Hopkins' Boys Soccer Club - 12 Years and Under

As we drove south on Center Street in Hopkins, we  happened on a well utilized soccer field filled with about 25 pre-teen boys simply playing soccer. We met the head coach, Denton, and decided we should donate a couple of balls to the club. A few days later we delivered 3 balls and an air pump to Coach Denton, without the boys around. Coach asked us to stop by the field on Saturday morning to watch them practice because they only practice when the coaches are not working at their "real" jobs.

Saturday morning, about 9a.m., we received a text from Coach Denton: "Hi morning, dis is coach denton. Wee are haveing a training setion. if u have di time we'r here." Who could resist this invitation?

We drove the 2 miles to the field and were greeted with, "Thank you for the donation!" from a swarm of 25 sweaty, smiling boys shaking our hands. Coaches Denton and Clarence had them pose for a group photo for us!

Coaches Denton and Clarence

Soccer Club

These little guys are working toward playing a tournament in November, and they are playing their hearts out--with and without soccer shoes. Coach Denton told us that the boys share the "boots" (shoes) by handing them down when they grow out of them.

Now to figure out how to get "soccer boots" and reversible team jerseys for all the boys...

Spanish Lookout and "MennMart"

About 30 minutes west of Belmopan lies a primarily Mennonite settlement known as Spanish Lookout, http://www.spanishlookout.bz. We've heard about the area since hitting Belize, it's not what we expected.

Spanish Lookout has 2 intersections with Western Highway. Heading west from Belmopan the first one you will come to is in Blackman Eddy, a paved right off of the highway, cross the bridge over the river. The second right is at the eastern edge of Santa Elena, dirt and rutty road, pass a pig and cattle farm, cross the ferry over the river---this route was closed for ferry repair, indicated by a hand written cardboard sign placed in the center of the road.

Once you cross the river, you have entered what can be best described as Pennsylvania/Ohio-like terrain, rolling hills, farms, a picturesque rural area. The roads are "luxurious"--well-maintained pavement, no pot holes to speak of. This is where you can find quaint farms and farm houses, auto repair shops, John Deere tractors and equipment, farming supplies, pre-fab homes, lumber yards, fully stocked Universal Hardware store, and the Farmer's Trading Center. Oil has recently been discovered on the land.

It was Friday about 11:00a.m. hungry, we ate at the first restaurant we found, The Golden Corral, http://www.spanishlookout.bz/goldencorral.htm No, not a franchise of the stateside chain, but they did offer a $15bze buffet and off the menu ordering as well. Our server was from NJ-wearing a Philadelphia Flyers tee shirt. The food was yummy--we had pierogies!--where else in Belize can you get that dish?? The restaurant got slammed about 11:30a.m. with folks from all walks of life. The take out area was hectic too!

Our goal was to find: chocolate chips, pecans and some hardware items. First stop, Universal Hardware. Nice paved parking lot supplying the new 4500sqft building with adequate parking, enter the very clean and well organized store--reminiscent of True Value/ACE Hardware stores in the US. They were well stocked, not a big variety (as anywhere in Belize) but a couple of choices for each item on the shelves. Unfortunately, they did not have the door strike plate we were searching for.

On to The Farmer's Trading Center. I have dubbed this store "MennMart"---it is a grocery store, office supply, household goods, pharmacy, toy store, hardware and furniture store all rolled in to one! What a delight to have everything under one roof, helpful customer service folks and great prices! Chocolate chips--Nestle's, different size bags up to 4lbs. Georgia pecans--whole or halves, different size bags up to 2 lbs. AND the door strike plate! All in one place...Score!!

Farmers Trading Center

Ahhhh..MennMart!

Lebeha Drumming Center

Tuesday night found us on the north end of Hopkins at the Driftwood Beach Bar & Pizza Shack, www.driftwoodpizza.com. I had read on other's blogs about this being the "best" pizza in Belize...a challenge we were up for.

Entrance To Driftwood

Beach Side of Driftwood

We arrived about 6:30p.m. just as the crowd was beginning to assemble. Tuesday nights are reserved for Lebeha Drumming Center's performance, that starts around 7:30p.m. We ordered 2 pizzas--one each, as they are 4 slices/pizza and cost $26bze ($13USD) each. I have to admit the pizza dough was out of this world! It was laden with Italian herbs and combined with the sauce---delish!!

Happy Kitchen Crew

PIZZA!!

As we were eating, the drumming school began to set up. This night would have fewer performers as the school had sent most of the group to Canada to receive their Grammy Award! One primero and one segunda drum were accompanied by a dual tortoise shell necklace drum, a set of maracas, a stand up electric bass and keyboard. Let the drumming begin!

