I’ve mentioned before that Belize offers a wide variety of culinary options, mostly because of the variety of different cultures and the recipes that they brought with them. Just about any food you can imagine you will find in Belize. Then again there are always the seasonal local favorites that will seem a little strange to some. We being adventurous eaters, always have to try something we’ve never had before. Below are a couple pictures of some local favorites that we just had to try. Any guess what they are?

It is not iguana, we have not tried iguana yet, but I’m sure one day we will. Speaking of iguanas, the place we stay in San Ignacio always has a lot of iguanas hanging around.

This time we were lucky enough to be up close and personal for a territorial fight between two big iguanas. This went on for quite awhile until there was one that claimed victory. After seeing these iguanas fight, you do not want to be around them, especially when they start whipping their tails. I’ve talked to a few people whose dogs have gotten a little too close and ended up with a nice cut from an iguana tail whip.

On the road heading into our property one of the lot owners is letting some of the locals farm it until they are ready to be there and build. In the past we have seen corn and peanuts being grown there. This time when we drove by there were a few farmers out there with a tarp and a pile of dried plants on it that they were beating with sticks. Of course curiosity got the best of us, so we had to stop and introduce ourselves and inquire about what they were doing. Turns out that is how they release beans from their pods.  This method seemed to be working well as there was a big pile of red beans on the tarp. I’m sure this is how they have done this for generations.

Now that we are getting ready to build, it is time to start thinking about some plants. Ruben said that he can get us some banana and plantain plants from some of the ones he has growing around his place. So along the entrance to the property we will put some on each side of the driveway as you enter. I guess bananas grow fast and will keep reproducing new plants as they grow, so we should have a good supply once they get going.

A while back Ruben had planted some coffee and some cocoa plants on his farm and he said that they are doing well. So we have commissioned him to start growing some for us in bags. Once they are about a foot tall we will plant them somewhere on our property. I have asked him to grow me 100 of each, so hopefully coffee and chocolate are in our future.

We are always amazed at all the plants we find on and around the property. This time we found some bird of paradise growing near the road by the property. This is not the Mexican or Spanish bird of paradise that you find growing in the desert, but rather the tall big leaf tropical looking one with orange and blue flowers. They just happen to be seeding so we picked about 150 seeds and planted them around some pathways that we have cut in. They should be growing everywhere soon.

I almost forgot, are you still wondering what those delicious looking dishes are? Okay… we were driving down the Western Highway and we saw a sign for Shena’s Bistro with a board out front advertising the daily specials.  Since we love stopping in little places like this we thought we’d give it a try.

The first plate of food is ox tail and the second one is armadillo. If the locals like it, then it is definitely worth trying.