Day 28

My last full day in Belize felt like the perfect wrap up/review scene in a movie.   Placencia was having an all day party with it's Sidewalk Arts Festival.   It's famous sidewalk was lined with vendors selling art and food. There were stages set up for music and dancing and different events going on all day.

I wandered into the main tent in the morning and laughed to myself because the music playing was one of the songs we did at Zumba.  Oddly, the next song was as well.  Walking further in, I could see Yoli, the Zumba teacher and Nicole one of the other students up on stage dancing (and I knew all the moves they were doing)!   They were doing a Zumba demonstration!    I didn't make the last class this week, but I'm betting when Yoli asked, Nicole was the only student brave enough to join in.

It was great to see them one last time and I was able to thank Yoli once again for letting me join in.

  While I was standing there enjoying their performance, a woman tapped me on the shoulder.  It was Amy, the Clogging teacher.   We exchanged last goodbyes and thank you's.  So nice to see her, too.

The next event was a dog show - of course I had to stay for that!  There was categories for costumes, style and unusual looking dogs.

 This is Lee, who owns The Secret Garden - where I stayed - and her dog Bruno.  Two third places, good job, Bruno!

 A Chihuahua dressed as a panda.

This little guy took two first places

I walked up and down the sidewalk, bought a few things, stopped at a coffee shop.  Walking through the festival I recognized different people from here and there during the last weeks.  It made me feel a tiny part of things in the village.

Later in the afternoon, I took a walk through the rest of town, thinking about all the things I've done while I was here.  I walked past the different places I've stopped to eat, different beaches I liked.  I went down by the docks where I had met Nancy and Jay and stopped near a certain palm tree under which I've spent a lot of time reading.  It was good to remember all the things I'd been able to do.  These four weeks have been a blessing, I'm so grateful for the experience.  But, there's one more thing I think I need to do before I say goodbye....

When I started telling people at home about taking this trip I invariably got asked one of two questions.  Well, three if you count the people who'd look at me oddly and say, "By your self?!!?".

But mostly, there were two questions - 1)Where's Belize? and  2)Why Belize?

'Where's Belize?' has an easy answer.
'Why Belize?' always left me trying to think of a good response.  Truth is I don't really know why I chose it.
> I have always had an affinity for tropical escapism (?)
> Belize comes up on Craigslist postings when you search for places to stay in the Caribbean.  (??) (Even though it's in Central America)
> I've always liked the song 'Come Away To Belize With Me'.  (???)

I don't know.  Let's just blame it on one too many Jimmy Buffet songs and novels.
So, If I'm going to blame this all on Jimmy, it only seems right....

That's right.  I ate a cheese burger. 

I have not voluntarily eaten a cheeseburger since I was 5, but this seemed the right time to do it.  I walked down to The Paradise Resort (....get it??)  and ordered myself a Cheeseburger and fries.

"I like mine with lettuce and tomatoes...."

The random person at the bar, who I asked to take this picture, unwittingly did a splendid job getting the 'Welcome to Paradise' sign in the background!  LOL

When I first started thinking about going away this winter I looked at cruises or all-inclusive resorts.  As my search went on, I started to realize I wasn't looking for a neatly packaged Caribbean experience.  There's nothing wrong with that, maybe I'll do that next year.  But this time, I wanted to experience living somewhere else - to know for myself that I could do it if I wanted to .

Placencia lived up to everything I expected and then some.  I had great experiences, some ups and downs, met wonderful people and learned a lot about myself.  I'm thankful for my family and friends who were so helpful and encouraging.  For those of you who've been reading along on this blog, I thank you too - I hope you enjoyed the trip!