Arsenic in Baby Food

Arsenic in Baby Food

Arsenic in Baby Food - You may think you're being extra-healthy when you chose foods labeled "organic," but some of these products contain arsenic, a compound that may increase the risk of cancer, a new study says.

Braille Burgers

Braille Burgers

Braille burgers - Restaurant launches Braille burgers, A popular fast-food chain has created 15 different kinds of Braille burgers so that blind people can "see" their food. Each burger has a Braille message spelled out on the bu to describe the sandwich.

 The burgers have become so popular, that many blind customers are now speaking out about them. South African fast-food chain, Wimpy, has come up with an unique campaign to let the visually impaired know they offer braille menus in all of their restaurants.

The hamburger joint had chefs use tweezers to individually apply sesame seeds to soft dough to spell out messages in braille like "100% Pure Beef Burger Made For You."

Fast food restaurant Wimpy has made special “braille” hamburgers, with sesame seeds on the buns spelling out messages in braille, according to a report on Thursday.

Beeld newspaper said 15 braille hamburgers were made for a video to market the restaurant’s new braille menu.

The video shows chefs carefully arranging the sesame seeds on each bun, to spell out different messages in braille, such as, “100 percent real beef burger made for you”.

The burgers were delivered to Braille Services, Louise Braille House and Blind SA.

The video shows how blind people laugh as they read the messages and then enjoy the burgers.

Another fast food restaurant, McDonalds, recently made headlines after a blind woman was turned away because she had her guide dog with her.

Air Jordan Shoe Collection Stolen

Air Jordan Shoe Collection Stolen

Air Jordan Shoe Collection Stolen - Man loses entire Air Jordan collection, A North Carolina man reported that his $10,000 collection of Nike Air Jordan shoes was stolen from his home. The man says he had been collecting the shoes since he was in middle school. He also says all of his baseball hats that matched the shoes were taken as well.

A Charlotte man has reported that his collection of 30 pairs of Nike Air Jordan shoes has been stolen.

WCNC reported Friday that Bryant Toala, 22, had begun collecting the sneakers since he was in middle school.

Police say someone broke into a home Monday night and took all the shoes, which were all in boxes.

Toala says the shoes could be worth more than $10,000.

He says a collection of baseball hats that matched the shoes also was taken.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say they have no suspects.

Govan School Transgender

Govan School Transgender

High School Teenager “Trapped In A Boy’s Body” Kicked Out Of School For Rockin’ Girly Gear To Class
Govan School Transgender - School 'expels' teen for dressing like girl, Seventeen-year-old Jaime Love is a boy who says he identifies more as a girl. His notoriously rough school, however, could apparently not abide the teen coming to class dressed in a skirt, tights, hair extensions and makeup; and this week school officials reportedly "expelled" the boy.

Jamie Love returned to Govan High School wearing make up, hair extensions and tights after the Christmas break. The 17-year old says he’s been humiliated and picked on because of his life choices. Govan High says it has no objections to his clothes, but there are concerns over his attitude to his studies.

Jamie said: “When went into the class, everything was fine and then the teacher came and got me and then took me into the school and asked me what I was trying to do to the school. Then they said: ‘You shouldn’t be dressed like that.’

“Then two deputies came in and said my time at Govan High was over and then I got my stuff and had to leave. I asked if I could come back as a boy and they said no.”

Jamie, who prefers to be called Keirny, has been a pupil at Govan High for the past six years. The school says he has neither been expelled nor suspended but has been asked to leave because of his poor attendance record and his attitude to his studies.

Wu-Tang Clan FBI

Wu-Tang Clan FBI

Wu-Tang Clan FBI - Wu Tang Clan: shadow-boxing with GZA. Report: FBI snooped Wu-Tang Clan, Like countless other ‘90s-era rap groups, The Wu-Tang Clan’s lyrics are chock full of references to guns, drugs and murder. An old FBI file recently unearthed, however, shows that the FBI took the group at its word and was investigating one member nd the group as a whole for crimes often associated with the Italian Mafia.

Almost mythological in scope, the Wu-Tang Clan are a collaboration of nine MCs: RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, U-God, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, with Cappadonna replacing the late legendary Ol’ Dirty Bastard in 2007.

The clan rarely appear with a line-up of all nine members live, and for this tour it appears as though RZA, GZA, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah and Inspectah Dek will be in attendance; nonetheless, it’s hard to believe these hip hop revolutionaries are finally making it to Australia, for the first time.

A founding member of Wu-Tang, GZA (Gary Grice, also known as The Genius) is one of the most successful and critically acclaimed members of the clan, his solo material highly revered by Wu fans – particularly his 1995 album Liquid Swords which he has recently been performing in its entirety in special solo dates around the country. GZA has moved in hip hop circles since it formed out of the primordial ooze of block parties in New York’s the Bronx. GZA was closely associated with the golden age of New York hip hop throughout the 1980s, before forming Wu-Tang with his cousins Ol’ Dirty Bastard and RZA in the early ‘90s.

