May Breeze 2010 - The Placencia Breeze

More documents

Recommendations

Info

ROAD LANDSCAPE COMMITTEE SEEKSTO BUILD ON SUCCESSWorking off the success of its beautification ofthe Seine Bight football field the PeninsulaRoad Landscape Project (PRLP) is lookingforward to expanding its efforts. The four personcommittee, working under the auspices of thePlacencia chapter of Belize Tourism IndustryAssociation, completed its pilot project in SeineBight last month and the response has been overwhelminglypositive.“In putting up a series of wooden barriers between the field andthe road we were serving many purposes”, says committee chairStewart Krohn. “As afence it keeps the ballsfrom going on the roadand causing a possibletraffic accident. Byhaving flowersgrowing up thewooden slats it adds alarge measure ofbeauty to the area andwill complement thenew communitycenter.”The project was agroup effort with Steve Christensen doing the woodwork, Krohnsupplying the palmettos, Hannah Cowell contributing the designand Sara Robinson handling the planting.. Funding for materialsand labor was provided by the members themselves and thebusinesses they represent, namely Caribbean Cabinet andFurniture, Platinum Designs, Viva Verde Nursery and Cocoplum.But to enlarge the project that finance base will have to grow. “Weare looking at a number of strategies to carry out our master plan,”says Cowell, “both for the initial planting as well as regularmaintenance.” Those plans include nothing less than thelandscaping of the entire Placencia Road from the Point toRiversdale…and while that may seem a tall order in a time ofeconomic austerity the committee remains optimistic. “We do notexpect to do everything overnight,” says Krohn. “Just as plants andtrees take time to grow so will this project. But just looking atSeine Bight you can already see a lot of progress. The road givesthe village a better look, as does the football field, the schoolplayground. Each success brings more success.” And that spirit isevidenced by the quick work of the new Seine Bight village councilwhich has already organized a community cleanup and providedfor the painting of a number of houses. Individual residents arealso fixing up their properties as are developers embarking on newprojects on the north side of the village.The committee will be cooperating with the Seine Bight council ona redevelopment plan for the old water tank area of the village andthe next step will be the landscaping of the section of road fromthe air strip heading north to Cocoplum.Continued on pg 19Btia Member to Member Benefits continued∙ Black Rock Lodge: 50% discount on accommodation, 20% discounton food & drinks, activities & tours. NO DISCOUNTS apply for peakseason Dec 18, 2010‐Jan 2, 2011• Viaventure: Discounts on land transfers. Please inquire for details• Adventures in Belize: 50% OFF rooms / tours / mealsSAN PEDRO• Belizean Shores Resort: 50% off published room rates• Coco Beach Resort: 50% off published room rates• Portofino Beach Resort: 50% off accommodation and 15% of foodat Portofino RestaurantTOLEDO• Tranquility Lodge: 50% discount on bed and breakfast• American Crocodile Education Sanctuary (ACES): 10% discount onaccommodations at ACES “Croc‐Cabañas” and 50% discount forACES’s “Crocodile Experience”, a 2 hr educational visit with aBiologist including a jungle walk to possibly see qild HowlerMonkeys and up‐close, personal viewing of rescued crocodilesThe Placencia Breeze – May 2010- Page 14Spotlight on Placencia’s BTIA Member–Danube Austrian RestaurantDANUBE’s owners are Herbert and Simone, both from Austria.We moved to Belize inMarch 2008 and builtour restaurant in oneof the most picturesqueplaces in the world -BELIZE. We havetraveled around theworld and haveexperienced manycountries and culturesbut fulfilled ourdreams by settlinghere in Belize: acountry which isrelaxing and full ofspirit! We were oftenasked why we have chosen Belize to open our restaurant… 1. it isabsolute beautiful 2. it is English speaking 3. it is political stableand safe 4. owning property and a business is not a problem forforeigners and to meet rules and regulations is easy as those arepretty straight forward. During a vacation in Belize we wanted tocheck out the opportunity and fell in love with the PlacenciaPeninsula. Then everything went quick, we bought the property,designed the building and left Placencia, to return half a yearlater, to complete our project.We chose DANUBE [‘ dænju:b] as the name of our restaurant as itis the name of the largest river in Europe. The RIVER DANUBEwhich flows through the heart of Europe acts as a connecting hubfor the many cultures, and Belize like Europe is also a melting potof many different cultures with influences from the ancient Mayasto the Garifunas, to today's vibrant Belize.DANUBE opened its doors onOctober 8th 2008 after aboutone year of construction in itsown building South of SeineBight. We offer first andforemost Austrian but alsoCentral European Cuisine.Austria boasts one of theworld’s most famous culinarytraditions. A diverse yetdelectably harmonious rangeof dishes reflects the mix ofnationalities and foodcultures through thecenturies. Amongst ourspecialties are VienneseSchnitzel, Goulash, MeatDumplings, home-madesausages as well as Meat andCheese Fondue. Austrianslike to eat well, and whatthey like to eat best is dessert. That’s why we offer a large varietyof delicious desserts – Sweet Dumplings filled e.g. with Chocolate,Rasberries or Plums as well as Sachertorte and Apple Strudel, justto name a few.The team behind DANUBE is very small. Herbert is the chef andSimone takes care of all what our guests need. This is probably oneof our secrets: personal service and high quality as well as aninviting ambience. We tried to bring Old World style and BelizeanBeauty together. The beautiful garden is looked after by Lucianowho’s knowledge of plants is amazing. Eating at DANUBE meansmore than just having a meal. After dinner there is no need torush, instead you can enjoy a nice glass of wine as back in Austria,where you spend sometimes the whole evening with your friendssitting and chatting and enjoying life.Every now and then the daily routine leaves some time to enjoythe beauty of Placencia while diving, kayaking or just relaxing onthe beach – also one of the reasons being here.www.danubebelize.com
