Happy Christmas and New Year´s to everyone!
We´ve been hanging out with the beautiful family that I lived with many
years ago in Honduras when I was 18. It's been great to see everyone
again and to catch up on so many years. Both of my host sisters are now
married, one with a little baby, the parents just as lovely as years
ago, the little host cousins now going to Uni and grown up and the
grandparents are still well and attending fiestas at 87 years old! They
have all been so generous and hospitable and have enjoyed getting to
know Giovanni, tasting and learning his Italian recipes and helping him
learn Spanish, including naughty words! On our way to Honduras, we
passed through Belize, which is a former British colony and very
different from the rest of Central America, as English is the national
language, spoken with a creole accent which sounds a little Jamaican.
Very interesting......hard for Giovanni to understand, but I loved it!
It is also famous for a beautiful corral reef but it was raining pretty
much every day of our time there, unfortunately so we didn't see
much...but we did have an amazing cultural experience with the Garifuna
people. This is an originally West African population who travelled to
an island called St, Vincent, near Jamaica in the 1200´s looking for a
better life and then when the British tried to enslave them they escaped
to the coast of Honduras and then over the years moved south to
Nicaragua and north to Belize. They always live along the coast and have
a big fishing culture, their food is made with coconut milk and fish
and they have kept up a very strong dance and drum culture...this is the
part that we loved! We stayed with a drumming teacher, who was very
sweet and treated us like family. He loved watching Giovanni's style of
drumming and we all jammed together through all those rainy days. We
were sleeping in a tent, which proved to be amazingly waterproof
considering the monsoonal rains!! But, as you´ll see in the photos, not
that fun!! Also the main difficulty that made us want to get out of
there as soon as possible, was the ridiculous amount of sandflies!! We
were literally eaten alive for ten days and couldn't stop stractching
our legs and feet!!! Not pleasant, not to mention the mosquitos and what
they call the Doctor fly, because it comes along and gives a nice big
injection!! So, apart from the physical discomfort, we had a good time
in Belize. We enjoyed arriving on a very tiny plane that cost only ten
dollars more than the ferry ride, so we took it and got a great view of
the small islands below and the reef. We also enjoyed a boat ride from
the coast of Belize to the north coast of Honduras, where we asked to
travel on the top of the roof above the passengers and got to see the
amazingly blue ocean pass by!! So lovely!! We will stay here in Honduras
for New Year's and then we´ll take a bus to Guatemala.......
Hope you are all well
Lots of love
Jess and Giovanni!
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| the beautiful cenotes in Mexico...deep fresh water swimming holes kilometers deep with stalactites and stalacmites.. |
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| The mermaids of Camping Chavez! Georgie, Carolina, Ambra, Pearl and Shantal... |
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| A creative wway to hitch hike!! Our North Carolina girls!! |
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| Our romantic double date - an Italian dinner out! Luxury after weeks of camping and cooking for ourselves... |
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| Our farewell from Camping Chavez in Tulum Mexico...dancing on the table tops!! |
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| Last sunrise ... |
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| After a bus through the border, we took a 4 person plane to the little island of Caye Caulker in Belize... |
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| and then the rains began..... |
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| Giovanni jamming with our Garifuna hosts... |
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| Dancing the famous Punta dance... |
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| Yes, these are turtle shells, unfortunately but part of the tradtional music... |
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| Honduras again after 13 years!!! Papi, Mami, my cousin Miri with her daughter Ivana and my host sister Alma Iris |
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| Giovanni teaching how to make lasagne and Eggplant with Parmesan for Christmas! |
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| My gorgeous Grandma Abuelita Tina! |
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| So cute and happy to see me again!! So little but spritely for her 87 years! |
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| Cousins visiting for Christmas Eve... |
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This was the state of our tent in Belize, so it's been a total treat to be staying with my lovely family for a week...let's hope the weather improves for when we go back to camping in Guatemala!!!
Helping in the garden...
Mami with her first grandchild, Victoria...
Loving playing with Ivana and Victoria...
My cousin Mimi's daughter Ivana..
Paola and Mami
Giovanni preparing 6 big pizzas for New Year's..
The doll...
Paola and her daughter Victoria..
The Baires family...
PLaying music for the family, Abuelito (Grandpa) was a musician for 70 years and loved it..
The girls!!! Reunited again...Alma Iris, Miri and Paola!! SO happy to hang out again! | |
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Love and Light
Happy New Year for 2014
Jess and Giovanni!
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