This will be a very short blog, as we are taking off for another chocolate-making operation. You can’t beat the wonderful, dark, Belizian chocolate!

There are several different cultures in this area of southern Belize. The Mayans, of course, but there are also the Garifuna (Ga-RI-foo-nah) people who were essentially deported from St. Vincent (in the Grenadines) and eventually found their way to southern Belize. Descended from Carib and Arawak Indians, mixed with slaves from Africa, they have an interesting culture, one we wanted to learn more about.

Alvin and Clifford met us and showed us around part of their town. We warned them that we photographers tend to get waylaid. They got their first taste of that when we stopped to photograph this simple, charming thatched houses…

Yesterday was a day on the river. No bumpy roads. We started up river to see tortillas being made in the next village. On the way, we got waylaid. Actually, as photographers, we always get waylaid, whether by van or boat. It’s something we’re always joking about, as we say we’ll be in a certain location for, let’s say, two hours, and it stretches to three or four. Nothing’s new! We’re photographers, after all.

When we came in by boat last week to the Lodge, we saw several large iguana, many orange in color with wonderful combs along their backs. They love tender shoots, but often, those branches don’t support them, so they go PLOP into the river, swim ashore, and scuttle back up. We were hoping that our participants would get to see some of these magnificent creatures.

Alex, the owner of the boat and our guide for the day, pointed out a magnificent one that was very cooperative when the boat came in close…

We started out heading to Lubaatun Archeological Reserve. It was amazing to wander around in a location that has been here for well over a thousand years. The site is vast. We wandered around, listening to Antonio (our guide, and now friend, for those new to this blog) and marveling at the stone work in the ruins, especially one unusual temple with rounded corners.

I went through a narrow passage between two ruins and came upon this long set of tall steps. It was quite impressive.

We headed up in to the hills to a small village to see the old way of making pottery — by hand without wheel or coil — simply taking a hunk of clay and forming it into a pot. Andrea, our hostess, learned this method from her grandmother shortly before she died. Her grandmother also showed her where to gather the clay on the river bank that was good so that the pots wouldn't crack when they were fired…