There is only one reason to ignore your weather app. on your phone and it is: that if the app. says it shouldn't rain so you leave your jacket at home, it absolutely WILL rain, you'll look like a rat and all of the natives will laugh at you. I write from first-hand experience because that is what happened to me today, when even though my phone AND Whitney's phone predicted clear skies, I still wanted to carry my rain jacket with me until Whitney told me to just ; it. So I left it and you can guess what happened. (And if you can't guess, I'm going to elaborate).
Rewind to when I wasn't dripping on someone's floor to the start of the day. Whitney and I wanted to try a bakery that we'd read about online called SugarFix. It was a bit out of the way (expected 30-40 minute walk) so we saved it for a day where we didn't have any real time constraints. The cool thing about walking in Belize City is that they don't have any street signs because who needs to know where they're going anyways?! Just kidding, we needed to know where we were going because we had no clue. We didn't get lost but we did ask every other person we passed to confirm that we were headed in the correct direction. Whitney DID point out that if we did get lost, it would be ok because 50 guys would have already asked us if we needed a taxi before we knew it ourselves!! Seriously, we can't walk a block without someone asking us if we need a ride, or when we tell them we don't, they ask if we're sure. We get it! We don't look like we're from here but we're 100% positive that we aren't going to the water taxi and you aren't going to change our minds when we're walking in the opposite direction...
Mini feminist rant over and back to breakfast. Whitney and I decided that we would split a cinnamon twist, a croissant and something else that just looked cool! That way, we'd get to try a bit of everything! The something that looked cool ended up being what might essentially be described as a hot pocket as it was a pocket and it had meat inside. The cinnamon twist was delicious but the best part was the croissant! It was the best croissant I'd had since Paris; they were polar opposites in the most basic way because this croissant wasn't the flaky, melt-away pastry that I had at the top of the Eiffel Tower but it was amazing. It was also filled with ham and cheese so that was an extra special surprise!
After that, we went to the Museum of Belize, which was a neat place. The museum was actually in the old prison building so that was another interesting layer on top. Next, we decided to we would take another bus ride to Old Belize, which is a few miles outside of regular Belize. It's kind of tourist place, I guess. There is a restaurant, small museum and water park. Now, in the States, when you miss your bus, you silently wait for the next one but today we learned that this is not how to do it in Belize: if you arrive at the station as the bus is pulling out, you simply follow the other half dozen people like you out of the station and make your own station two blocks away, so that's how we got on the bus.
And that's when the rain started. Just pouring straight down onto the bus we were on... And were about to get off. Yeah, you know what happens next.
We got dropped off at Old Belize and by the time we'd crossed the road to get inside the gate, we were soaked through. Luckily for us, the museum was another quarter mile past there! I actually looked like I'd fallen in the ocean... And of course, once we were inside, the rain stopped. Cool. We didn't go to the water park because we didn't have swimsuits with us but we were essentially dressed for it at that point. The highlight of all of this insanity was when we went to the bathroom to *attempt* to dry off and Whitney proudly quipped "Hey, my pits are dry." Yes, everyone can take a deep breath because Whitney's armpits made it through the storm unscathed. The museum here took visitors through the history of the area but the coolest part was the history including a special store owner. His last name was Biddle! Which is our mom's last name. He definitely wasn't related to us because he changed his name to Biddle when people couldn't pronounce his actual name but still cool.
We were planning in taking the bus back into Belize City but as we were walking back to the bus stop, the rain started again. We'd learned from our mistake and promptly had them call us a cab.
Back at our hostel, we were able to do our laundry and we also walked to the grocery store to get snacks for our bus ride to Guatemala tomorrow. Since everything seems to close super early here, we decide we'd also get ourselves some dinner here. We ordered subs and went with 12 inches since we knew it would be all we had for the night but these subs are more like 24 inches. They're gigantic.
We also went back to Moho Chocolate. This time we decided to split a large chocolate cheesecake shake. It wasn't as good as the shakes we got yesterday because they were a little heavy handed with the graham cracker pieces but still chocolate. We also got two chocolate bars for the road but I doubt they'll make it very far!!
