Caracol, 10/19/23

 

I'm not sure, but when most people hear the word Belize, they think of beach resorts and snorkeling and fun-in-the-sunny-Caribbean Sea.  But there's much more to the tiny country of Belize (almost the size of New Jersey).  Did you know it used to be called British Honduras? -- which I didn't know before coming here -- and the national language is English, which makes it easy for us Americans.   It hosts a population of slightly more than 400,000 people.  

More importantly, Belize is rich in Mayan history and archeological sites, and today we'd visit Caracol, a fairly recently discovered Mayan site.  Some believe it may rival Tikal in Guatemala when further excavations are done.  A local guide named Gisele joined us on the bus and not only furthered our knowledge about the Mayan civilization and Caracol, she kept us entertained with Belizean anecdotes!

Our scenic drive from San Ignacio to Caracol would take us a couple of hours, first on 30 miles of paved road and through the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Preserve with stands of Caribbean pine, and then on 25 miles of jaw-jarring limestone.  That entire section is in the process of being paved, which might allow Caracol to be overrun with tourists, sorry to say.  We were lucky to be just about the only folks at the site and it was a treat not to fight crowds.

Not a cat, it's an Agouti.

The Mayans considered these giant Kapok (Ceiba) trees sacred, the Tree of Life.

We're entering the site ... which was first reported by a native logger named Rosa Mai, who came across its remains in 1937 while searching for mahogany trees to exploit.  You'd need a good or practiced eye to see mounds or mini-mountains covered in thick jungle and believe more existed below.  Imagine having to peel back the jungle, like peeling an onion, one layer at a time to expose the temples.

In 2009, the use of LIDAR was introduced here and mapping revealed so much more to this site than originally thought.  Skeletons, some calcified, have been found, as well as artifacts, monuments, and pottery.

Above and below:  I wish I could remember the details of these reproductions, but I can't.  One was on the right and one on the left of a "pyramid."

Climbing up.  Whew.  I'll just say it right here that even though the day was partly overcast, it was flat-out hot and humid.  We were all wringing wet with sweat in short order.

Made it to the top!  The large green terrace below us was the halfway point.  The smaller green lawn below that was ground level.  We look happy that "we did it!"  We'd been advised to wear long pants because of mosquitoes.  Everyone sprayed bare arms and necks.  Didn't matter for me:  I managed to step on an invisible Fire Ant bed and ended up with a bunch of nasty bites on my feet.

A zoomed in shot.  So much history to relate.  Too much for a blog post.  If you're interested, take the time to look up Caracol.

Israel, our guide, demonstrating where the Mayan "head honcho" would sit.

We descended sideways, like crabs, climbed more ruins, and then returned to where we began. Lunch was served, and then it was back on the bus, but this time we had an intermediate destination.

Brazilian Red-cloak.

We'd passed the Rio On Pools site on our way to Caracol. And, by gum, we'd brought our bathing suits and towels. A busload of hot, sweaty people were grateful to jump into the water! We splashed around for a while, and then, yup, back on the bus, with yet one more destination!

The Rio On tumbles down huge granite boulders, forming waterfalls and swimming pools at every level.  We pretty much stayed at one level.

You might see my head!

The question was raised -- Who wants to stop for coffee on the way to the hotel?  Everyone, was the answer!

The group doing one of the things we love to do.  Drink coffee.  Grown and roasted on the farm, bagged and sold.  Hit the spot.

Oh we had a long, active and very fascinating day, on the bus at 7:30am, arrival at the hotel at 5:30pm.  The group as a whole was exhausted.  After showers and dinner, most of us were early to bed.  Tomorrow would be another busy day.  Goodnight.

Problem Seen, Problem Solved? April 15, 2015

Last November, while Jimmy and I were in Tallahassee, FL, every store in the nation, including Bell's, was already glitter, glow, and jingle-bell-rocking.  You know, come hither, buy, buy, buy.  Well, we purchased a new Keurig K45 Elite Brewing Single-Serve coffee maker.  Yup, we are, for sure, real coffee drinkers!  We have an excellent Cuisinart 12-cup drip coffee maker that's good to the very last drop every morning, but for that afternoon pick-me-up when one of us wants a single fresh cuppa, we thought the Keurig would be nice.  Maybe it's overkill, but we bought it anyway (used coupons, too), along with two 16-cup packs of different coffee.  OK, so what's the problem?

Neither of us gave a thought to the K-cup plastic waste!  Don't ask me why, as I've been a recycler practically since recycling was invented, and dislike adding plastic or aluminum or other recyclable items to an already bursting planet.  For me and Jimmy, pitching plastic coffee pods in the trash daily was a sort of heresy.  Oh sure, one or two a day?  What's the big deal?  Get this:  Each year an estimated 9.1 BILLION single-serve coffee and drink pods are thrown away in the United States.  I'm not wired that way.  Heck, neither is John Sylvan!  

"Millions of people will pop a tiny plastic coffee pod into their single-serve coffee maker this morning, punching through its foil lid to create a personalized cup of java.  John Sylvan is not one of these people, which wouldn't seem so unusual except he's the inventor of the Keurig K-Cup.

In an article for The Atlantic, he says, "I don't have one.  They're kind of expensive to use.  Plus it's not like drip coffee is tough to make."  What's more, given the increasing number of K-Cups that are being dropped into garbage cans because they are not recyclable, Sylvan told the news outlet, at times he regrets inventing them."

Without picking any particular brand, none of these K-cups is recyclable.

