The weather looks a little better today. We spent a little time walking around town this morning, to the bakery and to the fry jack shop. A fry jack is basically a triangular shaped homemade tortilla that is deep fried, it puffs up and becomes hollow and they stuff it with all kinds of things. The menu board actually had 26 different options and all were very inexpensive. We ordered a couple to take back with us. We then stopped by the bakery. We were there at opening time and there were actually several people waiting at the front door, about the closest thing to a crowd as we’ve seen on Caye Caulker. The bakery had lots of wonderful things. We chose a few that looked good and took them with us as well. On the way back we happened to see the islands large 6-seater taxi golf cart that we would need to get us and our bags to the airport. We stopped him and told him when and where we would need him. He introduced himself and said he would be there to get us. As we walked back I took a minute to appreciate the beauty of this island, on the street by our hotel you can see the Caribbean at both ends of the street at the same time. The island is well under a mile wide and only a few miles long. Back at our room we still had some fresh pineapple and the bottles of freshly squeezed orang and pineapple juice we bought yesterday. I could get used to having all these fresh things for breakfast. We finished packing up and then walked down the beach and took a few pictures. The girls were soaking up as much warm weather as they could because it would probably be below freezing when they got back to Brandon at 8:00. We have been amazed at how few Mosquitos we have seen since we’ve been here. We asked John about it at dinner the other night. He said the government actually sprays regularly and keeps them well under control, he also said that he has never seen a rodent on the island. The only animals here are lizards, crocodiles, and boa constrictors. I kinda though at first that maybe that was a joke, but apparently not. The one thing they have here that everyone “gets” to experience are the sand fleas. You hardly ever see them as you walk around, and they are a little more like gnats that are so small to be barely visible, Christian, Mallory and I haven’t had much trouble with them. A little bug spray and we only got maybe a couple of bites. Olivia, however, seems to be allergic to them. She has large red welts all over her legs. She keeps hemp oil on them (the local remedy that actually seems to help). She tried to count the welts on her legs but stopped when she got to 50. Peter picked us up on his extended red golf cart, even arriving 10 minutes early which is unusual in Belize. After a 10 minute ride to the airport, we left our luggage on the front porch of the terminal and checked in. The entire airport building is probably not even 800 square feet with one long strip of concrete outside for take off and landing. We waited in the “lounge” which would accommodate 6 people max. When it was time to board a lady basically stuck her in and told us it was time to board. We walked about 50 yards to the plane and climbed the short rolling staircase into the 12 passenger plane. The view from the air was spectacular. We seemed to be only a couple thousand feet in the air. The water was so blue is was hard to tell where the water ended and the sky began in the distance. From the time our wheels lifted off the ground until the time they touched down in Belize City was NINE MINUTES! It took longer to get to the airport in the taxi! We got into the airport and got the girls checked in. We had lunch at the Sungarden restaurant in the airport. We dined on local cuisine of stewed chicken with rice and beans and conch soup for Christian and I. It was fabulous. Belizeans seem to only know how to cook fresh, I guess there are no such things as frozen or canned food options for theses dishes anyway. After lunch the girls went through international security and we checked in and saw them once again in the terminal to wait at our gates. Although our departure times were almost the same, they boarded quickly but our flight boarded only 5 minutes before flight time. A tropic air employee led us out across the Tarmac a long way until we finally got to our plane. The man in charge of the steps was sitting on one of the landing wheels of the plane reading a newspaper. He hopped up when he saw our little line coming. The plane was pretty full with only 1 seat still available (of
course that meant there were 11 passengers). We wasted no time taking off. We had both land and sea views this time and it was no less spectacular. 20 minutes later we touched down in Dangriga to let all but 5 of us off. From the moment our wheels touched down to the time we lifted off again was less than 5 minutes! I saw the passengers get off and I saw the crew get their luggage out from underneath, but I still don’t know how they did it so fast. After 10 more minutes in the air we approached Placencia. Because Placencia is a peninsula, there was water at each end of the small airstrip. Of course the pilot does this constantly, but for us sitting right behind him it seemed we would either touch down too soon in the water or fall off the other end into the water. Obviously we did neither. Luggage claim was much like the water taxi, a large rolling cart with 5 bags, we identified ours and they matched the claim ticket. Our landlord for the week, Kay, had asked a local driver to pick us up. Sam loaded our backpacks into his van and we were off. We rode through town toward the cottage we had rented. This town was a little different from the others we had seen. First of all there were cars clogging the street. The businesses were spaced apart a little and each had their own building, unlike the islands. We stopped a few miles later and Sam handed us our backpacks and pointed down a long sidewalk. He said Kay was waiting for us, and we would know the cottage by the white picket fence. We walked into a partially residential, partially small commercial area for maybe quarter of a mile. When we reached the ocean we saw the white picket fence to our right and knew we had made it. Through the small gate we found 2 small picturesque cottages. Kay emerged from one (she lives in one and rents the other) and showed us around. Our cottage has steps leading to a small front porch (where the hammocks go) into a one room space. There is a section portioned off for the bathroom with thin walls, 2 double beds, and a small kitchen. The floors, doors, furniture, and exterior walls are all made of mahogany, simply because this seems to be the most common and readily available wood here. The small front yard has a white picket fence, several Palm trees and lounge chairs, beyond the front fence the beach is about 50 feet wide to the carribean sea. Kay gave us instructions on how to work various things and gave us a map of the area. We went out exploring and found that between the main road and that quarter mile to our beach there was a network of sidewalks (for pedestrian traffic only) that wove in between various shops, restaurants, small guest houses, and a few private bungalows. We eventually found our way to a market and stocked up on a few things for our cottage so we would no longer have to eat out every meal. After depositing our buys in the kitchen we set out along the beach and found a small open air restaurant to have dinner. We just lingered there for a long time. Well after dark we walked back and fell into bed exhausted. So far Placencia is proving to be a great place. So many things to explore and so different from where we have been before this.

