Hungarian "Amigos" in Belize

by FERENC IVANICS
Amigos is a diner and pub near Monkey Bay. Its manager is Gyuri, a Hungarian guy, unfortunately we haven't met him, he wasn't in Belize, but they treated us like old friends anyway. We had good meals and good beers.


Marvin the bartender is far less afflicted with severe depression and boredom than Marvin, the Paranoid Android from The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy. He's a good guy.


We also met Tünde there in the Pub, she tries to get along here in Belize, you can see on the photo the necessary documentation to extend your visa in Belize. Right now we hope that we don't have to prepare that documentation. We liked the pub and its funny signs, and of course, our hosts: Gyuri, Tünde and Marvin. Many thanks!

Monkey Bay

by FERENC IVANICS
We arrived in Ladyville with only a few coins in our pockets. Our food reserves were exhausted. We spent our last dimes on internet, hoping that some donations had arrived. It was a familiar story: we were expecting a serious sponsorship but the transfer was delayed by whatever reasons, and we hit the floor during these final days. We left Ladyville absolutely frustrated. No money, no food, no nothing. We were walking in silence, waiting for that miracle to happen.


A car stopped, the driver was a young and curious lady. Marga set us on our legs again, gave us some money, paid for some food and invited us to her house, in two days walking distance. The house is the central of a wildlife sanctuary. We slept in beds, we had delicious hot meals and showers, access to washing machines and the internet. And took advantage of the situation to learn more about the Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary and to walk around in the nature.



In the meantime the resident students and teachers were interested in our cause as well, so we were able to get on track again a bit relieved. We also met Harangozó Tünde in Monkey Bay. Tünde lives in Belmopan and were a good and helpful company. What can we say... Luck? Chance? Destiny?... Thank you, Marga!

Belizean Beverages

by FERENC IVANICS
We stopped for a break by a house between Ladyville and Monkey Bay. There was a young man buzzing around in the garden. Our cell-phone (which we use to take pictures nowadays) was almost depleted, we asked for help. The young man kindly took the phone and put it on charge, then came back to have a chat with us. It turned out that they have a winery, they make wine from blackberry. It's called blackberry but it's something like a mulberry, it's the fruit of a tree. So it's probably mulberry wine.



Thanks to Cody and the Red Hummingbird Farm & Winery, we had a chance to try this dark, sweet and thick drink (with some 14% V/V alcohol). We enjoyed it pretty much, it was rich and a good spirit-raiser.


While speaking about booze: One of the most popular drinks around the Caribbean is sugarcane brandy, that is: rum. Good rum is expensive. But fresh brandy, of lower quality and without aging is cheap. Sugarcane is one of Belize's most important crop, refined sugar is their primary export.

Scent of Mangoes

by FERENC IVANICS
Mango trees are blooming. Their small, brownish-yellow flowers hang from the trees in clusters. It's not a colorful but an interesting sight. Its scent however is heavenly. Sometimes we walk miles covered by this powerful scent. I was having headaches of this scent for three days... I knew it was almost identical to some familiar smell, the scent of a tree natural in our homeland. I wondered. Elderflower? Black locust? But I wasn't sure.


Then on the third day I smelled a bushy cluster of flowers again and I remembered... I remembered those winter afternoons when, as a child, I came home from the snowball-fights and I grasped with my bluish fingers a cup of hot linden flower tea. Mango flowers smell like linden flowers.