Monday, March 24, 2008

Second look and New Years Eve, 07

Welcome, this posting is dedicated to showing a few more before and after images
of the development of Brahma Blue Resort and some pics of our
New Years Eve Celebration at the Blue Lotus Restaurant.



First we have the Palapa on the Pier that will soon become the Blue Lotus Restaurant, notice the town of San Pedro, a two minute boat ride across the waters.


Below we see that same Palapa ready for business and receiving guests for lunch.



The above and below images show the interior on Blue Lotus with guests at our first celebration that took place New Years Eve, 07/08

Below is the Restaurant Manager, also from Winnipeg, Herb, guitar and vocals and his band, Rawhide with James on drums, Adam on Bass and Master Zac sitting in on Percussion for the New Years Eve Celebration


We also had a fire show, below you can see Paul spinning Poi while I drum for him. Paul's incredible, he spent nine years learning Poi in Thailand, I started learning to spin last November, its fun!


Below we see the path from the resort walking to the East side of Caribbean Cove and the Pier leading to the Blue Lotus Restaurant, the landscaping is quite minimal here to date.

and below we see the same path looking to the West, showing the acreage yet to be developed between the Restaurant and the first Condo building.

There is still much to do and this pathway will remain like this for some time. The next phase of construction is to build my health spa and two more condo buildings on the West Beach at the far end of this walkway.


The above image shows a small palapa which is located on a Peninsula on the Northwestern extreme edge of our property and it is a multi use area for group sessions, conferences and meetings as well as providing a shaded area for Tai Chi, Chi Gong, Yoga and meditation.

As you can see this peninsula provides some isolation away from the rest of the resort for a sense of privacy, I will be able to offer massage sessions here as well as in your room.

The above image shows the amount of shade that will be available under this palapa for comfort during the heat of the day.
As you can see below, when these plants grow in size, this area will be a lovely tropical garden.


Next I want to show you the two stations at pool side where we will be offering
Massage Services and Aesthetics.



Setting up for the fist time.



Shelter from the sun with the option of dropping the blinds for more privacy


Leave your partner or kids playing in the pool while you enjoy a relaxing massage


As Ganesh watches over us, clearing obstacles in our path with one sweep of It's mighty trunk

I couldn't have come to Belize without the support of my daughter Larissa and her mother Linda who had to stay behind, they just got all dolled up to go to a concert, "Love your nails!"


They are my two biggest supporters back home, before leaving Winnipeg
I gave them a web cam so we could stay in touch


Yes, and I love you too Larissa, now please join me is saying Namaste


Blessings, Peace and Light to all!


Above: Taco Girl took this shot at Christmas Eve off the front Beach.

Below: Alan took this sunset at Brahma Blue, can you say tranquility?
Thanks for visiting



Saturday, March 22, 2008

First look

This posting is about the development of Brahma Blue Resorts and Health Spa and my involvement with the project on a totally romantic Caribbean Paradise Island.


Hi friends, my name is Henry A. Zacharias. On April 2nd, 2007, I arrived in San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye, Belize in Central America.


I came here with long hair but had to cut it due to the heat and, even more of a problem for my wispy hair, the wind!


Coming in for a landing over Belize, no we are not going to land on that river!




Approaching Belize City

Flying over Ambergris Caye

coming into San Pedro Town

Disembarking in San Pedro Town

These little planes fly back and forth between Belize City and San Pedro in just over 1/2 hr.

I came here from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada where I was a Massage Therapist and a Musician and the Music Director at the Center for Conscious Living where I had been studying to become a Minister of the Science of Mind. My plan was to become a Minister and write books about Spirituality and travel around the world teaching in New Thought Churches. As part of my education I focused on Spiritual Mind Treatment and developed a workshop to teach others the techniques of manifesting as taught by Ernest Holmes and the Science of Mind.


Here I am on stage at the Center For Conscious Living, sitting in with their band


This is with Joy Stadnichuk, the last time she and I played together, Oct/07


In my ten years of fellowship with this New Thought Community I learned a lot because after my second year I became an active volunteer, on the board and as music director, and I was getting pretty good at making changes in my life using the techniques and changing the way I think. Then, during my third year course, we had to read eight books and do book reports and write weekly Spiritual Mind Treatments. I was already doing it for friends and clients so I was very earnest about learning to be effective. I wanted a more prosperous life so I began treating that I already had the right and perfect job. Meanwhile, one of my massage clients of several years, asked me if I wanted to go with him to India and open a Massage School there. I was interested because I love to teach, but I didn't really want to live in India. Too many people, Winnipeg is a small City with around 700,000 people and I've visited bigger cities like Denver and Vancouver and while they were nice to visit, I didn't want to live there, so I hesitated and kept treating for my right and perfect job.