The rain pelting our window woke us up early. This is a good day to not be diving. The rain came in spurts all day, it would be hot and sunny for several hours and then a 20 minute rainstorm would come through town. We went to Glenda’s, a great local breakfast spot suggested by John. It was in the front couple of rooms of a small wood frame home, and Glenda was in her kitchen cooking. Homemade cinnamon rolls and fresh squeezed orange juice along with the eggs and beans were all fabulous, and such a bargain. We sat with a great couple from Illinois, someone else who has a story to tell. After breakfast we rented a golf cart for a couple of hours to see the island. This island is entirely walkable, but to go from one end to the other and see everything on every street would take much of the day so we decided to get an overview the quick way. The roads were filled with water, every pothole became a small pond and we zigzagged to avoid them. They were not muddy since the streets are pure sand, just a dirty/sandy water. We visited the small airport and got tickets for tomorrow’s trip to Belize City airport. We visited the northern end of the island known as the split. There is a narrow (maybe a little less than 100 yards) canal between the main part of the island and the north end, which is almost uninhabited. The water is a spectacular blue here and the little beachside bar has a large deck and pier. This end of town is where the local craft vendors gather and the dive and tour shops are here. It is a very tiny version of San Pedro, very very tiny that is. After we returned the golf cart, we found a place for lunch and waited out the next round of rain there. Our lazy day was becoming even lazier, we found ourselves still tired from all the activity of the last week. We decided to have a little siesta back at our room, a movie and a little nap refreshed us and we went out again searching for an ice cream shop we had seen earlier. We wore our rain jackets and tried to act like locals and ignore it. We did pretty good. The drizzle was so off and on we never knew when to expect it. After a little more exploring and some walking down the beach we returned to face the monumental task of repacking everything. We pulled everything out and repacked it more neatly. It went better than expected. After dark we headed out for supper to a little local open air place where we had seen literally half a pig roasting over a fire pit all afternoon. The people were nice and the food was good- all you can ask for. There is some really good people watching here. There are quite a few people from Australia for some reason, as well as lots of young backpackers and of course the crowd of middle aged to older couples here for peace and quiet. Caye Caulker attracts quite a mixed crowd. Before returning to our hotel we stopped by a fruit stand and bought a big beautiful pineapple that they cut up for us right there. Now we have desert and breakfast! We are headed to Belize City in the morning and the girls are flying back home. It’s beginning to hit me that they won’t be with us for the rest of the time and I’m really hating it. We’ve had probably the best vacation the four of us have ever been on and I hate to see it end. They are so grown now but really more fun than ever. Well, I’m not gonna ruin the rest of the time we have dwelling on it. But this has been time with them I’ll never forget.

(Sorry for the delay- wifi hasn’t been the greatest)