Referring to these early days, GZA suddenly erupts into a quote from his 2002 song AutoBio “I was born, with the mic in my hand / Then I took it from Brooklyn, to the S.I. land / I pulled up on the block, got off the truck, it was the first of pit stops / The era of the spinnin’ top, around the birth of hip hop / That was somethin’, I had identified with / So I, made it my point to exploit this fly gift / then Myself and RZA, made trips to the B.X / A mass of ferocious MCs the talent of T-Rex / Giants in every ways, rap flows for every day / We knew we would get a reward with a price to pay / The basic training was beyond entertainin’ / Just the cadence of the verbal expressions, self explainin’.”

Living in Staten Island, New York, a young GZA would travel to The Bronx to hang out with his cousins, who were more “advanced” with the latest hip-hop trends.

“It was around ’76, about two years after the birth of it I think,” he explains. “Just think about it, that was 33 / 32 years ago! We had just started learning how to breakdance [in Staten Island], and my cousins who lived in the Bronx didn’t do it anymore. They were like ‘I don’t break anymore’, like it had already played out.”

Apparently their reason for abandoning this aspect of the hip hp culture was that they couldn’t use it to dance with girls. As GZA points out, luckily others in the Bronx kept breakdancing.

These early days were followed by the 1980s Golden Age of hip hop, based primarily in New York City around artists like Public Enemy, Run DMC, Eric B and Rakim – Rakim’s vocal stylings in particular were a profound influence on a young GZA.
“Some say the golden age was the ‘90s,” GZA counters, “I would say the ‘80s: ’85 to ’88, anywhere between ’85 and ’89, strongest point ’86 to ’88. I mean forget it!”

When GZA refers to hip-hop’s Golden Age he speaks almost exclusively about the east coast.
“I mean, that’s where I was living, I don’t really remember too many of the west coast rappers. I mean N.W.A of course,” he grins, “they were doing their thing and they were strongly represented, but I think they came a couple of years after.

Ice T was around in the ‘80s, but I don’t really know too much. I mean, lyrically Ice T was a developed artist, and respect to him, but I think lyrically and style-wise there is kind of no comparison [to east coast]. Take some song and compare that Microphone Fiend or Follow The Leader [both by Eric B. and Rakim, 1988], I mean I’m just going lyrically – I’m dealing with style, delivery and flow.”

Finally we get to Wu-Tang, and their position as revolutionaries in the evolution of hip-hop.
“I think we changed it,” GZA says simply. “We revolutionised it, Wu Tang as a group. I mean you have people come in certain eras that just do something for hip-hop that no one’s done: Rakim has done it. [Big Daddy] Kane has done it. Public Enemy has done it. Run DMC has done it. Run DMC is one of the greatest groups ever for me as far as production, musically.”

Despite a love for Run DMC, GZA says they weren’t great lyricists, as much as pioneers in the way they worked together, taking from what they did on the streets and managing to transform it to record.
“They had that street block party vibe, and aside from that they were the first to really take hip-hop to the next plateau. Run DMC were like the first hip-hop mega rap stars. I mean, you had Kurtis Blow and you had Melle Mel – Blow was the first rapper to be known, and the first to get on a major label – but Run were the first rappers to be in Rolling Stone magazine; they broke a lot of barriers.”

It seems the barriers broken by Run DMC allowed for Wu-Tang to build upon this tradition of east coast hip-hop and transform it into their own distinctive style with their 1993 debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36-Chambers), described by many as one of the most influential hip-hop albums of all time; paving the way for people like Biggie and Jay-Z.

GZA says he’s only now seeing this influence on a historical scale.
“Wu has two generations of fans. I run into kids who say ‘my mum’s raised me on Wu-Tang’,” he says proudly. He recently spoke to some kids while in Rhode Island on a solo tour, who told him that Liquid Swords was their favourite album of all time.

“I’m like ‘how old are you?’” Turns out the kids were fifteen years old. “‘You weren’t even born when I dropped it! You were in the womb’,” he laughs. “To me that’s a blessing. I’m having fun. I’m comfortable, I’ve raised children who love hip-hop, put them in school and bought them the best of things with something I did as a hobby.”

GZA stresses that he never got into hip-hop to make money.
“I never looked at it like that, I just liked to write and put rhymes together, it was just something I did, and it got to a point and it was like ‘yo, we can get money for this?’”

There’s been recent lyrical hostility between GZA and notoriously rich hip-hop artist 50 Cent. Conversing with fans at shows in London and New York in late 2007, GZA stated that Fifty had “a lot of money, but he ain’t got no lyrics”. When the statement found its way onto internet sites such as youtube, 50 Cent dissed GZA in the press, calling him “grandpa”. GZA responded by recording the track ‘Paper Plate’ on his latest album Pro Tools, implying Fifty’s lyrics are as disposable as a paper plate.

