I Belize!

The day after Christmas and we're in Belize City, Belize. It is a Central American country know for its coast, dense jungles, Mayan ruins, and the Belize Barrier Reef, the second largest barrier reef system globally!  Formerly British Honduras, it gained its independence in 1981 although it remains a Commonwealth member and is the only English-speaking nation in Central America.

Today's activities centered on, first, an airboat ride through a beautiful mangrove lagoon and marsh, followed by a cooking class and lunch.  We took about a 45-minute bus ride to get to a facility named "Chukka".  The name made me think of Chukka boots when I was a kid.  Being the third of three children, I certainly got more perquisites than my brother and sister ahead of me and, surprisingly, my parents sprung for a pair of Chukka boots.  I thought I was the coolest!

Like many of the days on this trip, the sky was overcast and I had my fingers crossed that we would avoid any rain.  Our luck ran out just as we were on the airboat's furthest point from the dock.  A steady but not terribly hard rain came down on us for about 10 minutes when, suddenly, our guide on the excursion seemingly remembered that he had rain coats (yes, I had told Cheryl that the weather forecast was only a 10% chance of rain and we didn't need to bring ours).  So, we were wet, not soaked, but ended up with a raincoat for the duration of the 40 minute airboat ride.

The lagoon was first and we hoped to see manatees (but didn't).  Our guide told us that that lagoon had
held 1,000 of the beautiful creatures only a few years ago but now the population had declined to 500, largely because of poaching.  Even though they're named "sea cows", who could bear the thought of eating one of them?  We moved on to the marshy area for bird watching and he pointed out the 5 - 10 birds that were braving the weather, explaining that the past couple weeks of rain had kept the bird sightings down.  So, in the rain, with cold wind, it was a minor bust but my first time on an airboat and, overall, it was fun.

Indoors we moved to a cooking demonstration where we were taught to make Hudut, a highly popular dish from the Garifuna culture in Belize, consisting of a savory fish stew (called sere) cooked in coconut milk and served with mashed plantains (fu-fu) . . . . a Belizian matzoh ball soup with either chicken or fish included.  Ours had a nice chunk of barracuda included when it was served.

We were able to participate in the mashing of the plantains and shaving of the inside of a coconut to get grated coconut which became coconut milk as part of the recipe.  Cheryl and I deferred, at first, to allow others to participate but, heck, they didn't seem to want to so we took turns with the cooks at each stage of the game.  And, yes, the resultant product, served in my case with a Belize stout (Beliken) and an added Habanero pepper, was simply outstanding.  Cheryl skipped the pepper and had an icy, glass-bottled Coca Cola to accompany her meal.  It was delicious and a lot of fun to make it.

Tonight we return to Eastern Standard Time, regaining our lost hour from earlier in the week, just in time for our day in Cozumel, Mexico tomorrow. That's our last shore excursion and then a sail back to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday for departing for home on Monday. It's been a lot of fun and rewarding to learn about Central America, but as always, no place like home!