We woke up earlier than usual this morning, we had to get completely packed and take our backpacks with us when we went diving. We knew we wouldn’t have time to eat at the hotel so we set off in the golf cart to find breakfast. We ended up at a little local restaurant, completely open air and it had no name that we could see. They have a lunch menu on a board out front but we were unclear if they served breakfast, but since they were there we asked (the town is barely awake at 6:45 so there were no customers anywhere and not many places open). He said he was open so we came in and sat at one of the 8 small tables. There we no menus, but the owner came up to the table and said “I’ll tell you what I’ve got”. He named about 3 different things that we had come to expect from a Belizean breakfast so we ordered. 2 of us had burritos and 2 had the full breakfast. This may have been our best breakfast yet! And when I paid I knew it was by far the cheapest. We are learning more and more the value of doing things locally instead of in the tourists haunts. We went back and gathered our luggage (backpacks) and shoved everything into our golf cart with us and made our way through town to the dive shop. There were large lockers available at the pier/dive shop where we stowed our luggage while we dove. We found we were on the same boat as before with Turiano (aka Terentino)- this time with 2 other couples. One couple in their 60’s from Sweden who had been traveling the world for many years going to every well known dive spot. And the other couple were surfers in their 40’s from California who had just spent time in Costa Rica surfing. (We’ve definitely found that everyone has an interesting story to tell.) Mallory and Olivia were, once again, with Adolfo. Today’s dives would complete their certification. The dives were fabulous! We dove in coral canyons this time, outside the reef and deeper than yesterday. It was like floating in air between the 2 walls of a narrow, deep ravine. Except instead of rock the walls were made completely of coral and instead of a river of water there was a river of sand at the bottom. Above the canyon there were literally fields of coral, not just a single row of it as I had thought of a reef before (and as I had seen before). The fish were spectacular. There were many large sharks and an eel right out in the open, which were a little disconcerting to me, but the braver among us (Christian included) rubbed the Sharks backs and felt their dorsal fins. Of course these were nurse sharks, had they been a more menacing variety I could not have stayed so calm I think. We returned to the pier for our surface interval (the reef is so close to land there is no need to stay out). Our 2nd dive was again just the 4 of us, this time the girls were finished with skills and Adolfo was able to take them through the canyons to experience the same beauty we had. On that dive there was a large nurse shark that followed us closely. It was never more than 10-15 feet from one of us. Christian was pushing it away with his gopro. It was not threatening, but maybe curious. After our dives we reluctantly said good bye to Adolfo and Turiano. Ramon’s has been a wonderful dive shop and the resort has a Disney-ish feel of excellence. (The owner of the resort and dive shop are actually Mississippians). While pricey, they earn it. We changed into dry clothes and headed for the water taxi. After checking our luggage and buying our tickets we had time to duck into a little beachfront restaurant for lunch. The owner was from Canada and stood out on the front patio and talked to us while we ate. Another fascinating patron we met was Coconut Leo. He had dread locks like I’ve never seen and he sat next to us and told us how he made his living climbing Palm trees and picking people’s coconuts. We were really fascinated by the story of his life (you can find videos of him on YouTube) After our traditional lunch of stewed chicken with rice and beans,we asked if he’d climb one of the trees for us. He said he was happy too (for a small donation of only $5- this was his livelihood). We were absolutely astounded by the way he climber that huge tree- quickly and doing tricks the whole time. Pretty good for a man in his 60’s. It was time for our water taxi, and our encounter with coconut Leo made a good last impression of San Pedro. The short 30 minute ride to Caye Caulker (pronounced Key Kawlker) brought us to a modern day Gilligan’s island. We walked down the pier to the beach to “luggage claim”. There were 6 backpacks, 4 of which were ours, but we still had to show claim tickets. There were a few golf cart taxis who we asked about the location of our hotel. (There are no street address in Caye Caulker- only names of the hotel/restaurant/home you’re looking for). Our hotel was only about a hundred yards down the beach so we just carried our luggage and walked. We were so pleased to see this beautiful yellow stucco hotel with immaculate grounds and pool just a few feet away from the water (not a few feet from the beach- hotels are ON the beach here and only 50-100 feet from the water). Our small 2 bedroom condo is charming! We walked around a little until it was time to meet our friend John Newhouse for dinner. John has a beautiful home on the island which we got to take a tour of after we arrived. After waiting for John for a few minutes inside the open air restaurant, a man rode up beside us on a bike and asked if we were the Browns?! Well, yes, as a matter of fact we are. He was a friend and neighbor of John’s who had been sent to tell us John had a sudden water leak and would be a little late because of it. We have no phone here so sending a friend on a bike was the easiest way to let us know! John did show up a little later (water leak fixed). We went out to the front of the restaurant where they display their fresh catches that have literally JUST come off the boat. You choose what you want and they cook it for you. The lobsters were beautiful, different than ours – with no claws. (We had seen a few diving but didn’t know all the lobsters here looked like that. We chose barracuda steaks (because we couldn’t pass up trying barracuda!) and it was fabulous. Very meaty whitefish cooked to perfection. John entertained us with hilarious stories of island life. After lingering over dinner a while we walked the streets a little. John explained the lay of the town to us. With only 3 streets (front, middle and back) expanding about 6 blocks in either direction, we would not get lost. John treated us to ice cream at an adorable little stand. He commented that this is the busiest tourist season of the year and there are not usually nearly this many people on the island. What?! We looked up and down the sand street as far as we could see and there were maybe 15 people in sight. When he saw how surprised we were, he explained that most often, he could count the number of people in sight on one hand. Wow, the town didn’t feel deserted, but it did feel like you had the run of it. We even saw the guy from Australia that we met in San Pedro. We strolled the 2 blocks back to our hotel as it started to rain. We have noticed that no one seems to care or really even notice light rain. They don’t even walk faster. Tomorrow we hope to explore more of this charming island. It’s so hard to believe a place like this still exists, but at the same time it’s somehow exactly what I would have pictured…

