It’s that time of year again for the annual invasion of the flood flies. This usually happens in June during the first big rain of the rainy season. Millions and millions of termites take flight and then shed their wings leaving behind a huge mess. They will get into every little crack and crevasse in your home and leave a mess that you will be cleaning up for weeks.  In the past years, we’ve placed towels under the doors and even put tape along the door jams to try and keep them out. This year we were in the garage when they hit, so we just stayed there and shut the doors. After all the garage is where the beer fridge is and it just made sense. They are usually only around for a few hours, but in that small amount of time, they leave behind a huge mess. We’ve had a couple of small invasions earlier in the week, but this was the big one. Hopefully, that should be it until next year. In case you are wondering about our wood house and termites…the entire house is made out of a hardwood called Nargosta that the termites don’t seem to bother.

Darren was just here for his bi-annual visit and to check on the progress of his new jungle home. It rained almost every day he was here, but that didn’t stop us from having a good time. He did manage to tie up a bunch of loose ends at his place and the build itself should be done in a couple of weeks. Some of the cabinets are in and as soon as the rest are done it will be time for the countertops and sinks. He is also at the point where he bought a stove, refrigerator, and a couple of armoirs for the bedrooms. Soon he will need a bed, couch, tv, AC’s and he will be all set. His place is really coming along and I think he is happy with it, and I’m sure he can’t wait for it to be done.

Every time Darren comes down we do manage to sneak in a little beach time. There was a lot of rain predicted for the weekend that we were heading to the coast, but that didn’t bother us. During the nights there actually was a lot of rain, but lucky for us the days only saw cloudy skies and a few sprinkles. Which meant we were able to head over to the Placencia Beach Club and spend some time in the pool.

The Placencia Beach Club is a great place to hang out, they have a  pool with a swim-up bar, plus they also serve food. They are only open from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm. Yearly memberships are available as well as day passes. The day pass is $10Bz and that includes a towel, use of the pool, and the facilities. The day we went was Father’s Day and all fathers were free. I think the cloudy skies scared everyone away as there was only a hand full of people there. It’s a great place to cool off and spend the afternoon when you’re in Placencia.

We have a lot of different types of lizards around here, some that are only an inch or so long up to some five-foot iguanas. One of the most colorful and common ones around the yard is the Rainbow Ameiva or Barred Whiptail. When the sun hits them just right their colors really become iridescent. They have a greenish back and their sides are a turquoise blue. They get up to about a foot long and are usually pretty noisy as they walk through the leaves. Most of the time when we hear something moving through the leaves it’s a Rainbow Ameiva.

I mentioned before that there is always something new to see or discover around here, well here is something we have never seen before. The other day on the corner of the roof was what looked like a small green iguana. I stuck my hand up there to see if I could get him down and he climbed right onto my arm. After seeing him up close and looking up references, we decided that he was not an iguana like we’ve seen here before. It turns out that he was an Eastern Casquehead Iguana. He had no spines on his back and a very long tail making him at least 25″ long. After we took a bunch of pictures we set him on a plant and he went about his way. It turns out that it’s a fairly rare sighting in Belize, how cool is that!

Went to check the trail camera the other day and the last picture was taken just 15 minutes before the card was removed. The coatimundis were just there and in some of the pictures, there are 6 or 7 of them. Usually, we will see just one at a time, but last June we got pictures of around 15 or so right behind the BBQ. We’re thinking that June is when they seem to be in bigger groups and more active around our place.

In the peach tree in front of the garage, a small White-collared Seedeater has built a nest and all three eggs have hatched. The Seedeater is a very small bird that is only about 3-4″ in length, so you can imagine how tiny these baby birds really are.

It seems that our bananas ripen in waves, and lately we’ve been on top of the wave. This time it’s the small apple bananas and they are our favorites. These sweet little bananas make the best, creamiest smoothies. Especially when you add in a little honey, raspberries, pineapple, or any other fruit from the garden. Other than just eating them and making smoothies we are also dehydrating them, making banana bread, banana cookies, and giving some away. Good thing we are getting our fill now because it looks like it might be a few months before more ripen again.

We still have a constant supply of pineapples ripening which means fresh pineapple almost every day. Pineapple for breakfast and on the weekends grilled pineapple. The grilled pineapple we soak in rum, brown sugar, and a little vanilla for a few hours. After that, it goes on the grill and the leftover juice gets reduced down for a glaze. It makes for a nice after-dinner dessert. This week we needed to dehydrate nine pineapples before they went bad. Dehydrated they will last in the fridge for a few weeks or until we eat them all, and they make a great healthy sweet snack.

Like I have said before, our cacao plants are doing well and still have a lot of pods and new blossoms on the plants. Currently, we have about 20lbs. of dried cacao beans that are ready to be made into chocolate. So this past weekend Kelley and I spend the day making chocolate. It’s always fun and exciting to grow and process foods that we used to have to buy at the stores.

Fourth of July weekend in the states is a time for outdoor bbq’s and having friends over where it’s usually hot dogs and hamburgers. Belize doesn’t celebrate the 4th, maybe it has something to do with the US independence from England, but who knows. Anyway, after we lived in the states, we were in Mexico for quite a while, so we thought fish tacos would be perfect for the 4th weekend.

The airlines no longer require a recent COVID-19 test for international flights to the states. Air passengers will not need to be tested and show a negative COVID-19 test result or show documentation of recovery from COVID-19 prior to boarding a flight to the United States regardless of vaccination status. Plus masks are no longer required on flights and they are back to serving alcoholic beverages. This all makes flying to Belize a whole lot easier.

If you are considering coming down to Belize for a visit, this is a great time. Our hot months here are April and May and the cool months are December to January, the rest of the year is mild. Currently, our temps during the day are in the high 80ºs to low 90ºs down to low 70ºs and upper 60º’s at night. This is the rainy season so there is a lot of sunshine and a chance of rain daily, but usually never enough rain to ruin the whole day. Plus as of July 1st lobster season opens until the end of February. I know we’ll be hitting the coast a few times for some lobster and bringing some back up here for another “Lobster Fest In The Jungle”.

Hope to see you in Belize!