1) Back Support Belts- the kind that you use for moving heavy weights- we do plenty of that! 10-12 of them would be great!

2) Shovels- we could use 3-4 more.

3) Wheel barrows- the ones we currently have are well-used. I know that they are expensive.

4) Knee-high rubber boots- 5 pair for our workers who wade through the disgusting waters to lay the bedrock for the road.

Still trying to sort out potluck too and wondering how that will all come together. Hoping a cheap option for chicken rice and beans will fall into my lap and some kind of sweet treat for afterward.

This came in from Vernon…

Just talked to the head chef.. cost would be $12.00 BZ per plate.. now this is the catcher.. and selling point..As a special favor for me, The Chef who won Chef of the Year last year Chef Victor will be cooking Sunday for your group… we will need a head count so we have the correct amount of chicken as we do not want to spend more then what is coming in. We will need to know by Sat. how many are arriving for lunch.

Guarantee it will be to die for…

I am hoping that we can pull this off and get enough donations for the regular road crew – everyone else  else can buy their own. Still open to potluck too and hope people will bring items that are easily shared out among many. Ruthie made a paypal donation this morning which will go towards 2 portions of food for the regular work crew – 38 to go.

A few interesting bits I found this morning… Living in Belize – for anyone looking for that perfect second-home or retirement paradise, living in Belize is hard to beat.   How a Fort Worth Museum Pulls Mayan Culture From its Watery Depths. Green Globe Certification launched the new Green Globe Library to promote the sustainability achievements of its members.

Today’s pictures were taken by Heather are  a reminder of why the road and composting toilets are so important for San Mateo from an ecological standpoint.

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The first donation from items off Eric’s list has come in. I got a pm this morning saying two shovels are waiting at SP Hardware with a note on them ‘San Mateo project’.  How exciting – many thanks to the people who donated. If it is within your budget please consider an item off the list below.

Was busy today with a few meetings upstairs at El Divino – Banana Beach Resort and we did airport pick up and drop off for Cindy at Maya Island Air so we could use her cart while she was on the mainland. It is stinking hot here today and looks like rain is going to hit soon [hopefully] lots of lightening in the sky right now. On the way back to the airport we stopped and got the shovels another thing crossed off the list. Ran into Jack and Lisa as well and dropped them off at Waruguma in town.

Time – 8:00am – 1:00pm
September 5 th
Location San Mateo [meet at the bridge]

Pot Luck party

You are invited to my birthday party birthday Sunday September 5th – 8:00am [real bday Sept 8th]. Bring a friend or 2 and meet at the Bridge with a pot luck item and road building attire.

From there we will head to the school to drop off our food items and head to the computer lab to watch a 15 min video.

Following this we will head to San Mateo and Eric offered to take those who want to walk the London bridges on a short tour.

Those who want to get right to it can start on the road – building goes on till noon [weekly event].

Then we pot luck at the school.

I asked Eric who is out there every Sunday and he asked the guys what they could use – here is a list of a items that they need/want in order to make the road project work better. If you are able to bring something with from this list with you please do – this effort of building a proper road is so important.

1) Back Support Belts- the kind that you use for moving heavy weights- we do plenty of that! 10-12 of them would be great!

2) Shovels- we could use 3-4 more.

3) Wheel barrows- the ones we currently have are well-used. I know that they are expensive.

4) Knee-high rubber boots- 5 pair for our workers who wade through the disgusting waters to lay the bedrock for the road.

All of the items will be properly taken care of and – distributed and re-collected on work days.

If you cannot come and still want to participate consider sending something along for potluck donating something from the list above to the road project.

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What’s your claim to fame?
Being able to listen to both sides of an argument and usually remaining much more attached to the people arguing both sides than to the the argument of one side or the other!

