Category Archives: Belize

Whirlwind Belcampo Foraging Tour.

June 12, 2015 Munchkin

A couple of weeks ago we were asked by Belcampo Lodge (an eco-lodge in Toledo) to assess their foraging tour. We were accompanied by their guide, Jose Vellos and we went on a two hour trek around Belcampo grounds. We would like to share with you some of the plants and trees that we came across…we probably saw up to about sixty plants mostly noted for their edibility, medicinal or useful purposes. All in all, the tour reinforced the diversity of plants in the rainforest and it was very educational for everyone involved. I will probably write about this tour in wee instalments since I have so many pictures to show you.

This is a picture of a Strangler Fig of the Ficus sp.; the seeds end up dropping in crevices of other trees and as they grow, they form roots which bind around the host tree, eventually killing it.

This one is the Central American Rubber Tree, also known as Castilla elastica and Panama Rubber Tree. Here is a picture; if you look carefully, you can see some latex dripping out from the multiple scores on the bark. During the heyday of the rubber industry in Central America, these trees were tapped for their valuable latex. As an historical aside, the rubber from this tree was used to make the ball used for the famous Mesoamerican ballgame Ollamaliztli.

Close-up picture of the foliage:

These are the fruit of the rubber tree; Gnome took some home to start a rubber plantation…he wants to make his own thigh high rubber boots one day (for walking about the farm in the wet season). NOT a cosplay fetish!

This one has many names…we have heard of the following: Bull’s Eye, Deer’s Eye and Horse’s Eye. Gnome suggested re-naming it ” Some Sort of Ruminant’s Eye” as a catch-all term. I don’t know…mmmm…not a very catchy name?!

Picture of the seed with the dried pod:

Deer's Eye/ Bull's Eye/ Horse's Eye. — Deer’s Eye/ Bull’s Eye/ Horse’s Eye.

The locals tell us that this seed is used in childrens’ games where it is rubbed very quickly against the pod and then transferred onto somebody else’s skin to cause a scalding effect. This is done for fun and laughs in the bush! It happens less now that everyone has Galaxy phones 😉

Belize, Farming, Pets

Cor Blimey!! It’s Hot and Humid!

June 11, 2015 Munchkin 2 Comments

Now that the rains have come, the humidity has shot up to 100%. It is muggy and wet and it feels like you are inhaling wet air. Every movement on the farm causes profuse sweating. Yes, I know I was complaining about dry season…but this is even worse because nothing ever dries up and we are wading in puddles. The up side is that the duckies are very happy splashing about in water and incessantly quacking. Poor Gnome attempted to clean up some coconuts and over-heated; he actually had to lie down under the shade of the coconuts from heat exhaustion.

To add to our list of worries, the cat has been severely traumatised. He did not appear all day yesterday and finally turned up in the evening looking very scared and bewildered. He was not physically injured but he was obviously shaken up. So, we carried him into the house and it took him an hour to get settled down. He was hyper-alert and kept on surveying his surroundings as if, at any moment, a giant monster would pounce on him. At night, I tried the usual routine with him and turfed him out of the front door. He would have none of it and started walking backwards (he actually moon-walked!) back into the house slowly and deliberately.

We are not sure what happened to our cat but from our observations, it looks like he might have been chased and he probably spent a night and day up on a tree.

We need to get our cat back on track. Meanwhile Doctor’s orders are plenty of TLC until he starts behaving normally again…like this:

Belize, Farming, Mushrooms

Another Lepiota in Belize.

June 10, 2015 Munchkin 2 Comments

Hello Everyone, we are continuing with the mushroom theme since the rains are bringing a huge abundance of them onto our farm and the Toledo region of Belize. Interestingly enough, many of them fall into the category of the Lepiota sp…also commonly known as the parasol mushrooms.

