Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.: 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.)