The Shower

The shower...I love the shower!!

Caves Branch

Hello Everyone! We are back form our little get away. What a wonderful time we had!! So I have a lot to share and a lot of photos so I will try to post them over the next few days as I find time. So lets start at the beginning. We stayed at Ian Anderson's Caves Branch Adventure Co. and Jungle Lodge. (cavesbranch.com) The first night we stayed in a tree house. The last two nights were in a suite. They even have a bunk house so there is a wide variety of prices.
Here we go:

The truck we useTop of the steps facing the drive way

The Jungle Lodge

The BarThe Dining RoomLunchBeautiful plants everywhere!Its the dry season, the Caves Branch River is dry! Once the rain starts here in the next week, the big wave of water will come!They say someone will try to run ahead of it, like the running of the bulls. The owners will blow a horn and everyone will come to watch it!A tree House tucked in the jungleComing down into our houseFrom the front door is the "living room" that can sleep 4A look up the steps to the king size bedLooking out the screen windows. The birds and bugs make noise all night. No AC, just fans. It was so nice!The bathroom. Toilet on the other side of this wallA tree growing threw the large showerThis is leaving the sitting room and looking at the outdoor showerThe water fills the bucket that has holes in the bottom. They have cold water and "warm". No waters like back at home. I believe the sun heats the water. It was HOT!Beautiful viewNight 2 and 3 were here in the Suite 8. Very in the jungleFrom the front door looking back to the bedroom. That is the door to the bathroom. It has indoor pluming...shower, sink etc.The front sitting roomThe bed roomLooking forward. Notice the bathroom wall is all open air. The only electricity in this room was for the big ceiling fan. So there are oil laps to light the room. They are remodeling the rooms this summer.

Its about an hour drive to Caves Branch for our place in Hopkins. SO its a great little get away and a great place to put on you list to stay if you are looking for GREAT ADVENTURES Day trips!

So that is posting 1 of our adventures. To come will be Horseback riding, tortilla making, Guatemala and Tikal the Mayan Ruins.

Mayan Art

Thought you all would like to see the new art that is in the hall near our apartment. It is Mayan art. The man who made started on Thursday and was finished yesterday. There is another tall wall being done as well. I'll get photos once it gets started.

Should I tell the honeymooners that its the Mayan God of Fertility? ;-) tee hee heee...

We are off to the Tree House in the morning. It is Labor Day here in Belize on Monday.

Lots of love!

~V and P

Denise- This is for you!

This is a couple from MN that came into the Spa yesterday. They "sent" by Denise who is a former student of mine and excellent Massage Therapist! Thanks Denise!!

One Year!

It has been a full year since Phil and I said "I DO!" Wow! And what a year it has been!

We went out for breakfast at Hamanais, two resorts to our north. Its very beautiful and has some of the best dinners on the resort strip. So here are a few photos.

We leave on Sunday for 3 nights at Caves Branch. It is a tree house resort on the way to Belmopan. We hope to go to a Mayan rune sight i Guatemala while we are staying there. We will keep you all posted.

It is so hot right now as it is summer here. It is still, and no breeze the past 4 days which makes the bugs very bad! You look out over the sea and all you see is haze... Be outside for more than 10 minutes and you are wet with sweat.

The resort is filled with Honeymooners! The Spa is very busy as well! I am looking forward to getting "out of Dodge" on Sunday!

Much Love!

For the Drift Wood Lovers in our lives.....

OK.... so I guess you cant turn the camera when you are filming.... Sorry about that.

This blog is dedicated to the drift wood lovers we love.

Phil and I went down the beach yesterday and shot some photos of things we saw. Here is a great shot looking down the beach. Our beach is raked each morning. Seethe little piles of weeds. You all will love it when you come to visit us!

Doesn't Phil look Great!!

He met with our local nurse who will be getting his prescriptions...the appointment was $10 blz. ($5 us). We will let you know what the cost of his meds are when we get them....

I love the waves that roll up on the shore.... you can see the disappearing foot prints.

We thought this was coral, but is soft like a weed....

These guys (and see there is a Mama, Papa and a baby) are cane roots.

Time and a half

I thought this was interesting so I though I would pass it on.

In Belize there are holidays that pay time and a half and 3 holidays that pay double time.
Now in the US of A that means if you make $5 and hour you make $7.50 or $10 an hour...Right?

Well, in Belize time and a half and double time mean this:
You get your regular pay of the day (say $3 an hour for an 8 hour day= $24 a day) PLUS Time and a half for each hour worked. (Another $4.50 and hour for an 8 hour day= an additional $36 a day to equal $60 a day!!) So to us that would be double and a half time.

So double time is first your daily wage PLUS Double time for each hour worked....yep that is triple time to us!

Also, if you are schedule the day before and the day after a holiday, but are off on the holiday, you have to be paid a regular days pay for the holiday.

Keep in mind, a good paying desk job pays $30Blz a day. ($15 US)

That is today's tid-bit.