 

This morning was sunny with only a little wind. We were up early once again to order breakfast and relax on the deck to wait for it. We saw an unusual sight while we were waiting, a garbage truck driving down the beach to collect the garbage from all the beachside hotels, restaurants, and homes. I’m always interested in the way things run here, they do things so differently but that doesn’t mean one is better than the other. After another wonderful breakfast at our hotel, we made our way to the dive shop. We got “stuck” in school traffic. It seemed that everyone on the island had at least one child in tow headed to school. Small children in uniforms, most  with at least one parent either in a golf cart,walking, or even riding on the handlebars of a parents’ or older sibling’s bike. We were probably held up at least 2 or 3 minutes in the traffic jam, so we made our way directly to the dive shop. We signed up to dive on the same boat with the girls and got busy trying on equipment and setting it up. It turned out we were the only 4 people on that boat. The small boat was a little rough on the way to Hol Chan marine park. We knew there was an entrance fee but we couldn’t have imagined that there would actually be buoys and a rope around the marine reserve area and a boat collecting money out in the water. We were in an area know as “shark ray alley” and we were particularly excited because the man from Australia from the day before told us that he saw more marine life at shark Ray alley than he had ever seen in all his years of diving at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia! So we excitedly prepared for the dive. We felt like Adolfo has been an excellent teacher to the girls,and now we saw proof as he had them prepare for and execute the dive under his watchful eye. Christian and I dove with a separate divemaster (Turiano- who Christian kept calling TerenTino) because Adolfo was still making sure the girls had mastered various skills. We had not been in the water even one minute before we saw our first shark. As we swam toward the reef we encountered a large sea turtle grazing on the sea grass on the ocean floor. We hovered within 10 feet of him and watched him eat for at least 10 minutes. It was thrilling! I hated to leave, but there was more to see. We saw sting rays, Eagle Rays, barracuda, huge moray eels,more sharks, trumpet fish, parrot fish, conch, sand dollars, grouper, sea anemone, sea cucumber, hog fish, butterfly fish, and hundreds of other colorful tropics fish we couldn’t name all swimming among amazing coral. I have never seen so many fish in one place. Some schools were so thick we could hardly see through them. We swam into a very small cave and saw giant eels hiding in the crevices. We finally returned to the boat after 70 minutes of diving (it was  fairly shallow for a dive). We were so amazed at all we had seen. Mallory and Olivia were also very excited. They had done well on their dive and had seen some marine life as well (they didn’t have the chance to do all we had done since they had skills to perform). We rode back into the pier. The girls had a little more confined water work to do with Adolfo to prepare for the deeper dives tomorrow. It was lunchtime when we finally left, but we were were all so sticky from salt water, we opted to take showers at the hotel before lunch. We did stop at “cay-mart” (which has the K-mart logo painted on the sign). It’s a decent sized supermarket with no A/C (of course) and we got fantas and brands of snacks we’d never heard of (Mexican made) since we were going to eat a late lunch. Once again the prices seemed really cheap. We made our way back to the room and took turns showering. Around mid afternoon we were finally ready for lunch. We decided to try the one locally owned “upscale” restaurant on the island. Elvi’s kitchen was a small un-air-conditioned restaurant (but we did get to sit next to the open window) with beautiful hardwood tables. The Belizean hardwood used in most of the furniture here is a type of native mahogany that actually has different colors within the same piece of wood. The floors were sand, there was a large tree left in the center of the restaurant extending  though the high thatched roof. From what we had heard this was gourmet Belizean food. Everything on the menu involved some form or tortilla (corn or flour) cooked in a variety of ways. The food was fabulous, there were flavors in there I couldn’t possibly name and it was a little spicy for me, but I drank 2 bottles of water with it and kept going because the flavor was so good. The prices were about the same as any of the American owned restaurants around. For desert we stopped by a small local bakery we had seen close to our hotel. Using the tray and tongs method like before we piled on some (more than we needed) wonderful pastries. The rest of the afternoon was exploring more of town. We went into stores that were not what we expected (most local store are not). We bought fresh coconuts to drink the coconut milk/water out of it with a straw and discovered we hated that! That was disappointing, we wanted to like it. It tasted nothing like the coconut meat tastes, it was more like very warm dirty water. We didn’t want dinner after the late lunch so we decided to stop into a beach restaurant that was supposed to have fabulous “caye”-lime pie. And it was good, much stronger on the lime than Key West Lime Pie though. We were back at the hotel early to start packing. Tomorrow we will first have early dives and then we will go directly to the nearby smaller island of caye caulker by ferry to stay the next few days. It’s gonna be a long but exciting day- of course they all seem to be that way here…

