As of May 1st, the government has come up with a new set of guidelines during our Covid lockdown. Our state of emergency is now in effect for another 60 days. A few more non-essential businesses are allowed to open back up. You must wear a mask anytime you leave your home or face a $5,000 fine or 2 years in jail. There is still a curfew in effect along with social distancing laws that both carry big fines. And you are still not allowed to travel outside of your district.

There are a few positive things happening here during our state of emergency. Out of the 18 total cases of the virus in Belize, there are only 3 that are still active and there has not been a new case in 19 days now.  The price of fuel has dropped $3 a gallon, but that really doesn’t matter because we can’t drive anywhere. And it looks like Belikin will not close, so beer will still be available.

In case anyone was still hoping to get down here for Lobsterfest this year, you’ll have to wait till next year. Lobsterfests in San Pedro and Placencia have been canceled for now. So I’m thinking once the season opens and we can move around the country again, we’ll make a run to the coast for an ice chest full of lobsters. Maybe we could start a new tradition… Lobsterfest in the jungle!

This is the time of year when farmers burn their old crops in preparation for the next planting. This year it has been extremely dry and very hot during our dry season and a lot of these fires have gotten out of control. The government said no more burning of any kind or you could face a  $5,000 fine and up to 2 years in jail. Yet on our trip to town the other day, we still saw people burning leaves or trash in their yard and an active fire on the roadside. At this point, there are still some big uncontrolled fires burning around Belize. It’s just so sad to see this beautiful landscape taken away by careless people.

For the past couple of weeks, we have had high temps and the air is just filled with smoke from all the fires. Some days there is ash falling all around us, and that’s had us a little concerned. So over the weekend, I rigged up a pump that can go into our 750-liter water tank. The tank can then go into the back of my truck and be filled, that along with a generator and a few hundred feet of hose will give us a portable water supply. Hopefully, we will never need to use this, but it’s better to be ready just in case.

This past weekend our little Brazilian restaurant changed hands and is now a Mexican restaurant, but I don’t expect that to last long. The good thing was that we were able to get our Margaritas and Chimichangas. The only problem was that they were out of tortillas. So Kelley jumped in and made some great flour tortillas (with lard of course). And since there was no one else at the restaurant, Kelley ended up making the whole meal while I made the margaritas, after all, it was an open bar. After dinner, the music was playing and we just couldn’t resist doing a little salsa dancing till the early morning light. Of course, once again I forgot to get pictures of us dancing, but I’m sure you can imagine it.

The garden is still doing great and it is giving us something just about every day now. Currently, we are getting kale, zucchini, chili peppers, and a few raspberries. The other day we picked our first head of Romaine lettuce, Caesar salad here we come.

The pequin peppers are also doing well. Just because they’re small (3/4″), doesn’t mean they don’t have a kick to them. These tiny peppers are very, very hot, even for me!

The Kale is doing amazing. We have constantly been harvesting kale off the same plants since November and they are showing no signs of slowing down. We finally got the dehydrator out and Kelley made a couple big batches of kale chips. She put a little olive oil, salt, and some pequin pepper dust on them and they turned out great! It’s a perfect salty, spicy snack that goes great with an ice-cold beer.

In the next month, we should start seeing tomatoes, broccoli, bell peppers, okra, peas, and cantaloupe. It seems like we are spending all of our time in the garden, but at this point what else do we have to do.

The people and the farmers in our village are wonderful. They are doing what they can to get their products out to the public.  We now have a regular market of people stopping by our gate. There is the guy with the truckload of fresh veggies, the guy across the way with pork, the kid who delivers coconut water once a week, and now a beef guy. The other night a neighbor stopped by and asked if we were interested in any beef as he will have some ready this weekend. We told him a few cuts we would be interested in and he said if not this week then the next.  This is great that we can help support our neighbors, and it keeps us from going into town. Now if we could just get beer delivered here we would never have to leave, and actually I’m working on that.

The new bird picture around here this week is the Pale-billed Woodpecker. These are really common around here and we have seen and heard quite a few of them. This is just the first time we have gotten a good close up picture one.

Last night we had an unexpected and much needed heavy rainstorm. It lasted for well over an hour and knocked out our power for a few hours. The much-needed rain really helped to put out some of the fires in and around our area. Of course, the power outage started around 5:30 so we had to readjust our dinner plans. Dinner went from a nice steak and fresh salad to whatever we could find in the cupboard. There wasn’t a whole lot in there so we settled on some mac cheese made with box milk and a can of sardines. We finished it up with a couple beers and a game of Yahtzee, all under the glow of a Coleman lantern. The gourmet meals we come up with during a power outage and a lockdown are just amazing.

That’s all my rambling for this week, be safe.