Today is Belize’s Independence Day. I have been celebrating from yesterday. Yesterday morning on the Eve of Belize’s Independence, Marlene and I went into the town of Cayo (a.k.a. San Ignacio) only to discover that there was a parade of about twelve different schools with twirling batons girls, ribbon dancers and school bands to kick off the two days of celebrations. In the afternoon we went up to the land/our house to check on the progress that the builders have made. While there with Marlene and Tara, three toucans alighted on the tree by the house. For the first time since Tara has been here, she saw our toucans. Toucans are such wonderful birds with their beautiful yellow and black bodies and red beaks. After witnessing such a wonderful sight it was time to leave to get ready for the night of partying, to help Belizeans celebrate their coming of age. After a quick snack, showers and getting dressed, the three of us climbed into our truck and headed to Café Cayo which was the gathering place for a few of our other friends for the night ahead. We sat on the sidewalk café sipping drinks and watching the crowd of Belizeans parade up and down the streets, all dressed and ready to celebrate their holiday. Around nine p.m. We all decided to go up to Cahal Pech hotel resort, which is the highest point of the town of San Ignacio. We decided to have dinner and watch the fireworks. Dinner was full of laughter and discussions. . Our group was so diverse being raised in different countries Canada, U.S, U.K., Jamaica, Belize and all of us had also lived in many other countries and traveled widely. We compared notes on a variety of topics; but our talk seemed centered a lot around Capitalism and Spirituality due to the fact that all present are seekers of Spiritual knowledge. Four of us in the group spend a lot of our time doing different kinds of healing. Near the end of dinner we discovered that it was the birthday of one of the folks present. We all sang happy birthday and than had dessert. By this time all the other diners of the restaurant had left and our small group had the complete out-door dinning room to ourselves, with the magnificent view of the city below. We suddenly realized that it was five minutes to midnight so we moved over to the garden by the swimming pool so we could have a better vantage point; before we knew, it there was bam boom bam boom bam, dazzling bright lights of red, oranges, yellows, greens and blues. Circle, sunburst, pinwheels and falling stars for the next twenty minutes. We wooed and ahhed at the spectacular colours that came shooting through the sky from the city below, and floated towards us on the Mayan hill, Cahal Pech. At the end we gave the fireworks a round of applause, and than decided to call it a night, but instead the birthday girl lifted up her dress and decided to go wading in the swimming pool. We watched for a moment and than headed towards the cars in the parking lot, where we had great hugs and all headed home.
Just as we got into bed at one a.m. the rooster next door started is crazy cock-a-doodling, and in the distance we could hear the other roosters replying. After listening for a while I slipped into a deep slumber until seven a.m. when our dogs, Rusty and Jabali, woke us up by loudly chewing on their beds. After attending to the dogs, and our morning rituals, Marlene Tara and I made breakfast of fresh salsa, toast, spicy scrambled eggs, freshly squeezed orange juice, ripe plantains, green tea and coffee. We spent the morning lazily at home until two p.m. After refreshing showers we drove from Santa Elena to San Ignacio to watch the Independence celebration parade. It took a very long time before the parade started, but once it started it moved along quite quickly. Not only was the parade celebrating Belize but it was also showcasing the different business and activities that is present in Cayo. We were all delighted to see a large group of boys, between the ages of eight to fourteen years old, doing tumbling routines along the two-mile parade route. The large contingency of horses was determined to side step into the crowd. Thankfully the horses finally came under control of their young riders. After the parade we made a quick exit, thus becoming part of the tail end of the parade. Now I am back home doing this journal/blog. Much Blessings and Joy from this Spiritual Paradise.