“He has shit to say,” argues GZA. “Rap is looked at as a young thing [by many] and people like Oprah Winfrey, who don’t care for rap, look at it as an immature thing, I think mainly because of the lyrical content. Also,” he continues, “a lot of rappers act childish and immature. It’s kind of ridiculous. I would judge an MC, rapper, or artist according to his lyrics and according to his flow, his delivery and what he’s rapping about; not according to his age. I don’t look my age, but you’ve got rappers twelve years younger than me and they look older than me. I’m not talking specifically about him – we probably look the same age!” he laughs. “I’m like eleven years older than this dude, but he’s calling me grandpa… How are you going to become too old for something you love to do?”

With that in mind, at the age of forty-three GZA shows no sign of calling it a day.
“I can deliver in a perfect pitch – I can deliver with a perfect flow. My writing is stronger than it’s ever been,” he nods. “I’m writing screenplays and graphic novels because I’m tired of putting so much work into songs and they don’t really see the light of day. [Wu-Tang] don’t have the machine that we used to have. I’m not on Geffen records, I’m not on MCA, I’m not on TV everyday, but I’m still fortunate enough to come out [to places like Australia]. Even with Wu-Tang, this dude who talks all the stupid shit – I won’t say his name – even with his hundreds of million dollars he’ll never have what Wu has.”

GZA believes that, with age, his lyrics are better than ever too. “My pen is stronger than ever, and I don’t use profanity,” the rapper points out. “That’s what rappers need to know what to do, they need to know how to tell that inner city story from the hood, know how to talk about ‘the guy that got shot’, ‘the girl that got raped’, ‘the guy that’s slinging drugs’ in a different way, where you can pull someone into the story with a vivid tale. That’s the difference between me and the average rapper that is running around thinking that it’s all good to be hard, and you’ve got to be gangsta because hip-hop has been made into some other shit.

“The difference is, their story would be: ‘I was chillin’ on the block / And I’m rolling with my glock / I’ll bash your brains out / I’m slinging crack / I’m making two-hundred thou’ a night.’”

The average rapper describes everything in a completely literal way and leaves nothing to the imagination. GZA contrasts this with version, saying it would be more like “I come from a place where they say death comes too soon / In the hood where the boys dance to a different tune / Every night and every day at hotels of foul play / That turns fatal in this hostile land of AKs / On any date if not wait they’re pumping rounds / The reminder it’s a murderous stomping ground.”

It’s obviously with a heavy heart that GZA sees much of mainstream hip-hop as taking a regression lyrically, where “lyrically songs from the ‘80s are slaying songs that we’re hearing now on radio.” At least with Wu Tang still around, there’s still some hope.

Tila Tequila Judaism

Tila Tequila Judaism

Tila Tequila Judaism, Tila Tequila: 'I want to be Jewish', Reality-show personality Tila Tequila says that over time she has “become more and more fascinated with Kabbalah.” So what’s a religiously unfulfilled party girl to do? Why become Jewish, of course! The pint-sized star says she’s now planning to covert to Judaism

Tila Tequila is converting to Judaism ... seriously ... and for once, she swears she's not just after some cheap publicity.

TMZ has learned Tequila has been taking classes at a NY temple to begin the conversion process ... and even skipped Christmas this year to focus on change.

.Sometimes it’s nice to get a little break from the Katy Perry story or Middleton’s wardrobe and focus on something not as current. A gem of a story…about somebody from another time in fame. A story…about Tila Tequila.
Apparently (and to my surprise) TMZ has confirmed that Tila Tequila is studying to convert to Judaism. She has been taking classes at aNew York Citytemple and “even skipped Christmas this year to focus on change.”
Whoa, sounds serious. Tila Tequila is trying to become Jewish?….Okay. And of course she’s into Kabbalah… Don’t we all just secretly want to be Demi Moore anyway?
And Tila herself said, “I just feel like the Jewish people have such a beautiful way about them, and I can’t wait to be officially Jewish!”
Now, I will commend her on her dedication to something that she believes in and for doing just that, I have to say props to you, girl. But the meaner part of myself wants to point out that Tila will never be “officially Jewish” to the Jewish community. Correct? There’s certainly a strong argument on either side of that one.

According to TMZ, former reality show star Tila Tequila is converting to Judaism.

“As time passed, I started to become more and more fascinated with Kabbalah, the culture, and the way of life of the reform Judaism religion”, TMZ quoted her as saying.

She added, “I just feel like the Jewish people have such a beautiful way about them, and I can’t wait to officially be Jewish! Shabbat Shalom.”

Study for the conversion is taking place at a New York area synagogue

Weird Car Accidents

Weird Car Accidents

Weird Car Accidents - Weird vehicle mishaps, Cars in swimming pools? A truck spilling live chickens? A police officer driving up a utility pole? Yes, all of these have happened. Scroll through to see some of the Weird vehicle mishaps in recent times.

Man crashes into CEO’s yard

About the accident: Police allege that a man drove a stolen SUV into Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman’s yard near Chicago on Dec. 20, 2011.

Tow truck crashes into pool

About the accident: Tow truck driver Nicholas Sparks wasn’t following Oprah’s No Phone Zone campaign, that’s for sure. He hit a car, crashed through a fence and sideswiped a house before ending up in a swimming pool in July 2009, in Lockport, N.Y.