We're spending the rest of the evening repacking our lives and getting ready for country #2 tomorrow!! It's been amazing Belize, but I'm excited to see what Guatemala has to offer! This trip is going to fly by!!!
Saturday, July 9, 2016
Friday, July 8, 2016
"Is It Hot Outside?"
Clearly from our dining experience last night, Whitney and I are interested in having an authentic experience here, which is why we decided to take public transportation today!
We heard about the Belize Zoo but didn't know how we'd get there since it's about 20 miles outside of the city. There are tours that the you out there but they cost $55 USD, which seemed excessive to us, but what the front desk at our hostel was lacking in dining suggestions, they made up for in bus directions! They explained how to get to the bus station and the zoo and it was only going to cost us $3 BZD! (The exchange rate is roughly 2:1, so 3 BZD would be $1.50 USD).
So after breakfast and a run to the grocery store for snacks, we made our way to the bus station. The buses here are school buses. Like regular, good old American school buses. But what these buses lack in 8th grade bullies, they have in body odor! No real AC on these babies. We forced the window open but there wasn't much we could do to escape the heat that is as oppressive as a high school dress code. Throughout the ride, however, we did feel pretty smug that we'd managed to figure this out on our own and hadn't spent for than $2 on our excursion.
The cool thing about the Belize Zoo is that it only has animals that are native to Belize. And oh yeah, it's basically in the jungle, so to your left, you'll see monkeys in an enclosure and then random native birds will fly over your head or on your right, you'll see a black jaguar and a lizard will come running (on its hind legs, no less) across the sidewalk. We were stoked! Whitney discovered a new favorite animal here: the tapir is the national animal of Belize. It is also called the mountain cow and looks kind of like an anteater but all of the signs said that it is actually related to horses and rhinos. And like I said, it is Whitney's new favorite animal. She just stood there watching them eat. Obsessively. I didn't think we would be allowed to leave (and she bought a small sign AND bumper sticker proclaiming her tapir love from the gift shop). The zoo was cool, even though the heat and humidity were some of the most unpleasant that we'd ever encountered.
On top of everything, we actually came prepared for our mini-jungle adventure! Everyone is freaking out about the bugs here -- that was every single person's first concern when we told them that we were coming here -- so we aren't messing around. Not only did we pretreat our clothes but we brought no fewer than three different types of bug spray and we brought out the big guns today. And by big guns, I mean our smallest bottle. This bottle is like 98% deet. The bottle spends more times telling you what NOT to do than where you should apply it. It's basically like, if you do this wrong, you and everyone you know could die. Clearly we didn't mess up AND we didn't get bitten by bugs while we were out!! Either it works or everyone lied about the number of bugs we'd be meeting at the zoo.
When we were done, we took the bus home. This bus ride was even more crowded and hotter than the bus ride to the zoo but we survived! I did have a moment of panic when one spot after I'd gotten a coveted seat, a pregnant lady, woman with a baby and senior citizen all got on the bus at the same time because WHO DO I OFFER MY SEAT TO??? The pregnant lady was the first in line so she got it because it was the only thing that made sense logistically and thankfully some other people eventually made space for her companions. Yay good samaritans! AND at the end of our excursion, we'd spent less than $20 USD! That's a successful day right there!
But the day was not over. We cooled off at our "hostel" (it's really more of a traditional hotel with communal bathrooms than a hostel) and Whit power napped and then we were off again. We'd seen a giant "Belize" sign from the harbor and knew it would be the perfect photo op! It was a pretty short walk and we took some funny pictures. I showed off some impressive upper body strength by climbing up on top of the Z, which did not have footholds like letters such as B and E! We even got someone to take a picture of both me and Whitney in front of this sign!
Next was what I would say was the best part of my day, if not the best part of my life. Yesterday, we walked into a store that I'd seen online called Moho Chocolate. It is a chocolate factory/store which is code for heaven on earth. Yesterday was like a mental appetizer because we didn't get anything but I was preparing for it ever since. They do these chocolate shakes and I knew they would be good from simply reading the menu. I got the fudge brownie shake -- a chocolate shake with a brownie blended in -- and Whitney got the "butter crunch" which had peanut butter and caramel. We also got a chocolate cookie because it looked too good to resist.
