DECEMBER 2011
The Placencia
REEZE “The Peninsula Paper”
Please Take One.
Est. 1999
Buy your Mistletoe Ball Tickets! (See Page 2) Placencia, Stann Creek District, Belize, C.A.
Seine Bight’s Jankunu Champions Ready for Competition in ’Griga Seine Bight’s Ligemeri Wanaragua (The Light of Jankunu) and St. Alphonsus Jankunu Dancers will compete in the Second Annual Habinahan Wanaragua Competition in Dangriga this month. Ligemeri Wanaragua, who won the competition last year, will compete in the senior round on Dec. 27, while the St. Alphonsus Jankunu Dancers will be showing off their talent once again at the Junior Competition on Dec. 18. Both rounds will be held at Y -Not Island in Dangriga.
Holiday Shopping
Photo by Fiona Macfarlane
Find out what Santa might bring you in his dorey this Christmas! (See gift ideas in Placencia Shopping Guide. Page 6. )
Decemba Cookin’ Placencia’s Jackie Tipton has scoured the Placencia Peninsula to bring you a wide selection of tasty recipes from home cooks, restaurant chefs and bartenders. (See Peninsula Christmas Eats. Page 20-22 )
Ligemeri Wanaragua beat six other groups in the first competition held on Jan. 2, 2011 winning a total $1,500 first prize for best overall performance. As required by competition rules, Ligemeri Wanaragua includes four adult members: Neville “Tigre” Lopez, Sr., Leonard Williams, Nigel Rodriguez, and Amadio His conch shell Flores and one junior member: Neville Lopez, Jr. The group is carvings have backed up by three drummers: Austin Sanchez, Dominique been all the rave Meighan and Alex Augustine. in Placencia. They also make In addition to sharing glory with the Ligemeri Wanaragua in the great Christmas presents! Check out first competition of its kind in Belize, 11-year-old Lopez, Jr. also the incredibly unique talent of Thurwon first place on Jan. 2 for best overall performance in the Jun- man “Ras-T” Turner. (See Breeze Artist Spotlight. Page 11. ) ior Competition. (See Jankunu. Page 9.)
Artist Spotlight
Jacque Cousteau’s Granddaughter Shares Plans to Highlight Belize’s Watersheds in Popular National Geographic TV Series
ElevenYear-old Neville Lopez, Jr. will defend his championship title at the Second Annual Habinahan Wanaragua Competition in Dangriga.
The Cousteau family is putting Belize in the global spotlight once again. The granddaughter of world -famous ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, 35-year-old Alexandra Cousteau, is leading an expedition to highlight the importance of maintaining the health of Belize’s watersheds. Cousteau and her Blue Legacy team visited Belize in October to scout their sites to be featured in a one-hour documentary in the next Expedition Blue Planet series broadcast on the National Geographic Channel. The team will start filming in Belize early next year. Blue Legacy International, an initiative of Washington, D.C.-
based The Ocean Foundation, was founded in 2008 by Cousteau to engage individuals around the world and inspire them to tackle critical water issues in meaningful ways. Cousteau first visited Belize in 2005 when she made a trip to Ambergris Caye, and she's returned every year since. "I fell in love with Belize. People were wonderful and warm," she recalls. In October, she sat down with The Placencia Breeze for an interview at the Turtle Inn – her "home away from home." Having the most intact watershed (See Cousteau. Page 9.)
Photo submitted by Marlow Daniel
Cousteau’s documentary project aims to empower “Water Heroes” working to protect water sheds in Placencia and other parts of Belize.
