Christmas in Belize, Part 2

On Sunday the 20th we set out in our golf cart for a new adventure — a drive to the “Secret Beach.” OK, so it’s not so secret anymore, thanks, in part, to a huge sign directing people there from the main road. But since we were still battling intermittent storms, it was not over-crowded on the day we went. The road, however, was a mess thanks to the recent rains, but we eventually found our way.

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The Secret Beach is basically a couple of docks on the back side of the island that were the beginning of a housing development for locals. Apparently, lots were sold but only a couple of houses have been built. There is no power to that side of the island, so there are many challenges. For now, it serves as a place to hang out, swim, and have a casual lunch from the food trucks that show up.

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We did some swimming and snorkeling and enjoyed the sunshine in between the rains.

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That night we had the Santa talk with Finn. He’d been questioning if Santa was real for a few weeks, talking with friends at school (both skeptics and believers) and seemed to be a bit tortured by trying to figure out the truth. I’d found this book about how Santa came about and why families choose to continue the Santa story, so we sat down and read the book together. Bruce did the reading.

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He ended up having some sort of bloody nose thing going on, so it wasn’t the most serious of family book readings.

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But it was entertaining and the meaning of Christmas giving came through. Finn was a bit upset to learn the truth, but recovered quickly and is looking forward to next Christmas when he can participate in being Santa.

Back in California, our Pasadena friends were preparing to hike up to Echo Mountain with a large group organized by the Friends of Echo Mountain. The idea was for everyone to wear some lights and, thus, light up the trail. It sounded like a great event and I was a bit bummed that we couldn’t participate. Thankfully, Cari and Rob had an idea to bring us with them — they created us out of LEGO and stowed us in their backpacks. My LEGO doppelgänger was prepared with a cell phone (a 1990s model) and a light.

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And Bruce’s was, well, typical Bruce. I love the smirk.

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Here’s a photo from another Flickr user who photographed the event. It looks spectacular!

Festival of Lights - Echo Mountain - 12/20/15

On Monday the 21st we were starting to see better weather and the kids spent a lot of time snorkeling in the pool. Ezra cracked me up with the way he walked around in his flippers.

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And there was actual relaxing going on. Much deserved after a few hectic months at Google.

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In the evening we took the golf cart into town to have dinner and watch the boat parade, which had been postponed due to rain. I caught a good shot of the sunset.

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We had dinner at a place called Hurricanes.

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And we watched the lit up boats float by. This is really the only decent shot I got but the parade was fun to watch.

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San Pedro was all done up for the holidays.

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Pardon the blurry shot; it’s the best I could do from the back of the golf cart!