The Band

Tortoise Shell Necklace Drum

The performers are paid by tips only, so we purchased one of their CD's.
I opened my big mouth and asked one of the performer's if he'd teach us to drum..."Yes, come to the school tomorrow morning at 10, I'll teach you." Oh, no....

Lebeha Drumming Center Entrance

We reported to Lebeha Drumming Center, www.lebeha.com, as requested. For one hour we tortured Shaquille with our rhythm parroting, but actually learned how to Garifuna drum on segundas! We also met Jabbar Lambey, the drum master/owner who is handing down and teaching his skills to the next generation.

Larry, Jabbar, Shaquille, Babs

We were shown how they carve the trunk of a mahogany tree out and spread a deer skin over one end for the drumhead, they then "drum off" the fur. The drum is tuned by tightening the cordage from around the drumhead through holes at the base of the drum's body, some of the drums also have either a fishing line or thin wire strung across the drumhead that creates a buzzing sound (like a snare drum).

Deer Skin Soaking Prior To Becoming A Drumhead

Furry Segunda Drumhead, Drum Being Made

Jabbar told us that when he was a child, he was only permitted to watch the elders drum and could not participate with them-so he would watch from afar and practice in hiding. Lebeha means "the end" in Garifuna, it was to be the end of their culture, but Jabbar and his school keep the positive vibrations going.

School interior

More School Interior

Serendipity Happens---At Brother's Pizza in Hopkins

Life can be full of wonderful surprises! This is one of ours...

Larry and I had just returned to Hopkins from volunteering at the Belmopan Humane Society's Open House; and knowing we did not have food in the cabana refrigerator, we decided to stop at Brother's Pizza & Italian Restaurant for supper. This restaurant is quickly becoming our favorite-the daily specials are a delectable assault on the taste buds!

Brother's Pizza & Italian Restaurant

Specials!

As I exited the Jeep, I noticed a man in a red tee shirt reading the sandwich board specials outside the restaurant.
"Excuse me, but do you write a blog?" queried the man.
"Yes," I replied tentatively.
"Are you Babs?" he asked.
"Yes,"--curious-er and curious-er I became.
"We've been reading your blog for a long time," came his response.
           
OMG!

We then met Matt, Amy, Liam and Lochlan, from Seattle, WA; they had noticed our white Jeep with the Tennessee license plates (and good driving skills, I might add); acting on their intuition, they stopped and the rest is history! The family has been in the country for almost 2 weeks and have covered a lot of territory, the vacation/research trip has included: Caye Caulker, San Ignacio-with a side trip to Tikal (a major Mayan site in Guatemala), bird watching excursions, beach days and Hopkins.

Liam was excited about the toucans they saw in Tikal and the whole family was looking forward to snorkeling on the reef before they return home in a couple of days. They have had what sounds like a really good experience in Belize and it was a pleasure running in to them in little Hopkins!

Serendipitous as it was--just think, if either of us had been a few moments later, or earlier-this encounter may not have happened!

Liam, Amy, Matt and Lochlan

Liam, Amy, Larry, Matt, Babs and Lochlan

Matt, Amy, Liam and Lochlan:

Thank you for taking the time to say hello, we enjoyed meeting you--what an unexpected delight! 

Your pizza and calzone sure looked good--we'll have to try them soon!

P.S. Thanks for the impromptu glass bottle concert!! :)

Barbara, The Hemp Lady

The sand fleas in Hopkins are notorious for feasting on fair- complected tourist flesh. I had read other's blogs touting the hemp based all-natural bug repellent and moisturizer-so, in order to properly research and report, I needed to visit and try the products.

"Sew Much Hemp" the handmade roadside sign reads pointing down the dirt driveway to a retired quasi-Partridge Family school bus.

Sew Much Hemp Road Sign

Barbara And The Hemp Bus

We parked alongside the bus and climbed aboard only to be met by a well versed, ex-Oregonian adorned in dreadlocks. Barbara has been in Belize for over 15 years, she and her husband came down with the primary goal of educating the public about hemp. From food, fuel, oil, building material, clothing, health and beauty products, "Every part of 'her' (the hemp plant) is utilized " claims the proprietor, "and is better than other sources for those products." The front of the bus is dedicated to hemp education and the Crazy Diamond Hemp product line. Barbara makes the products herself, in the kitchen area of the bus; and the back of the bus is reserved as living quarters.

Barbara, The Hemp Lady

The Crazy Diamond Hemp products are:

• The bug repellent is composed of: 25% hemp oil, aloe, avocado, wheatgerm, grapeseed, rosemary,  6 bug repelling essential oils, shea butter, and beeswax. OK, I'm sold...after slathering this stuff on my legs and arms for the past 2 weeks, I have had absolutely 0 (zero) sand flea bites.

