Upcoming Events in Spanish Lookout

-
  The year 2022 is beginning to feel surprisingly like the bygone era of 2019, when borders required nothing else except your valid passport, when crowd-gathering events were the norm, back when "social distancing" was a futuristic term known only by a few rare medically advanced intellectuals, back when inserting a tube in your nose was a bizarre incident that only happened in faraway lands, when coronavirus was a mysterious substance of things not hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (at that time).
    On a sidenote, Belize's land and sea borders were fully opened at the beginning of last week. This suddenly caused the future to brighten since it was two years ago when they had closed down.




  The 60th anniversary of Farmer's Trading Center, the superstore owned by the community of Spanish Lookout, is approaching. The 2-day sale will be held on the 25th and 26th of this month. There will be gifts, raffles and promos as well as food and drinks.



  This will be followed by Universal Hardware's annual Friends & Family event on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of March, also in Spanish Lookout.
  And the crowning event; the Spanish Lookout Commercial/Industrial Expo is scheduled to be held at CountrySide Park at the end of March. It was held in March 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic but just before the hammer blows of curfews, masks, distancing and crowd restrictions descended. The affair begins on a Friday morning and ends Saturday evening, drawing thousands of visitors. Normally it is held every 2 years but many were unsure if the government would give the go-ahead this time since we're still in the middle of a pandemic (according to some powerful international organizations). But I understand the government has given the go-ahead; of course, restrictions are still in place such as mask-wearing, social distancing, and that the gathering be restricted to 50% of the building/area's capacity.

 Note: exact date of the expo will be posted later, after I confirm.
  
    





















                                                   A. Mendoza
  

Popular posts from this blog

Mennonite Foods

-
Image
         The Old Colony, Kleine Gemeinde, and Old Order have a diet which mainly consists of homemade bread, cottage cheese, noodles, pork, potatoes, and stewed beans. Milk is used in many of their meals, such as casseroles and faspa foods. Some dishes from the Plautdietsch groups are:   nuddelsuppe:  noodle soup made with home-made noodles    werenaki:  (perogies see picture above ) made of pockets of flour with  glums  (cottage cheese) filling,  schmaunfat  (white gravy made of flour, milk and black pepper), and  formavorscht  (pork sausage). The perogies are then boiled and served. I recommend it to anyone who wants to try out Plautdietsch foods although I prefer the fried ones.  Cheesy or creamy casseroles: often it will contain meat and cream with potatoes or macaroni   borscht:  a vegetable soup with bits of meat sometimes added to it    Clops: patties from either ground m...
Read more

Mennonites and Music

-
   Music, the comfort of the soul, the way of sin to some, a sign of true worship to others.   Within the Mennonite family in Belize music to some degree is used or listened to, with each branch viewing it based on their understanding of the Bible.                          The Kleine Gemeinde   Used to consider any musical instrument as wrong. But after acapella recorded music was approved, it introduced a need for tape recorders, then slowly over the years other instruments were approved. Church singing is still acapella, and radio and TV are still not accepted. However, instruments such as violins (which is often played by KG youth girls) and guitars are used during youth singing, community concerts, and personal entertainment or family singing. The organ is also used sometimes in such events.       The Beachy and Conservative Mennonites     Also sing acapella style dur...
Read more

Mennonite Houses

-
Image
 Mennonites in Belize have become famous for their custom-built wooden "Mennonite houses". The two main  house builders in the country,  Plett's Home Builders and Linda Vista Lumberyard , both located in Spanish Lookout, have become reknowned for their prefabricated houses which are built in Spanish Lookout and shipped countrywide. Houses are built from lumber or colored sheet metal and prices will vary of course based on the amount of details a customer wants. A small house with 2 bedrooms and a bathroom and kitchen may cost you an estimated US$12,000 to US$15,000. (Check directly with the company for up-to-date pricing and delivery fees.)    A "Mennonite house", custom built by Plett's Home Builder's; photo via Facebook   Plett's Home Builders offers both metal and wood siding with a variety of porch and window designs. Linda Vista, which is just down the road from Plett's, also offers excellent building options. Also inside Spanish Lookout i...
Read more