At Costco, we've been buying a brand of organic coffee bean for the past few years to use in the drip machine. It's called San Francisco Bay Rain Forest Blend.  With all the flap about the new Keurig model (not ours) not being compatible with any K-cups other than their own Green Mountain brand, coupled with the K-cup plastic waste, we began hearing that the Rogers Family Company, who sells San Francisco Bay coffee, is offering their own 97% bio-degradable one cups.  Not only that, we discovered they're a local company!

Yesterday, in conjunction with other shopping chores, we drove down the hill to their large operation in Lincoln, CA (40 miles?) to talk to one of their reps and sample their brand of single-serve cartridges.  

Even the bag is bio-degradable.

Fog Chaser brand, 97% bio-degradable "K-cup."

We were impressed ... we are impressed with the Rogers Family Company, a family operation that began over 35 years ago.  A Mom and Pop success story, they're dedicated to "improving the business of coffee." There's lots more to their interesting story.  They offer many kinds of coffee, and Jimmy and I plan to exclusively buy their bio-degradable, recyclable coffee pods, in addition to our usual bag of Rain Forest beans.  Besides, it's all good!! Problem solved!  Nobody paid me for this recommendation (haha, I'm not a politician); it just makes sense to be part of the solution rather than stay in the problem.  I wanted to share this valuable information, in case you're also a Keurig user looking for a way to alleviate the landfill.

A Coffee kind of Sunday, 10/05/14

Another pretty morning on the Big Island.  Seems as tho the daily temperature is 88 degrees, period, with a fresh breeze that rustles the palm fronds.  This morning Tom and Diane have their mandatory time share sales pitch appointment @ 8:30, which means we'll have the afternoon free to explore more Big Island.

But first, Jimmy has sliced open our Maui-grown SWEET pineapple,
which we'll have with blueberry muffins for Sunday breakfast...

... with added silliness!  These two worked together for years and are BFF.

After they left, Jimmy and I hiked around the large Hilton (Kings Land) complex,
admiring flora and fauna.

I dared Jimmy to wander into this lava field, thinking he'd say, "no."  He was game!  Then I hoped he wouldn't trip or stumble 'cause lava rock is so unstable and razor sharp.  He did fine. 

Gray Francolin (game bird) likes to hang out mornings on the lava behind the condo. 

Every time I walked near a Plumeria tree, I inhaled its perfume.

Their two-hour appointment swelled into four hours, and their ears were smoking when they returned, but nobody got hurt . We four decided to head south, below the airport, to "do" lunch and to tour a coffee farm. Tom, Jimmy and I do the driving in that big ol' Charger, and we take turns sitting in front and back seats, like musical chairs.  I took the wheel today, aiming for Greenwell Farms.

We really enjoyed lunch, sitting on this screened porch at Annie's Island Fresh Burgers in Kealakekua. Voted best burgers and using grass-fed Big Island beef, as well as veggies from their on-site 1/4 acre organic garden, the four of us ate very well.  I ordered a marlin burger with wasabi (hold the wasabi, please) and purple potato salad ... it was all delicious.  I've tried different kinds of burgers, but never a marlin burger, till now.  Yum yum!

Greenwell Farms was a mile or so further south.  This coffee farm in the heart of Kona is rich with history, tradition, and coffee, naturally.  It's been family owned and operated since the mid-1800's, and offers free tours of the farm daily.  They also farm acres of fruit trees -- avocado, orange, banana, maybe others -- all laden with fruit.  At least ten hot pots of assorted coffees for sampling lined a table, and we tasted several.  Bags of coffee were for sale and jars of jam could be bought.  And lotions, too.  

Anne explains about "cherry" beans, meaning when the coffee bean is ripe and ready to pick, it's as red as a cherry.  Her tour was full of interesting info.

Smaller farms bring their Kona-grown beans to Greenwell Farms for processing.

Red jungle fowl move about the grounds -- keeping the bug population down.

 
Heliconia rostrata -- lobster claw Heliconia.

I can't help myself -- I wander off, intrigued by sights like the giant bush of Heliconia, above, and banana trees, below.

  

But the best was this dude, below:

I loved looking at this cool chameleon, parked on a low orange tree branch, with his rotating eyeballs veering off in opposite directions.  Most of the tour folk, like me and Diane, got down on their knees to check him out, take a couple dozen photos!  I wanted to carry it home.  Alas, that's crazy!  

We tasted coffee, but didn't buy any; it's very expensive!  Both Diane and I liked KonaRed, Hawaiian Antioxidant drink, and we both bought on-the-go packs.  It's made from the fruit that surrounds the famous coffee bean, but tastes nothing like coffee.  It's a refreshing red berry juice, loaded with nutrients and "an extraordinary amount of antioxidants!"  Figure that'll come in right handy!

One last stop on the way back to the condo.  We had to stop (and perhaps buy?):

   

* * * * *

So, what do we see out the back sliding glass door when get to the condo?  I nearly fainted!

What is this thing?

Wild island goats!  They were all over the place, cropping ferns and flowers.  Strange-looking beasts! Must have been 15 or so.  Look at those horns!  The guy above looks like he means business.

After eating dinner, we brought out Mexican Train Dominoes (added weight in that suitcase!) to play a few games, something we always do when we're together.  I got skunked this night (boo hiss). Some hours later, one wide yawn infected the group, and we put the game away till tomorrow eve. What's on tap for tomorrow?  Excitement!

The End.