Once again we were up early to prepare to go to the dive shop. After another wonderful breakfast at our hotel, we headed out in the golf cart to the dive shop. The wind was already gusting and today there were dark clouds and intermittent rain showers. Adolfo (the dive instructor) seemed pretty determined today to get their skills check off done so they could do their first certification dive tomorrow. I was skeptical, but he took them to go over equipment and practice setting up the tank, bc, and regulator. By the time it actually came to getting in the water, the wind was howling and the rain was coming in sheets. He decided to break until after lunch and try again. That gave us several hours to find lunch and play around in the golf cart. My watch strap broke the first day we got to San Pedro so we set off to find a repairman. Adolfo had told us about a gift shop where they may be able to fix it. We found the sea turtle gift shop after a little searching and sure enough, they had the pin I needed and he quickly fixed the watch. When I asked how much I owed, he said “let’s say 2 dollars Belizean”. That’s ONE DOLLAR in US money. How could I pay anyone only 1 dollar to do anything? So I handed him a $5 bill (Belizean) and I still felt like I was cheating him. Next we headed north to see if a large bakery we had seen the day before was open for lunch (it had been closed on Sunday). Pandulce bakery was indeed open for business. When we entered I was handed a metal tray (actually a pizza pan I think) and some tongs. We were then to go through the store and place anything we wanted off the open racks of baked goods on our tray. After many questions for the helpful girl working in the store, we chose 3 ham and cheese rolls (basically ham and cheese baked inside an enormous crescent roll), 1 ham and cheese “pizza” (which was not pizza at all, but ham and cheese baked inside a pastry with sugar on top), various pastries for desert and a couple of drinks. It was all only $8 in US money. Wow! We are finding if we do things like locals (I.e. the bakery) it is really inexpensive. But the restaurants that cater to tourists have prices very similar to US prices. The biggest obstacle is that many of the local places to eat are little more than someone’s front room of their home or sometimes a card table with a large plastic box filled with prepared food set up on the side of the street. We have found this food is sometimes the tastiest, but we don’t want to waste time on an upset stomach from eating unfamiliar food, so we have to find a balance. Our lunch was piled up in a plastic bag when we left, we stopped by a grocery store to get napkins (we have found many places don’t provide napkins, we haven’t figured out why except for cost I guess) and we made our way to the arts marketplace by the beach. It has quickly become a favorite spot to hang out by the beach and also to people watch. Our lunch was pretty good, maybe this is Belize’s version of fast food. It was better than McDonald’s cheaper too. We fed out leftover bread to the birds and headed back to Ramon’s (the dive shop). The weather was looking a lot better and the girls were able to get in the water with Adolfo to start working on skills for their certification. Christian and I had a little time to kill so we found a shady spot near the beach to relax. We had a long, fascinating conversation with a man from Sydney, Australia. I love hearing about how other people live and the things they do. We went back to the dive shop’s pier early only to find the girls already through for the day. The practice in the pool had paid off and they had mastered the necessary skills quickly. The next step will be open water dives in the morning which we will also be able to go on. We took the golf cart to get frozen yogurt and then back to the hotel. Mallory and Olivia were ready for a shower after the hours in salt water. Christian and I relaxed on the pool deck. WiFi only (with no cell service) is a happy medium. We can only check social media and email when we are near the WiFi and there is no need to look at our phones any other time. For dinner we found a beachfront restaurant called Fido’s (pronounced feedow’s) and Monday night is Taco night and has live music! After a dinner of the best shrimp tacos I’ve ever had, we wandered the gift shops and bought a few t-shirts. We drove around town in the golf cart and saw the town at night. I’ve enjoyed looking into the lives of the people of San Pedro and what I’ve seen is a very small community where the children are dismissed for lunch from the town’s school and for about an hour there are young children running all through the town- most without adult supervision. This just wouldn’t happen in the US. At least not now; that sounds like a story from a small town in the 1960’s. The people here live simply. We can see into many houses and apartments as we drive around since most people don’t have A/C, and the impression I get is one of people who are working hard but are happy and family oriented. Not to sound naive, of course there are problems everywhere. But I find myself wondering if less “stuff” may actually be more?

