb.  This required riding onto portions of the main road just south of the bridge (which is currently under construction) and onto side roads that are not in the best of shape, to put it mildly.  Between the construction barriers and the puddles from all the rain, this is true "adventure cycling"!

By the way, we never did find the bar-ends, so it looks like another trip to Belize City's Hop Sing bicycle shop is in our future.

Last night we had rain, thunder, and lightning AGAIN; and the rain continued coming down in sheets through lunchtime, bringing over 4" to the San Pedro area.  This is a result of a low-pressure system that has camped out over the Gulf of Honduras and may be with us for another couple of days.  Here are a couple of shots during the peak of the morning rain.

This afternoon once the rain had stopped, Barry decided to head into town as he wanted to buy some produce, and I'm sure the cabin fever was getting pretty intense.  Truth be told, I would have joined him if my back were healed up.  It's getting there, but I want to give it a full week of rest and recovery before getting on the bike again, so I worked on my on-line Spanish lesson while he rode in on his bike.  Here are what the the roads just north of town looked like, and yes, he rode through those puddles!  If I'd been with him, I would have detoured onto the sidewalk!

If he didn't have fenders on his bike, I don't think he would have gone for it as he would have been filthy.  

With the produce he bought, along with our whole wheat tortillas from yesterday, we were able to whip up a huge batch of bean, veggie, and cheese burritos to freeze and eat for the next couple of days.  I guess it was worth the mess to have plenty of good food to sustain us in case this front hangs around for many more days.