Great food... The Maya Beach Hotel Bistro

Most Sunday mornings we head for The Maya Beach Hotel Bistro. It's our favorite restaurant any time! Just a short distance from The Maine Stay. This Sunday, my friend Eldon Mead decided to have the "Big American Breakfast."

But take a look at all the other goodies on the breakfast menu...

"Strangler Vine"

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Interesting Belize Rainforest Plants

Karen Travers

The ‘Strangler Fig (or Vine)’ starts out as an epiphyte seed that germinates in a tree. It is actually a “Ficus”, the same family of tress as the ‘Weeping Fig’.

Rather than growing its own huge trunk, it “cheats” by growing from the top down, slithering its roots from high in the tree down to the ground.

As the vine grows it gently encircles the tree with green growth. Once rooted in the ground, the vine expands its web. It thickens and flattens against the tree trunk.

Eventually the roots completely encircle the trunk and begin to fuse; above in the canopy the fig is shading out the host tree's leaves.  The host tree sickens and dies, and eventually decomposes.  This leaves the strangler fig standing tall, its fused roots forming a hollow trunk as tall as the original tree. While merely a shell, it is strong enough to stand. The whole process takes a long time – maybe a century and a half.

 

Once the tree decomposes, the remaining structure is an intricate network filled with cavities. This is the Strangler Vine ‘stand’ we just obtained, with an antique Mahogany bowl that just fits on the top. These shallow scooped bowls were used for kneading bread.

                       

Morning Dew in Belize

Taking photos of the huge variety of gorgeous flowers on our property is so delightful! 

The Barefoot Bar

One of the many places we love to eat on the Placencia Peninsula is the Barefoot Bar. We usually go at lunch, but they have a great dinner menu as well. Very extensive menu and reasonable prices. Great drinks!

Wonderful and colorful signs and tables...

Karen (R) and my sister from San Diego

Barefoot is right on the Placencia main road and has fantastic decor!

Kokomouse!

Introducing the new Mascot of Kokomo and The Maine Stay... it's Kokomouse!

Karen found this photo surfing... I'm working on a Kokomouse road crossing sign. 

Can't be one-upped in that department!

Orchids...

Orchid at Maya Beach Hotel

Just the other day I noticed this gorgeous orchid at the Maya Beach Hotel. I have heard for many years that Belize has more varieties of orchids than any other country. Not sure of the accuracy of that claim, but there is no doubt that the abundance and variety is very great. 

Those of you wanting to explore Belize and see these, might find this book valuable.

A Guide to the Orchids of Belize

Author: Brendan Sayers and Brett Adams

Paperback - 152 pages

1st Edition - June 2009

ISBN: 978-976-816-132-1

This definitive illustrated guide to the orchids of Belize was published by Cubola for the Belize Botanic Gardens. The garden was established in 1997 and its mission is “to protect the floral biodiversity of Belize and to serve as an information resource for the local and international community, government, industry and the scientific community.”

Yoga...

Many of our guests enjoy the solitude and peace of our 100 foot pier and Palapa in the early morning for a Yoga session. There are also several yoga groups.

Click for more photos

More TMS 3 Photos...

The Maine Stay 3 - Completed!

Well... it was almost like the "move that bus" silliness on HGTV as we finished up just before the first guests arrived. It's really done though and our new arrivals seem delighted! More photos.

Lola's Art... How Can You Resist?

Every time I glance at these great pieces of Lola art on our wall, I think back to our first visit to her Gallery in Seine Bight. These are each signed "Lola 2001" and are very special for us... since this was during the time we had just purchased our property and just finished "our" new Cabana (now TMS 1) to spend our vacations. You can see a lot more of Lola's art in her Facebook gallery page.

Clock Vine...

I have shown examples of the Clock Vine (Thunbergia grandiflora) flower before. This one caught my eye as I walked by the shop. Karen loves this plant... and for good reason. It blooms profusely and just about constantly in this environment. She has planted it on the long fence bordering The Maine Stay. And as we add lighting to the fence bordering Kokomo, I suspect it will get planted there as well.

This One Will Become A Classic...

By: Jorge Rojas Moya

It's All In Your Perspective...

As I was checking on the final construction details on our new Cabana, I snapped a few shots of the guys working. Here, Alejandro is working on some bedside tables in the front yard of the Cabana. I hope he steals a look occasionally.

An America Legend and Icon...

The Maine Stay Cabana Project

As we wind down on the newest construction project... 

Temporary Workshop for the New Cabana Under Construction

Temporary Workshop for the New Cabana Under Construction

Temporary Workshop for the New Cabana Under Construction

Front Porch & Deck of New Cabana

Front Porch & Deck of New Cabana

Front Porch & Deck of New Cabana

CHANNEL 7 NEWS...

