Barry got some great photos last night of the full moon from our veranda. I couldn't pick just one, so I'll give you a series. It really was breathtaking.
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As many times as we've ridden by this surprising sight on our bikes, we've never stopped to take a photo until today. 
It used to have a sheet metal structure partially enclosing it, but awhile ago, that structure disappeared. Here's a closer look. 
This is the only public toilet north of the bridge that we are aware of -- maybe on the whole island! Belize is not big on public restrooms. Quick update.We rode north to Grand Belizean Estates this morning, and this time the cart path was not booby-trapped. Aside from a couple of scabs on my skinned knee, I'm all healed up from last week's incident. Thanks to all who expressed concern and outrage -- your words were much appreciated.
Occasionally we have seen a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron hanging around Grand Caribe at dusk. And sometimes Paisley flushes one out of the grass during her night-time walk that I don't even see until it flaps off, startled. But recently Barry saw one down the beach, hunting in the shallows, in the light of day. He rushed back in for his camera, hustled back down the beach, and the heron was still there. He managed to get some really nice shots, which had proved impossible at dusk. I love this hunting sequence. 
A lone hunter
Prey sighted!
Success!
The prize!
More photos from our sight-seeing walks around beautiful San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico... 
One of the city parks
Cafe in center of city park
Festive holiday decor
Busy street
Quiet residential street in the morning
Love the paint colors and brilliant blue morning sky!
Peek-a-boo mountain view
Fiesta tents for Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration
Great city view from way up high at a church on a hill
Collectivo traffic jam
Look who was peering over a rooftop...
Busy shopping day
Many streets in San Cristobal are named after important dates in Mexican history
The Maya vendor ladies could be quite persistent -- I preferred to shop at booths where I didn't feel hounded.
Yo queiro Taco Bell
Mountains right outside the city -- so pretty
Stay tuned for much more from San Cristobal!
The rest of these photos didn't really fit into any of our previous blog posts on Tulum, so this is just a miscellaneous round-up of sights seen around town to finish out our 2.5 days in Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico. As you'll probably notice in these photos, town itself was not crowded at all while we were there the first week in December. When we passed back through at the end of our trip for one night, it was filled to the brim with tourists there for Christmas and/or the end of the Mayan calendar. Big difference! 
The Municipal Plaza, all decked out for the holidays
Town Christmas tree
Mexican flag
This colorful urgent-care clinic was right around the corner from our hotel. Fortunately, we didn't need it!
I loved these brightly colored bedspreads & blankets, but no room in our packs for anything this large.
Close-up of the colorful blankets, and a cool "hammock chair"
Loved this colorfully painted skeleton too!
We walked here to shop for a good selection of toiletries at great prices.
I met this cutie "guarding" his papa's shop -- what a sweet pooch.
Municipal Plaza at night
Town Christmas tree at night
Along the main street through town at night
Stay tuned as next your intrepid travelers head to Merida, Mexico!
Weather-wise, this November has been the best month we've experienced since moving to San Pedro fifteen months ago. It was mostly dry, cooler than normal, with highs only in the upper 70s many days. Best of all, the humidity was so much lower than the norm that my skin and lips were dry and flaky, and I actually had a few good hair days -- with my wavy mop that tends towards frizz, that's saying a lot! But a couple of days ago, that all changed. For the past two nights, we've had hours of heavy rain, a total of around five inches. I guess our assumption that dry season might be beginning early this year was a bit premature. I'll let the photos tell the rest of the story.... Here's the approaching storm late yesterday afternoon. 
And some of the roads north of the bridge today. These were all dry just a couple of days ago. 
Taxi negotiating the puddles
Motorcycle testing the depth of the puddle
But we can't complain too much. Without the rain, we wouldn't have the lush tropical foliage nor these beautiful flowers! 
Hibiscus
Just a few photos from another typical day here on Ambergris Caye -- and a gorgeous day it is! We are back to the normal easterly trade winds after about a week of cooler, less humid breezes from the northwest. 
Barry lubed my bike chain since I've been having to do all the rides to town for groceries while he's had his pinched nerve. I had just returned with my full backpack of goodies. 
