Color Me... ?

Not much color is needed when these natural elements come together...

Aerial view updates of The Maine Stay and Kokomo... Belize

So, on the way back from a quick trip to Belize City, the pilot flew right over the Peninsula and the afternoon light was pretty good for some aerial shots of The Maine Stay and Kokomo. It never ceases to amaze us how the trees and landscape plants grow and grow! Oh yes... how about that beautifully newly paved Peninsula Road!

And compare those with this photo taken August 23, 2003.  

Belize - Waterfalls & Sunsets

One of our guests recently snapped the shot of the waterfall and pool at the Cockscomb Jaguar Preserve... this is a great day trip for hiking, river tubing, rock sliding and "critter" observing!

And then. of course, you can come back to Kokomo to enjoy a gorgeous lagoon sunset sitting in one of our palapa swings on the Marina boardwalk.

Belize... Name That Plant!

Ok folks... this is a "Yucca" type plant with very sharp spikes that seems to blossom every several months. It has grown to a height of 3-4 feet. Any ideas what this is?

Living & Finding Things In Belize... Resources

I presume at least a few of the readers of this blog either live here in Belize or visit enough that they know finding "things" and services that are needed for construction, or just household projects can be a struggle. Not long ago, I vowed to try to make a list of the resources I had discovered from exploration, friends and just by accident. That led to the spreadsheet that you see here (just a sample of it) and that is now available for everyone to check out and use here. I hope that folks who have additions (or corrections) to this list will contribute!

Odds & Ends, Bits 'N Pieces, Nooks & Crannies...

I guess I should get off the topic of critters and on to something else. Work really IS progressing on the Placencia Peninsula road. The trucks are rolling by every day with the fill for the section between Seine Bight and the airport. A good base is being laid, smoothed, rolled and prepped for paving. See the pics here... all between Seine Bight and the airport!

And a new multi purpose community center is being built on the site of the old basketball court at the end of the football field. The old community center was torn down to "straighten" the road in the middle of Seine Bight Village... no more "S" curve for trucks and cars to clash & crash their way through!

Also, the master suite in our house is finally getting finished up! Pics here. Just the walk in closet to finish up.

The Maine Stay Cabanas are continuously busy through the rest of this high season... and that's very nice... plus we are getting more future inquiries and bookings than ever before. Guess folks like staying in a place that doesn't look and act like a "resort."

PBS hardware seems to be on it's last legs... not adding any stock and the word on the street is you can have the whole ball of wax for a mere 1.5 million... US$, I presume. Albert Lowen's stock room is becoming quite the hardware store and MnM and Wallen's hardware are rising to the challenge. PBS has been the only Peninsula source for Belize hardwood, so it will be more of a challenge to get now. New building for the Chinese grocery (7-11) in Seine Bight is mostly built and the rumor is it will also stock hardware, electronics and appliances! The Village's version of WalMart?

Hot news... hope you weren't waiting for your breakfast! "This morning a container loaded with 22 tons of papaya left Little Belize in Orange Walk enroute to the Port of Belize. But it never made it- at least not on time because on the northern highway the container carrying the papayas overturned – causing traffic to be backed up..."
Source: Channel 7 News

Belize Heaven

Well, let's see what everyone thinks of my first video.
Music by Taliesin Orchestra... "Caribbean Blue."

Belize Update

A lot has been going on in Belize and at The Maine Stay and Kokomo, including almost 100% high season occupancy of our newly remodeled Cabanas suites… all to rave reviews from our guests.

Construction has started on another home in the Kokomo community and more than half the lots have been sold to folks who really are seeing the economic expansion of the spectacular Placencia Peninsula. A great website to see and hear the flavor of Placencia is “A Place in Belize”… put together by folks who are building a home on the Peninsula.

As I mentioned last week, the former garden palapa next to “Winnie’s House” (our residence) has gotten a new thatch roof, a new purpose and been expanded considerably and is directly attached to our house with classy new French doors. We moved all of the plant “nursery” operation to the other side of the house. Since we spend so much time outdoors, the palapa will become our living room, dining area and even have a great outdoor kitchen. It also has a rock wall “waterfall!” See the new “digs” here. And, if you're curious, you can see the construction and thatch process in these photos.

Speaking of palapas, we have added several smaller versions in The Maine Stay and Kokomo, and, we’ve added a nice new dock to our marina boardwalk. We finally found a source for the right floats and it turned out to be even better than we anticipated.

We continue to be delighted with the “Travers Zoo” collection. The dogs are wonderful (even Bowdoin, the new puppy!) and the parrots continue to amaze us with their intelligence and companionship.

Our guests in The Maine Stay Cabana Suites continue to delight us and to take some great pictures. Check out these photos by David and Karen Crellen.

I have a couple of treats in store for upcoming posts... stay tuned!

Outdoor Living in Belize

One of the huge delights about living in Belize is the way you can use the outdoors to enhance your living space. We recently completed enlarging and roofing our garden palapa. We really didn’t have any dining space in our house... so we decided to add this space, as well as an outdoor kitchen and living room area in our garden palapa. Although it took three or four months to complete, the project went smoothly and design elements seemed to fall into place as we went along. I suppose I could claim we had a grand plan, but that really wouldn’t be the truth. This is one picture of the new space and here is a link to more.