Where were you born?
I’m a generation 4th Californian. My great grandparents were pioneers, which places them in California in the 1850’s, just after the Gold Rush. I was born in San Francisco in 1943. By the time I was 8 we were living outside of New York City. That’s where I grew up. Dad’s job was teaching the East what to do with the redwood lumber the family’s mill produced, so his job and vacationing with grandparents, aunts & uncles, and cousins, brought us back to California almost every summer. Like me, my younger sister Mimi chose California when grown up, but my older sister Lynn is a true New Yorker and stayed there. Both are married with dynamite families; I’m divorced with 2 dynamite sons. The oldest is married and has provided me with a bright and stunning daughter-in-law and an outrageously cute granddaughter, Zoe, now three. Both of Zoe’s parents have interesting work in film production. My youngest son is currently getting paid to get his Ph.D. in structural engineering, and loving that.

Stuff about success & what I think makes it happen.
I had a store in San Francisco for 35 years. It started out as a very pure gourmet kitchenware store, when there were hardly any others, and evolved into a very eclectic general store. It became full of housewares, things you ‘need,’ and whatever else we thought was irresistible, imaginative, looked more expensive than it was, or all of the above. You never knew what you’d find there. lt’s success hinged on word of mouth. The thing we most frequently overheard people saying as they walked in was ‘uh oh; this store is dangerous.’ We had fun making it so, and I think that showed; but I’ve always considered success to be the result of hard work and common sense.

Coming to Belize.
In February, 2003, knowing virtually nada about Belize, I came to San Pedro to join a childhood friend from N.Y. and 3 other old fogeys, 2 of whose skipper’s licenses had allowed us to charter one of TMM’s big catamarans and go Caye hopping all by ourselves for 2 weeks. Loved it. I hate cold water, but never had a choice, where I lived. I had always loved the tropics, but living instead of just vacationing in them had been the stuff of dreams, not reality. So when the friend who got me to Belize started looking at property with the idea of an eventual offshore corporation for his successful shipping business, I pointed out the vaulted mahogany ceilings visible in the second story condo at the very northeast beachfront corner of the Belize Yacht Club’s beautifully gardened property and said, ‘that up there looks really nice; why don’t you get that?’ Not that it was for sale or anything, but it also had a great view and a virtually constant and unimpeded breeze, good for keeping cool and for keeping mosquitoes away, too, when necessary.

San Francisco’s summer was as cold and foggy in 2003 as it is this year. Home on a day off and bored, I googled ‘Real Estate, Ambergris Caye,’ and guess what was for sale? God is not making any more Caribbean beachfront, and yet the price was less than what you’d pay to buy a place to park your car in San Francisco. I love snorkeling, and I especially love sailing – small boats in particular – but never had enough opportunities. Here I could get my own Hobie Cat and park it right outside.

I may be a bit obtuse but it did dawn on me, right there and then, to get the place and do just that. So I did. It was for vacations at first, but then I was diagnosed with lung cancer, late in 2005. Thought I was a gonner for sure, but I became and remain one of the exceedingly lucky ones who is now cancer free. The half-year-long ‘cure’ experience had me pondering the shortness of life and determined to do other fun things, besides the store. Living on Ambergris Caye and doing everything there is to do here was at the top of the list. So I retired here in 2007.

What do you like most about living here?
The life style! Life Style is a factor of climate, scenery, people, pace, and things to do, but not necessarily in that order. I love warm weather, and I can get to where I hardly notice the humidity, particularly when the trade winds feel like a body massage, which is a lot of the time. I love the rustic charm of the place, and the tropical flora and warm crystal waters are stunning. The people are known for friendliness, and for one’s intimate social circle, the community to choose from is full of charismatic, creative, energetic, and interesting people from a variety of cultures. The pace of life here implores you to just relax. So, besides swimming, sailing, snorkeling, socializing, and occasional adventures off-island, I love my hammock! Just gently swinging in this soft breeze with the view of the reef from my balcony is as sublime as it gets.

One book or movie you recommend everyone should read or watch?
Book: John Fowles’ The Magus. Movie: The Gods Must Be Crazy.

