Placencia, Jaguar Creek, San Ignacio

Ray and I started the day with coffee at dawn at Yoli's restaurant on the pier. Sunrise over the ocean didn't really happen. There was a line of clouds on the horizon that rose as fast as the sun. I guess that means the clouds were moving east to west, which seems strange to me.

At church we were treated to a baptism, whose participants were not readily identifiable except the baby, Mom, and the priest. There were two other women and a man in the group, whom some thought were godmother, aunt, and father, but I thought were grandmother and godparents. I think Dad slipped in after the service for the family picture. The priest took the party to task at one point for not answering the questions loudly enough. The baby was wearing white slacks and jacket and a lovely ecclesiastical stole, which is not common in Belize but is in Guatemala, where the woman I thought was grandmother had bought it.

After brunch, at which I had a french toast sandwich filled with chocolate and topped with a white sauce containing a berry liquer, we checked out and headed back to the Hokey Pokey water taxi.

After stops in Jaguar Creek and then at Ian Anderson's to look for Ray's daily requirement of iron-in-Guiness, we arrived at our resort in San Ignacio. The resort comprises a number of cabins in a row of trees that have labels giving the scientific name, common name, habitat, and medicinal uses. They included avocado, almond, trumpet tree, and custard apple. It was a great surprise that my cabin had a large cable TV. There were at least six soccer channels, and channels 110-113 were in Chinese. What I heard later seemed to be that most of the cable service was pirated from somebody else's signals.

Sherree and Aki arrived just as we were contemplating supper. We walked up the street to a restaurant where the tables were under an open roof. We had great food and conversation, and also kids on bicycles and dogs running around among the tables.

It was really nice to catch up with Sherree and Aki again and incorporate Sherree's enthusiasm with ours. Aki's support is strong and quiet. He really seems to be key in getting projects done. We are blessed to be working with both of them and have them mentor us on the ways of Belize.