Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

Usually when we travel, we just get some fruit for breakfast and eat a small snack for lunch. We almost always split meals too. We don’t eat out too much at home, but we do when we travel, at least for our main meal of the day. There were a couple of times we ate leftovers from previous meals. It helped that we had a microwave and refrigerator in our unit too.

One of the places we ventured into was called 303 Belize. The owner is an ex-Coloradan, who ironically sat next to us on our flight home too. He was going back to Colorado for a vacation to visit with family. 303 is one of the main Colorado/Denver area codes. Again, we dined with a nice ocean front view and memoralbia from home. We met so many Coloradans on this trip.

Old skis were creatively repurposed.

So were old scuba tanks. The owner, Jim I believe, said he moved to Belize for the diving, but he doesn’t get to dive nearly as much as he wants to. I know that feeling. 🙂

Again, we ordered more ceviche. Every place makes their own style, with their own unique personality. We also ordered a salad and some fish. NO, we didn’t eat everything, but we did split it all. 🙂 Once again, everything was fresh and delicious too.

Life is delicious. Enjoy every bit. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

On one of our non-diving days, we filled part of our day by taking a food tour of Belize. It is the same exact tour we took three years ago, and went to the same places, but it was still deliciously fun. It is a walking tour that takes place in Downtown San Pedro. All the places we went to are owned and operated by local Belizian families.

Our tour guide was Norma. We met at the local town square, then walked to our destinations from there.

Our first stop was at Briana’s for some traditional rice & beans and stewed chicken.

From Briana’s, we went into Saul’s Cigars and Coffee House to sample some rum creams and learn about the cigar making process.

Saul is pouring his very tasty rum creams for us to sample. Ironically, this gentleman and his wife in the background took this same tour with us 3 years ago too. Small world. 🙂

These are the rum creams we sampled. One was a coffee flavored cream, another was coconut flavored and the third was chocolate. I liked both the coffee and the coconut best, probably in that order too.

Learning about the cigar making process in the other room.

Our next stop was El Fogon, which means the hearth or fireplace. In this case, it meant, cooked over an open fire.

Here we enjoyed some refreshing rum punch along with some salbutes and conch fritters.

After finishing at El Fogon, we moved on to The Fry Jack House. Fry jacks are like sopapillas and can be topped with anything from sweet to savory. Larry and I had stopped in on one of our diving days too, after diving, but we ordered something different.

When we went on our own, we split a fried fish fry jack and a Nutella fry jack.

When we went with the tour, we had a fry jack topped with honey and powdered sugar and a chicken fry jack. All are very good.

Our last stop was at the Belize Chocolate Company. We also went back a couple of days later for a Belizan/Mayan chocolate making class, but more on that later.

The group picture for this year. It was a deliciously fun tour. We liked it so much that we went back and did it again. We have now done this tour twice. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well, and “live, love, eat”. ‘Til next time.

Whenever we travel to the Caribbean, or any other place known for its fresh seafood, we eat as much fresh seafood as we can while there. This trip was no different. We ate a lot of fresh seafood and a lot of fresh ceviche. If we can dine with an oceanfront view, even better. This was one of our beach front finds.

They had a swing on their deck that we had fun with until our food arrived.

Of course we ordered ceviche. This time we ordered octopus ceviche.

Then we ordered a couple of other seafood dishes as well. I ordered something with shrimp, that looked very much like the ceviche dish, unbeknownst to me at the time of ordering. But it was all delicious.

Larry ordered snapper.

As Wolfgang Puck always used to say, “live, love, eat”, and that we do too. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

The whole purpose of our trip to Belize was to DIVE!!!! And Yes, I did get to dive 4 days, and as expected, the diving was GREAT! However, due to high winds that closed the channel, I couldn’t dive as much as I wanted to. 😦 On the days I did dive, I saw everything I was expecting to see.

We saw lots of nurse sharks, especially at Hol Chan, an area where they swarm because the fisherman have been feeding them there for years. Hol Chan is now a protected marine park. All the marine life is protected by law and no one is allowed to fish those waters. Divers call nurse sharks “the puppies of the sea”. They are curious, friendly sharks. They even like to have their bellies rubbed like dogs do.

We saw black tip reef sharks. Black tips are also curious, non-aggressive sharks. They look way more intimidating than they really are.

We saw hawksbill turtles. The average lifespan of the hawksbill is between 50-80 years, but some live to over 100 years old.

We saw large green moray eels. Again, green morays look scary, and they can bite if they feel threatened, but they are not usually aggressive. Just like with anything, if you leave them alone, they will leave you alone.

We saw a few spotted eagle rays and a lot of southern stingrays.

And of course, we saw a lot of other tropical reef fish found in all the Caribbean waters. The only thing that I noticed different were the toadfish. We see splendid toadfish in Cozumel all the time, but they are a different color than the ones in Belize.

This one is what we see in Cozumel.

These are what we saw in Belize.

So even though we see a lot of the same marine life, there are differences too.

