Bella Has a Rendezvous

[Note: This was really posted on Monday, March 19, 2012, but my computer seems to think it was posted on Sunday. Yesterday's post follows this one.]
 
Sunday morning we walked over to the Moncho's Golf Cart Rental/Coldwell-Banker Realty Building to attend church. (Multi-purpose is the name of the game here.) The service, led by Kyle Thomas, utilizes a podcast from Sagebrush Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which is, in turn, led by senior pastor Todd Cook. Kyle is a most excellent facilitator, and it's a real blessing to attend. If you want, you can check out Sagebrush at www.sagebrush.cc. (You can check out Kyle only by visiting San Pedro.)

After church, and following a lead from "www.AmbergrisCaye.com," Tom, Shelley, and I headed north on the island to check out the coconut husk grilling outdoor barbecue place located a half mile north of the bridge at the yet-to-be-developed "Pirate Villas." Our two traveling companions for the day (plus Shelley) weren't that impressed with eating outside in the noontime heat, so we continued several miles further north to local landmark "Rendezvous Restaurant."

Two things of particular interest: 
1. Rendezvous is a very dog-friendly place. I saw no heads turn nor side glances of disgust. I was as welcome as the other dogs lying on the beach. Automatically, it got my vote.

2. Head Chef Colleen Schwendinger doesn't mess around when it comes to food. WOW! Over the top! Wonderful! Tom and I shared the chicken parmesan sandwich (extraordinary) while Shelley and Cathy each had the Thai salad with shrimp dumplings which they loved. Since my tastes normally run toward raw hamburger meat, the chicken sandwich was just fine with me. And, yes, it was expensive! 

Totally Random Picture of Martine

An unexpected highlight was the live music provided by Pineapple Willy and his long-time friend Emilio Rivero, known as "Peseto." Willy's wife, Martine, was a wealth of information, the gist of it being that, after 43 years, she is very much in love with her husband and his music. That's a good thing since she's been his manager since she met him in a honkytonk in Georgia. She has already gotten us to commit to going to Crazy Canuck's on Monday night to hear Pineapple Willy again with his full band! Now, normally, I would insert a picture of Willy (real name "Karl"), but for some strange reason, probably dealing with the witness protection program, I couldn't find a single picture of "Pineapple Willy" to shamelessly copy from the Internet. Hence, I am inserting a picture of Martine. Hope you enjoy it, Martine. (Apologies to the WPP for giving away "Willy's" real name.)

Shelley and I were still hungry.

When we left Rendezvous to head home, we stopped back at the coconut husk barbecue place. Instead of using charcoal, they use--you guessed it--coconut husks for fuel, and, man, does it make for a good flavor. In fact, despite the fact that Shelley had just eaten, as soon as she got back home she stood at our kitchen counter and polished off some delicious barbecued chicken. "Unnamed Coconut Husk Grilled Barbecue Restaurant" gets rave reviews from us. We'll let you know when the restaurant gets going for real.

We spent a relaxing evening listening to the Caribbean as we sat on our front porch. (We're still tired after the whirlwind visit from Holly, Honey, Taylor, and Katelyn!)

Our front yard!

Y'all come visit. We'll try some coconut husk barbecue or some fancy French/Thai food, then lay around 'til we get hungry again! You're gonna love Belize!