Garifuna Settlement Day was a little anti-climactic. The musician who everyone was excited to see did not come, apparently because the chairman of Hopkins didn't finalize the plans or pay him. People who had bought advanced tickets for $25 were simply out of luck. That's a very typical scenario here in Belize.

My new hobby has become to take photos of all the fascinating things I see here. The biodiversity here is astounding, and today I saw this bare-throated tiger heron near my house (see photo). At first he was sitting high up in a tree, crouching down with his neck folded up, and I thought it was one of the common grackels. But, when he flew down and stretched out his neck he looked completely different.

Photo: Bare-throated tiger heron (Tigrisoma mexicanum)