toledo pictures

this bicycle clearly cannot read.

action shot at jaguar lanes. we got better as the night progressed, thanks to a lesson from dale who owns the place. robert got over 100 on one of the 2 games, the highest score you can get is 300, so that's not bad. we all got a few strikes (where you get all 10 skittles down). we ate the worst onion rings i've ever had, there was no onion in them at all.

the beautiful swimming hole at tranquility lodge in toledo. that's robert swimming, tim got in next and i was last as i needed to see if they got eaten by any monsters.

a very cool chocolate / pizza outlet in pg (punta gorda).

me outside out cabin at tranquility lodge. the rain had dripped through the thatch in the night, it was huge rain. those thatches are really strong and so well made, i love them. it's like being in a little fairytale house, like hansel and gretel.

some local jipijapa baskets and wooden jewellery for sale.

indiana jones climbing up a dynamite exploded pile of old rocks at lubaantum. we got to the top and said isn't it funny you're allowed to climb up these wobbly old ruins, you'd think they'd not let you. then we got down and saw the sign that said no climbing on the ruins. phew lucky we hadn't broken our legs as we wouldn't be able to sue them.

check out the roots on that massive tree.

pondering the jungle. i was probably checking for hurricanes in the distance.

a house with very long hair, it's gone in his eyes.

a traditional mayan red rooster.

the view from machaca hill lodge. funny hills in the distance. i think these hills are known as karst, which is: a landscape shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock, usually carbonate rock such as limestone or dolomite. interesting huh. not sure i understand but they are cool hills. i think dolomite would be a good name for a pet dog.

this is a ceiba tree, also known as a cotton wood. this is the national tree of guatemala. belize's national tree is the mahogany. the british came here to log it, and also they logged a tree called logwood, a very tree like name if ever there was one. they started logging the trees for their dye in fact, during the textile revolution. i hear a rumour that they british army will maybe not be continuing to have a base here in belize for training. but i also hear a rumour that the us army will come instead, they are doing some kind of pilotless helicopter training over the thick jungle here for some no doubt top secret thing somewhere. that is probably top secret information i've just divulged so keep it to yourselves please.

a very old stone with mayan carvings on it. these are really well preserved, but i couldn't tell you what they say. those bits with vertical lines and dots to their left are numbers, the lines are 5s and the dots are 1s, so that one at the bottom is 18, it's 3 lines and 3 dots. there are lots of different mayan calendars, and there is a very important date coming up which is when 3 of these calendars all end on the same day. they are all of different durations the calendars, and intricately linked, and many mayans believe something huge will happen when they all meet up, it is around december 20th 2012. put the date in your diaries and make sure you've done all the things on your to do list by the 19th in case the world ends.

these are cocoa beans, they have been shelled as you can see, having been roasted. they don't taste very nice in this format.

robert grinding up the cocoa beans. this is done using volcanic stone, i guess it's very strong. we ground them quite a few times, it's a good workout for your arms.

me with a bag of cocoa paste, on the tour bus back to our resort. i haven't used the cocoa yet, it's still in the freezer, i have a recipe for brownies from mum and helie so i will see how that goes this week.

a large spikey round plant. you wouldn't want to fall on this plant.