Keeping Busy in Quarantine On Ambergris Caye, Belize

Please note that this blog post is an April Fools Joke – or at least the last part of it is.   We’ve (me and Jeff – this is the only blog post of the year that I let him participate in) have been writing this annually.

It started 5 years ago when we convinced many (and got many phone calls in outrage) about an oil refinery being constructed on Caye Chapel.  THAT has not happened.  Yet?

We’ve teased about Opening Another Bar on Ambergris Caye and poked fun at the SPTC about the ugly roadside signs going up just about EVERYWHERE. 

This didn’t seem like the year to make fun of other people.

Be certain that no puppies were hurt in the making of this blog post.  In fact, our little actor Mr. Grey was yawning in the last picture of this post.

Here are two pictures AFTER “the procedure”.  For those who don’t know us, we would NEVER condone the mutilation of any dog – cropping ears, docking tails – and would NEVER hurt an animal.  Unless it’s a scorpion…then it’s every woman for herself.

 

ORIGINAL BLOG POST:

The world is a very different place right now.  A month ago this island was gearing up for the peak of high season.  We were busy with guests at the camp and I was just starting a second book – BIG Experiences on Caye Caulker.

Today, tourists are gone, borders and businesses closed and save for essential activities, residents are quarantined at home.

Photo by Ambergris Today

In fact, a 30-day countrywide quarantine goes into place starting at midnight tonight.  Curfew, a limited number of specified essential activities only, stay inside your house – otherwise face arrest, fining and confinement.

House restriction is making one thing very apparent: It was NOT lack of free time that was preventing me from deep cleaning the house or starting any number of craft projects that I want to do.  In the past week+ of “shelter in place”, I have not organized my drawers or filed any tax returns or fine-tuned my budget.

So how to bide my time?

I found out quickly that watching news 24/7 is the exact wrong thing to do. Staying informed with FACTUAL reporting? Absolutely.  Binge-watching the major cable networks- the sensationalism and repetition?  No.

I’m trying hard to just read the news and not watch it on television at all.

Now binge-watching Netflix?   That’s a whole different story.  I’m in the middle of Ozark Season 3 (awesome) and Tiger King is next on the agenda.  I feel like I’m in the only one who HASN’T watched it.

I’ve also found that baking bread gives me both comfort and satisfaction. The New York Times just wrote about baking as a coping mechanism.  It’s also helping (momentarily) to augment the stockpile of frozen loaves we got from The Gallery/Georgie The Pie Queen before this started.

(If you haven’t tried the honey wheat bread, you haven’t lived.  Just wait until they re-open!  We are down to our last frozen loaf!)

My bread attempt.

Pretzels were an even better idea.

 

** A side note:  My pretend pop-up bakery is called “I Pity the Boule.”  It’s similar to my imaginary pop-up dumpling restaurant “Potlicker Potstickers”.

Sadly, for both make-believe businesses, it’s getting hard to find flour.

Most of our quarantine time, however, has been taken up by the PUPPIES.

Mocha’s pups are growing like little weeds.

Photo from their second day on earth – there were 13 at first, one didn’t make it.  They were born in a golf cart shell.

 And all of their unique personalities are starting to come out as they gain confidence.

They are eating mush from a bowl and playing with toys.

The pups have thankfully fallen into a predictable routine of wake, pee/poo, eat, play, sleep, repeat.  (Shockingly similar to my regime.)

Ideally, this does not start before 5:00 AM. Like all new parents, we are tired but trying hard to research all of our questions… When to start solid foods? When to start housebreaking? When to wean from mom?  When to crop ears?

Since the pups are getting so big, we decided no time like the present.

I think we may have botched this one a bit?  But we’ve got 11 more to get it right!…  Thank god for the internet.

Hope you all are safe and healthy – and stay that way.  Check back on more updates on our puppies!  There are only so many times that I can take pictures of the same beach outside our house every single day.