Garifuna Collective

Today's big deal, and we have quite a few big deals for a little island, is Garifuna Collective's free concert at Sundiver Beach Resort with special guests Aurelio Martinez from Honduras and Danny Michel, a gifted guitarist from Ontario, Canada. A very big deal indeed.  

Danny Michel

The "Garifuna," pronounced guh-RIFF-i-na, are descendants of Carib, Arawak, and West African people who live primarily in Central America along the Caribbean coast in Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Honduras. The musical group "Garifuna Collective," famous in the World Music genre, perform much of their work in the Garifuna language. 

Aurelio Martinez

Tons of San Pedranos are getting on water taxis and heading north about 4 1/2 miles to catch the concert. Knowing these folks, the party will last way past 11pm. 

The healing properties of hair bleach!

Yours truly is, sadly, not going to the concert since Tom and I are still on medical watch. (Faithful readers recall that Shelley took a bad fall injuring her shoulder and hand.) The good news for us, however, is a little known advance in medical science. It seems that Shelley felt good enough today, her birthday, to have her hair done, and it turns out that bleach has some kind of miraculous effect on broken bones as well as total well-being. 

She was gone for hours with her friend Lisa after the hair appointment enjoying lunch at Caramba's. Grilled shrimp, baked potato, salad, the usual. Then, on her return home, Shelley stopped at Wine De Vine, a local gourmet food provider, for their famous chili/chocolate confection. (No wine!) She went to bed at 8:30 this evening, but no screams of pain.  

A Bit of Travel Advice: If you are looking for cheap(er) flights to Belize, consider flying to Cancun or Mexico City rather than a direct flight from Houston. "Mr.B266" posted (on Trip Advisor, U.K.) the following suggestion to some of his pals:

"The cheapest flights might be to Cancun, so include Mexico in your plans. From Cancun, go to Playa del Carmen and Tulum. There are some Mayan ruins in the region if you're interested.

Then go to Belize (Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker) for sun, sea, sand, and snorkeling). Head inland to San Ignacio for rain forest adventures (ziplining, caving) and more Mayan ruins."

Here's a shout out to Christine Norton, a representative of UNICEF, who is presently on the Island talking to new mayor Danny Guerreo about improving conditions for children including education,health, and "life chances." I'm for whatever it takes.

This picture just in from Elbert on the Amergris Caye.com forum. It's a male Loggerhead sea turtle with a five foot shell, approximately 350 pounds, and more than likely older than 50 years, photographed near Sandy Point. Just beautiful. What a great place to live, huh?

Y'all come visit. We'll get our hair done and listen to world music and do some turtle watching. You're gonna love Belize!