Belize Botanical Gardens

Hello everyone! It's Penny here.

It's a beautiful sunny morning in Belize...just in time for us to get ready to leave!

A few days ago I accepted an invitation from Peter and Cindy to join them for a trip to the Belize Botanical Gardens. I couldn't resist that! Naturally I left Andrew at home, making us both very happy. This is indeed the key (or one of...) to a happy marriage. If your partner wouldn't enjoy it, leave him/her out of it. Why both be miserable? But I digress...

What do you do if you can't reach the ripe stuff?

Get it yo' self

The beautiful grounds are owned by a single proprietor. She and her late husband bought many acres of land in the 1970s and spent the past 40 years making it an educational visiting centre and garden centre. Nearly every tree and plant are marked with it's Latin, English and Spanish names. My Dad would have loved it!

Bamboo walkway!!!

Orchid house

A girl's gotta eat

Cat whiskers

Not all the trees and plants were in bloom seeing as it's winter (brrr...) but the grounds were still beautiful.

After a lovely lunch we went for a swim in the Macal River that runs alongside the gardens. I LOVE swimming in rivers! So much less oceany. :)

One year old Tootsie soon learned from 12 year old Chloe that in order to get that stick, she'd have to actually go in the water and get it. Soon after this photo she came into the water and swam toward me and once the ground disappeared beneath her, she figured out how to swim. I've never seen her eyes bug out that far, but she did it! She was pretty proud of herself and I rewarded her with many games of fetch. Good dog. Now if only I could smuggle her home...

I returned home late in the afternoon to a very happy husband who had a wonderful day on his own, doing nothing related to botany. Win win.

That's all folks.

We'll post our Tuesday's Thoughts Vol. 4 later today. This will be our last post from Belize as we leave for Guatemala in the morning!

Buenes tardes!