Jorge Castellanos

Imagine a piece of battleship grey slate, maybe about the size of a medium pizza box but with jagged, misshapen edges. And just like a great pizza, the slate has surface texture to it, ridges, bumps, and lines. Using a variety of small carving tools, from dentist’s picks to hacksaw blades, Jorge produced stunning carvings detailed with Mayan glyphs, familiar animals of Belize, solar calendars, trees, flower, and sea life.

San Felipe to San Ignacio

“Next stop, San Ignacio.” I twisted the key to our rental as Amy screen shotted our directions, because out here in the rainforest, Google isn’t your friend. Amy mentioned we were leaving San Felipe, passing near San Antonio, would drive through Santa Elena on our way to San Ignacio. “I wonder if there’s a town […]

Fresh, delicious, easy Mango Salsa

A versatile salsa enhanced by cooked vegetables and fresh ingredients. It works well as a chip dip, taco topping or garnish for fish, pork or chicken.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Amazing Belize Chocolate

Do you love chocolate cupcakes? Who doesn’t love chocolate cupcakes? The chocolate from Belize has a different fruit forward characteristic we’ve noticed and enjoyed. The chocolate here is unlike our favorite chocolates that originate from South and Central America. If you’d like to take a shot at making these as we did, buy chocolate from […]

What Have I Learned in Six Months?

I came here for a good argument.Ah, no you didn’t. You came here for an argument.An argument isn’t just contradiction.Well, it can be.No, it can’t.An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.No, it isn’t.Yes, it is. It isn’t just contradiction.Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a […]

San Pedro Sun Rise

The beauty of life on an island, one that points north/south, is the sunrise. Our little house is parallel to the beach and I’m usually up by 5:00. I’ll make coffee first then ready Otis’s food. Our tiny patio is ten steps off the beach. It faces east, north east. As the sun begins to […]

Easter in the Shadow of the Mayan Temple

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Banque Viejo In a 75-year-old church, in a 100-year-old parish, in a town that has every right to despise the Catholic Church, wearing a recently purchased Mayan amulet in the shape of the glyph Mol which depicts the constellation Orion, I sat through a beautiful, emotional Easter service celebrating the […]

Chocolate, cacao, and white truffles

“White Truffle Cappuccino courtesy Chef Colicchio.”The waiter gently placed a delicate bowl in front of me then silently made way for another gentleman with something more modern, more clever than the teapot it resembled. He poured out the contents of this teapot, an opaque, caramel-colored liquid, with a luscious, luxurious texture. Its aromas reached up, […]