Truck crashes into Ashley Furniture

About the accident: A big rig crashed into Cal Fire and Caltrans vehicles before careening off I-15 near Victorville, Calif., and into an Ashley Furniture store on Nov. 8, 2011. Three inmates, from an inmate freeway work crew, suffered minor injuries.

Police officer crashes into utility pole

About the accident:Miami police officer J. Brutus drove his car off the road and hit a telephone wire, causing him to drive straight up the telephone pole. Officer Brutus wasn’t injured, although Miami Fire-Rescue workers had to free him from his car. Does this make anyone else want to watch “Police Academy?”

Car crashes into DMV

About the accident: 77-year-old Annie Gore crashed into the Division of Motor Vehicles in Fayetteville, N.C., on Nov. 16, 2011. She was just pulling in after finishing her driving test. Although no one was seriously injured, a sizeable amount of damage was caused

Driver crashes into Georgia restaurant

About the accident: A woman crashed into Tin Lizzy’s Cantina restaurant in Atlanta, Ga., in October 2011, rupturing a gas line and causing local business to be evacuated. She fled the scene but later turned herself in.

Car crashes through parking garage

About the accident: Scared of heights? Be glad you weren’t the 67-year-old who crashed his Mercedes loaner car through the outside wall of a parking garage in Tulsa, Okla., in April 2010. Find out what level he was on.

Truck spills marijuana

About the accident: A truck carrying bags of marijuana crashed on Aug. 31, 2011, in San Jose, Calif., much to the delight of some pedestrians and motorists. They scooped up the bags and legged it, as did the driver. Police found this weapon when they searched the truck.

Truck spills liquid fertilizer

About the accident: A truck crashed, spilling a huge amount of liquid fertilizer onto I-5 in Tualatin, Ore., in October 2011. Luckily, no one was hurt in the crash.

Truck spills chickens

About the accident: Why did the chicken cross the road? You can ask the live chickens that were freed when a flatbed truck crashed in Vacaville, Calif., on Oct. 20, 2011.

D.C. cop crashes into “Bumblebee”

About the accident: A police car crashed into “Bumblebee,” the yellow Chevy Camaro featured in the “Transformers” movies, during filming of “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” in October 2010.

Car crashes into condominium pool

About the accident: An elderly man crashed his Cadillac through a concrete block wall and wound up in a swimming pool at a condominium complex in Fort Lee, N.J.

Truck spills bees on Idaho highway

About the accident: Clean-up crews had to buzz over to Island Park, Idaho to deal with an enormous amount of bees and honey. The driver was delivering the bees from California to North Dakota when his truck overturned.

Controversial Beauty Queens

Controversial Beauty Queens

Controversial Beauty Queens - Beauty queen scandals, Carrie Prejean married an NFL player after her 2009 flap. We recall other pageant drama.

Alexandria Mills

Ahead of the Miss World competition taking place Sunday in London, we look back at some controversial beauty queens across multiple pageants, beginning with Alexandria Mills.

Her title: Miss World 2010

The controversy: The 18-year-old from Kentucky was chosen the latest Miss World, but her crowning was overshadowed by a political controversy that allegedly affected the outcome.

Carrie Prejean


Her title: Miss California 2009

The controversy: Prejean said her comments about gay marriage (see video clip) at the 2009 Miss USA Pageant lost her the national title, but she later lost her state crown for unrelated reasons.
Danielle Lloyd

Her title: Miss Great Britain 2006

The controversy: Lloyd was dethroned after she did a photo shoot and reports surfaced that she had an inappropriate romantic relationship.

Tara Conner

Her title: Miss USA in 2006

The controversy: Conner nearly lost her crown over her struggles with drugs and alcohol

Lakshmi Pandit


The title: Miss India 2004

The controversy: Pandit was crowned, but not for long. She returned her crown after allegations surfaced that she might not be single. The pageant was open only to unmarried women.

Vanessa Williams


The title: Miss America 1984

The controversy: Williams was the first black woman to become Miss America. After nude photos of her surfaced, she resigned.

Gabriella Brum


The title: Miss World 1980

The controversy: Miss Germany had a very short reign as Miss World. She resigned hours after being crowned.

Marjorie Wallace


The title: Miss World 1973

The controversy: Wallace became the first American to win the Miss World contest. After a few months, she lost her throne, reportedly because of her rumored knack for dating celebrities, a violation of her Miss World contract

Leona Gage


The title: Miss USA 1957

The controversy: Gage lost her crown when she confessed her family status. What was it?

She died in October 2010.

Tebow shirtless

Tim Tebow Shirtless Pictures

Tebow shirtless - Shirtless Tebow ad turns heads, Want a winning advertising strategy? Start with underwear, add a shirtless Tim Tebow, then watch the orders fly off the shelves. This business strategy is brought to you by Jockey, which got the Denver Broncos quarterback to strip to his skivvies in this ad, which is turning heads all over the Internet.