We had to get up very early (by Belizean standards) because the girls were to begin their scuba certification today. For breakfast at our hotel there’s a local lady who comes and cooks. There are 4 things on the menu- all involve homemade tortillas, beans, and eggs and then they each vary a little from there. We had no idea what to order so we got one of each thing. It may have been the best breakfast we’ve ever had. I had no idea tortillas could taste so good. So after breakfast we headed to the pier where the boat from our dive shop was to pick us up. The wind was so strong that the water was very rough. The reef (2nd longest reef in the world) is visible just off the coast of San Pedro and it serves to protect the island from very big waves. So to have any whitecaps within the reef takes high winds. We arrived at the dive shop’s pier and after a talk with the dive instructor we found that the conditions were indeed not suitable for any work in the water. He was so nice (a native San Pedroan) and he did all of the land work he could. We would just have to try again tomorrow. So with the rest of the day suddenly free, what should we do now? We walked a block up and rented a golf cart to have for the next few days. We began to explore the island via golf cart. And I must say it changed our entire perspective of the island. Narrow streets without sidewalks that had seemed a little intimidating to walk down were now just charming streets with numerous gift shops, restaurants, and street vendors. And small apartments and homes are also scattered throughout. We drove across “the bridge” to the northern part of the island. We found a small restaurant at the very end of a long pier, built up on stilts with a thatched roof and completely open air dining room. The water beneath us as we ate was so Impossibly turquoise it was hard to believe it was real. We have found there is no such thing as fast food in Belize (there are literally not even any fast food chain restaurants in the country) and mealtime is longer that we are accustomed to with most time spent waiting. But with that view it is impossible to complain. After lunch we took our golf cart back out and explored more of the town. We eventually made our way back to our hotel and the pool for some practice with mask skills with Mallory and Olivia that would be part of their dive certification. After an hour or so in the pool we took a long walk on the beach in front of the hotel. Locals and tourist alike were spending a lazy Sunday afternoon enjoying the weather. The wind had finally died down some, but the sun had been bright all day. After our walk we changed for dinner and drove our golf cart right down the beach to another restaurant at the end of pier over the water. The views never get old. The full moon reflecting off the water was just stunning. We sat on the deck and lingered over our appetizers (our late lunch ruled out a full dinner). After eating we returned to our room (again driving the golf cart right down the beach). We once again prepared for the girls’ dive certification course the next day, but only if the wind goes away. I guess we will see. It’s hard to be too worried about anything here. It must be something in the air that makes it easier to just go with the flow.

 

It was a little bittersweet to be leaving the jungle lodge. It’s been so fun and it’s such a wonderful hotel. On our last morning the howler monkeys were screaming from the trees outside our treehouse and our waiter scaled the mountainside to bring us coffee and muffins early because he’d knew we’d be up packing (we didn’t even ask!). No air conditioning in the most humid place on earth had been an adjustment, and the no phone/wifi/TV thing was uncomfortable for ALL of us. On the positive side, I’ve never stayed in such a stunningly beautiful place; the grounds,the natural surroundings and the lodge and treehouse. And the service was impeccable, the staff remembered our names from the beginning (except for calling Mallory Valerie which we found funny every time). So we took lots pictures of the grounds and the scenery before we left. It was so beautiful that we wanted to document it well. After breakfast we hopped in our rental car and started the hour and a half back to Belize City. Before returning the car in the city we had to make a stop at the airport. We had found the day before we were missing our licenses and credit card. After frantically searching for them we remembered the last place we had seen them was when the car rental agent made a copy. Of course we had no way to contact him ourselves (with no phone and no wifi) so we had the front desk call and they assured us they were holding them in a safe place for us. After our detour to the airport we drove into Belize City. Belize City has the reputation for being the worst area of Belize and after seeing it I believe it. Luckily the car rental agency was on the outskirts of town, and the agent graciously then drove us to the ferry terminal after we turned in our car. We have not found an unfriendly native Belizean yet, everyone we’ve met has been kind and open. We were glad he drove us as we were quickly confused by all the narrow streets and alleys we took to get there. The ferry terminal itself was a scene of barely controlled chaos with hundreds of people headed to different destinations, tourists and Belizeans alike. We somehow checked our luggage and found our way onto the right boat and settled in for the hour plus ride. We were astounded at the beautiful turquoise water we glided over and when the island came into view we saw multiple piers, most with thatched roof palapas on the ends and more palm trees than I think I’ve ever seen in one place. We disembarked and waited in clumps on the beach for our luggage which was eventually wheeled off on big carts, we had to look through the piles to find our backpacks. We took a taxi through the narrow streets to our hotel. We are staying in a quaint locally owned hotel with only 12 rooms- all facing the Caribbean. There is a long pier and Palm trees just off the hotels pool deck. The rooms do not have numbers but names- ours is the reef room. We have gone down several stars from the 5 star jungle treehouse, but its impeccably clean and has air conditioning, wifi, and tv. The mattresses are not comfortable but not unbearable. We have been telling ourselves we want to have a real Belizean experience, but I almost forgot that when we checked into our very basic room. We settled in and decided to go exploring the town on foot. What we found in town was a little disconcerting. Very narrow cobblestone streets with NO sidewalks that were crowded with golf carts, cyclists, motorcycles and the occasional taxi (which are the only automobiles on the island). Golf carts and cyclists even ride along the beach, although three is plenty of room there for pedestrians. We found a wonderful little restaurant called Carumba where we landed for a late lunch. They served the absolute best quesadillas I’ve ever tasted. After more exploration and relaxing out by the hotel pool, we decided we were too tired for dinner and we turned in early. Tomorrow the girls are scheduled to begin their scuba certification so we are looking forwards to a busy but fun day. It’s fun but honestly sometimes a little scary to be in the middle of a culture so different from our own without the safety of a large American style resort to insulate us. But I really prefer it this way. Sometimes I’m not so sure during those first few hours when everything is so new. But it doesn’t take long to adjust and begin to feel the excitement of adventure!

