Reef Week Belize

Reef week in Belize has just finished it’s 11th year of recognizing and highlighting the importance of the Belize Eco-system. The 7-day event included fishing tournaments, beach cleanups, a swim to the Belize Barrier Reef and back from the shores of San Pedro, and a kayak race.

The event I made it to was the kayak race and had a great time cheering the women’s division (our friends), Cindy Vigna and Lara Goldman on with my other friend Jack. After having a blast chasing the race a bit we continued to hitch our way around town and the last driver we picked up, Terry, decided to keep us for a while. 🙂 We did a joyride to the bridge, down the beach road, made a stop at Palapa Bar then all headed back to my place to hang out.

Note to the race organizers. I heard the safety boat finished before the kayakers did. I hope you will learn from this experience and plan differently next year, especially considering there was a team that needed a little extra monitoring. Not to mention the heat we have been experiencing and how sunny it was that day, any of the racers could have needed assistance before the race was done.

Race Film Footage

I was planning to tackle the bulk of this post on the Holiday Monday morning when I realized my home internet was down. Thankfully I have 2 gigs of net on my phone for $39.99 a month and that often works when all else fails.

Pretty much right after I had Facebooked the idea of turning myself into a hot spot router from phone to laptop, it ended up on the cutting room floor. After all, I was sure the universe would be in agreement with a day off (aside from answering emails).

Yesterday was back to work as usual (on borrowed net) and editing the race video. Today BTL confirmed I was paid a month in advance and they will have someone call me to come out between now and the next 2 days to see what the problem is with my internet. Apparently, it looks okay in their system, not what my router shows though. ;(

Editing this short silly video gave me more time to process my thoughts on the race which you can read below. I do not usually do sound because I am always filming on a point and shoot and it never sounds great but this time it was too good not to keep. The video is slightly pixilated in some spots and it might make you a touch seasick during the wave haha 🙂 It was the first one I took on my Nexus 6p phone so was not sure what to expect.

Playing on the swings and watching our friends get ready to race

Amil and Angelica Teck to the right by the Green Kayak

Deeper Thoughts About Island Life

After posting the race on my personal Facebook page, a friend messaged me and asked why I did not put that on my business page first and share from there as it was a popular post with lots of feedback and a few shares and would have gained me traction.

While I agreed, my answer was along the lines of how this was me taking a moment to be me, make an effort as a friend and not think about my gain as a business. Both Cindy and Lara have been my cheerleaders and watched me grow my business from a name on a Belize Message board to a popular blog. I know they would have been fine with it either way, but I also know the significance of my action will not be lost and that is what counts the most in this case. Sorry, we did not make it to the finish line.

As for what I gained from the experience – plenty. As I tried to help find a kayak for Amil in the morning and watched him enter the race later, a clear thought formed in my head – remember this moment when you feel challenged. I figure if Amil has the strength to get out of his wheelchair and enter a kayak race with his mom, then I can get over whatever obstacle I am facing at the time. Also a great reminder; never stop trying no matter what your limitations.

Another cause for deeper thoughts on my part over the Holiday weekend was watching a couple of kids play marbles outside my front door. You may have seen a picture on the tacogirl Facebook page. I have a small, special marble collection and I find it very refreshing and comforting be living in a country where I can still see kids playing with marbles. In today’s fast-paced “More Now” and “Bigger is Better” world it reminds me that the simple side still exists and that I am close to it every day.

Girl playing marbles

taco Tip #2

After having just got back from the humidity of the jungle not to mention it has been hotter than a stolen tamale out there. Fill a plastic container with rice and it can be a huge help to keeping moisture out of electronics. I started keeping my iPod collection on rice because one of them started acting funky and tossed in a camera battery for good luck.

Cheap Meal

The $15 meal was a yummy pork dish with coconut rice from the Hungry Grouper around the corner from me. I ended up getting my Holiday dinner to go when I walked over to the meet the Tabar’s to pick up my reading glasses. Terri had graciously been one of 2 blog readers to write after reading my plight on Flying to Caye Caulker on a Mission and offer to bring some. They are cheaper stateside and the selection is plentiful. Clicking through on that post above will get you some great new places to eat, drink and pics of the Caye Caulker beach expansion, plus the real reason I went for an aerial joy ride; for reading glasses 🙂

$15 BZD pork meal, new reading glasses, and the container of iPod and camera battery rice