It’s Florida game week, so let’s just get it out of the way. I hate Tim Tebow. I abhor him. Before anyone starts sending me nasty emails, I need to be clear—my dislike of Tebow does not stem from the fact that he is a religious zealot person.

My grandfather is one of the most religious people I know and I respect and love him as much as anyone in the world. Also, some of the Tebow fatigue is admittedly media related, and out of his control. I get that. I also feel confident he and the Gators are going to throttle the Hogs this weekend, so you can save the “How Do You Like Tebow Now?” crackbacks next week.

That said, there are plenty of reasons to hate Tebow. Let me count the ways:

1. He indirectly caused me to remember Corrine Brown is a Congresswoman.

2. He stole the Heisman from Darren McFadden in 2006 with 415 one-yard TDs, half of which came with the game(s) salted away. All but one of his rushing TDs that season were less than 20 yards. Oh, and he was the first sophomore to ever win it and only the 2nd player in the last 20 years to do so on a team with 3 or more losses.

3. He declined an invite onto the Playboy All-American team for religious reasons, yet posed shirtless in GQ magazine and kisses his teammates on the sideline.

4. He exhibits poor sportsmanship while his eye black holds a Bible study.

5. He steals his speeches from bad movies. (Gee, THAT camera was on ME?!!)

6. He is spoken of as if he is the Son of God. (Heck, I am even doing it in this space by referring to him as the capital He throughout.)

7. He is self righteous.

8. He practices medicine without a license.

9. He is missing out on the chance of a lifetime. No, really.

10. His “You’ll Never” Speech wasn’t very clairvoyant and should not be considered one of the most memorable of all time considering it was uttered by the guy who gave us the worst Heisman acceptance speech of all time.

11. Thom Brennaman and Vern Lundquist talking about him makes me feel icky. I couldn’t find any video or audio of Verne–apparently it has been removed to protect his professional reputation.

12. VoteGate.

13. He can’t take a joke.

14. HE is a hypocrite. For one, he wears his religion on his sleeve, yet he is a huge self promoter. He has patented the, “Fiery speech when the cameras are on me” and the “Coach Urb is taking me out of the game so that I can get applause, but I am going to take it to another level and run all the way back onto the field to “encourage” my teammates in the final minutes of a 30-point romp” move.

15. The S.I. jinx can’t stop him.

Boy breakfast iguana

Boy breakfast iguana

Boy breakfast iguana - Boy eats cereal with giant iguana, A new viral video on the Internet shows a young boy having breakfast with his pet iguana. In the video, the iguana is seen chomping away on a bowl of cereal. Although the boy's dad tries to make conversation, the two seem far more interested in their breakfasts.

El Iguana Azul is a restaurant that I walked past several times and only stopped in as a last resort. Boy, had I been missing a good thing! It is located less than a block from the beach on the street that leads to the main plaza, and it serves up fresh, healthy, delicious food at breakfast and lunch.

I visited one afternoon for lunch around 1:00 p.m. There were a few other people in the restaurant finishing up their meals, and many were taking some leftover food home. Don't say I didn't warn you- portions are huge! I started with an "Einstein" smoothie, which was made from tropical fruits such as papaya, pineapple and mango, and then finished with a touch of ginger and spirulina, turning it an electric green. It was a great smoothie and I think I felt more intelligent right away!

 To eat, I opted for the veggie melt. It was served open-faced on a hearty roll, and was topped with feta cheese, tomatoes, red onions and green peppers. Oddly, it wasn't actually melted, but it was still very good. The veggie melt was served with a side of hash brown potatoes (they were great, which means that breakfasts at El Iguana Azul are probably great too) and some slices of fruit.


The restaurant's owner is very friendly, and he invited me to check out the back of the restaurant which borders an iguana sanctuary. Throughout the day he puts down pieces of fruit and dozens of iguanas descend from the trees to enjoy a tasty snack. They're pretty used to being around people, so you can get up close to take photos and not have to worry about iguana bites!

This looong post may bore you to tears if you don't have plans in the near future to visit Belize, but this is just the sort of thing I would have loved to have found when researching the trip. TripAdvisor is great and all, but I need pictures!

We spent a week in San Ignacio, a town near Belize's western border that serves as a hub for hitting up many of the Mayan ruins and adventure tours in Belize. We broke up that week with an overnight trip to Guatemala. Then we went to the small island of Caye Caulker to laze away the end of our vacation ocean side.

Honestly, I was looking forward to tromping around Mayan temples and exploring caves (the first part of our trip) more than snorkeling and sunning myself (the second part), and, while both halves of our trip were awesome, temples and caves are just too cool!