By Deborah VernonWhen I arrived in Placencia nearly 19years ago, there was one main grocerystore and a hand full of walk-up shopswith a few canned items, sugar, flour,the basics. One of the first things Ilearned (besides not to sit under a palmtree with coconuts) was that onSundays, the new stock arrives at ourone and only grocery store and youbetter be there first thing or you won’tget any.Way Back When - Market DayOn Sunday mornings there was nosleeping in. You got up early in orderto get down to the market and pickyour number. About an hour before opening, numbers written oncardboard were hung outside the door. These numbers were theorder in which you would be served. You wanted to get a number,preferably before 10, because otherwise you would be waiting forhours. And to get a number before 10, you had to get there anhour early, so you still waited for a bit.Everyone gathered outside until the market opened and ournumber was called. Seems that most people would go to the shopon Sundays, so while we waited to be served we chatted. It was agreat time to catch up with people and hear about happenings inthe village. I can remember going to a house nearby for coffeeonce or twice.Way back when, Wallens Market was a small, dark woodenbuilding with a long counter at one end, a vegetable bin in thecenter and the cash register by the door. All of the items were inthe stock room. When you arrived at the market you brought yourlist and handed it to one of the women behind the counter. Theywent to the store room, picked out what they could find on the listand that was that. No browsing the aisles. No impulse purchases.No choice of brand. You had your canned margarine, Dutchcheese, milk powder, chicken, rice, beans. As a matter of fact, Ibelieve most of the items sold in the store were on a shelf thatlined the back wall. The only thing we did get to choose was thevegetables from the bin. Our choices were limited to primarilycarrots, cabbage, onions and potatoes. You didn’t really expect tofind much, but they had what you needed.You may be wondering why we all rushed in for this? Well,Sunday was the only day fresh produce arrived in the village. Dueto the tropical temperatures, fruits and vegetables don’t last long,so you wanted to buy on day one or you would be left with a fewsoggy carrots and rotten potatoes. You also wanted to get in earlybefore they ran out of something really special like apples orgrapes, which came in around December.The Placencia Breeze May 2010 - Page 15were. What else did you have to doon a Sunday?One of the things I love aboutPlacencia is the slower pace of life. Irealize that while our lives here areslower than most, that pace isgradually increasing. If we go to themarket and have to wait more than5 minutes in line we get impatient.People are driving too fast, whenbefore, we all walked slowly to ourdestination. We are frustratedwhen our e-mail goes down for halfa day, when before it took ourletters close to a month to get fromplace to place.Progress is great. I’m the first to admit that having multiplemarkets, a paved road and e-mail certainly make life easier.Maybe every once in a while, though, we all need to be reminded ofwhat life was like in Placencia 15 -20 years ago. Next time youcan’t find something at the market think back to the days whenthat item wasn’t even available. Remember back to the days wheneverything was expected to take time, no one hurried and no onestressed over the fact.The more we have, the more expectations we have. If you expectnothing, you are pleasantly surprised when something doeshappen. Once you have expectations, you open yourself up todisappointment.I think that’s why a simple life appeals to many people and why, inturn, Placencia appeals to so many. We can all achieve the bliss ofa simple life by lowering expectations and learning to go with theflow, which here we call “Belize time.”Times have certainly changed. Wallens went upscale with aislesand air conditioning. It may sound crazy, but the day Wallens putin 2 shelves and an aisle was very exciting to us shoppers! You canimagine after years of just handing over a list, to be able to browsethe shelves and pick and choose....wow.We now have 5 markets in Placencia alone. We can find things wenever had in Placencia before. Yogurt, fresh milk, cream cheese,butter that isn’t canned. I can remember when each of theseitems showed up on the shelves and how exciting it was.Our produce selection has blossomed into multiple trucks bringingin fresh goods almost daily. It’s not often you hear one say “I can’tfind carrots.” We now get apples and grapes year round. Exoticfruits like kiwi and strawberries come in frequently. Lettuce! Weget lettuce!Even today, I still have the habit of shopping “when the truckcomes in” on Saturday afternoons. The markets are still a greatplace to catch up with people even if there isn’t much time forsocializing.It seems our lives are busier now. Who could imagine going to theshop to get one bag of groceries and waiting 2 hours or so to do it?Back then, it didn’t seem like a chore. That’s just the way things
Page 1: The Placencia BreezeA Publication o
Page 4 and 5: The Placencia Breeze -May 2010- Pag
Page 6 and 7: The Placencia Breeze -May 2010-Page
Page 8 and 9: The Placencia Breeze -May 2010- Pag
Page 10 and 11: I Decided to VolunteerA Placencia H
Page 12 and 13: The Placencia Breeze - May 2010- Pa
Page 18 and 19: Placencia BTIA Members cont.The Pla
Page 22 and 23: Placencia Lobsterfest Raffle PrizeT
Page 24 and 25: Toledo Cacao Festival - 21 st to 23
Page 26 and 27: The Placencia Breeze May 2010 - Pag
Page 28 and 29: The Placencia Breeze May 2010 - Pag
Page 30 and 31: This time of the year there are man
Page 32 and 33: ACCOMMODATIONSSouth of AirstripEasy
Page 34 and 35: The Placencia Hotel : Beachfront &
Page 36: The Placencia Breeze May 2010 - Pag

May Breeze 2010 - The Placencia Breeze

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?