Two Weekends in Belize

There are many fun things to do and beautiful places to go in Belize.  After four months of living here we finally got to see a little of the beauty that can be found here.

On Jan. 11, 2014 some friends of ours from Fountain of Life Church got married and we did some photography for them.  We didn't know when we volunteered to shoot the wedding that it was going to be in Placencia.  That, it turns out was kind of a bonus and a really good excuse to travel around Belize.  Placencia is on the Carribean and about a three hour drive from Blackman Eddy.  It really isn't that far, but the roads are so bad that it just takes a long time when you are playing "Dodge the Pot Hole" most of the way there.

Placencia is a very interesting mix of extreme wealth and evident poverty.  The mansions and resorts that you can see from the road were extravagant to say the least.  One resort had a gate which  had a fountain running down it and at night there were flames just in front that lit up the water.  I thought that if my Grandma Blackwell was still alive she would stay at that one.  But, you know that we did not stay at that one or any other one that was even close.  Dennis and I stayed at The Manatee Inn.  It was the cheapest we could find.  

The Manatee Inn in Placencia, Belize.

We had an upstairs corner room which was fine because we were the only ones in the building anyway.  Even the owners were gone for the weekend.  I think that was a good thing because you can see through the walls and I'm sure that it would have been weird to have people walking by the room in the middle of the night.  As it turned out it was a quiet place to stay and we were blessed with cool weather.  In the picture above, I am facing toward the ocean but you can't see it because there are two rows of houses in the way.  There is a wonderfull sidewalk that goes on for quite a while between the houses, inns, and shops that brings you down to the main dock.  Sunday morning we went for a walk and had good coffee and pasteries!  The whole trip was worth that couple of hours.  

Sunday morning was our first walk on a Carribean Beach.  

Many "beach people" have a rule that you must touch the water whenever you are at the beach.  I can
say that I have touched the Carribean.

Another good Dennis picture.

On the dock in Placencia.  A very nicely designed dock and quite pretty.

On the way home we stopped to explore.   That bridge has about 2 feet of space on each side of the car.  It could
have been a walking bridge.  There is about four of them on the way.  Another unknown rule, whenever
one stops at a creek to just look around, you must bring home a rock.  I got one for Tony, my brother.

The wedding was for Darrell and Kayla.  He comes from a Mennonite family and she is from the states.  The ceremony was on the beach at The Mission Resort.  There was about two hundred people and the food was made by Darrell's family.  Mennonite food is very, very good.

This guy was in charge of the pier.  He even did a little
photo-bomb fly-by in the middle of the wedding.

We were amazed at how wonderful the lighting was on
the beach, even after the sun went down.  It was a great wedding!

The next weekend we went to Black Rock.  Marvin and Emily said they would show us where Marvin gets his carving slate.  They originally lived in Buena Vista but recently moved to her parents home in Succotz.  Succotz is the village across the river from Xiunantunich. (The really big Mayan ruin that we have visited with our mission team last year.)  We met them by the ferry but we didn't go across.  We went down the road a few miles and ended up driving down a gravel road into the mountains.  Of course the road was rough but the journey was worth it.

A waterfall on the side of the road.

The water was beautiful.  Off to the side was a part
of the falls that came bubbling up from underneath the rocks.
Belize has many underground waterways.

This is Marvin's digging spot.  He climbs up the hillside and digs out
the slate that he later carves.  This slate is all over the place.  We would pay
a good amount at Lowe's for this stuff.

This creek was lined with a calcium deposit of some sort.  The entire creek, all the way to
the river was like this.  The water here has heavy amounts of mineral deposits in it.  It's
not a good idea to drink it very often.

I love this picture.  Can't you imagine little fairies jumping from one to the other.
Now come on, have a little imagination here!

Marvin, Emily and the three boys.  The oldest
one is named Alvin but I can't remember the other two.

This is Alvin in deep contemplation.  Of course he went across it!

Yeah, he is biting his foot...because he can.

You can actually see the butterflies eye in this.  There is also
an ant looking up at the butterfly.

I make it a habit to get a picture of Dennis taking pictures.  You would
never know he's around otherwise, he is always on the
other side of the camera.

The trusty Bronco!  On the other side is an autograph from
one of the Buena Vista kids.  It says Justin Galindo.

This flower is actually about an inch across.

Marvin calls this Deer Hoof and Emily calls it Butterfly wings.
They grew up in different villages.

This is where the water is coming up from underground.

Marvin and his family.

This was a special treat for the boys.  They don't leave the
village very often.

Cool picture of the Bronco.

Notice the Blues Clues shirt.

Yes, he actually fell asleep leaning like this.  He didn't even wake up when I took the picture.
I really like this picture.  And, no he is not wearing a seat belt.

At the end of the day we dropped them back off at Emily's families house.  This is her dad.
The words are Mayan for Place of Flowers.
This is just across the street from the ferry to Xiunantuniche.

We had a wonderful day with Marvin and his family.  He is a good guy who is trying to be the best father and husband to his family.  We felt like grandparents.  We look forward to more time spent with them.

Even with all this going on I still am missing my family back home.  We love you guys and hope to be home for a visit soon.

Love you guys!