And food? I've never had an easier time eating as a vegetarian while traveling. Granted, you'll see lots of burritos and beans and rice in my pics, but I can't think of a single place we stopped in that didn't offer something vegetarian. Many restaurants (in San Ignacio, in particular) had tofu, veggie patties, and veggie sausage options. So, why did I eat so many plates of rice and beans? Because I truly love rice, and could eat it every day. Also, most rice and bean plates come with a side of coleslaw, and I could eat that every day, too.First things first. Somehow, we were upgraded to first class on USAir on the trip down, and while I was excited because I've never flown first class before, I felt like a schmuck eating the free souffle-like cheese quiche with sun dried tomatoes, salad, and warm roll (side of sausage removed), and getting treated like royalty while everyone in the back had to shell out the moolah for Coke and granola bars.
From pictures, all the ancient Mayan cities we went to look similar (pyramidal with lots of steps), but they're all simply amazing! And what's even more amazing is that there are tons of these structures that are uncovered from the dirt, trees, and jungle that now sit on top of these thousands-of-years-old dwellings. I kept joking that every Beliziean citizen had a Mayan ruin in their backyard, and with many citizens owning hundreds of acres of land, it's not a joke.

Above is Caracol, one of the largest ancient Mayan cities, covering 65 square miles, but much of it is left covered (takes lots of money and labor, plus preservation is best achieved by not uncovering the temples and exposing the limestone bricks to the elements, but by simply cutting the large trees on top of the ruins down to prevent their roots from displacing stones).

Carocol is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from San Ignagio down a pothole-riddled dirt road, so you'll find yourself there with only a few other tourists, which is quite nice.

The University of Pennsylvania had their hands in the excavation of Caracol, along with many other Mayan sites, and, of course, took some goodies home with them, so a trip to the University of Pessnylvania Archeology and Anthropology Museum in Philly is on the top of my to-do list.All of our day trips with guides from San Ignacio were with either Mayawalk,Pacz, or David's. Mayawalk and Pacz pretty much offer the same tours, while David's kind of has the Barton Creek tour monopolized since he's the guy who explored the cave first. All operators were pleasant and knowledgeable, with David, the man himself, coming out on top as a truly friendly dude.

Soooo...we judged by the included lunch. And Mayawalk won hands down with their vegetarian lunch of seasoned tvp, rice and beans, fried plantains, and banana bread made early in the morning by one of the operator's sisters. Seriously good! Not convinced? Wait until you see Pacz's lunch. David's doesn't include lunch, but he'll give you oranges and bananas from his own trees.Quite a few Chinese restaurant in San Ignacio, and most of the supermarkets are owned by Chinese folks. I think Chinese food is the same the world round...except for in China. Maxim's has typical Chinese American food. Don't know why I'm always seduced by sweet and sour dishes, but I'm always disappointed when I eat them. Watery and very sweet.Our day trip into the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) cave was seriously the most fun I've ever had on vacation. If you have only one day in inland Belize, do this! Walk 45 minutes through the jungle (it's like a greenhouse's contents spilled out onto the ground), making three river crossings (if you don't count the first one that leads from a road to a road), swim into the mouth of the cave, then walk through ankle to chest-high water through the cave, squeezing through and climbing up rocks until you get to an elevated chamber where Mayan pottery and skeletal remains are, literally, inches from your feet!Top row: broken pottery; skull. Bottom row: pottery detail of a monkey; the Crystal Maiden.
It's absolutely crazy that they let you do this, especially considering that a couple of clumsy people have already stepped on and broken pottery and bones. This would never be allowed in the US, and who knows how long they'll continue to allow this.The ATM tour was with Pacz. Great tour, awful lunch. The veggie sandwich was lettuce and a couple of pepper and cucumber slices on sliced bread with mayo. The snickers bar was so old the inside had shrunk and separated from the chocolate. It's the only time I can remember spitting out chocolate. Bag of fresh watermelon and plantain chips were just fine.But that's OK, because I was stuffed from our breakfast at Cafe Sol in San Ignacio. That's a veggie breakfast burrito stuffed with some sort of veggie and soy scramble. Below is a veggie patty with egg and cheese on a homemade garlic bagel. The bagel was actually up to par. And that patty held me most of the day. Lots of veggie options at Cafe Sol.After the long day in the ATM cave we headed to Erva's in San Ignacio. Billed as serving some of the best Belizean food in San Ignacio, we wanted to check it out. Well, Belizean food is usually some sort of fish dish or stewed meat served with rice and beans, fried plantain, and a side of cole slaw with a milkshake to follow. So, for me, I had...the rice and beans! Erva's served it with a side of heavily salted tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions in lime juice. You just can't screw up rice and beans, and if you do, it needs to go in the trash.The Old French Bakery with it's small counter filled with pastries and a rack of bread loaves sits across the street from the bus station in San Ignacio. Top left is the bran-iest banana bran muffin I've ever had. Edible, but I imagined I was a horse eating from a grain bag as I tackled the muffin. The croissant is nothing to speak of, but the custard roll with chocolate chips at the bottom is to die for! We returned day after day to procure more custard rolls, but apparently they're not made daily. Sadness.If you have four of more days in Belize, definitely spend two days traveling to Guatemala and exploring Tikal, an extensively excavated ancient Mayan city with mind-boggling tall temples. Although, really, what's uncovered is only a fraction of what is there. Tikal might rival ATM cave, but how can you compare the two different sites.

