Hike to Pine Ridge

So today we went to Mountain Pine Ridge with Nery and Marien and the girls.
Because some parts of the road were not only gravel, but dirt, it took us a good hour to drive up there. 
First we went to a destination called Rio Frio Cave. 'Rio' means river and 'frio' or fria means cold. It makes sense because the river was REALLY cold. Basically it's a mountain that had a small river running through it, and as time went on, the river ate away at the mountain and hollowed it out. Now it is a cave with beautiful stalactites and stalagmites. We walked through it on big rocks and it was really cool.

Some of the big stalactites hanging outside the cave.

This is some of the rocks inside the cave.

there was a little sandy area in the middle
beside the river that we went on. It was inside
 the cave still!
 

The next spot we went to was called Rio on Pools. I don't really know why they named it that because I don't get how the words fit.
Anyway, it is a big mix of rivers, waterfalls and big stone boulders with more than enough space for a 9 person picnic, all squished together. some of the 'pools' were shallow and some of them deep. We made big human chains to cross over waterfalls and wide streams.
we had a little picnic on the rocks then went swimming in the rivers.

Some of us sitting on the rocks.

 

The last place we went to was called Big Rock. It was a lot like Rio on Pools, but the water was deeper and the waterfalls were flowing faster. I don't think that it is a very good place for kids to play.





one of the many raging waterfalls at
Big Rock

So that was all of my journey. I hoped it would never end, but all things do.
I hope to share with you more of these fun adventures.

Love you all,
Paige

BLESSINGS FROM BELIZE

Laying hens, Posibly a new property/house...And more than that.....WOW, I havn't done a post for a long time!!!!!

Wow,
I just realized how long its been since I last wrote up a post.
Sorry to all who were itching for another one.

So we now have broilers AND laying hens. Daddy built a cage called 'the chicken tractor' for the broilers to go in. ( A Joel Salatin book is where he got it from) We kept the laying hens in their coop for about 2 weeks so that at night the hens know were to go to lay and sleep. We let them out into their pen after clipping their wings and let them be free to go were ever they wanted to in their pen. We named them all because they all look different.
There is Ruestin, who is black and white, Elsa who is light brown and dark brown, Queen LaQuichea 1 and Queen LaQuichea 2 who are light, light brown and black, Collet 1, 2, and 3, who are pure black, Blizzard, who is pure white, Uncle Kyle, who is the only hen with hairy feet,(sorry uncle Kyle!) and McFlurry, who is dark brown. Mom and I like the sound that the hens make better than what the broilers make. They make a purring sound in their throat instead of a chirping noise.
We have only gotten one egg a day so far. It seems to be the same one every time.


Two weeks ago, Our friends Nery and Marien and the girls(I talk about them in other posts to)
went and walked a 33 acre property(we walked the perimeter only) that was for sale. We are praying and asking God if it is the right place to live. I would like to because if we do we will both build on the same property.(us and Nerys family(Our best friends)) It took us about an hour and 15 minutes to walk only the perimeter. We have made some house plans already. Our house is hopefully going to be made out of earth blocks. To get more details about earth block homes, simply look up 'compressed earth block homes.'



About a week ago, Nery's family and us went to Belize City for an Aquaponics trip.
Mr. Jimmy raised big Tilapia fish. Basically you use the fish poo and pee water to water your plants. He had a big green house with lettuce and kale. It was the GREENEST plants I've seen in Belize!!!!!
To know more, just look up 'Aquaponics.'

Yesterday we went to Nery's and we hiked the forest behind their house. after that they got out the horses and we went for horse rides. Not just rides, nobody held or touched me or the horse and I used the reigns the whole time!! It was fun to ride by myself. Daddy now sais I'm a real cow girl now, but I say not quite.
While we were there, we tasted Comquats and sweet limes.
Comquats are the size of dates. They have a citrusy outside and a really sour inside.  I ate off the skin and threw away the sour middle.
Sweet limes are about the size of a big grapefruit. The outside of it is light green. The inside is about 3 quarters of the white stuff around citrus. But instead of it being floppy and bitter, it was firm and had a mild sweetness. The pulpy part had a bit more sweetness than the white, but had a very, very slight sour taste. It was pretty tasty.

Last but not least, Nana and Papa are coming in 2 weeks!!!!!! We are going to have a great time with them. They can help feed the school kids on Wednesday mornings, go to the learning centre, and come to bible study with us!!!

But that's all for now,
love you all,
Paige

BLESSINGS FROM BELIZE