Three things / places you would recommend people see, do, or eat when they come to Belize.

Well now, you can’t possibly narrow them down to 3! Must See at least one of the Mayan ruins. Must go snorkeling or diving. Must go to the Belize Zoo. On Ambergris Caye, must eat at Rojo Lounge, Wild Mango’s, and must go to Estelle’s for Charles’ BBQ ribs on Sunday!

If you could be doing anything right now what would it be?
What I’m doing right now. Any present moment is precious. I really like staying in the present, paying attention to the present moment; not living in the past or ignoring the ‘right now’ to get to something you think will be better in the future.

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Been taking or sorting pics all day apart from our time at Mr Joe’s for lunch. I am officially on break now so I can enjoy our suite.

Lunch was good we had pizza and met Orlando who lives south and  and some other nice people who were falling in love with San Pedro and wanted to know how a few of us liked living here.

Back later with more everything.

Caught a great Sunrise this morning then came back to bed to work. Carole just popped me on the coconut phone and said that Dick was  delayed in St Croix due to Earl. The winds are picking up there and he was heading to a safe place. Paul is in the living room checking it out and relaying what to say to Carole he said it looks like it is not right on top of St Criox but to the east a bit.

Finishing uploading the last of this mornings pictures and getting ready to put on Coast to Coast it airs live at 8am from Guam on KGUM – K57. Neither of us wants to leave we are so comfortable here at Athens Gate. I could just sit here and stare at the sea all day.

Minor editing still to come.

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Anyone who is tuning in from San Pedro we are doing Mr Joe’s Sunday night 6:00pm 1:00 pm so come on out and join the fun. Burgers were great I had traditional and Paul went for friend chicken – fries were nice and crispy yum. Went there for dinner tonight and hung out and talked with Matt and Bonnie it was nice. So convenient that Mr Joe’s close to Pelican Reef for a store/restaurant option.

Pool side bar at Pelican is great too we enjoyed a drink there and Paul went for a swim. Their pool is really nice right on the ocean and they have a swim up bar.

I love our view [literally steps to the Caribbean Sea] – that I can stand at the bar and do internet  and the jacuzzi tub. For internet I am hooked up with a cable to the modem. Works well and is pretty fast. Bringing your own cable if you plan to use a lap top in Belize is a good idea -  sometimes they come in handy. Pelican Reef also offers  wireless by the pool – have not tried that yet.

Still have ants in my pants and needed to share the latest excitement I was laying on the couch enjoying my sandwich and looking into the bedroom [football was on ha ha] and realized the picture behind the bed is the old barge going across with San Mateo behind it all green and clean with one blue house talk about synchronicity. That put things into a whole new perspective for me past present and future. It was once Green and healthy – now it needs all the help it can get to return  back to green and clean for good.

I am spilling over to Sunday morning in finishing this post – totally relaxed and enjoying Pelican Reef. Lots to look at here I have been snapping off some pics of the artwork and decorations. Breakfast just arrived going to eat while pics finish uploading. Will title them later

Last of Pelican pictures from our stay.

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Got my bikini on and getting ready to go that includes – charging radio – phone – packing – blogging chatting with my cousin RLD and Heather – texting with Coleen and finishing my iced coffee. The girls will be here any minute so I have to close down now and pack up lap top so I can blog tonight. 9:22pm We had a fantastic day – just finished a yummy dinner at Sueno and finally made it back online but cannot get picture gallery to load up so will add it  in the morning when I get home. 9:30

Saturday morning and finally getting my pictures up. Had a mini out pour when I got home to Paul when I got home and feeling better now. Between my camera getting sand troubles and not opening correctly to processing everything that has gone on since Heather and Cathy arrived till the time we were up at Coleen’s place yesterday.  We saw a turtle nest – hermit crabs – all kinds of fish and lizards. They were both amazed by how close the reef was to their house. It was really good for them to do see how Rick and Coleen live and know first hand just how perfecta match Coleen is for Direct Abundance. Coleen and Rick are 2 people on the island who are very conscious about protecting the environment around them and leaving as small a footprint as possible.