Here are some pictures from the farm:

Lepiota mushrooms are notoriously difficult to identify and many of them are poisonous, whilst others are edible and delectable. Although we are pretty adventurous with our eating, we have decided not to chance it with these mushrooms since it would be pretty embarrassing for two doctors, in the bush, to come to an early demise due to mushroom mis-adventure.

This particular Lepiota is more distinctive as it has green spores. This one is Chlorophyllum molybdites; unfortunately, inedible and can cause gastro-intestinal upset.

Chlorophyllum molybdites.: distinctive green spores.

Even although we can’t eat any of these, we still have a passion for mushrooms and love to take pictures of them.

By the way, we know that we are back in the Toledo region of Belize (been out of town last few days) when we have to stop the car to let the little piggies cross:

Belize, Food, Mushrooms

Another Mushroom in Belize!!

June 9, 2015 Munchkin

Oh, I can not believe that I forgot to mention that we had found a puffball mushroom whilst on our travels the last few days. We had just driven up to the Taiwanese shop and the next thing I knew, Gnome had scrambled out quickly and was on his hands and knees in the grassy field beside the car-park.

He was so excited because he had spotted a puff-ball mushroom. These are edible and some of them can get to the size of footballs. We have never had the pleasure of eating one but apparently you can slice them and cook them like steaks.

We took this specimen back to the farm and Gnome stomped all over it on the grass to disperse the spores. Hope to have puffball steak sometime soon!!

Amusing, Belize, Food, Medical Related, Mushrooms

Adventures in Belize.

June 8, 2015 Munchkin

Hi there!! Here are some more pictures from our adventures through Belize. As promised, here are some pictures from the Anime convention held by the Japanese Embassy in Belize.

Cosplay Contest:

The Japanese Embassy entertained with music, songs and dancing on the stage. And of course interspersed with Anime: Negadon: The Monster From Mars, SOS! Tokyo Metro Explorers and Komaneko- The Curious Cat. They also had various booths to display information on Japanese culture. Here is the calligraphy booth:

We stayed at the Best Western Biltmore Plaza for the night. We were pleasantly surprised and found that it had a colonial, Caribbean feel to the place despite being located in the middle of a busy city.

Back in the hotel room, after a 3 hour drive to Belize City and attendance at the Anime convention for about 4 hours, Gnome took his boots off finally. Out of one boot, a frog popped out!

Gnome certainly insisted on taking part of the farm with him! He said that he thought that he felt something wet in his shoe…he did not realise that he was accommodating a frog and so was somewhat relieved to find a benign cause for his slimey foot.

The frog stayed in the room with us and in the middle of the night jumped onto Gnome’s face. It jumped and boinged quite happily in the dark attending to mosquito control. In the morning, we found him asleep in the toilet.

This morning, we went to the Belize City public hospital, KHMH to pay our medical licences. The Medical Board of Belize have implemented a new policy with payment whereby the money has to be paid into their bank account. Then you have to travel all the way to KHMH in Belize City to present your bank deposit slip to them. This year they have also started issuing annual licences to doctors once payment has been fulfilled. Presumably they are for framing in the doctor’s clinic. In our case, they will be hung up in the barn.

After the hospital visit, we stopped by the Taiwanese shop to pick up some Chinese goodies. We had some refreshments…

I can not read Chinese so I don’t actually know what we drank. It tasted like soya milk with hints of strawberry. Check out the picture…it seems to suggest the promise of love? Some feminine love potion drink? I felt a bit giddy with love for my darling Gnome afterwards…so, maybe it worked!!

It was a lovely drive with blue skies:

We even managed to squeeze in a visit to Lost Reef to meet up with friends:

Our Happy Friend...She DOES look like this!! — Our Happy Friend…She DOES look like this!!

Our Friends. They actually look like this!! — Our Friends. And yes, he looks like that too!!

Homeward bound. We took the frog back home with us too!!

Belize

Munchkin and Gnome in the Big City.

June 7, 2015 Munchkin

This morning I was full of woes again and being a general pain in the butt. So, my gallant gnome said to me,” Pack your bags Munchkin! We are going to the Big City!”

