Browse Month: August 2008

Hot Shower

We’re back in SF and I’m actually happy to be home.  Belize was awesome but there’s something about having a nice hot shower, cold temps, dry air, clean clothes, and my own bed that makes home so great.  Our accommodations in Caye Caulker and San Pedro didn’t have hot water for the showers so bathing was kept to a minimum.  Granted the warm temperatures made it much easier to tolerate the cool water but you just don’t come out feeling as squeaky clean.

Our flights home went smoothly.  We got on the 8:00 am water taxi back to Belize City.  Got a cab to the airport and boarded our first flight at noon.  Two hours later, we landed in Miami where we had a 4-hour layover.  The flight from Miami to SF was a little scary at first considering they’re in the middle of a little hurricane.  I got a pretty awesome lightning show as we took off and started climbing to cruising altitude.  I slept for half of the 5-hour flight and we got home around midnight.  The Sokol-Juns left their car at the airport and we took it home.  That was convenient!

So, it turns out my mom had a fantastic week in SF.  She did some sightseeing, shopping, and a whole lot of hanging out.  It appears that the Magical House had followed her here because the house was clean and the laundry was done too.  Thanks Mommy!!  Koa seemed thrilled to have us home.  When we walked in, he swung the bedroom door open and ran out to greet us.  Funny dog.

Thank goodness it’s only Saturday night.  I still have two more days before going back to work!  Once I sort and upload my photos I will be sure to share.

El Relaxo

On our last full day in Belize, we decided to take it easy and explore the town.  In the morning, we woke up late and had some coffee and toast from the complimentary breakfast bar.  Then we checked out a couple of bikes from the front desk and rode around the town on beach cruisers.  It was quite an adventure weaving through the narrow streets and trying to avoid the golf carts and taxis.  I had a basket in the front to carry my backpack, the t-shirts that I bought, and Jes’ beer from the convenience store.

We ended up at Fido’s, a beachside bar/restaurant where we grabbed a bite to eat. I walked around and met a guy who introduced me to pet iguana, Peter, that was hiding up in the tree.  I also met some boys who were selling handmade jewelry and had the cutest little 9-week-old puppy with blue eyes.

Back at the hotel, we grabbed our towels and headed out for a nice spot to hang out on the beach.  We walked past a few other hotels on the shore and found an awesome 2-person lounger right on the water’s edge.  We also realized that we were at Angie and Van’s hotel and they invited us over to their pool.  So, we pretty much mooched off their awesome facilities, ordered drinks from their bar, played in their pool, and enjoyed a few hours in the sun with a nice breeze overhead and a fantastic view of the Caribbean Sea.  Thanks to our new friends we got a little taste of luxury.

Later that night, we had dinner and went out for drinks with Angie, Van, and another couple from Vancouver.  We ended up at Fido’s again but it was much livelier with a live band and many more people.  We also met a little puppy that likes to hang out at the bar.  The waitress told us that he comes to Fido’s every night and doesn’t seem to have an owner.  It was the same dog that followed the couple from Vancouver around town all day.  He was so cute and enjoyed a cold cup of ice water that he got for him from the bar.  He was so content just sitting under our chairs and keeping us company.

La Isla Bonita

“Last night I dreamt of San Pedro…” -Madonna

On Thursday, we left San Ignacio and headed towards Ambergris Caye/San Pedro.  It took a 2-hour drive to Belize City and then another hour and a half on the water taxi.  We arrived at the water taxi a little early for our 1:30 ride so we briefly wandered Belize City to find that it was too hot, too dirty, and too sketchy.  So, we opted to go back to the terminal to wait in the air-conditioned waiting room.  It was there that we met a couple (Angie and Van) also from SF.  They were on their honeymoon and also heading to San Pedro.  I guess we started talking when Angie noticed that Jes was wearing his zipcar shirt and was curious to know if we were from the Bay Area too.  Yeah, I’m sure the Timbuktu bag AND the zipcar shirt was a dead giveaway.

Once we arrived in San Pedro, we grabbed lunch and beer with our new found friends and then shared a cab to our respective accommodations.  After settling in and having dinner, we met up with them for drinks.  Since we all weren’t using cell phones, had no in-room phones, and we didn’t have a front desk person after 6pm, I had to resort to leaving messages with people.  With the help of our bartender, security guard, another bartender, and some luck, we managed to find each other and enjoyed an evening of ceviche and beer.  How in the world did I survive without a cell phone back in the day?!