Cathy and Heathers pics coming soon.

Staying overnight at Sueno Del Mar with Carole was great – we got invited to dinner with a large group that was staying there – Sueno definitely has a friendly family atmosphere to it. Love being that far north – always good to get to different parts of the island. ONe very cool thing I liked at Sueno which I could not get a pic of cause my camera troubles was they put the shower hardware on the opposite wall of the shower head. Not sure why more people do not do this it makes turning the water on and adjusting the temperature a much better experience. The other thing the was cool is they had a printed welcome paper for Heather Cathy and I in the room and wrote us [and other new comers] under arriving in Paradise on the blackboard in the dining room – nice touch.

I hope you have been enjoying the field trip to Bacalar Chico. For those of you who might not know the area is a  is a UNESCO World Heritage site. For those of you knew that already I am sure you have been appreciating the efforts of Heather and Cathy on this important mission this past week.  This is a huge undertaking and they cannot do it alone. We welcome peoples help in any way. One of the things Heather and Cathy have been requesting is for anyone that can please get involved in the road project. I can’t say enough about how thrilled we are that everyone has been working together -the road is looking so nice and is coming along so far. Well done and three cheers. There is still a lot of area that needs to be cleaned up – they can always use extra hands anything to make the job easier – funding for the road if you are following this from afar – what ever anyone can do to help please do this cause is so important.

I am also putting a call out to anyone who has good information to share in regards to going green for San Mateo. Coleen has been researching a community in Akumal (sp?) who has been doing waste water gardens and is going to try and meet up. Any  readers out Mexico way know of people there who live in this type of community please hook us up thanks.

I just remembered that Cathy let me take a bunch of pictures with her Camera cause mine was in such sad shape -  so I am just added those and then theirs will come next. No idea when I will get to title them all though off to a Saturday morning meeting at 11am. Pushing time it is 10:51 cab is almost here and I got my third photo galley up for today – minor edits needed one pic missing and no time to fix it. Fourth and last of Bacalar Chico series to come next week – portrait shots by Heather.

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Reef Radio morning show was great. The guys there are always supportive of  Holy Cross and Direct Abundance and they very much liked the idea of this pioneer grass roots effort to put in place an eco friendly waste management system in San Mateo community and applauded that the school is doing a state of the art bathroom facility with composting flush toilets.

In the end Heather and Cathy were glad they did the morning show and said the Reef Radio boys made them feel comfortable and at home which made it easier to tell the story. We all joked around yesterday afternoon about how Heather did not think I could pull getting them on the morning show off so fast and why she agreed to speak on tv. All it took was one call to Vernon yesterday and the wheels were set in motion – got the call 10 minutes later that he would meet us there at 7:10am to help share this exciting and important news with San Pedro about how the Planetary Coral Reef Foundation was coming here today.

Two thumbs up for Lucien it was a pleasure to meet him and it is just over the top exciting that he was willing to hear the story – tour the school  and walk the planks of San Mateo to see what needs to be done first hand and why.

I got the call at 9:18am from Lucien saying he was boarding the 9:30  Tropic Air Flight from Municipal to San Pedro. I asked him if he wanted to wait inside with air conditioning or outside and he chose the outdoor waiting area. I told him we would be there at 9:50am and he could look for look for 2 brunettes and a Blond.

That spun us into action fast and I was able to get the girls on the coconut phone and tell them we have to be at the airport in 20 minutes. The big moment was coming fast and while we were driving to Tropic I kept thinking about Heather’s advice for walking the planks to just breath and remember how many people cross them daily.

When we arrived at the school Vernon gave us a mini tour and we all got to see the progress on the new bathroom building. It is very big and pretty amazing . Once side has a ramp making it wheel chair accessible and the other side steps. There is a nice veranda surrounding it. Now all they need is for the toilets to arrive. We also got to see all the mechanics below which was cool – of course I took lots of pictures so you can join us on our mission and see it all.