And holy cow, I might actually be dead now. I didn't think I could eat too much chocolate but this place might have proven me wrong. I was not chocolate wasted or in a chocolate coma, I'm simply chocolate dead now. When Whitney first got hers, I asked "Is it good?" and she looked at me and without missing a beat said "Is it hot outside?" Yeah. It was THAT good.
Whitney got me an Eno, which is a portable hammock, as an early birthday gift for this trip and I asked if I could return the Eno for a lifetime supply of Moho and Whitney said, "Would you rather lie in someone else's hammock or your own?" And without even blinking, I uttered my newest life rule: "I just want to lie in chocolate."
We heard about the Belize Zoo but didn't know how we'd get there since it's about 20 miles outside of the city. There are tours that the you out there but they cost $55 USD, which seemed excessive to us, but what the front desk at our hostel was lacking in dining suggestions, they made up for in bus directions! They explained how to get to the bus station and the zoo and it was only going to cost us $3 BZD! (The exchange rate is roughly 2:1, so 3 BZD would be $1.50 USD).
So after breakfast and a run to the grocery store for snacks, we made our way to the bus station. The buses here are school buses. Like regular, good old American school buses. But what these buses lack in 8th grade bullies, they have in body odor! No real AC on these babies. We forced the window open but there wasn't much we could do to escape the heat that is as oppressive as a high school dress code. Throughout the ride, however, we did feel pretty smug that we'd managed to figure this out on our own and hadn't spent for than $2 on our excursion.
The cool thing about the Belize Zoo is that it only has animals that are native to Belize. And oh yeah, it's basically in the jungle, so to your left, you'll see monkeys in an enclosure and then random native birds will fly over your head or on your right, you'll see a black jaguar and a lizard will come running (on its hind legs, no less) across the sidewalk. We were stoked! Whitney discovered a new favorite animal here: the tapir is the national animal of Belize. It is also called the mountain cow and looks kind of like an anteater but all of the signs said that it is actually related to horses and rhinos. And like I said, it is Whitney's new favorite animal. She just stood there watching them eat. Obsessively. I didn't think we would be allowed to leave (and she bought a small sign AND bumper sticker proclaiming her tapir love from the gift shop). The zoo was cool, even though the heat and humidity were some of the most unpleasant that we'd ever encountered.
On top of everything, we actually came prepared for our mini-jungle adventure! Everyone is freaking out about the bugs here -- that was every single person's first concern when we told them that we were coming here -- so we aren't messing around. Not only did we pretreat our clothes but we brought no fewer than three different types of bug spray and we brought out the big guns today. And by big guns, I mean our smallest bottle. This bottle is like 98% deet. The bottle spends more times telling you what NOT to do than where you should apply it. It's basically like, if you do this wrong, you and everyone you know could die. Clearly we didn't mess up AND we didn't get bitten by bugs while we were out!! Either it works or everyone lied about the number of bugs we'd be meeting at the zoo.
When we were done, we took the bus home. This bus ride was even more crowded and hotter than the bus ride to the zoo but we survived! I did have a moment of panic when one spot after I'd gotten a coveted seat, a pregnant lady, woman with a baby and senior citizen all got on the bus at the same time because WHO DO I OFFER MY SEAT TO??? The pregnant lady was the first in line so she got it because it was the only thing that made sense logistically and thankfully some other people eventually made space for her companions. Yay good samaritans! AND at the end of our excursion, we'd spent less than $20 USD! That's a successful day right there!
But the day was not over. We cooled off at our "hostel" (it's really more of a traditional hotel with communal bathrooms than a hostel) and Whit power napped and then we were off again. We'd seen a giant "Belize" sign from the harbor and knew it would be the perfect photo op! It was a pretty short walk and we took some funny pictures. I showed off some impressive upper body strength by climbing up on top of the Z, which did not have footholds like letters such as B and E! We even got someone to take a picture of both me and Whitney in front of this sign!