 

 

Last night’s rain was twice as hard as the one before and lasted about 7 hours straight. By the time morning arrived we were glad to see the mist floating over the mountains and the sky lightening up. We went to breakfast not sure what the weather held for the day. Our “adventure” for the day was still on so after breakfast we loaded up on a more modern van with another family and our 2 guides. We chatted during the 45 minute drive out of the jungle and through Belmopan (the capital city) to the Belize Zoo. The zoo was a charming place with stone walkways winding through the jungle with large fenced enclosures for all the animals. The animals were all native to Belize and our guide educated and entertained us with information and his own personal stories of encounters in the wild with many of the species. Mallory decided the tapirs (the national animal of Belize) was her favorite. The skies had cleared and at about 80 degrees it was not a hot day for Belize so most of the animals were out. A young, playful ocelot came to the fence and would jump at leaves the guide was would poke through the fence. So of course Christian decided he’d like to do the same thing. The fence near the bottom was a larger mesh perfect for getting your leaf through to lure the cat into a game. Christian, however, did not realize the cat’s paw (or at least an extended claw) would fit through the mesh and he got a good scratch from the ocelot. The cats speed surprised him, but in the end he was proud of his ocelot scratch. We continued through the zoo seeing other native species: toucans, parrots, macaws, spider monkeys, howler monkeys, kinkajous, snakes, Pumas,a black panther and finally the most beautiful jaguar I’ve ever seen. He was born at the zoo and friendlier than most of the other animals (who had been brought there as injured or sick wild animals for rehabilitation). When Christian heard about the jaguar encounter, he signed us up without hesitation. One keeper moved “Junior” the jaguar to another cage and we walked right into his enclosure and entered another small cage (for humans) with Junior’s trainer. After he locked us in Junior was released and came immediately over to us knowing there were treats in store for him. He did tricks, Mallory fed him some chicken, he jumped on top of the cage and licked Christian’s forehead through the cage, and we got to rub his legs and belly while the trainer fed him a treat. It’s doubtful we would ever have the chance to do that in the states, so Christian jumped at the chance. And although I may have been reluctant at first, I must say it was incredible. After the zoo we went to an outpost and had a traditional Belizian lunch of stewed chicken with rice and beans (not to be confused with beans and rice which is actually a different local favorite). After lunch we suited up for a zip line course through the jungle canopy on the mountainside. The hike up was tiring but the long, fast zip line rides were well worth it. We zipped over the raging caves branch river and between trees. It really was thrilling. We finished exhausted but excited from the day. The long bumpy van ride back proved a good rest after the activity. After the long trek back up to our treehouse, relaxation on the rooftop deck was very welcome. A quick shower in the outdoor shower refreshed us for dinner. The outdoor shower actually had a metal bucket with holes in the bottom for the shower head. The walls were about chest high and you were actually in the jungle canopy. Once we convinced ourselves no one could see us, it was amazing. The dinner that night was probably the best so far. Every night each treehouse is assigned to a different table and its a little treasure hunt to find your table for the night. There were different families at our table each night and the people we met made an already great stay complete. We made it back to out treehouse just before the rain started. One more night in the moist sheets! Tomorrow we are off to San Pedro on The island of Ambergris Caye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have decided “rain forest” may be the most appropriate term for this beautiful mountainous jungle we are in, because light (or even heavy) rain showers will appear without warning. Of course the sound on the tin roof of our open air treehouse was pretty spectacular- at least at first. The 4th time I woke up during the night “spectacular” was NOT the word that came to mind. But all a part of the experience (I kept reminding myself). The day finally dawned a little overcast and we were anxious to get our first days adventure underway. After the fabulous breakfast they had for us, we met our guide to go on the “river caves expedition”. The Meyer family of 4 from New York joined us. We couldn’t have chosen better companions for the day, they were so much fun. We boarded a bus that looked like it was a military bus from the 40’s. 20 minutes through the rutted roads and THROUGH a river in an orange grove and we arrived at the edge of the jungle at the base of a mountain. We all took one of the black inter tubes from the back of the