• The moisturizer is composed of: 25% hemp oil, aloe, avocado, wheatgerm, grapeseed, rosemary, frankincense, sage, shea butter, and beeswax. This moisturizer has a clean, spa-like fragrance, is easy to apply, absorbs well and is claimed to have both anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties.

• The clothes are made of 60% hemp and 40% silk.

Education and Product Display Area

Barbara and Her Products

Hemp Clothing Line

The products can be shipped worldwide!

You may contact Barbara via email: sewmuchhemp@hotmail.com

A Letter From The Hopkins Sand Flea Colony

Dear Fresh, Pale Tourist:

Hello from Hopkins, Belize! We welcome you to our little paradise with open "arms." 

Please, before you run from the airport to the Caribbean Sea to marinate, take your time, walk around the village and let us hop on for a little welcoming nibble! You are our favorite dish! Because your pasty white skin is thinnest, it is much easier to snack on your lower legs, ankles and feet than someone who visits us with a darker complexion or has prior tanning and salt water exposure-their skin has a thicker epidermis which makes it more difficult for us to bite. As a group, we have an insatiable appetite.


We are tiny, pale white or even brownish colored, wingless arachnids, able to leap 20-40 centimeters (that's 8-16 inches) up those tall legs of yours. So for those of you who like to lay out on a towel or chaise lounge on the beach, all we can say is---BUFFET!! We are parasitic blood suckers and enjoy munching on humans and animals alike. We can also be found hanging out on washed up seaweed along our beautiful beaches. We love to be out and about at dawn and dusk, the calmer the breeze-the better our aim! Besides jumping, we can be found hitchhiking on blowing dust particles, saves us from expending too much energy getting around. So, wherever there's dust--we can be there too!

We dine on you two different ways:

1) Mosquito-like, we bite you, suck your blood and just move on to the next snack.
or,
2) If a female is breeding, she'll bite, burrow under your skin and just hang out for up to 3 weeks and then lay eggs (Tungiasis). She'll make the area swollen, it'll  mound up and you'll see a black spot in the center.
Either way--we got ya!! Pain, swelling, itching, perhaps severe discomfort, fever, allergic reactions and even secondary infections are our handiwork.

We hate it when you're prepared!

DO NOT bring or plan to use:
Deep Woods Off repellant, Calamine lotion, 1% Hydrocortisone cream, aloe vera lotions or petroleum jelly. We hate to be repelled, have our bites treated or suffocate.

DO NOT:
Shake out your bed cover every night and leave it in another room! We worked hard to get there and hate to start all over again.
Seek out local bug repellants! Baby oil, coconut oil, those all-natural citronella lotions--they all stink and we don't appreciate the aroma.
Wear full shoes, long pant and sleeves! You'll block our access!

Looking forward to biting you soon!
Oh, and welcome to Hopkins, Belize!

With lots of love,

Sarcopsylla penetrans and Pulex penetrans 
AKA: jigger flea, pico, chigoe flea, nigua, sand flea, chigger flea, bicho de pie, sikka, kuti and piqui.

http://www.stanford.edu/group/parasites

For more information:
www.buzzle.com/articles/sand-flea-bite-treatment.html

1st Impressions of Hopkins

The main road is asphalt, not a full 2 lanes, not the entire length. The road turns to a light orange dirt road at either end as well as all the side roads. Dust gets kicked up easily, especially from those driving fast. We observed an elderly woman walking along the road and breathing through a towel.

Main Asphalt Road

Main Asphalt Road

Road Turns From Asphalt To Orange Dirt

The building colors are varied and tropical. You will find concrete buildings and homes as well as wooden structures in various degrees of weathering all along the 3 main roads and the many side roads.

Blues

Weathering

Orange, Yellow and Greens

The village is tourist oriented. The businesses reflect the industry: guest houses, hotels, hostels, restaurants, shell carvers, arts and crafts, wooden sculptures, jewelry, and clothing—all types of items to take your tourist “dollah”—both US and Belizean dollars are accepted, “no problem.” There is one ATM in town, it works most days.

Funky DoDo Hostel

Hair and Nails Anyone?

Iris' Restaurant

We’re not seeing many assertive/aggressive panhandlers. There are the children who sell their mother’s baked goods in the evenings door-to-door, meat pies and doughnuts are popular. Veggie/fruit vendors pass by on their bicycles and pick-up trucks too.

Busy streets, many bicycles, a few golf carts, taxis, cars and trucks travel alongside the pedestrians. At about 4pm add the school busses. The tourist season is coming to a close, so a lot of this traffic may subside soon.

Cars

Bikes

Loving the constant breeze from the Caribbean Sea and the warm medium beige sand, the water temperature is perfect—no having to “get used to it” before you go in, the water clarity is exceptional and the various shades of turquoise—just beautiful! Egrets and pelicans scan the shoreline. Sea grass is consumed by the manatee—cannot wait to see them up close and personal.