Next was what I would say was the best part of my day, if not the best part of my life. Yesterday, we walked into a store that I'd seen online called Moho Chocolate. It is a chocolate factory/store which is code for heaven on earth. Yesterday was like a mental appetizer because we didn't get anything but I was preparing for it ever since. They do these chocolate shakes and I knew they would be good from simply reading the menu. I got the fudge brownie shake -- a chocolate shake with a brownie blended in -- and Whitney got the "butter crunch" which had peanut butter and caramel. We also got a chocolate cookie because it looked too good to resist.
And holy cow, I might actually be dead now. I didn't think I could eat too much chocolate but this place might have proven me wrong. I was not chocolate wasted or in a chocolate coma, I'm simply chocolate dead now. When Whitney first got hers, I asked "Is it good?" and she looked at me and without missing a beat said "Is it hot outside?" Yeah. It was THAT good.
Whitney got me an Eno, which is a portable hammock, as an early birthday gift for this trip and I asked if I could return the Eno for a lifetime supply of Moho and Whitney said, "Would you rather lie in someone else's hammock or your own?" And without even blinking, I uttered my newest life rule: "I just want to lie in chocolate."
Thursday, July 7, 2016
I Will Officially Eat Anything. Deal With It.
Another update from Central America! I'm sure you've been waiting for this -- you've probably been staring at your computer screen for days waiting for this very entry and now that it's here, you can resume eating, drinking and using the bathroom!!! Or probably not... either way, here are my thoughts since the last time I wrote down my thoughts.
Our last day in Caye Caulker (pronounced Key, FYI... cuz we didn't know) was a lazy one. We needed to recover from our burns! We went out to breakfast and I got an amazing waffle (Whitney got a grilled cheese on the thickest bread I have ever seen in my entire life) and then we took naps. Well, Whitney napped, I basically just lay in bed, surfing the net and playing games on my phone. Then we went out looking for seashells. And then there was some more napping. And then we went out for dinner, where we got grilled lobster!! Missing lobster-fest on Caye Caulker was a bummer but there was still plenty to go around! It was delicious.
After that, we walked to the Lazy Lizard which is at the far end of the island. Buzzfeed has said it's one of the most unique bars in the world because you can just climb in the water from the bar! It is a really good place to people watch -- everyone is either drunk, sunburnt or both! We wanted to watch the sunset from the dock because pretty drinks and pretty sunsets go together like any alcoholic beverage and a hand should go together. They had a lot of frozen drinks (a personal fave) but we figured we should go with the "world famous" Lizard Juice. It IS, after all, their signature drink. In hindsight, it's probably their best selling drink because everyone says "oh, we HAVE to try it!" then realizes that it's garbage and orders something else. It was NEON green. We have absolutely no clue what was in it because the ingredients weren't on the menu and when we watched the bar tender, she went behind the bar and came back with a blender full of pre-mixed swamp juice and ice. It was probably part battery acid, part bleach and part lemon-lime soda but we really don't know. The cherry on top of the whole thing was an actual cherry, but it really didn't help. At all. The sunset, however, was as lovely as the drinks were nauseating.
After all that we -- you guessed it -- took a nap. Just a short one though cuz we were going back out for trivia at one of the local bars! We got some appetizers (stuffed mushroom caps and Belizean chips/dip) and Whitney ordered a Belikin beer because it's "the beer of Belize". We hate beer. But we HAD to cuz it's like the country's mascot. P.S. We suck at trivia and not even the Norwegian girls who joined our team could help us.
This morning we started the day with more waffles! Ok, I got a waffle, Whitney got fruit, granola and fruit. Then we found swings so we could sit on the beach and rock back and forth! We returned to our hostel to pack up our gear and then we were headed to the ferry. Belize it or not (more puns!), but the ride back to the mainland was more uncomfortable than the ride to the island. I was half under the cover, half outside so I ended up sweating from all the insulated indoor heat while burning up from the sun.
Luckily for us, our hostel is super close to the water taxi, so we didn't have to pay for a land taxi and simply walked. We are classy and have a private room with AC! We also have a TV with like 100 channels IN ENGLISH! The TV is nice because Whitney wanted to take more naps.
We headed out to find the rainbow Belize sign, which is a cool tourist attraction but then the crazy rain started. Sheets and sheets of rain. So that didn't last long. Which was good because it was almost time for Whitney to take another nap.
