Mayan Princess Belize San Pedro

... adjusted to "island life". Then there's Tracy and Ryan. They are an interesting couple I met on the boat ride over here from San pedro and we've been running into each other and hanging out every night since. They're from Charlotte, NC, like to travel. love to scuba dive, and are totally cool. We were all hanging out on the roof top of this reggae bar called I&I when a wildfire broke out not too far from us. I thought it was great to watch, but they all thought I should ...

... a racist against blacks, which is crazy as everyone here IS black. ran into some guys we knew who were staying in the cabin in front of us too which was nice. had a quiet night that night adn the next dya went on a snorkelling trip out to the reefs. i was a bit scared as i know they have hammerhead and tiger sharks adn one of the snorkeling stops was to go swimming with sharks. anyone who knows my ridiculous phobia of sharks will understand how i felt about that ...

... and she made us feel all at ease as she told us of the plans for the day. With 8 of us onboard our little boat skimmed across the water it wasn't the most comfortable ride and it was a relief when we reached our first stop Shark Alley. Vanessa gave us a quick safety briefing and then asked us why were we still on the boat get in the water! An incredible scene greeted you as you got your mask set and peered into the underworld. All around were big tuna like fish and ...

... remind people to relax and chill out. Ey, tranquilo, chico...no te preocupes (Hey relax, man...don't worry). Chilling out seems like about all I've been doing lately, and I'm perfectly content in doing it. No recent volcano climbing or back-to-back excursions. I have been content lying in a hammock and watching afternoon thunderstorms roll by with my current reading material in hand - a used copy of Thoreau's Walden ...

... island is Caye Caulker where a sign greeted us ´GO SLOW´ it said. They werent kidding. The place is super chilled. No rushing is allowed. For some reason, every hotel was full, so together with Maria, I searched the island for a cheap place to stay. After 6 different hotels and hostels, the cheapest place we could find was 40 US dollars a night! eeeek. Id be getting back on the ferry is this continued. Luckily, round the corner was Bellas. A family run hostel ...

... been happy staying in town. But instead we rented bikes and soldiered south. Never mind that the bike ride on the beach was still daunting. And it was threatening to rain. And did I mention Frank was crabby? But it was so worth it. They were so great to talk to. They moved to San Pedro about two years ago and gave us great advice on life on the island. They mentioned how everyone knows everything about everyone in a small town like this. And it proved true. Every time one of us would ...

... between us and the water. The people in the open back sear of the boat are getting drenched for two hours and shivering in their wet jean ************ the taxi we locate our lodging for the night. We still have to pay for the previous night even though we didn't make it there, so that makes lodging expenses very high for the 1st. Double booking can do that. We drop off our **** and notice our room ...

Caye Caulker Another tourist trap, but a very laid back one. It is a longish couple of bus rides from Playa del Carmen into Belize, and then a ferry ride out to the caye. It appealed to me right away because there were frigate birds circling at low heights on the sandy road outside our very basic hotel. The caye is pretty narrow, but reasonably long. It has, if you count generously, three streets running along ...

... gear was kind of malfunctioning, so he was having trouble getting down (he ended up having to hold extra weights in his hands). I swam above them and it looked like they were having a pretty good time. Snorkeling and scuba pretty much wiped us out, so we spent the rest of the day chilling in the hammock, eating and talking. At night we went out for a couple of rounds and ran into the people that were on our scuba boat ...

... in the evening (which now includes the yelps of some adorable fluffy puppies next door). All of this normality seems especially alluring since we'll be pulling up stakes next week. Yes, we are moving. All of the problems with the pipes, the leaking roof, and the landlord threatening to build under our currently elevated house have finally come to a head. We are really sad to be leaving our garden (not as sad as we would have been if the ants hadn't devoured our corn before we ...