Groups at T.R.E.E.S

Dear readers, I am really sorry for the lack of postings on our blog. We have been real busy with finishing up the station and acquiring all of our permits. The good news is the station is fully operational, we are now officially open and have been receiving groups.

We received the UNB tropical ecology class, followed by teaching a class for I.S.I.S. I.S.S.I.S offers a variety of courses in Belize and we host as well as teach some of their classes. Lately we hosted a Marine Ecology class, part of the course was taught by Vanessa at the Station on freshwater ecosystems and then I brought the group to the Tobacco Caye Marine Station for the second part of the course. We had a great group of students and had a great time.

Finally we received Save the Frogs, an NGO that specializes in saving frogs. Sounds funny but a multitude of frog species are not doing very well. They brought a group to Belize on a frog specific ecotour. They found 3 new species of frogs at the station.

We are pleased with our spring summer season. We are now off on a couple month tour of North America to present in Universities, Colleges and Cegeps to get new groups for the next season!

So spread the word that T.R.E.E.S is now ready to receive guests!

Freshwater Snorkeling

A new activity at T.R.E.E.S - Freshwater Snorkeling! We took some of our friends (Kendra and Devin) that helped us make great little sampling nets to try out the new nets. We all brought our snorkels and went snorkeling in one of the swimming holes! It was amazing, we saw about 10 species that are common aquarium fishes back home. We still need to identify them but we know we had ; mollies, swordfishes, plathys, catfish and more!!! We are thinking we will now offer this as an activity at T.R.E.E.S!

Eva helping Devin try out the nets

starting the freswater snorkeling

Swordtails

Swordtails giving my arm a spa treatment

snorkeling in the swimming hole!

This one is still unidentified!!! Any guesses?

Finally the Kitchen

It has taken us about 1 year now, but we have finally finished the commercial kitchen that will feed all our well anticipated guests.

I would like first to thank everyone that has made this great kitchen into reality. Brendan for the tiling, Chris and Clark for structure and Will and Erwin for the finishing work. Off course all the work that V and I had to put into it as well, cabinet, island, counters, etc.! Want to thank my uncle Pierre the Chef for helping us design the layout of the kitchen which is working out awesome!

You ready??? Here it is...

the original building we now call the kitchen

Chris and Clark working on new wall supports

new back wall added

New front wall

Now tiled with unfinished stove

Building the counters

new fridge and adding on the final walls

Cabinets almost completed

Final kitchen, complete with fume hood, commercial stove, only need to add the cupboard doors

Kitchen with island in middle

and the fridge, there it is the pride, at least my pride of T.R.E.E.S, I love this kitchen!!!

view towards the restaurant!

The Painter

T.R.E.E.S is officially opening is doors in early June! The site is ready and we have almost got all of the operating permits in order...this is it, we are almost open!!!

Diego starting to the draw the mural, he is being admired by group of volunteer students from Pro-World

We have decided to now switch the focus from construction to making the place a little more Hip! So Diego our amazing painter neighbour is working on a mural for the main outdoor client veranda. We have chosen to use one of the other T.R.E.E.S logos designed by Peter Diamond as the main image in the mural.

The artist hard at work

The completed toucan, Diego will now finish with some nice flower designs in the green

Diego changed it a little to add his own artistic style in the mural and it looks great! I will add another picture soon when the mural is complete!

Good work Diego!

flower beds

Now that the construction phase is almost complete we have a little more time to make things look nice. My mother was here last week and we used her green thumb skills to redo all of the plant beds around the house! Looks awesome!It will take a couple of weeks before everythings bushed out good, but I will add other photos once we are there! Thumbs up!

6 Weeks left before the Yoga Retreat!

There are only 6 weeks left before we offer the Yoga Retreat! Tell you friends, share our event pages on FB, tell your neighbour...

Ecorana Environmental is offering a 7-day all inclusive yoga retreat at the T.R.E.E.S facilities in Belize. Come deepen your Yoga practice while taking in the flavors of this tiny Central American country on the Caribbean coast. Tingle your senses with the tastes and sounds of the culture and nature that beautiful Belize has to offer!

For more information visit the T.R.E.E.S site: www.treesociety.org

Thanks to all our readers!

Belize Football! Belize Vs. Trinidad and Tobago

I wanted to post that we don't only work at TREES while it sure feels like it. We went to see a friendly between Belize FF and Trinidad and Tobago. The match ended 0¬0 but Belize played very well and was a very good match!

The stadium was packed and this boded well for the Belize FF which has been doing very well in the last few months. Time will tell if they will be able to qualify for the 2014 world cup! Go Belize!