A Ramble from the Jungle

ARG! It can't have been a whole 6 days since my last blog! I am in blog withdrawl! Sadly I'm also in blog block (kinda like writers block but ... well... basically the same) so I will probably just ramble for awhile. It is your own fault. Only Shelda has asked any questions and I warned you I might run dry. I've also been very busy and haven't gotten around to downloading my pics for awhile so this will be another thousand words to make up for the picture I'm not showing you.

On Thursday, we decided to take the girls to Belize City for a few days. We know people here who go every weekend to get away from Hopkins and back to civilization. I don't know where in Belize City they go but we definitely didn't find much in the way of civilization. OK, not quite true. We did find the only movie theatre and bowling alley in Belize - oh, and an actual department store. Along the lines of a SAAN or Woolworths but considering where we are, that's a department store. The kids were very excited when the marquee at the theatre said Harry Potter was playing. So was I. A movie we actually wanted to see. Sadly, the marquee was just to set us up for disappointment. In reality 'Harry Potter' was meant to be read 'Invasion'. So instead of the British wizard we watched a bad remake of the invasion of the body snatchers. And, for those of you that missed the original, the fact that the remake was worse than the original says a lot! We did enjoy the bowling alley, however. It turns out it is a 10 pin alley which made life interesting, to say the least. Think of Brynn and Kori with ten+ pounds of brightly colored projectile in their hands. Alfred did a lot of turning away to laugh uproariously without hurting our feelings. Brynn did eventually knock a pin down and the ball Kori threw backward by accident didn't do any permanent damage.

We did hit the museum and that was cool! It is in the old colonial jail and includes exhibits of the jail and life therein; an exhibit of Mayan history; a pictorial history of Belize including video of the bad hurricanes in the 60's and before; and an exhibit of the bugs of Belize. Now I will know what it is called as I run screaming from it in the bush!

The best part of the whole trip by far (and possibly the best part of the entire adventure to date) was the stop we made at the zoo on the way home. It is amazing!! It is built without much impact on the environment: Just adding paths and fences. The enclosures are huge and the animals are all orphans or rescues. The animals are also all acclimated to humans so they actually come to the fence to say 'hi' when they hear you. It was especially cute when one or more of the animals in a cage were sleeping and the roommates would try to wake them up when we approached. It was like they were saying 'Wake up! We have company!' Then they would proceed to show off. The otter climbed the fence in front of us so that he could look us in the eye. The jaguar cub acted like a puppy trying to get our attention as he played and the best was the harpy eagle. Panama (the eagle) loves people. He even refuses to eat unless he is hand fed. He was a pet that was rescued but doesn't seem to hold a grudge. He was up in a tree when we got to his cage. Brynn and Kori started talking to him and he immediately flew down to get closer. (for those of you who don't know what a harpy eagle is, you should really google! They are beautiful, amazing, HUGE birds) Well, after visiting for awhile, the girls noticed that there was a viewing stand up some stairs by the cage. So they left and ran up them. Then they started talking to Panama again. He looked around for a minute or two and then flew up and grabbed the fence right in front of Brynn and Kori. It was like he was playing hide and seek. It was cute but somewhat intimidating to be inches away from talons about two inches long and sharp! The zoo is definitely worth the two hour drive and if anyone is interested, when you come, we'd love to go again!

Sorry about the lack of humor today. Blame the block! Ask questions! Comment! Inspire! And, I promise, as soon as I get to it I will download my pictures and do a total pictorial for the past couple of blogs! Love you all (well, OK all of you that I know but I'm sure the reast of you are very nice too.)