June Musings - A New Restaurant And A Beautiful Wedding

After the extreme heat of May, the second half of June brought beautiful cool breezes and nightly rain showers or storms. We could, once again, sit outside in our garden in the evenings and enjoy a couple of cocktails (one of my favourite things to do) without completely melting. However, June also brought the start of the rainy season which means we swapped extreme heat for mosquitoes! We dug out our mosquito coils from the junk drawer in our kitchen.

On Father’s Day, we took a drive out to the quaint village of Hopkins – about an hour’s drive up the coast. I had been here before with my ladies’ group, but Michael hadn’t had the pleasure.

Summer’s in full swing and everything’s blooming including these vibrant Flambouyant trees.

And we were behind this truck with a full sized door leading to what I can only think is the cab of the vehicle. Apologies for the bad photo.

Hopkins is one of the most picturesque villages in Belize and has been voted numerous times as the Friendliest Village in Belize. Hopkins Village fronts a large, beautiful bay measuring around five miles long. The village is split into two parts by the water, the area of Baila on the northern side and False Sittee on the southern side. What I find unique about Hopkins is that the resorts are located in one area and the village itself in another. This means that the Garifuna culture has been preserved and the village is home to a number of cultural institutions and organizations that work promote Garifuna traditions and customs.

After showing Michael around the village,

we headed over to the resort area. We stopped at various places and walked along the beautiful beaches and piers

before settling on The Lodge at Jaguar Reef for lunch where they had a special on for Father’s Day.

It wasn’t quite time for lunch yet, so we sat the bar and ordered drinks. It’s a beautiful setting with huge bay windows looking out to the beach with beautiful sheers framing the windows.

When it was time for lunch, we ordered the Father’s Day special which comprised short ribs, brisket, vegetables and a salad. I must admit that we were very disappointed with the end result. The description on the chalk board made it sound so much more than what we actually received. The brisket was tough and it tasted like it had simply been slathered in barbecue sauce and baked or broiled instead of slow cooked. The portions were uneven – I received 5 or 6 ribs, but only one piece of brisket, whereas Michael received 5 or 6 pieces of brisket and only one rib. We were unable to eat the brisket it was so tough. However, the staff very graciously comped our meal.

All in all, Michael was as enamoured with Hopkins as I had been when I first visited and we made a note to come back and try different things.

One Wednesday morning, three friends and I spent a lovely morning in the pool at Ceiba Beach Resort in Maya Beach, drinking cocktails and eating beautifully presented and tasting eggs benedict for brunch. Ceiba Beach Resort is a beautiful setting right on the beach and lends an air of comfort and luxury whilst managing to make you feel at home all at the same time. The Pineapple Mojitos were a work of art and I must confess that we drank quite a few of them.

Wednesday get-togethers of a group of friends at each others’ houses, continued and has become the highlight of everyone’s week. One of our regular couples hosted theirs on a Sunday instead of a Wednesday due to the fact that they live on an island and ferrying us all home in the dark after a few drinks was probably not going to prove very safe even if it is only a short, five-minute boat ride. They have a beautiful place that they built themselves with a very generous veranda and a pool to cool off in. The husband is very artistic and makes all kinds of beautiful things in his spare time – mats, cutting boards with resin designs on them and so on, and this beautiful chair carved from a little boat.

Their home is filled with beautiful and unique things that he’s made.

Shortly after that, friends and family left all in the same week – Angela and Tim left for good having finished the business they were conducting in Belize and moving onto exciting adventures in Tuscany,

Bernice and Alan, who were going back to Wales until October, and my son, David, who flew back to the Canary Islands for a few months. I must admit I was quite bummed losing all those people in one week.

After a couple of weeks, the Wednesday Group continued. We hosted it at our house again and then a new couple to the group invited us to their beautiful beach house in Maya Beach where a lovely evening was had. Unfortunately, we were having such a good time, we forgot to take photos!

A couple of months ago, a new Cafe opened in the village and we finally got around to trying it. Aptly named The Village Cafe, It’s a small, but bright space above a supermarket in the heart of Placencia.

Inside, various tables and chairs, benches and bar stools along a wall with black and white gingham cusions

At the entrance, the counter with the menu on a chalk board and a little book exchange.

The food was really good – I had a lovely breakfast burrito that I couldn’t finish, so I took it home to have for breakfast the next day.

A couple of weeks later we went back for lunch and had cajun fried shrimp with creamy garlic parmesan pasta and garlic bread for $14 BZD – that’s US$7.00. It was to DIE for.

One beautiful Saturday morning in June, two lovely friends of ours got married in the idyllic setting of the Placencia Beach Club. The ceremony took place in the morning and continued on over lunch time and into the afternoon.

Drinks and appetizers were offered to guests prior to the ceremony starting and we all had a chance to chat to the friends we knew, meet new ones and take a look at the amazing decorations and wedding cake.

Once we were seated, we were each given a coconut milk – very refreshing on a hot and humid day.

The ceremony itself was just perfect and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

Huge compliments to the Placencia Beach Club whose service was seamless. They had their full complement of staff on hand and the owner and his wife was also in attendance. It was one of those rare occasions where you were vaguely aware that your drink was being refreshed and your plate was being taken away, but it was done so quickly and quietly it was almost unnoticeable. The food was simple, but delicious, just the way I like it.

On the third Thursday of the month, one of our local Pubs, The Flying Pig, held an art day. For a small fee, we got art supplies and a free drink. What’s not to love? So my 2 friends and I signed up. That day’s art project was putting together and painting frogs and/or turtles on rocks. As we got into it, my friend leaned over to me and intimated that this could be preparing us for the old age home. Could be, I replied, as long as they bring a constant stream of cocktails, I’m up for it.

It was a fun afternoon where we got to paint, glue stuff and enjoy each others’ company. Here’s the fruit of our efforts.

The last Sunday of June, we grabbed ourselves some gelato ice cream from the local Italian ice cream shop, and took ourselves down to the Pointe to take in the sunset and atmosphere. We watched the fishing boats coming in with today’s catch