Off to Belize City on a whim:

We attended an Anime Convention hosted by the Japanese Embassy; will post pictures tomorrow. We didn’t enter the cosplay competition, by the way. Maybe next year I will have my Ninja-Munchkin costume…

Belize, Farming

Post Flood Flies Freak Out!!

June 6, 2015 Munchkin

The aftermath of official Flood Flies Day is a scene of horror and devastation. There are a few live crawling insects here and there in a background of millions of wings. Not only are they are they on the table-tops, cupboards and floor but they have managed to crawl into every single crevice imaginable. There are wings stuck to food, water, jars, inside boxes and just about everything! They have left no stone unturned in their mass awakening and have truly done their job in destroying all hope of homely, pristine comfort. Instead they have created a chaotic, maddening mess.

And…I am FREAKING OUT!!!

Look at these pictures!!!

Gnome is casually ignoring my nervous twitch and passing it off as amorous winking in his direction (he should be so lucky).

I am trying to reclaim my territories bit by bit and it is a real battle. To add to all this, there was a power-cut at 10am this morning. I had a picture in my head of all the 1000 Watt vacuum cleaners going off at the same time and all the women in Punta Gorda having a massive Post Flood Flies Freak Out (PFFFO!).

This event makes you think that man’s dominance over the environment is precarious at best.

Amusing, Belize, Farming

Official Flood Flies Day!!

June 5, 2015 Munchkin

There are millions of them and I am not exaggerating. They are swarming and surrounding our house and getting into every nook and cranny to invade us. This is the biggest Flood Flies day we have seen and we have been here every year for the last 10 years.

They keep on coming:

As I write, they are crawling all over us, down the shirts and down the trousers. Ugghh…I dislike (using a very light term) that creepy crawly feeling. There are masses collecting around all the lights, flying amock and dropping their wings.

I am worried about the mess of wings in the morning.

All Gnome is worried about is the mass of protein that he did not catch this time to eat.

What a funny world we live in…each to his own worry!

This is the nuptial flight of the termites which like to eat wood and cellulose. I take back my words, in a previous post, when I said that this day only occurred in May. It can occur in June too! Beware of termites if you live in a wooden house (like we do); they can literally eat you out of house and home.

Ok…ready to go to bed!!

Belize, Food

Mamey Sapote Beef Burgers.

June 5, 2015 Munchkin

It is mamey sapote season in Belize.

A ripe mamey sapote is soft to the touch when you press hard with thumb and fore-finger. Cut around the shell lengthwise (like an avocado) to obtain the two halves of the fruit with a central large seed. Remove the seed and spoon out the pulp to eat. The flesh should come off easily in a ripe fruit. You can eat this fruit out of hand or you can transform it into a savoury burger meal:

This is a unique and tasty way of eating this tropical fruit. Mamey sapote has a reddish-brown, smooth and creamy flesh with a sweet flavour reminiscent of caramelised brown sugar. This marries very well with beef giving a caramel velvetiness to the ubiquitous burger.

Check out the recipe for Mamey Sapote Beef Burgers in Belize Wild Recipes!

Belize, Farming, Food

Miso Pumpkin Bake.

June 4, 2015 Munchkin

It has been two months since we made our Good Friday Shiro Miso; so, I reckoned it was time to try it out!

Shiro miso contains a higher white rice to bean ratio, therefore it can ferment faster and be ready to eat in 2 months. Compare this to hatcho miso which is only made of fermented beans which takes at least 12 months to mature.

I also had a huge pumpkin (14lbs/7kg) in weight, just waiting to be eaten:

So, this is what I came up with; Miso, Pumpkin and Onion Bake:

After eating this, we both agreed that the miso was ready to eat…it gave a unique umami savoury taste to the dish. What a treat and the miso and pumpkin are fresh from our farm!

Casa Mascia Apothecary