Above is Temple V, and at 190 feet tall, it's the second tallest temple at Tikal.And this is how you get up there. Only slightly slanted back, the steps are basically a ladder shooting straight to the sky with small platforms every dozen or so steps. Yep, so high, it disappears into the sky.And this is what you see when you're up above the rainforest. More temples! And parrots flying...below you!Temple IV, at 212 feet, is the tallest temple at Tikal, and was the tallest structure in North America before the construction of skyscrapers. We forgot to take a picture of it from below because we were in a hurry to scramble to the top to watch the sun set. Star Wars fans will also recognize the view from the top of Temple IV, because that's where they placed the cameras to shoot the last scenes of the first movie.Temple of the Jaguar. Recognize this from the movie Apocalypto? Mel Gibson copped all sorts of icons and ideas from all over North and Central America to make his fictional movie, which is a hoot to watch if you're an actual Mayan archeologist like the woman below.We spent the first half of a day traveling from San Ignacio in Belize to Tikal in Guatemala. Buy an entrance ticket into the park after 4 pm and you can stay inside the park until it closes at 6 pm...and the ticket is good for the entire next day, too. This is why you should spend the night at one of the three hotels in Tikal. 

We stayed at Jaguar Inn (the cheapest hotel) and it was just fine. But Tikal Innoffers a morning tour starting at 5:45 am (see, you gotta spend the night on site). It just happens that the owner of Tikal Inn has a sister, Roxy, that is a Mayan field archaeologist on sabbatical who gives tours of Tikal through Tikal Inn, and is taking care of the hotel while her brother is away for personal matters.

Our tour with Roxy was invaluable and worth much more than the nominal fee we paid her. The woman did not skip a beat, and spewed facts for a solid four of more hours. She loves talking Mayan culture and history, but hates taking care of the hotel. As soon as her brother comes back (this year!), she's out of there. If you go to Tikal this year, spend the night, and book a tour at Tikal Inn with Roxy!Our food at Jaguar Inn was hit or miss. The Spanish tortilla with potatoes and processed cheese was not bad. Top right is some sort of rice dish covered with tomatoes and tuna. It was watery and weird. Bottom right is not a dish of tar, but sweet fried plantains covered in a very dark and chocolaty mole sauce. Quite good.For about half of the prices at Jaguar Inn you can walk back up the entrance road to the more ramshackle Imperio Maya restaurant. This is a plate of beans and rice, not rice and beans. Beans and rice is beans on the side of rice. Rice and beans is beans mixed into rice. Got it? The green sicks are chayote, which are quite common when you order steamed vegetables. And those are french fries that were pealed after the order was put in and fried in their, essentially, outdoor kitchen after they lit the wood. Tortillas, peppers, and salt accompany the meal.We got a chocolate covered banana from a kid walking around with an insulated bag in the parking lot while waiting for a collectivo to take us part of the way back to Belize.Back in San Ignacio again, we switched up our accommodations for variety, and I have to give a shout-out to where we stayed.We stayed at Iguana Junction, which is actually in Bullet Tree Falls. Bullet Tree Falls is three miles outside of San Ignacio, but it's only a cheap taxi ride away or a one hour walk from the hubbub of the city.

Iguana Junction is run by Dawn and Collin, an English couple that fell in love with Belize (like so many people do), and moved there. Dawn and Collin are fabulously nice people, and run the place like a B&B. And Collin will wait around in the morning to drive you into town on his shopping runs, which saves you some taxi dough.

The dinners and breakfasts Dawn and Collin make are wonderful. She made us a quiche with cayote, salad, jacket potatoes, and ginger biscuits (they're English!) with lemon curd and vanilla yogurt the one night we opted to dine in (sorry, no pics). Dinner with Dawn and Collin (and other guests) is quite fun. I could chat with them all night long. 

I really can't say enough good things about Iguana Junction and their quaint property with a large deck overlooking a river; a large palapa with hammocks; and their rustic, but tidy cabanas. To my delight, their cat, Hattie, loved on me every morning. And their dog, K'an, is a goofy sweetheart. And, unbelievably, Iguana Junction is cheaper than most accommodations in the area!
I also can't say enough good things about Louise's (or is it Louisa's?). The food at Louise's is the best food I ate the entire trip. Louise's is run out of a house around the corner and down the street from Iguana Junction, with only a sign saying "closed" or "open," so you're just gonna have to stay at Iguana Junction and get Collin to point it out for you, as he did for us.

Louise's is run out of the underside of a house on stilts, and the set up is what I would call a fantasy, open-air basement with a bar at one end and a kitchen at the other. Louise is a woman who grew up in the bush of Belize and does the cooking. Remo, from Turnersville, NJ (!), is married to Louisa, and runs the bar. Remo is quite the character, and was exited to see us Philly folk and regale us with all sorts of crazy stories about Philly in the 70's and marrying into a Belizean family from the bush. Like Iguana Junction, Louise's is another place you could stay all night and be entertained by the proprietors.

