Grand Being a Tourist!

If anyone wants a true Caribbean vacation, Belize is the place for a true experience of living in the Tropics.  Kimber-lil and Angela had only seven days here, and we managed to squeeze as much of true Belizean life.  Day one, we took the water taxi to Caye Caulker and stayed at the Iguana Inn - I relished staying at the higher end of accommodations.  Kimber-lil and I had several back and forth discussions of whether to stay at Caye Caulker or San Pedro - she received lots of recommendations from friends that San Pedro was THE place to stay and that Caye Caulker was boring.  Since I already made reservations at the Iguana Inn, we ended up there which turned out fine for both of them, although after having lunch in San Pedro, she agreed with her friends.  Well...from my perspective, Caye Caulker gave tourists a true village-like place, not so commercialized, crowded, and high-priced as San Pedro.

Day two, Angela and I, even though we weren't swimmers, signed up with Kimber-lil to snorkel.  I've tried many times to learn to swim with not much luck - growing up in the city and my family very protective and closed to anything outside of family and temple activities, I was given no opportunity to swim as a kid.  Anyway, Carlos, the guide, assured us that we could do it - he gave us the fins and the snorkel gear, and we headed out to sea.  At our first stop, he wrapped a floatie around our waist then we jumped in for a trial run - poor Angela, first thing she came across was a huge sting ray, she screamed, and Carlos scolded her, "Don't scream, you'll scare the sea life!"  As for me, one floatie around my waist wasn't enough, I had to hang on to something and Kimber-lil held my hand - Carlos, "no, no, you can't hang on to anyone."  At the next stop, he gave me a floater to hang on to...in the photo, you could see me and Kimber-lil - I had to admit, it was cool to be in the water and see all the sea animals.  The hardest part of the whole trip was trying to get back into the boat.  He kept saying, "Take your fins off first, let go of the boat, use the ladder to climb in!"  Yeah, right, I couldn't reach my fins to take it off and was afraid that the fins would float away and would sink.  "Let go of the boat, flip to your back to take off the fins!  You can do it!"  I couldn't let go of the bar on the boat.  He finally threw a rope and tied it to my floatie - I struggled to get the fins off as I floated away from the boat.  Okay, now what?!  He finally pulled me in with the rope, and as I hung onto the rope, I finally got my fins off and crawled up the side of the boat - that's it!  Been there, done that!

Day three:  we water taxied to Belize City to pick up the guide for the Lamanai trek - the girls had their first stewed chicken, rice and beans, and potato salad meal for lunch  I was totally surprised that both really enjoyed the food - in fact I learned that Kimber-lil just like Ryan could douse their food with hot relish - and the habaneros here were HOT!  Tom nearly died from eating it when he was here.  Of course, I didn't climb the ruin, you know, been there, done that - Angela opted to not climb too.  Kimber-lil almost reached the top - I was surprised to learn that she was freaked out by the climb.  I realized that I didn't do so badly with my climbing experience on Caracol which was a much higher ruin.  The guide did a wonderful job of showing us all the wild life on the river and we were fortunate to see a red Jaguarundi cat swimming in front of our boat trying to get across the river.  Evidently, it was a rare sight.

Day four:  We left Caye Caulker and took a guide to Cave Tube near Franks Eddy Village.  As we were driving to the sight, I talked about my snorkeling experience and, lo and behold, the guide, Jose, was Carlos' brother!  I didn't want to tell him that Carlos was my "Mr. Miyagi" pushing me and forcing me to do it on my own.  I had to admit, Cave Tubing was my favorite - we walked a distance into the jungle - beautiful!  We reached the opening of the cave, Jose guided us through the water and into the dark cave - he used flash lights to show the stalactites and stalagmites, then we floated to an open lagoon. I had imagined cave tubing as working in rivers and rapids but this was slow, calm, and totally soothing to the body and mind.  Jose then drove us to Belmopan to my house.  We got there early enough for a quick clothes wash - they experienced my washer and spinner and hanging out the clothes with ants crawling on the line.

Day five:  We walked to the bus terminal to take the bus to San Ignacio.  This was the first time that Angela road a school-type bus in her life.  I think one needs to experience a local bus ride to get a taste of how Belizeans' travel around the country.  We picked up a taxi to get to San Ignacio Hotel, another really nice tourist accommodation.  Misael, the oldest son of the San Antonio family, picked us up at the hotel - it was fun to see some of the kids coming along - and, of course, riding in the back of the truck was nothing to them.  Misael stopped at the Women's group hut to check out the crafts - they were able to see the work area with the kiln, the pigs that fuel the kiln, and the display of the items made.  Both Kimber-lil and Angela bought some nice pieces to take home.  We then headed to the home where lunch was ready for us.  The whole family came out to meet them and they had a great time with the kids.  It gave me a chance to catch up with the family.  I showed the my little house that I lived in while training and Misael took us to the farm to see the crops that Don Roman tended.

We returned to San Ignacio for an evening dinner - as we walked to the restaurant, we bumped into a special children's musical program staged on the roadside.  After dinner, next door to the hotel was a casino - I've heard of it and wanted to check it out.  The girls watched a basketball game on a large screen while I played the slot and won eight dollars!  I never win!

Day Six:  Before leaving the hotel, we toured the Iguana Project located right on the hotel premise.  The Mystic River Inn picked us up for our final trek of the trip.  The Inn, only about a year old, was located in Crystal Rey, not far from San Antonio.  They wanted to horse back into the jungle, and this was the last part of the journey.  Again, another beautiful place, overlooking the river.

Day Seven:  The girls went horse back riding while I relished the surroundings, enjoying being a tourist in this beautiful country.

Day Eight:  The owner of Mystic River, Nedege, drove us to Belmopan to have lunch with my counterpart, Mr. Lopez, Jacklin, Ms. Corona, and Larry - a chance to meet my Belizean friends.  We only spent an hour before Nedege drove the girls to the airport.  I stayed at the office to finish the day at work.

It certainly was a packed vacation, and both girls loved it.  As for me, it was wonderful to have Kimber-lil here to see how I've lived.  I also enjoyed meeting Angela - she's a gem.

Now, back at work, lots of things changing...but that's another day to blog.