bus and began a 5 minute hike on a trail through the jungle that brought us to a river. We all jumped into the cold,clear spring fed river and were instructed NOT to float downstream but to begin paddling upstream. Our guide seemed to find it a little too funny to inform us that we would be paddling upstream most of the day before we floated back to our starting point. So we all starting flailing wildly against the current just as

big fat rain drops began to slap us in the face. The whole scene was pretty hilarious and started off an amazingly fun day. It didn’t take long to reach the cave entrance. We were totally unprepared for the breathtaking sights we were about to encounter. Bats, stalactites and stalagmites were only the beginning. We climbed huge rock formations that led to carvings in the rock believed to be done by the ancient Mayans. There were shards of pottery, a large mask carved into rock and a few faint carvings in the walls. Glittering Quartz an

d crystal formations took out breath away. A collective WOW from the group came at every turn. After several hours of exploring our guides pulled lunch out of their packs and laid out a spread of fresh homemade tortillas still warm to

the touch along with meats and veggies to pack inside. Round it off with a little guava juice and we enjoyed a picnic lunch by the light of headlamps listening to the roaring of the river a mile inside a cave under a mountain. WOW! An experience of a lifetime for sure. After lunch we finally got to start the float back down the river, which meant no paddling. But to make it more interesting our guide had us turn our headlamps off so we were floating in the blackest darkness I’ve ever seen. We were gliding in between rock walls on either side that we ran into without warning while the lights were off- now I was sure

the guide was having fun with us. We made it back to the cave entrance all too soon and floated into bright sunshine and the most beautiful jungle along the banks. JoAnn (of the Meyer family) commented that if Disney created a perfect jungle river this is what it would look like, and she was right! We finished with cliff jumps into the river (only for the bravest among us) and a trek back through the Orange grove to our old bus. On the way back we took pictures with the maya mountains as a backdrop and picked and ate oranges. We were exhausted when we returned to the lodge but still had to scale a series of ramps and then 76 tall concrete steps to our mountainside treehouse. I then spent the next few hours on the rooftop deck reading and gazing at the jungle canopy below me. A gourmet 4 course dinner finished off the night and we drug ourselves back up all the steps to bed. No wifi and no TV is not such a problem when you are so tired by 9:00 you can hardly keep your eyes open. The rain began its nightly beating on our tin roof and we slipped in between our humidity soaked sheets already looking forward to the next day’s adventures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rain greeted us as we disembarked the plane and made a run for the airport. Immigration, baggage claim, and customs were about what you’d expect. But as we left the airport we ran into a lady holding a sign with my name on it! What a welcome to Belize! She was a local travel agent of sorts who is helping me with a few transportation issues within the country, but she was also a wealth of information about many things. We picked up our rental car and after a complimentary upgrade, we we were off. Luckily they provide a GPS for us in the car! Although Belize doesn’t have a great many roads, the ones they do,have are not all well marked. The drive was interesting, we saw tapir crossing signs and pedestrian bridges (which were glorified speed bumps with a flat top- why pedestrians can’t use the regular street, I don’t know). We stopped at a local restaurant for a late lunch and then drove on to Ian Anderson’s Caves Branch Jungle Lodge resort. Wow! I don’t guess I knew his kind of beauty existed. Tucked into the foothills of the Maya Mountain, it looks more like it actually sprung from the ground. Lush vegetation in the tropical jungle wit Palm trees taking the lead in the mountains along with myriad flowers, video vines,birds etc etc. I took so many pictures but I find they don’t do it justice. We walked through the botanical gardens and along the river in awe. Our treehouse situated on the side of a mountain with only screens for 1 of the walls to give amazing views of the river and mountains with the feel of being outside while nestled into a bungalow worthy of a 5 star resort. Dinner the first night (New Years eve) was family style gourmet buffets. 4 courses over 2 hours with a live band on the open air deck followed by a New Year’s Eve party. Adventure guides made their rounds in the dining room and compelled guests to sign up for an expedition the next day (food, entertainment, and adventures were all included). We quickly chose cave tubing and decided to retire before the part ended since our day started early when we headed out to the airport. We slept in our screened split level can’t with the sound of rain drumming on our tin roof. The humidity was incredible ( thanks to the rai ) and made even our towels and sheets a little moist. But it was strangely a cool (70degree) humidity with a fan circulating the cabin air, and seemed to only add to the fun of a tropic location. We feel into bed exhausted but barely able to contain the excitement for what waited for us in the days ahead. I think this is going to be more than I could have imagined…