That same afternoon, as I was exploring the grounds, we found some boys on the dock with a baby nurse shark wriggling around.  I guess they just caught it and weren’t quite sure what to do with it.  They were so proud that they caught it but scared that it was going to bite them.  The skinny one without the shirt was brave enough to pick it up by its tail and another one had a puny knife that didn’t look like it even cut cheese.  After all that hoopla, they ended up throwing it back into the water.

Crossing the Border

Wow, it poured on Tuesday night. I was awoken by thunder and a huge downpour that lasted at least a couple of hours. I was so worried that it would continue to pour during our tour through the jungle. Fortunately, it stopped by sunrise and the temperature was milder and the air was much more comfortable. Phew!

On Tuesday, as we walked around San Ignacio, we found a guide at Casa Blanca Guesthouse. A very sweet but shy woman kindly showed us a list of tours that they offered. She spoke very little English but we got the information we needed. The price they were offering for a full-day Tikal tour was much more reasonable that others that we found and it turned out that the guide was the woman’s husband. He was also the only legal Belizean guide who could take you all the way from Belize, through the border, and to Tikal, which is in Guatemala. Apparently this is a big deal since usually Belizeans can only take you to the border and then they either hand you off to a Guatemalan guide or you’re on your own.

So, on Wednesday morning, we were picked up at our hotel by Elias at 7:30 am. We initially thought that we were the only ones on the tour but it turned out that a pair of girls also staying in our hotel booked the same tour right after we did. So, we had company. Yay! They were both very nice and originally from Toronto.

The drive to The Guatemalan border was about 9 miles. Then we had to get out, go through immigration and customs, pay a US$37.50 departure tax and meet the guide on the other side. We all got into a different van and had a new driver. We also exchanged some US dollars for Guatemalan quitzals (7q for US$1) from some guy hanging out at the border. Our guide sat shotgun and gave us some tidbits along the way to Tikal, which would be about a 2-hour drive.

The roads were pretty rough but the scenery was awesome. We drove through rural towns and saw corn crops, little schools, children playing in the river, and beautiful trees and lakes. The most interesting part was watching all the pigs, horses, dogs, and cows just wandering the streets. They seem to rule the road and we had to yield to them. We made a stop along the way for a bathroom break and to buy water. They had some really cool stuff to buy but everything was really expensive. So, I just took photos of everything and bought a bottle of water.

Once we arrived at Tikal, our guide took us through a 3-hour tour of the ruins, plants, and animals of the area. We basically walked through an old Mayan village that was once paved and clear of trees. It is now mostly jungle, wildlife, and a bunch of ancient pyramids that were excavated by archeologists. The structures were amazing. They were so tall and complex. Some were tombs, some were offices, and some were residences for the high and mighty. We learned about their culture, rituals, and architecture. We also got to climb the tallest structure (Tower IV) and got a grand aerial view of the jungle and other towers peeking out of the trees. It was pretty awesome.

Through the jungle, we also got to watch spider monkeys swinging from tree to tree. We even witnessed a fight between a group of monkeys and an anteater up in the trees. There was also a howler monkey that sorta got in their way.  Check out the photo of the toucan!! I love my lens!!  It actually doubled as binoculars sometimes.  Elias also pointed out a bunch of bugs, plants, and picked some all-spice berries for us to smell. The bug spray really came in handy but I still managed to get one little bugga that was stuck to my calf and engorging himself on my blood. When it was pointed out to me, I swatted it off and ended up with blood all over my fingers. Gross. Apparently this guy has a numbing thing that he uses first so I didn’t feel a thing and the puncture point on my skin was a tiny red dot and it hasn’t itched or anything. Weird.

After our long and tiring tour, we had lunch at the nearby restaurant. The grilled chicken was pretty tasty! I was also starving though. We totally lucked out on the weather today. The couple that we met in Caye Caulker was telling us that they opted for a sunrise tour of Tikal because the heat was too unbearable during the day. But, we had some nice rainclouds to shade us all day and the humidity was not as bad either. It only sprinkled once the whole morning and the only time we really needed sunscreen was at the top of each tower that we climbed.

