bucy.blecha.belize.

 5 days after my parents left to return to the USA, my college friend Erin decided to grace me with her presence.  Our last trip together was a couple years earlier on my senior year spring break road trip to Texas....and it was definitely one for the memory books.  SO, needless to say...this trip was sitting on some big expectations. We blew them all away!  Aside from Hurricane Alex (it was a tropical storm when it came through Belize), we had a great time.  Weather conditions are nothing but a slight detour on the route to ridiculous fun!  We traveled the country, met up with friends, toured an ancient Mayan burial site (ATM caves: highly recommend you see this if you ever travel to Belize), went to a wine tasting -that's right, a shocking new discovery that occurs once a month!!!- and ended the week by cheering on the Belizean basketball team as they challenged Venezuela.

The following is a TOP 10 for our week compiled by Erin and myself as we rode the bus to Belize City. It's amazing how productive bus rides can be!!! (i'll attempt to add a back story where necessary).

YAY!! Erin has arrived AND...I actually found her!

#10-Kitchen closed; "what do you mean my kriol sucks??!"...rainstorm night ensues...

  (day 1 of Erin in Belize - I greeted her in the middle of the street on Caye Caulker, *slightly intoxicated*.  I was on the island for outreach, but the storm had ruined our set-up.  SO, fun in the sun changed to welcome to tropical paradise Belize style in 2.5....this just happened to be a conversation with a bartender at one of our hangouts.. I swear, my kriol is so much better than a year ago. and it does not suck...for a white gyal.)

#9 -H: "See, Guanacaste is still closed"; E-"yeah, they even have a guard!"; H-"no, i'm pretty sure he's just waiting for the bus".

 (oh, Erin!  Bless her heart, she was still learning that the bus would pick you up and drop you off literally where ever and no one cares about the flooded forest....but it was cute that she thought a guard would stand by a vacant park in the rain here....)

#8-"Mom you're showing your thumb!"

(we were told the story of Ta-Ta Dwende while on our ATM cave tour.  Google the story for info.  Basically, you must hide your thumbs because Dwende is out to steal them. The family that we toured with was fantastic and wanted to take a group photo showing their hands, but without the thumb. 5 out of 6 were stellar...Mom however, completely missed the point- she showed all her fingers, ruining the picture according to the kids.  But really, where else would you get THAT emphatic response?!)

#7-"so what do your kids do?"..."oh, they are in the circus!"...enough said!!!
 (same family...4 kids, 3 in the circus. When you make small talk with fellow group travelers is this really the response that you plan on hearing???  Exactly.  They were my favorites.)



#6-"He wasn't attractive, but he had a funny, round little head...I kept telling him that."


#5-canoeing around the island...backwards, with the world's largest canoe paddle!

proof. the stupid paddle WAS bigger than me... you canoe and island with THAT!

#4-"I used to play professional darts for 8 hours a day"...Jerry: "8 hours a day..wow, that's a lot of darts"

Goodness, were'nt our helmets LOVELY!

#3-insert ATM guide's laugh here...ehhhee, ehheee!

Our guide,prepping our gear before swimming into ATM cave.

#2-H: "I lost my nalgene!" E: "Do you mind if I drop the anchor?" H: "What?! You still have the anchor???"

we're pretty.

#1 - AWE-SOME!!
 (because even the best laid plans must yeild to the weather and  you learn that you: must wait patiently for Belizeans to get moving, must learn to dog paddle a canoe after its capsized a fair distance from shore, must not get sick when the children start being ill all over their shoes right next to you on a boat...for 2 hours, must hike for an hour only to find your destination flooded completely, must simply learn to laugh at the ridiculousness that can throw one heck of a monkey wrench into even the best thought out travel itinerary. and to that...you must simply say..AWE-SOME.)

before the hike...

what we found after the hour in the jungle. a million mosquito bites &  nothing pretty blue about the BLUE hole after a tropical storm!

and finally, my new wine tasting friends....

hahaha.

Road trip #2: Belize....success!!!

mom & dad do belize

Yes, this update is beyond overdue... you should be expecting that by this point. So let's play catch-up with what's been going on since the last swearing in.

To start with, Mom & Dad got their butts on a plane and headed back to Central America for the second time in just as many years. Astonishing....but lets hope this is a trend that will continue into the future. After all, there are still several stamps those passports need to collect!