No. None of these pictures are mine. We have ruined so many underwater cameras. We think because we live at a high and dry altitude, and when we store the cameras, the O-rings dry out, but we forget about it until it is too late. So when we take the cameras underwater, they flood. Even after as many dives as we have, from all over the world, we still have a lot to learn. 🙂

This is what we saw underwater in Belize. This is why we continue to keep going back there.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

We saw so many iguanas, of all sizes, all over the place. Before leaving to catch our dive boat, there were a whole bunch of iguanas on the rocks. We also had a few that called our deck home too, and visited with us everyday.

Iguanas were on almost every rock here.

Look. He’s smiling at the camera.

Iguanas, and reptiles in general, are NOT my favorite, but as you know, I will take pictures of anything and everything I see, and we saw LOTS of iguanas. We even saw a large crocodile. All the marsh/swampy areas are full of crocodiles, but we only saw one, off in the distance. He was a big boy too. I’m glad he was a ways away. I think we saw a few more as well, but I only got pictures of one.

Look at his BIG teeth!!!!! He was lying in wait behind some bushes. I don’t mind seeing them at a safe distance, but I like the ones that don’t run so fast, like the wooden ones at our resort, when up close.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe, don’t get too close to the crocodiles, and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Travel days are necessary evils if you like to travel. They are long, frustrating and very taxing and tiring. But until we can transport people from place to place like they did in Star Trek, there is no other alternative.

After a long travel day, we finally ended up at our resort, Captain Morgan’s. To get there, we flew directly from DIA to Belize City. Once in Belize City, we took a cab to the ferry terminal that would take us over to Ambergris Caye. Then we had to get our golf cart and drive to our resort, at the northern part of the caye. By the time we arrived, the people at the reception area were just about ready to lock up for the evening, but we made it in time and got settled into our home away from home for the week. We had a nice, comfortable little studio apartment. Our unit was where the golf carts are parked, right on the first floor.

After getting settled in, we went to the restaurant. We always like to check out all the local varieties of ceviche when we travel to tropical places, and the front desk told us we could get some at the restaurant. It wasn’t on the menu, however, the chef prepared us some delicious shrimp and octopus ceviche that hit the spot perfectly, especially when served alongside the complimentary rum punch.

At was a long day, but we made it, safe and sound. Now, let the adventures begin. 🙂

We’re back home from Belize. We got home Saturday evening and hit the ground running, as I always do. Of course there was laundry and shopping that had to be done. I have also edited all of our pictures already (I didn’t take nearly as many as I usually do), and now I am tackling all the “bazillions” of emails I received while gone. I have made quite a dent, but I still have about 3000 left to weed through.

We went to Belize for diving. The diving in Belize is great, if you can do it. Unfortunately however, I could not dive as much as I wanted to due to high winds that closed the channel for a few days. But we made the most of it, and still had a good time. We always do. 🙂

One of my fellow divers took this picture of me making friends with a large grouper. I was telling the group about a black tip reef shark coming in.

We have now been to Belize 3 times, and have seen most of the island, both from above and below. We toured the island again, going all the way North, as far as we could, heading up towards Mexico, and then back down south, as far as we could go too.

The road north, heading towards Mexico.

We took the same food tour we took the last time we were in Belize, 3 years ago, and ironically, there was another couple who took the same same tour with us both times too. After we were talking, the husband pulled up a picture of me from the last tour we all took together. It’s a small world after all. 🙂 We even took a chocolate making class. I will go into more details of all of our adventures later.

We had a very good time, even though I didn’t dive as much as I would have liked, but it is always good to come back home too. I can never stay away for too long. I miss my fur babies too much, and vice versa. 🙂

Greetings from Belize.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay tuned. I have a lot of fun adventures to share. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It’s a day of remembrance, reflection, and grief, rather than a holiday of celebration. The holiday’s origins trace back to the aftermath of the Civil War, when citizens began decorating graves with flowers and placing flags.

Thank you to all who paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect our country and our freedoms. We are forever in your debt.

I have lived in Colorado for over 25 years, and had never been to the Wild Animal Sanctuary until just a couple of weeks ago. Now I have already been twice. 🙂 The Wild Animal Sanctuary

Janet and I went this time, while Larry was at work. We got there earlier in the morning, and many of the animals were wide awake and very active. It was also breakfast time. We saw bears running and playing around. We saw foxes and wolves on the prowl. We saw the black leopard parading around and we heard the lions roar. Yet again, it was a fabulous experience for both of us. I’m sure I will be back again before too long. 🙂

We saw lots of foxes running all around too. I love these silver and gray foxes. Last time, both the foxes and wolves were all sleeping.

A coyote hiding in the brush. There were at least 5 or 6 coyotes in the pen, but they were all resting under the trees, and I couldn’t get good shots of them.

A mama bear playing with her cub.

Just more bears horsing around.

I love the tigers and big cats in general.

These two kings were protecting their kingdoms. They were quite vocal about it too.

They were protecting their kingdoms until it was nap time that is.

Maybe this is the regal sleeping position. 🙂

The tigers like this position too.

Even the birds were enjoying themselves. This is a Western Kingbird.

I didn’t take nearly as many pictures this time as I did the first time. Some of the animals were close by and others were way off in the distance. But we still thoroughly enjoyed our visit with them, all the same. 🙂

We are back to Belize, for more diving of course. We leave tomorrow morning. So once again, I will be off the grid and out of touch. I will tell you all about our trip once we get back. But for now, I am bound for Belize. 🙂