After the tour we settled into the computer Lab – they use an areal shot of the school and San Mateo for their screen saver on the projector screen so Vernon was able to show Lucien the expanse of it. Eric was there and he showed Cathy and Heather the plank path they followed Tuesday – the same one we would be walking today. We started with the school dvd followed by 9 year old Gigi Harri’s self produced documentary on San Mateo and finished up with Lucien’s presentation on Waste Water Gardens. By this time we all knew this was a match made in heaven. Just as we finished up and were getting ready to have lunch when Miss Jan Brown came to join us – she wanted to meet the direct Abundance girls and  Lucien – perfect connections for when Marco Gonzales is ready to get their composting toilets in place.

Lunch was great we had great conversation -  chicken pasta and juice.

Break time will be back in a while to title the pictures and tell you what it was like to walk the London Bridges.

It was not as scary as I thought it would be and I think the reason was that the London Bridges in most spots are not too high off the ground. Walking the planks  gave me a whole new perspective on the struggles that San Mateo faces and just how important this project is.

We went to go see Shirley [who was not home]  the girls had wanted to thank her for getting all 25 surveys filled out by local residents in legible format and less than 48 hours. While there I saw two young boys playing in the yard -  All I could think of is that they were doing what boys are supposed to do. How do you explain to kids that playing in their yard on a gorgeous sunny summer day is not ok. Where do you tell them to go and play as an alternative when the whole neighborhood is not safe?

Seeing the new roads that are being built in San Mateo was a bright light on our tour – they are doing such a fantastic the San Mateo Empowerment Project – please join their facebook group and support this worthy cause. With San Mateo getting roads – composting toilets and waste water gardens the dream is turning into reality right before our eyes. The the kids will play safely in their yards and the adults will walk the streets that many of them helped build and share in the community upkeep of of the gardens that will not only help beautify their neighborhood but make it green and clean as well. What a great a fairy tale ending.

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Heather and Cathy went to the school today – met with Vernon and Eric and walked through to the back of  San Mateo. They had both been to this area before and agreed that going further back and walking the London bridges was a high impact moment – especially after stopping to watch a  young girl run with confidence and ease along the narrow planks of wood.

After hearing Heathers plans – Vernon gave a two thumbs up for having a waste water garden at the school to go along with their new state of the art composting flush toilets. The school is also willing to help Direct abundance in carrying out the fantastic plan Heather has come up with to do phase one of basic composting toilets for all residents in  San Mateo. The school will donate lumber towards the project as well as use of tools and work space to the community so the structures for the compost toilets can be built. They recognize how invaluable this project is to clean up the neighborhood from the ground on up.  Tim Tam from the Word at Work ministries is also on board with the idea and he is already making plans to help Direct Abundance move forward on this idea and a seed has been planted for getting composting toilets happening  on mainland Belize areas in need. With over 1/3 of Belize’s land being protected this whole project will be huge and far reaching to keep Belize Green.

While on their tour yesterday Veron and Eric took them to meet Shirley who was featured in Travis’s Current tv documentary on San Mateo and Holy Cross – she has agreed to be one of the first houses to get up and running with a composting toilet.  Heather is hoping to get a few model units on the go asap so that she can see what they are dealing with in preparation for a mass build. [note to self email Travis and tell him the good news].

Saving the best for last out of all this came the idea [which ties right back to Joanne and Heather's work back in January doing United Against Abuse workshops on the mainland and here at the Lions club San Pedro] – Self Sustaining Women’s Shelters in every district in Belize. How cool is that.

This is only the start too there is a whole other couple of chapters I did not mention yet that include solar power and water purification systems too. Can you believe it is only day 2 of their volunteer vacation and they got that much of the puzzle pieces fit together so far? Well done girls.