Mom and Dad arrived June 13th. It was sort of rainy and to my surprise, cooler than I expected. I hopped a bus to Belize City around 11, then hopped another bus to the junction around 1:30...found a taxi that was only charging me a local rate and got to the airport around 2 ish. Luckily for me, I didn't have to wait too long before seeing them...although considering they were one of the last two off their plane, it felt like an eternity!! Our rental car was slightly late, but made up for his tardiness with his endless ability to talk your head off. I find the locals' introduction to their country entertaining since I live here...but I suppose a vacation-goer would find tid-bits quite helpful.

I DROVE!!!! us the remainder of the way to San Ignacio, Cayo so we could rest and grab some food. Driving after 10months is nervewracking...40mph felt like 80. Naturally then, I had to do at least 55. The hotel we stayed in was beautiful and aside from the one bed for 3 people, it was perfect. And freezing!!! Air conditioning is such luxury here...I should have known that dad was going to make the room an igloo and brought warmer sleep clothes!

The first official day in country, we took a drive out to Caracol. This is a Mayan archaeological site with temple ruins that you can climb up and look out. The site is locate in remote Belize, and almost touching Guatemala. It's out of the way enough that only a few venture out to see it. The roads are littered with potholes that have been further eroded by the rain...except for the last 11 miles. That stretch is wonderfully, gloriously paved. After 2 hours of nauseating driving conditions, we reached the base of the Mountain Pine Ridge. Upon arrival, we checked in with the guard shack and then took a trip to Rio Frio Cave. It took two tries, but once we found it, it was worth it. SOOOO nice to be in a cool environment when it's soo sticky outside.

Once back at the guard post, we waited for the convoy to assemble and then drove the rest of the way into Caracol. We went with guards as is required by Belizean law. A few years ago there were some issues with Guatemalan bandits that ruined a few tourist's trips. No worries, all on our trip went smoothly. Once at the park, we set out on our own tour. We apparently started where the guided tours ended...climbing the tallest ruin in Belize. I understand that most guides like to save the 'best for last' but honestly, I think we were smarter. I can't imagine climbing that thing in the heat of the day...after touring everything else! Those poor tourists....

Anyways, moral of this story is...Caracol = beautiful. Not worth seeing twice...that drive is nuts.

Day two! Found us driving back to Belmopan and my stomping grounds. We stopped at my house to unload all of our stuff and let dad play with Trafford. I don't think he's ever been so spoiled...and he's now addicted to tennis balls for life. Thanks, Dad. We stopped by a local place to get smoothies....woohoo for actual strawberries...and then drove out to the inland Blue Hole National Park. We went to St. Herman's Cave and explored a bit (it's not as exciting as Rio Frio) and then headed to the other side of the park where the sink hole is. I'm not going to lie, that chilly water was AMAZING as always.

Day 3: We headed in to Belize City, dropped off our rental and ate some lunch at Riverside while watching World Cup. After a delicious lunch, we hopped on the water taxi to San Pedro. This was my first time to la Isla Bonita....and I have to admit, I'm not that excited about it. Sure, it has pretty much everything that you want when vacationing....but it's hardly Belize. It's actually just a tourist island that Belizeans happen to work on...but its such a large community of ex-pats that you miss the actual Belizean culture entirely. Don't get me wrong...I really enjoyed our nice accomodations and loved the sea...but it's just not a place I'd go to that often.

Day 4: Tour San Pedro a bit in the morning and then head to Caye Caulker. CC is arguably one of my favorite places to go in Belize. It's still a Caye, but it has a much more relaxed lifestyle and is much more of what Belize is on the mainland. For instance, usually upon arriving I kick off my shoes and don't put them back on until I leave for home....and it's perfectly acceptable.

Day 5: Raggamuffin tour!!! I love this tour....its the same one that a large group of PCVs took for New Year's Eve, and it was so worth repeating. This time of year, the manatees are out around the cayes and luckily for us, our day of snorkeling included a stop to see them. We headed out without seeing much and about halfway through our first snorkel stop, we were swimming with the manatees!!!! The trip was wonderful...manatees, petting sting rays and nurse sharks, and of course, seeing the sea turtles.

Day 6: Early morning boatride to Belize City and then a taxi ride back to the airport....the trip is over. How come it always feels like its gone by in the blink of an eye?!

In case you hadn't noticed...each day's activities reported got shorter and shorter. That's exactly how vacation works! Really though, it was so amazing having my parents here...they spoiled me! And, they got to see where I go to, where I live, where I work. It makes phone conversations soooo much easier when there's background knowledge!

Here's a few photos to highlight our week of fun!

Rio Frio Cave

view of the large ruin at Caracol.

mom climbing down from the top!

dad & mom enjoying our sailing/snorkeling trip.

me.

group shot on our last night of vacation!