Adobe Stoves

Belize Is On Fire!

Quite literally, the mainland of Belize is on fire! It was the hot season until June 1st and fires raged throughout the country. The air was always smoke-filled and our clothes always had that "campfire smell." It does this every year!

The air was so smoky that everything looked gray for the past month. Like clockwork, though, June 1st came around and the rainy season started. Belizeans say that's how it happens - the rainy season starts on the calendar June 1st and the weather obeys! What a phenomenon!

Thank goodness the rain has started!

Fields and Football

We live in Central America, so of course the national sport of choice is football! You know what I'm talking about, right? The sport we call soccer in the US.

Football is played everywhere - on basketball courts, in fields, in any space deemed large enough to kick a ball between two goal posts.

This is a field near that is half in Belize and half in Guatemala.

It's not glamorous, but this would be considered a nice field here.

It also doubles as a horse pasture when not in use by football players. :)

Vive football!

Gorgeous Belize pics

You're wondering what I learned, right? Well, I'm learning photography! There's a girl on the team, Brooke, who wanted to learn piano, and I wanted to learn photography, so we exchanged lessons.

Brooke put me on "manual" for my camera, so I'm learning to take photos in the right light and not rely on Photoshop to doctor my photos (believe me, for a girl like me that's hard to do!)

For those of you who don't know (and one week ago, I didn't know!) putting a camera on "manual" means you choose things like shutter speed and amount of light that comes into the camera. Manual photography is fun!

Check out what I've done so far:

In Love In Belize

We are so happy to be in Belize! We've been here 6 weeks now and we can hardly believe it's been that long. Time flies for us. We're also happy to have several more weeks here.

Life is good! This is us at a resort in Cayo (San Ignacio) - we were having dinner and sneaked into a cabana that looked unoccupied so we could relax in the hammock and snap a few pics. No matter what we're doing, life is always an adventure!

Jewel

And this is it, right here. 
This is why we do what we do - so people like little Jewel will have a better tomorrow. 
Doesn't she just steal your heart?

Jewel lives with her mother, 2 sisters, grandmother and great-grandmother. They are supported by making tortillas over indoor, open fires and then selling the tortillas. Jewel's family has been selected as a candidate for an adobe stove, so health benefits for Jewel and her family will significantly increase in the near future.

I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke From Belize!

You’re really going to wonder who in the world I am when I tell you this, but this is me drinking my first Coca-Cola ever! Megan ordered one at the Chinese restaurant and then Kyle asked me if I’d like to try one. They are made with pure sugar here (unrefined or beet-derived) as opposed to the US where they are made with corn syrup and caramel coloring. Since I do not eat refined sweeteners, nor do I drink many products with carbonation, I’ve never had a Coke.

When it came out, I took a sip and was thinking of what I knew. I didn’t want to tell Kyle or Megan this was the first Coke of my life because I thought they’d think I was a bit strange – I mean, have you ever drunk a Coke? Of course you have, who hasn’t?! Well, in fact, I hadn’t.

I decided just to let the cat out of the bag and tell them this was my first Coke. They were delighted and laughed, and then to my relief, instead of giving me a hard time about it, Megan offered to document the momentous occasion.

It is delicious! I can’t wait for my next one J