Rain, rain, go away...

On our boat ride back to the mainland from Caye Caulker, we caught a glimpse of dolphins playing, then headed in to Belize City to hopefully find Matt a new sleeping pad. Amazingly, we found camping supplies at a department-like store and Matt is now shlepping a bulky Coleman brand inflatable pad on the outside of his pack, taking out innocent bystanders on the sidewalk with his new width. We caught a series of buses and a boat to Placencia in Southern Belize, grabbing a cheap hotel room, a less cheap dinner and icecream, and exploring a bit of the town which centers around a sidewalk that somehow gets the distinction of being ¨the narrowest road in the world¨ according to Guinness Book. The next morning was cloudy and cool, but after breakfast and swapping hotels for one that was cleaner and had a kitchen, it had turned sunny and we were ready to hit the nicest beach in Belize for the afternoon. We tried to snorkle but the visibility was poor and it was a minefield of jellyfish that we didn´t want to find out if they stung or not. After watching a dramatic sunset, we went to a beach bar for happy hour and figured out that it was the third time we had been in a bar on this trip. Our second full day was of a ¨do nothing¨ nature, not by choice but by weather. It downpoured essentially non-stop all day and in to the night. Except for an excursion to an internet cafe to catch up on this blog, we didn´t leave the hotel all day. Matt read and entire book, I worked on weaving a belt begun way back at Lago Atitlan and did some weaving as well. In the morning, it was still drizzling and gray, there were lakes formed in sandy depressions all around town. We started to pack up, but as we did, the sun broke through and it looked promising. We decided to go through with our abandoned plans for the day before and rented a double sea kayak to explore the mangrove lagoon in search of manatees that locals claimed to see "everywhere" and "all the time". After hours of paddling, at times into a stiff wind, we still had not seen a manatee but it was enjoyable nonetheless. My consolation was an incredible coconut-lime gelato at our sunset spot. Another mellow evening, and the next morning we were on our way again...

01 Placencia´s beach from a kayak

02 Kayaking