Friday, February 10, 2006

Belize

I would have to say that this was one of my most relaxing vacations I have ever taken. And for once I don't need another vacation to proceed this one.

The first two nights were spent in Belize City. And actually most of it was spent outside the city at the pool at the hotel sipping some of the best Pina Coladas I have ever tasted and starting my sunburn. It was here that most of my bug bites occurred. I think I didn't feel most of them because of the wonderful Pina Coladas. You will see those words often because I drank them often. We did take a trip into town the first day and walked around a bit. The taxi driver took the most out of the way route so we would need a taxi back to the hotel, but we were able to find our way back the 3 miles.

On some day, I think it was a Friday, we left and headed down to San Ignacio. We took the public transportation and watched the countryside whiz by at a rather calm pace. We watched a very intoxicated man fall flat on his face as we were arriving in San Ignacio. We crossed a small bridge and by small I am saying width and came into San Ignacio. The Lonely Planet had pointed in the direction of Martha's Guest House http://www.marthasbelize.com/. And we highly recommend it. It has a café which again has great Pina Coladas and nice rooms. We stayed at the Extension, which was about a 5 minute walk out of town. It was a brand new building. The only issue was the 4am rooster across the street. From this location we had two great tours...the Xunantunich, Cahal Pech, El Pilar ruin tour on Saturday and the ATM Cave Tour on Sunday (http://www.evasonline.com/page2.htm). The ruins were amazing and huge. The rock work was unbelievable. And the steps up to the places were quite a step for my short legs, however; it is said they were that way because it made the individuals bow when coming up them to the Elite. If I had trouble, think how the 4 foot Mayan had trouble. Our tour guide was Johnny and he did a great job. What was nice about all our tours is it was either just BF and I or just one other couple. Very personal. On Sunday, we did the ATM Cave tour. This required some swimming and wading through cold water. And you were not allowed to pee to warm yourself up so I am hypothermic the entire time. This cave was where they brought individuals for burials. And yes, we saw an entire skeleton. I am not posting the photo even though it is an amazing. So if you want to see it, I'll send it to you personally. The eeriness was anyway the photo was taken, she was looking at me.

We left Monday morning and headed back to Belize City to catch a boat to San Pedro, one of the Cayes (Keys). We arrived at the dock just as the boat was loading the last passengers. The individual who took my bag said they had been waiting for us. I don't think it was us they were waiting on, but it was nice to feel important. We arrived on the Caye and stayed at Coral Beach Hotel. It wasn't a bad place to stay, but it was pretty much a bed and bathroom. It was a very small room, but we didn't place on staying in the room much. On the next morning, we went on a trip out to the reef. BF did a one-tank dive while I had a private tour of snorkeling. And then we both went to Shark Alley and snorkeled together. And yes, we saw sharks. And touched one. In the afternoon, BF went diving again while I did some shopping and read out on our balcony watching the slow day rain by me. If the weather had not been rainy, I would have been on the beach.

And that is pretty much our trip. Nothing exciting really. Just some relaxing and enjoying the scenery.

More photos at http://mtnbkaz.photosite.com/