Paget's Belize Journal

The Preliminary Trip - It Begins - First days - A tourist trip - Flying, sand crabs - San Pedro 1 - San Pedro 2 - Braids, snakes, dogs - Leaving Dangriga The Actual Stay - Help for library - Books; departure - Arrival; weather - Sensations, housing - Security, more housing - More security, snorkeling - Dock activities - Day-to-day life 1 - Day-to-day life 2 - The Quadrille - The apartment! - Cleaning and culture - Hurricane Irene - Too much reality - Hopkins Village 1 - Hopkins Village 2 - Weather - Minimum wage - Transportation - Food Experiments - The Brits; furniture - Meeting and greeting - Night noise, Settlement Day - Dragonflies! - More noise - A good 19th - Wrapping up the 19th - Traveling to Mexico - Thanksgiving in Mexico - Cockscomb Basin - A Belizean week-end - Tobacco Caye - Is it really Christmas? - This is the life - Christmas wishes - Headwear - Christmas Experiences - Lottery - Caye Caulker haircut - Caye Caulker 2 - Geckos - Red Bank - The last few days		Nov 18, 1999 Dragonflies! Just a quickie. There was a dragonfly hatch yesterday and it is the most amazing thing to have a sky full of dragon flies. There were truly millions of them, all drifting lazily from where they were hatched, somewhere close to the beach to a mangrove swamp just to the northwest of the office. For over an hour, nothing but dragon flies as far as you could see in either direction in a swath about a half mile wide. Their movements sort of reminded me of the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz. Not very romantic, I know, but it was just that unlikely floating and hovering action. These were about the most subtly colored of the dragon flies I've seen here. Mostly gold and bronze accented with brown and black. But very beautiful even without the turquoise/green/purple iridescence I associate with dragon flies. This morning just a few late bloomers were about, but one of them stopped on my balcony for a breather while I was having coffee. Very nice. And since I'm recovering from yet another bout of "what did I eat this time that did that to my digestive system?" it was good to have something to appreciate. Cheers.   Next