Today Heather and Cathy are taking a vacation day. Plan was to go to Caye Caulker but the thunder and rain that greeted us this morning making everyone rethink that idea. Will go for lunch in a bit and hook up with Heather Cathy and Vernon at Banana Beach Resort – more brainstorming. It keeps getting better – just got facebooked by Coleen [perk] who used to be in waste management and is very into gardening – waste water garden idea and Preserving Belize is in town visiting a friend at Banyan Bay and will meet us at El Divino at 11 to join the brainstorming on this. Makes perfect sense why Mother Nature rained us out – she likes what we are up to and is helping us connect the dots and get the right people in place to make it happen.

Thursday is a busy day starting out with the morning show then meeting with the Waste Water Gardens rep/Planetary Coral foundation – health inspector – building inspector and building inspector for a tour of San Mateo and the new composting system at Holy Cross.

If this kind of thing is of interest to you then check out this website I got from Changes in Latitudes this morning for the  Belize Sustainable Tourism Program. The girls both realize how important this all is and how we need to take better care of everyone and everything that is Belize.

Back later with some pictures and update on today’s meeting.

Still unclear on where to start so I decided to clear emails first and then I came across Heather’s and decided that the start of her email would help finish my post

It’s official Coleen is all in on this project and I could not think of a better person to be a liason for Heather on the island. We talked about so much amazing stuff that I do not even know where to begin writing. Better use of my time to take a snack break and see what is on tv – this way I can let my thoughts unwind in preparation for reviewing my notes. See you in a bit.

Finishing off my post with the start of Heathers update email…

YYAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!

That is totally AWESOME!! I am so happy for you!!

Today we met with Coleen Creedon. She has agreed to be on DirectAbundance as a WWG consultant!!!!!!! WOOOO HOOO!! We now have a local that is a water and sanitation expert!! With a passion towards the environment and WWG’s!!! I’m way past the moon at this point!! my feet aren’t even touching the ground!!

Heather Zwicker

There was much exciting talk at the lunch table today and I learned a lot of interesting things and figured I would share some of the wide range of what we covered….

There is a special paint that protects the internal points of wind turbines against salt air. When building in the tropics it is important to consider things like this to help structures last.

Texas ATM University developed a system that can make 245 gallons of distilled water  a day and uses 1 1/0 the power of a desalinization system. Cost $800 – $900 usd.

A couple of years back -  Jamaica was giving interest free loans and tax incentives to homeowners who were willing to upgrade to solar power. This movement created a need for skilled training and opened up a new work option. Ding Ding

There is a community near Playa Del Carmen that has about 40 homes doing waste water gardens for the last 10 years.

Do not underestimate bugs like termites and the effects of weather when building structures here.

One thing was clear from our meeting the puzzle pieces are rapidly fitting together – Holy Cross School and San Mateo are turning into a great model community with a school.  I can’t even begin to describe what it is like to watch San Mateo turning into an eco friendly sustainable community.

Afterward we dropped Coleen at the dock to catch her boat home then we did a quick visit to Xanadu Resort so the girls could meet Martin. Xanadu is Green Globe Certified and is already practicing some very cool stuff to help leave less of a footprint.  I knew Martin would be interested in what is happening – he offered to help out along the way if he could.

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After running a few errands in town – picked them up at Maya Island Air yesterday morning – they caught the 11:40 from Belize City to Ambergris Caye. Both Heather and Cathy said they were glad to be home and both missed the island a lot since their last trip. If I had $1 for every time someone returning here has said that I would take you all out to dinner.

After checking into their room at Exotic Caye Beach Resort -  Cathy and Heather got to work right away as Kelly invited them back to the EC office a meeting to learn more about what they are working on while here [water water garden project for San Mateo] and see how Exotic Caye could get involved.

Please note that Thursday and Friday Aquafit classes will be held at Banana Beach Resort same time 10am – 11am if you would like to attend class at Banana Beach please call Maureen count yourself in so she can make sure to have enough equipment for everyone [622-3314].