When dinner time came, we didn't know where to go. Belize City is not nearly as touristy as Caye Caulker so the restaurants aren't as obvious. We asked the people who work at the hostel where they like to go but they didn't have any suggestions; I'm not sure how you can live somewhere AND work in a hostel and NOT have a favorite restaurant but they didn't. We ended up walking around aimlessly, making our tourist presence rather obvious when we went into a sports bar. When we told a guy there that we were looking for real food, he pointed us in the direction of a local place. Drunk men with a cigarette flopping out of their mouth know where the good food is. We ended up at Nerie's which is NOT for tourists. Local food to the extreme. Whitney for chimole which is a chicken and egg soup, but not like you're thinking, our (poor, sweet) server told us that it's black before we ordered. We decided that any Americans who do end up there hear chicken soup and are not expecting what they end up with. Whit really liked it (and so did I!). Now if that seems adventurous, you're never going to believe what I got: split pea and pig tail soup. Mhm. Our server, who is described as poor and sweet for the insane amount of patience she showed us, the world's dumbest customers, said it was her favorite. When we got it, I wasn't sure how to eat it. It looked like they'd left two big bones in the soup, which was fine with me because I know LITERALLY nothing. It was good. It came with chicken. So our server comes back and asks if we're done and I say yes and she looks down at my bowl and says "you didn't eat the pig's tail..." Turned out "the bones" were actually covered in the meat that we were supposed to eat "like chicken." (... world's dumbest customers...). So we let her take our dishes and tried the pig's tail. Whit gave up after a bite but I actually liked it and as our server said, "once you eat pig's tail, you'll eat anything," so that's the story of the time I officially became someone who will eat anything. And also the story of the time that
I thought I had eaten pig's tail when I actually had not.
Our last day in Caye Caulker (pronounced Key, FYI... cuz we didn't know) was a lazy one. We needed to recover from our burns! We went out to breakfast and I got an amazing waffle (Whitney got a grilled cheese on the thickest bread I have ever seen in my entire life) and then we took naps. Well, Whitney napped, I basically just lay in bed, surfing the net and playing games on my phone. Then we went out looking for seashells. And then there was some more napping. And then we went out for dinner, where we got grilled lobster!! Missing lobster-fest on Caye Caulker was a bummer but there was still plenty to go around! It was delicious.
After that, we walked to the Lazy Lizard which is at the far end of the island. Buzzfeed has said it's one of the most unique bars in the world because you can just climb in the water from the bar! It is a really good place to people watch -- everyone is either drunk, sunburnt or both! We wanted to watch the sunset from the dock because pretty drinks and pretty sunsets go together like any alcoholic beverage and a hand should go together. They had a lot of frozen drinks (a personal fave) but we figured we should go with the "world famous" Lizard Juice. It IS, after all, their signature drink. In hindsight, it's probably their best selling drink because everyone says "oh, we HAVE to try it!" then realizes that it's garbage and orders something else. It was NEON green. We have absolutely no clue what was in it because the ingredients weren't on the menu and when we watched the bar tender, she went behind the bar and came back with a blender full of pre-mixed swamp juice and ice. It was probably part battery acid, part bleach and part lemon-lime soda but we really don't know. The cherry on top of the whole thing was an actual cherry, but it really didn't help. At all. The sunset, however, was as lovely as the drinks were nauseating.
After all that we -- you guessed it -- took a nap. Just a short one though cuz we were going back out for trivia at one of the local bars! We got some appetizers (stuffed mushroom caps and Belizean chips/dip) and Whitney ordered a Belikin beer because it's "the beer of Belize". We hate beer. But we HAD to cuz it's like the country's mascot. P.S. We suck at trivia and not even the Norwegian girls who joined our team could help us.
This morning we started the day with more waffles! Ok, I got a waffle, Whitney got fruit, granola and fruit. Then we found swings so we could sit on the beach and rock back and forth! We returned to our hostel to pack up our gear and then we were headed to the ferry. Belize it or not (more puns!), but the ride back to the mainland was more uncomfortable than the ride to the island. I was half under the cover, half outside so I ended up sweating from all the insulated indoor heat while burning up from the sun.
