Friday, March 24, 2006

from the "waiting" dept.

Friday.

Not much excitement today, so far.

After Roh and Brent went to work, I hung out at the house.

The first order of business was to make sure all my audio gear was working and piled together. I am heading to Punta Gorda, via San Ignacio to do sound for Katia's documentary on Paul Nabor, an old-time Belizean musician mentioned in earlier postings.

Unfortunately, I have to drive Katia's truck as she doesn't have her license presently. However, she lives in San Ignacio, which is a good two hours west of Belize City.

Worst case scenario, I will struggle with a bunch of gear and luggage on a local bus tomorrow. Best case scenario I will be able to get a ride out to San Ignacio tonight (looks good) with one of the local people working on the cruise ship commercial.

Brent did pop home around lunch time, so I joined him for a bit over at the Putt-Putt. It's a bar with food service on the site of a former mini-golf course. It was easier and cheaper to call the bar Putt-Putt then get a new sign.

I was convinced to try a local food item called gibnut -- a edible mammal. Brent didn't explain exactly what it was until after I finished. It's something akin to a guinea pig, and damn tasty. And it is known as the Royal Rat. Sided with rice and beans and potato salad, plus the standard Belikin beer this filling skoff was but US$6. (BZ$12).

And why is it called the Royal Rat? Fodor's explains:

Although it's not among the world's greatest, Belizean food is one of Central America's best cuisines. Staples include tasty treats -- like the fryjack, a beignetlike dough fried to a golden crisp and served at breakfast -- rice and beans, fried chicken, and tasty creole "stew chicken." Added to these are such acquired tastes as iguana, known as "bush chicken" or "bamboo chicken;" gibnut, a small rodent dubbed the "royal rat" after Queen Elizabeth dined on it during a state visit; and oddities of the British culinary heritage, like bread-and-butter pudding and cow-foot soup.

At the Putt-Putt, I also met the owners of a small resort near San Ignacio. They asked Brent and I to pop by when we head to Guatemala next week.

After a some running around, Brent dropped me back at the house. I did some laundry and got the clothes on the line just in time for a torrential downpour. The sun is now out, and my fingers are crossed that they will be dry by the time I depart for San Ignacio (if I do tonight).

So far the trip has been relaxing, which is the whole point. And while I've spent a lot of time at Brent's, that's OK, because there is very little to do in Belize City. The real adventure is still to come. Though yesterday's Mexico trip was a nice roadtrip.

More soon!

Cheers!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Love the 10.5 from inside the truck - great lens. Maybe a better purchase than the 'CSIS' lens!

Busy turning my old G4 500 into a server - cool idea - it works!