Reminder CG Esthetic sale still going till the end of September and to let you know Carole will be away from Sept 27th  till Oct 31st – don’t forget to book yourself in for a haircut before she goes.

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What’s your claim to fame?

I doubt that I have a claim to very much in this life! My mother always says my claim to fame is that I’ve been in 19 hurricanes and typhoons, some tropical cyclones, a few major fires, loads of earthquakes, including an 8.2, and have survived without a scratch. So maybe my real claim to fame is that Mother Nature seems to stalk me wherever I go!

How many different places have you lived in the Caribbean [and where]?

I’ve been fortunate enough to have visited and worked on every island nation in the Caribbean… and I have lived for longer periods in the Virgin Islands, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico and Dominica.

What do you find is your biggest challenge living and working in the Caribbean?

If you live and work in the Caribbean long enough, in my case 20 years, most working expats find that they have to continuously develop their skills, experience and knowledge levels so that we can readily flow from one career path to another….this is because the only thing you can count on when working in the Caribbean is that you can’t really count on anything, so you’d better be prepared for a lot of life changes.

What are your thoughts on being socially responsible in today’s work world?

I think that it is an absolute essential responsibility for all of us, ownership in particular. However, with the world in its current state, people and businesses are more inclined to be self-centric as everyone is worrying about their own survival and so it unfortunately goes by the wayside or to the back of the line.

How do you feel personally that living in the Caribbean has changed your life?

Lots of lessons have been learned…..such as, living in the Caribbean has taught me that patience, flexibility and a great sense of humor are indeed golden and well needed in everyday life. I have learned to be more humble and happy as I immersed myself in a very simply lifestyle here. Long ago the Caribbean and its peoples captured my heart through its unique beauty and wonderful, diverse cultures all of which resonated with me on a personal level. I feel that I’ve evolved in to a better person by being part of it.

How many hurricanes have you been through? What are your top tips for a first timer?

Well, as far as hurricanes I’ve been in three; the worst one was definitely Hurricane Hugo! My advice for a first timer, or anyone for that matter, is to always stay calm and don’t panic. Plus to take it seriously and don’t be off at some “hurricane party” on the beach when you should be home battening down the hatches and getting fully prepared.

[adding my 2 cents a write up from Ambergris Daily on Tropic Air Evacuation Tips]

One book or movie you recommend everyone should read or watch? Both if you like.

One book I have just finished is a jewel! It is The Last Resort : A Memoir of Zimbabwe by Doug Rogers. It is a story about Doug’s parents who own are lodge owners there and how they cleverly manage to cope with the horrid political and monetary downturn in that country while trying to keep the lodge afloat by any means possible.

I most enjoy travel memoirs, the classics and books about visionaries – be it a writer, musician, world leader, artist or spiritual leader…it doesn’t really matter. Visionaries often start out in life just like you and me but somewhere along their particular road there is a fork that they chose to take which leads them to their path of individual excellence and achievement. That fork and how they evolve to who they become always fascinates me.

What are 3 things that can always be found in your refrigerator?

Water, fruit (lots of berries of all types), vegetables (especially broccoli and mushrooms).

If you could be doing anything right now what would it be?

To be even more involved with helping the people of Haiti than I currently am … I’ve been a strong supporter of Haiti and its people for many years now and am always looking for ways to be able to do more. I hope to be able to visit there in the near future so that I can assess how I can be of continuing assistance.

What did you like most about Ambergris Caye?

That’s easy. The people….all the locals as well as the expat’s that I met. Everyone is very genuine and very much in love with their island. I just wish that I had had more time to spend there as I never saw the north end of the island nor did I tour the island’s resorts. I’ve worked within the Caribbean’s tourism and hospitality industry for over 20 years… so I really enjoy touring our regional “hospitality products.” That said, I will rave about the wonderful food I had at the restaurants and really loved my evening at Wine de Vine. Hopefully I can return one day soon and take in much more which will allow me the opportunity to write and publish some articles about the very special Ambergris Caye.

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