Happy 21st of September !!!
Belize's 25th year of Independence !!!!
Banana Bank was present at the Belmopan parade and celebrations with flying colors. John Carr on Aly Banana - decorations by Carolyn Carr. The Carr family moved to Belize and Belmopan in 1977. Belmopan was already considered the capital of Belize however at that time there were only maybe a little over 3000 habitants and the city was hardly a decade old. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belmopan This link has interesting information about Belmopan and it is in fact, THE SMALLEST CAPITAL IN THE ENTIRE WORLD !!! So, even another reason to visit Banana Bank Lodge which is only a few miles from Belmopan. In 1981 Belize aquired it's independence. The Carr family were actually living in Belmopan at that time and attended the ceremonies. Belmopan has grown quite abit since then and becomes a busier place every single day, it still doesn't need stop lights though !! No traffic jams in Belmopan !

BETEX 2006 http://www.betex.bz
has come and gone. What a show !! It was dynamic and well organized. My special congratulations to Nicole Usher and her company Ideal Lab for their success in all they did. We are sorry to say we did not place for the best booth but an extended congratulations to Caves Branch who had the largest booth (I guess size does matter), it was a little jungle all in itself and they won the 1st Prize. Good Work Guys !!! But don't worry, Jo and I learned ALOT this show (my first, Jo's second) so watch out in 2008 !!! We are already scheming !!! We also want to thank the many people who visited our booth and took the time to learn more about Banana Bank. After the Marketplace which was held the 13th and 14th we had 20 agents visit Banana Bank for their Jungle/Wildlife Expedition. It was so much fun !! Some went horseback riding (I went also and rode Aly Cat - I love that horse) and others went on our river tour. Dinner entertainment with Pito our local folk singer. A special thanks to C & C Travel , Sunshine Travel , Joy Store Travel , Sky Travel , Carlson Wagonlit Travel http://www.carlsontravel.com/marcopolo , Travel Network , American Travel Bureau http://twopalmstravel.myatb.com ,
Focus on Travel http://www.focusontravel.com , MVP Travel http://www.mvptrvl.com ,
Ocean Blue and Associates , Pack & Go Travel http://www.packandgotravel.net , Middlesex Publications http://www.njparentweb.com and
Philadelphia Sun Newspaper http://www.philasun.com for coming to Banana Bank and allowing us to host the first portion of their expedition. Great Trip !!

I know I haven't written anything but that's because my computer was giving me trouble. Now its working very good. Anyway, I was wanting to write about my dog Lola. Lola has been well known to Banana Bank and has become a part of everyone's family. Lola is that kind of dog that jumps up in the morning, out the door, straight in the office, greet all the office staff, out the office door and bathes herself in mud . Then runs right back to the office shakes herself , sprinkles mud all over the floor and desk then runs back outside and act like she didn't do anything. Not one day would pass without Lola bathing in the mud. This is her- isn't she cute:

BETEX is around the corner and Jo and I are putting all of our creativeness together to come up with the best booth ever !! Of course we are depending on the mastermind (Carolyn Carr) of creativity for ideas ! We have our sights on the Best Booth Prize !! Any ideas & suggestions are welcome !! We are sharing a booth with our buddies from San Pedro Banana Beach and we are so looking forward to an exciting show. Not only will we be present with our booth but we also will be part of the BETEX Expedition where we are going to be hosting over 20 agents for a night. A special thanks to the organizers for allowing us this opportunity.

Time flys when your having fun !!! I can't believe over a week has passed since my last posting !! Well, I have a good excuse, I was visiting my sons in El Salvador !! I have 3 sons, William, the oldest, is 23 (well he will be in a few weeks) Giovanni (the artist) is 21 and Adriel who is 14 (going on 24) The purpose of the trip was to bring Adriel back to Belize after spending the summer with family in El Salvador. My mother went with me. We got on the bus in Melchor (border town between Belize and Guatemala) at 8:00 pm on Friday. We traveled all night and arrived to Guatemala City the next morning at 6:00 am. We then caught another bus from Guatemala City to San Salvador and we arrived around 11:00 am Saturday morning. The buses are really nice and comfortable with bathroom facilities, reclining seats and movies (we got to see Braveheart - a first for me) plus it is much less expensive than flying. In El Salvador we spent our time shopping, eating too much (everything from Sushi to Jungle Snow ice cream) I even went to get my hair cut and styled :) On Wednesday we headed back to Belize. Here is a picture of me with my two older sons at Multi Plaza in San Salvador (right after my haircut)
Photo starting from left to right - Giovanni, me, William