President Carter Laments The Loss Of Price  

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And tonight, the tributes to Mr. Price continue to pour in from local and international organizations.Just before 6:00, we received one from Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and The Carter Center. It calls Price the founding father of Belize and says, quote, "His humble personality belied the stature of his statesmanship. His courage, wisdom, and good humor were a gift not only to Belize but to all of the Americas." End quote.
Very high praise, indeed, and Price's passing has stirred high praise in all those who knew him.Yesterday we spoke to two of his disciples and his biographer for a greater insight into Price's political life:
Jules Vasquez Reporting
Who would ever think in the early 1930's that these spindly legs of the boy scout named George Price would someday carry an entire nation forward and beget a national hero?
Certainly not his mother, Irene from Yo Creek, seen here in a photo from the 1920's as she posed with her first son. But her third child grew into a great man.
Rt. Hon. George Price"Thank you, thank you, thank you to all. The honor is also for the many who have been loyal and are still loyal to the peaceful, constructive, Belizean revolution."
Price always stayed on message, the peaceful constructive revolution, and social justice were his credos:
John Saldivar - PUP Standard Bearer"That was his lasting legacy, the whole concept of social justice, which basically means that there's nobody who's going to be left behind. No matter where you're from, no matter how remote the location that you live in, or how depraved the environment that you are coming out - your circumstance in terms of your economic position - he believed that representation was for everyone."
Godfrey Smith, Price Biographer
"In two words, social justice, I think anyone who worked with Price, or knew Mr. Price, knew that he stood for social justice. So while he avidly foreign direct investment, while he firmly and unflinchingly believe that solution to Belize's economic problems lay in foreign direct investment, at the same time, that was back by his belief that while one sought develop the country through FDI, the government was there to ensure that social justice was their for the benefit of the people."
And for him, the people were paramount, Price toured the country in his famous Blue landrover, Fording rivers and through remote villages, and from there, by foot, or even sailing down a river, never losing the common touch:
John Saldivar - PUP Standard Bearer
"Part of the DNA of a People's United Party politician is getting down, meeting his people, understanding you cannot represent a person that you don't know. You have to know them, and you don't want to know them from their fence. You want to know them from their kitchen. When you're in the kitchen, you're family. That's Mr. Price's philosophy in getting out and meeting the people. He did not care too much to be on the outside. He wanted to be on the inside, to see how they are living, how they were eating, how they were getting along."
Bill Lindo"You see he always had a very simple thing, this thing about social engineering is about not that the rich shall have more, but that they poor shall have. The rich are always rich. He always used to tell me, he said, 'Look, a man wants a house. Everybody is a human being, they're made in the image of God. They have a right to a home.'"
And while those ideals may not have been fully realized - in fact they may have been unrealizable - according to his biographer, the genesis of Price's nationalist ideology is still somewhat of a mystery - did it come from deep reflection? Inspiration? His biographer says it was not from his education:
Godfrey Smith - Price Biographer"There was nothing academic - no individual figure - that exercised so great an influence on Price, that he said, 'Aha! I want to be a politician. I want to engage in the struggle against the British, to lead the country to self-government and independence. I suppose that all that I am left with is the sense that he was living at a particular time when the needs were so obvious. The dire straits of the country, economically, were so bad, that he felt he had to do something about it. And I can't determine, or pinpoint what actual combination of factors core-less to impact him into action, but certainly, he had a desire to be useful in a practical to people and to his country."
And more than just practical, he was heroic and all agree, visionary; he saw nationalism beyond the horizon.
John Saldivar - PUP Standard Bearer
"Where else in the world, I mean this is our George Washington. This is our Norman Manley. This is our Cipriani and Buzz Butler. He is the founder of our nation, and certainly, I am very much pleased that across the political divide, that we've all come to appreciate this today, because the out-pouring of love and condolence has been immense. And certainly this loss will be felt, but he will never leave. As long as there is a Belize, there is George Price."
Godfrey Smith - Price Biographer
"I remember reading some papers in the Caribbean - there was a moment in the struggle, when Price was considered the most vehemently anti-British, and the most aggressive nationalist leader, throughout the Caribbean. That has been documented by Jamaica Gleaner newspaper and others in the Caribbean. So he had courage, and he had conviction and determination. And making these descriptions, they sound bland; they sound ordinary. We throw them about everyday, perhaps undeservingly. In Price, however, they stick because he actually embodied these traits. This is not to say that the man was perfect, or a saint. He had obviously serious flaws, and he had serious weaknesses. It is my view, however, that his strengths, looked at from a macro-level, towered over his weaknesses, and made his weaknesses seem vanishingly small."
Smith's biography of George Price - which will be the first authorized biography of the national hero - is set for publication before the end of the year.
And for more of the official tributes which have come for Mr. Price - you can see them at 7newsbelize.com when we post tonight's news...