One day, that same client, Sunny Sidhu, came for another massage and reported that he had just returned from India and he didn't want to live there either, so he purchased ten acres on an Island off the coast of Belize instead. His plan was to build a resort with a health spa and he wondered if I would be interested in joining him there to manage the health spa. The entire country of Belize has a population of only around 200,000, and growing. Tourism in Belize is taking over as the largest industry over bananas and sugar cane. Most of the attention is on the Islands near the reef that extends for some 357 miles along the coast of Belize with Ambergris Caye being the largest of the Cayes, where I now live and San Pedro Town is the central hub of all that activity with a population near 10,000 that swells to near double some years during the busier seasons, with the peak around Spring Break. The population here is steadily growing due to investment and land development. Many Canadians, American and Brits are building resorts, bars and restaurants and becoming permanent residents while they operate their businesses here, just like me.


Shopping on Middle St. Downtown San Pedro

However, everything happens in Belize time here, I've been here nearly a year and our resort is still not opened for business. It is now Easter, 2008. I'm told we are ready to receive guests now and things could kick off any time, soon. Now let me show you some pictures before and after to show you what we have done to our ten acres and a bit of the Town of San Pedro where I now live.


This is a bunch of interested business folks and I taking a boat across to Caribbean Cove where we have our ten acre spread. That is San Pedro Town behind us.



This is the first view of our property, the Palapa on the Pier will become our Restaurant, fine dining and San Pedro's only place for East Indian Cuisine






Looking down the Pier towards our first Condominium, four stories of concrete block with re bar drilled into the bedrock to withstand any Hurricane, just stay home and ride it out. I've done that, but that is another story for another day.



Our first phase of advertising, sings on our own beach front, its nearly time to start landscaping.

At the Health Spa, I am going to offer my skills as a Tai Chi/Chi Gong instructor, I am also qualified to teach meditation, breath work, yoga and remedial exercise programs as well as African Drumming and Massage. I have investigated many of the worlds Ancient Spiritual Traditions and I practice a rather unique blend of energy work that includes Reiki, CranioSacral, Therapuetic Touch, Polarity Therapy, Chakra Balancing, Laying on of Stones, Chi Gong, a lot of trusting Intuition, Guided Visualizations and Sonic Vibrational Healing. In time I intend to develop workshop events, my favorite involves the use of Drums, Voice and Dance and I have developed a wonderful event called Healing Harmonics that involves chanting specific songs that are sung in English so the meaning of the lyrics can be carried deeper into the consciousness of the participant.


This was my first look at the Condo building when I first arrived, this shows the spiral staircase in the center. This is the main entrance and these windows face East to catch the prevailing winds which will blow through each suite and keep you comfortable with very little need for A/C. Each balcony gets a view of the sunrise.

The above photo may have been taken by Allen or Taco Girl, I stole it from one of them, its a good shot of a Sunrise off the front beach of Ambergris Caye.
Below is the view looking out of a fourth floor window to the East


Below is the same building on the same day showing the side that faces West for a view of the sunsets

and below is the view looking out of a balcony to where the sun will set


And below is a shot of a Sunset across the Pier on the west side, you can see a slip of the the same deck above before the landscaping and the same small Island just off shore.


I'm pretty sure Alan took the above and below sunset shots


Now I'm going to show you some photos of how things look today.
The landscaping is nearly done and most of the apartments are fully furnished and ready for occupancy.

Alan, a buddy here who unfortunately is planning to leave the country soon, took these shots and here is a panoramic view he took from the Pier on the West side of the property showing the Palapa group session site on the Peninsula on the left across the West side of the Property to the edge of the Pier.


I've never had any nick names stick and all my life my four older brothers commanded the obvious family nick name of Zac, which is derived from the first three letters of our last name, but none of them were going to be in Belize so it was my turn, and Master Zac sounds pretty cool! So I have adopted that name and title for my new life here as I will be doing more teaching here and I'm told I'm the most educated and skilled Massage Therapist in the Caribbean. As part of a going away party for me, before I left Canada, Joy Stadnichuk, a wonderful singer/songwriter and dear friend coined the phrase Hot in Belize and that is where I got my Title for this Blog. I landed here in April and rarely stopped sweating until September.


This shows some of the grounds between the pool, where I will have two workstations and the Palapa out on the Peninsula where I have more space for teaching classes in the shade. You can just see the brown thatch of the Palapa roof way beyond the fan palm on the edge of the pool deck.