But Louise does magic with food! The menu is limited to whatever she puts on the board, but she'll whip something up for you, as she did for us when we told her we were vegetarian. What you see above is just a salad, bread, coleslaw, and fried potatoes (we caught her off guard the first night), but they were exceptional! The fried potatoes were perfectly seasoned and crisped, the coleslaw had just the right amount of creaminess, the salad dressing for the salad had us begging for the ingredient list, and the bread was truly fresh. She even brought out a huge tub of herbed cream cheese to spread on the bread.On a second night, we went in for more of Remo's tales and Louise's food. She served us a fabulous veggie soup (not pictured) while we waited on a veggie burrito stuffed with sauteed onions, tomatoes, squash, and who knows what else; it was very dark. Sounds simple, but, I'm telling you, she's got crazy food magic.The best thing I ate the entire trip!More Mayan ruins! Just can't get enough. Cahal Pech is an ancient Mayan site about a twenty minute, uphill walk from the center or San Ignacio, so is a good trip to do on your own when you want a slow day. There's a nice little museum to go through before you enter. Cahal Pech translates into "place of ticks." I didn't get any ticks at Cahal Pech, but I did get a tick between my knuckles at Tikal! Bluuuaagh!
From Cahal Pech, it's just a quick 5 or 10 minute cab drive to Xunantunich (more Mayan ruins!), so you might as well go. Hop on the hand-cranked river ferry, and it's a 1 mile walk up the hill to the site.El Castillo at Xunantunich is the second largest structure in Belize (the first is at Caracol), and has some pretty snazzy Mayan friezes wrapped around the top.When we rode back to Belize from Guatemala, the taxi driver that took us from the border to San Ignacio said his favorite restaurant was Benny's Kitchen. Benny's Kitchen is a five minute walk into the neighborhood directly across from the water ferry to Xunantunich, and there is a chalk board at the ferry advertising their food, and signs leading you to the establishment. Benny's serves Belizean food, so that means rice and bean, fried plantain, and a side of potato salad (if your side in Belize is not coleslaw, it's potato salad...and sometimes both!).

Below that are garnachas. We ordered these to figure out what they were exactly, since they're at every taco stand. We also ordered tostadas. We couldn't tell the difference between the two. And that's a chocolate banana milkshake. Belizean food!Sunday in San Ignacio is dead thanks to religion, but Saturday is hoppin'. Everyone comes into the city to shop, and the number of market vendors swells on Saturday. We had a slice of coconut flan from a vendor at the Saturday market. Perfect!The same taxi driver that recommended Benny's Kitchen also shared with us some of his roasted and salted pepitas. The boy loves salty, nutty things, so many little bags of pepitas were bought form corner stands like the one above.Hannah's is extremely popular with the tourists and has lots of veggie options. We ate there twice; both times because they were one of the only places open. Once because it was Sunday, and once because we needed breakfast before7am when most places open. The first time I had a decent vegetable curry with tofu, but it would never fly in the States as decent. The second time I had a breakfast burrito, and it was just fine. Especially love the real flour tortillas that are so fluffy. But they're all like that in Belize!But for a fraction of the price of Hannah's burritos, you can get a burrito at this Mexican stand (didn't seem to have a name) just two doors down from Hannah's. They open at 7am. Most of our breakfasts before heading out were either from The Old French Bakery or from here. Breakfast burrito with beans and eggs, veggie burrito with beans and pico, or bean empanadas topped with cabbage.

We were breakfast burritoed-out, so visited Cafe Sol again and had almond banana pancakes and lime cream cheese French toast. I'm stealing the lime cream cheese idea!We went on a canoe trip through Barton Creek Cave with David's Tours . That's David top right. He's an extremely chill dude, if you know what I mean...and extremely nice. David is the first person (obviously in recent times, 'cause there are Mayan artifacts in the cave) to explore the narrow cave, so he pretty much rules this relaxing canoe tour though a cave. I got to hold the spotlight during the trip inside the cave. Wheeeeee!We booked a 14-mile canoe trip down the Macal River with David's Tours. You put in at David's property, which is on an unexcavated Mayan ruin (told you everyone had a Mayan ruin in their back yard). David partnered up with an American dude, and offers cabanas and camping on his beautiful property. It's a little out there, but if you're not interested in going into the city everyday, it might fit your bill.

The trip ends at the market in San Ignacio. Along the way, you'll see tons of iguanas. Did you know, the females are green, and the males are orange-ish? The males are much easier to spot than the females.
Pizza? Yeah, we just felt like getting pizza to go from Mr. Greedy's in San Ignacio to take back to Iguana Junction -- it's so nice there on the river with hammocks! Dawn jumped at the idea of ordering in pizza and not having to cook, so we waited for them to drive into town and pick up a pizza for themselves, and we had a pizza party. Dawn and Collin at Iguana Junction are awesome! Pizza not bad, either. Very crispy, thin-ish crust, with the edges being a little too crispy to really eat.The breakfast spread at Iguana Junction on our last day before heading out to cross the country for the islands included fresh fruit, yogurt, pancakes, and breakfast tacos (not pictured). Dawn makes the pancakes, while Collin runs across the street to buy fresh tortillas from a family. Excellent.