The ride back to Belize was just as rocky but just as entertaining. I ended up shooting at least 80 more photos just on the way back. We stopped at a shop midway and Jes got beer shirt #1. We had some Guatemalan Gallo beer with lunch and so the beer shirt was purchased. Now if we can only find a Belikin Beer shirt…

Once we got back to the hotel, Elias offered to buy Jes’ water shoes but we decided not to sell them since our trip was only half-way done. We said our goodbuys and it was time to shower. Ah…it was so nice to clean off the layers of sweat, dirt, bug spray, and sunscreen. For dinner, we went to the Stork Bar for a bunch of appetizers, rum punch, and billiards. Our favorite bartender, Julia, was working and took good care of us. She would not only take our order and make our drinks but she would change the big screen tv channels and play some music for us. Our tour buddies also ended up there for dinner so we got to hang out all night until it was time to call it quits.

A Change of Scenery

We’ve been in San Ignacio for the past 2 days without Internet so this entry is a little late.  On Tuesday morning, we left our condo to find a wet ground and big clouds in the sky.  We even had a 3-second rain shower as we waited on the dock.  We left Caye Caulker by water taxi and got picked up in Belize City by a nice guy names Alexi.   It’s nice to have a driver waiting for you so that you don’t have to bother with all the guys waiting at the dock asking if you needed a ride.

On our way to San Ignacio, we made a stop at the Belize Zoo to check out some of the native animals of Belize.   I think we were the only visitors there that day, which made for a quick but pleasant visit.  I saw a tapir, the country’s national animal, and some other animals like the grey fox and a black jaguar.  We were also greeted by a family of coatimundi (pictured above) that reminded me of larger meerkats.  The next stop was a little roadside café called Amigos.  They had a very Americanized menu but I had the tacos, beans, and rice while Jes had the enchiladas.  Both were pretty good.

Once we arrived in San Ignacio, we were greeted by the front desk staff and served complimentary rum punch as we took a quick tour of the facility.  It’s a nice hotel that is definitely a step up from the smaller guesthouses down the hill in the town.  We decided that Tuesday would be a rest day so we took a short walk down into town to buy some bug spray.  The town is very small and a little sketchy.  It’s pretty safe during the day but definitely wouldn’t walk around at night by myself down there.  Tuesday was stifling hot and humid so we decided not to stay out too long.  Jes’ sunburn was not making the heat any more bearable that day either.

We had a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant that serves beef from their very own cattle farm.  It was decent but we had way too much food and we were so hot and tired that we didn’t have as big of an appetite.  We decided to cool off in our air-conditioned room for an hour before venturing back out for dessert.  We ended up at the hotel bar where it was surprisingly comfortable with cozy couches, a soccer game playing, and A/C!!  So, we enjoyed some drinks and a lemon meringue pie to finish off the night.

Sailing, Snorkeling and…Spit-up

I woke up this morning with butterflies in my stomach.  We were going or a full day of sailing and I’m notorious for getting seasick on the calmest water (i.e. Monterey Bay on a kayak).  Anyway, I took some Dramamine, had some toast and coffee for breakfast, and boarded a 50-foot sailboat.  It was such a calm day that we had to use a motor to get to the three dive sites.  But I was still waiting for the queasiness to start.  But it didn’t!

On the first stop, we saw a bunch of coral and fishies.  Jesse also got a photo of a manatee that was hanging around under our boat.  On our second stop, we wandered Hol Chan Marine Reserve with our guide.  Jes dove 30 feet thought a cave and we saw a turtle!!  On the third stop, we swam with nurse sharks, sting rays (I touched one), and more fishies.

After the third stop, we had some decent wind and finally got to sail back to shore.  We got a nice shady spot on top of the boat, drank rum punch, listened to some groovy reggae music, and chatted with a guy from London.  By the end of the trip, we all had sunburned shoulders, and I was still standing!!  The only hiccup of the day was after the first stop.  It was nothing really.  I wasn’t even nauseous.  I spit-up a mouthful in the cup, threw it overboard, and went on with my day with not even an inkling of nausea.  Woo hoo!!!  Thank goodness for Dramamine!!  One more thing…underwater camera didn’t leak or die!!