It’s already July, and here in Belize, that means lobster season opens and it’s time for Lobsterfest! Belize has three main Lobsterfest celebrations which usually last a long weekend. The oldest one being on the island of Caye Caulker which started in 1994  as a way to celebrate the beginning of the season. The longest celebration, which started in 2007, is in San Pedro which usually goes on for more than a week. And then there is the one in Placencia, which started in 1997, as a way for the town to raise money in the slower summer season. It doesn’t matter which one you choose, as they all have their own separate vibe. But, one thing they do have in common is lobster, beer, live music, dancing, local art and the promise of a good time.

We have been to a few Lobsterfests in Belize and this year we were headed to Placencia for the festival. Ron and Rhonda were going to be there to check on the construction of their new house, plus some other friends Steve and Denise were down from the States for a first-time visit to Belize.

The first morning in Placencia, we started off with lobster omelets all smothered with cheese and served with a side of fry jacks. Of course, with it being Lobsterfest, every restaurant had its own special dishes that included lobster. A lot of the restaurants were actually closed for the weekend so that they could set up a makeshift kitchen over at Lobsterfest.

Once we worked our way over to Lobsterfest there were all kinds of food booths set up cooking lobster, just about any way you could imagine. Of course, everyone had whole lobsters on the grill, but there were also jerked lobster, lobster egg rolls, lobster kabobs, lobster fritters, ceviche and so much more. The one thing we noticed was the size of the lobsters this year, some of them were huge!

Besides all the food there were also all kinds of artists there showcasing their work. There were vendors with paintings, wood carvings, jewelry, etc., something for everyone. One of the wood carvers even had a giant carved wooded bottle of Belikin beer, but when I asked him how much, he didn’t want to give me a price.

Of course, there were beer tents everywhere and lots of music. One of our favorites was the group playing the steel drums. It’s amazing how effortless they make it look even when they are playing one with each hand. Our least favorite was probably the loud, live music and DJ’s till 5:00 am, but that’s probably just because we are not as young as we use to be.

Below is the special lobster menu from one of our favorite beachfront bars. They really know how to showcase the lobster. If you are planning on visiting Belize and are hoping to eat or even catch your own lobster, remember that the season runs from July to the end of February. Otherwise…No Lobster For You!

After Lobsterfest, Steve & Denise still had some more beach time in Placencia before they headed up to our place for a few days. Unfortunately, when they got here we had a couple days of rain, so that stopped them from seeing some of the natural beauty around here such as caves, waterfalls, Mayan ruins, and other things. Still, that didn’t stop us from having a good time, we took them to a few of our favorite restaurants and bars to hang out and to meet some of our friends. We invited a few friends over for a BBQ and even ordered in pizza one night. That’s right, I said ordered pizza.

There is a guy close to us that is a pizza chef at one of the restaurants in town. He recently built his own pizza oven at his house and is delivering pizzas on Sundays. Whoever thought we could be sitting in the jungle and have wood-fired pizza delivered to us? It wasn’t too long ago that we didn’t have water, electricity, internet, or even a decent road to our place, and now we can get pizza delivered with just one call. I can’t wait for football season to start up and be sitting in the garage on a Sunday, watching the game with a cold beer and then ordering up a pizza.

Now that we got the critters to stop eating the pineapples, they are ripening quickly. They are all nice big and juicy pineapples, but the ones that are growing more in the shade close to the house are a lot smaller. I’m calling these personal pineapples, you could almost just peel it and eat it as you would an apple. Or you could core it out and make mini virgin pina colada for the kids. Either way, it sure is a cute little pineapple.

We had more apple bananas ready recently. We ate what we could, dehydrated a bunch, and made some more nice cream. This time we added chocolate and some caramel to the banana nice cream. Down here it’s hard to find caramel syrup or little squares etc. For the most part, it comes in a can. The cans just have a white label on them that says caramel, and that’s it. I guess when you boil a can of sweetened condensed milk for a couple of hours it turns into caramel, who knew? I was really surprised when we opened that plain white label can and it was full of great caramel. I assume there’s someone here that is turning sweetened condensed milk into caramel, re-labeling it, and getting it into the stores.

If you have been looking at our Facebook page for Wicked Toucan you know we have been making and selling all kinds of meats. Our breakfast sausage is a big hit down here, and we have always offered it in patties. Well, recently we decided that we should also offer it in links, so now there is an option, patties or links.

Back when we first started setting up areas around the yard, we arranged some downed tree logs to form a small area where we could plant flower or herb seeds. Well, the wood finally rotted away, so we decided to make it a little more attractive than just some logs that would eventually rot. It’s just some cinder blocks we painted and some fence poles, nothing too elaborate.  But, once we get some colorful wildflowers growing in there it should look pretty good.

I’ve mentioned before that we have a lot of different types of orchids around here. We have a few Catasetum Integerrimum Orchids, which are some of the larger ones that will bloom once or twice a year. When they do bloom they attract the Belted Orchid Bee, which is about an inch long, yellow and jet black. The only time we see these bees is when this orchid blooms. From what I could find out, the male bees are attracted to certain orchids not to gather nectar, which these orchids don’t possess, but rather to collect fragrant compounds which are then used to attract the female bees. The male and female bees will visit other flowers to obtain the nectar that they need, but we’ve only ever seen them on this one orchid.

The peppers and tomatoes are all done down on our other lot, and the corn is just about ready for harvest. In the next day or so the soil will be tilled up again and ready to plant. Ruben has thousands of seedlings that are already a few inches tall and ready to go in the ground. I’m not sure what all he has planted, but I do know he is planting more green chilis. Whatever it is, we will have more fresh veggies in a few months.

That’s about what’s happening down here this July. Hope everyone is having a great summer and maybe we’ll see you soon.