Nice place to work!
A large "jungle beetle" hanging out on the tropical plant behind our building. Barry's thumb for size comparison: 
View alongside our building looking east: 
Paisley lounging on the pool deck while I cooled off after my sweaty bike ride to town. 
The bright sun was hurting her eyes, poor baby! 
View from our veranda: 
Another nice day on the island. Temp is 81.5 in the shade, but about 87 in the sun!
I'm sure our regular readers have noticed that things have been kinda slow here on the blog lately. 'Tis true. With Barry partially out of commission with a pinched nerve in his upper back, he can't even ride his bike without a lot of pain, so we haven't been traveling, going out, or doing many interesting things of late. Hard to believe, but it's been six weeks since his injury. He's improved somewhat, but it's very slow going. I considered putting the blog on hiatus for awhile, but I decided that an occasional post was better than none at all. One thing we have been doing lately is taking photos of the stunningly beautiful scenery right outside our windows, mostly around sunset or moonrise time, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite photographs taken in the past week or so. I hope you enjoy them.  Afterglow  Afterglow peacefulness  Egret at dusk  Full moon rising  Unfortunately, ugly plastic washes up among the sargassum in certain weather conditions.  Ruddy Turnstones on the dock while storms brew beyond the reef  Coastal Express water taxi loaded down with passengers  Approaching storms   Rainbow  Other side of the rainbow  Afterglow  One of my favorite views Sorry for the lack of blogging recently. It's been really hot and sunny, and we haven't done anything all that adventurous lately. We spend more time indoors hiding from the sun, but we do still ride our bikes into town most mornings to buy fresh fruits, vegetables, and a few groceries. Yesterday Maria gave us some interesting little fruits to try out. They look like tiny little round limes that are kinda dried out and past prime. I'd heard of a small round fruit called craboo that is much beloved by locals, but after reading that it stinks and doesn't taste too good if you weren't raised on it, I wasn't too keen to try it. However, after googling, I determined that these little fruits were not craboo at all -- they are genip, also known as waya. Here's the web page that confirmed their identity: San Pedro Sweet Treats: Genip/Waya. 
Genip fruit by a wedding ring for sizing
They are about the size of a grape. The thin skin is brittle, like limes gone way too dry, but easier to peel. Inside is a soft, orange fruit that is quite delicious! It tasted to this Southern gal a lot like a scuppernong grape; and like a scuppernong, you have to suck the pulp off to get the juicy flavor, which seems to have a hint of cantaloupe and maybe mango in there too. Unlike a scuppernong, there is only one large pit rather than several small seeds. 
Inside of Genip fruit
For your trouble, you don't get a whole lot of fruit from this small gem, but what you do get is so good, this has to be my favorite new fruit we've tried since moving here. If only the genip was the size of a mango! I also wanted to share a few photos from our veranda recently. With the wall-to-wall sunshine, the sea has been exceptionally turquoise, and there have been some colorful sights right outside our screen doors. It's always a pleasure to look out and see scenes like this: 
Kiteboarder -- we get quite a few of these coming by. This was the prettiest kite I'd seen.
Or this: 
Parasailer -- this is the first one I remember seeing up this way
And then of course we had the "supermoon" recently, which was stunning rising right over the Caribbean Sea out our doors. 
Early in the evening on Saturday, May 5
A couple of nights later -- not quite full but very orange and dramatic just after rising
I was busy cooking dinner, so my sunset viewing was limited to the gorgeous photos my favorite blogger (www.sanpedroscoop.com) posted on Facebook that I checked out in amazement as I was waiting to turn the fish. Turns out, Barry was outside snapping away at the same time and got some pretty dramatic sunset photos himself. It was so hard to pick just a couple of photos to showcase here that we probably went a little overboard, but each one of these made us ooh and ahh. Mother Nature surely put on a show tonight! The photos are ordered in time, from earliest to latest. Watch the colors deepen as you scroll through. No Photoshop required here; it's really this gorgeous! 
Sunset over Grand Caribe, Ambergris Caye, Belize
I think this one is my favorite - wow!
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