Luckily for us, our hostel is super close to the water taxi, so we didn't have to pay for a land taxi and simply walked. We are classy and have a private room with AC! We also have a TV with like 100 channels IN ENGLISH! The TV is nice because Whitney wanted to take more naps.
We headed out to find the rainbow Belize sign, which is a cool tourist attraction but then the crazy rain started. Sheets and sheets of rain. So that didn't last long. Which was good because it was almost time for Whitney to take another nap.
When dinner time came, we didn't know where to go. Belize City is not nearly as touristy as Caye Caulker so the restaurants aren't as obvious. We asked the people who work at the hostel where they like to go but they didn't have any suggestions; I'm not sure how you can live somewhere AND work in a hostel and NOT have a favorite restaurant but they didn't. We ended up walking around aimlessly, making our tourist presence rather obvious when we went into a sports bar. When we told a guy there that we were looking for real food, he pointed us in the direction of a local place. Drunk men with a cigarette flopping out of their mouth know where the good food is. We ended up at Nerie's which is NOT for tourists. Local food to the extreme. Whitney for chimole which is a chicken and egg soup, but not like you're thinking, our (poor, sweet) server told us that it's black before we ordered. We decided that any Americans who do end up there hear chicken soup and are not expecting what they end up with. Whit really liked it (and so did I!). Now if that seems adventurous, you're never going to believe what I got: split pea and pig tail soup. Mhm. Our server, who is described as poor and sweet for the insane amount of patience she showed us, the world's dumbest customers, said it was her favorite. When we got it, I wasn't sure how to eat it. It looked like they'd left two big bones in the soup, which was fine with me because I know LITERALLY nothing. It was good. It came with chicken. So our server comes back and asks if we're done and I say yes and she looks down at my bowl and says "you didn't eat the pig's tail..." Turned out "the bones" were actually covered in the meat that we were supposed to eat "like chicken." (... world's dumbest customers...). So we let her take our dishes and tried the pig's tail. Whit gave up after a bite but I actually liked it and as our server said, "once you eat pig's tail, you'll eat anything," so that's the story of the time I officially became someone who will eat anything. And also the story of the time that
I thought I had eaten pig's tail when I actually had not.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
You Better Belize It
Spoiler alert: I will be blogging from a tablet this trip so photos will be few and far between. But some blog is better than no blog, I guess!! Also be forgiving of inevitable typos.
We are now entering Day 3 of this crazy trip which means that I need to fill you in on Days 1 and 2.
Day 1 was our big travel day -- the start of this great adventure. And we did start early, leaving the house for the airport at 3 am. A perk of living in MA means that there is always a Dunkin you can stop at at this hour, the cons being that you're awake at that hour. After having gone through a very long line and dealing with some very hangry Delta agents, we got to go through security! I'm only excited about security because I got to use my TSA Pre-Check! I love TSA Pre-Check now that I've really gotten to take advantage of it a few times and BONUS! Whit got to go through with me! So she got to jump the insanely long security line as well (seriously, where is everyone going at 4 in the morning?).
Our first flight was to Atlanta and they actually had movies on the flight and everything. We shared headphones and watched "How to be Single" which was a lot funnier than I expected. After that, we had an hour-ish layover and then we were getting on the plane to Belize City (which did not have movies despite being a longer flight with the same airline).
And before you knew it, we were here! In Belize! Another country to check off the bucket list! The airport would probably make some people's skin crawl, but we got through customs, got new stamps in our passports and were on our way.
The first stop on our trip is actually Caye Caulker (which this tablet is repeatedly corrected to "Caulked" like no thank you) so that meant catching the ferry in Belize City to go out to the tiny, five mile island of beach fairy tales.
Getting to dreamland, however, was more of a nightmare. Because within seconds of us purchasing our tickets, the skies opened up. We were safe from the rain under an awning but oh god, it was unreal. Like a sheet of rain just coming straight down... on top of our checked luggage. Cool.
When we got on the ferry, it was like Satan's yacht, in that it was hot, sticky and crowded. We got seats together in the front row which was great after the rain stoped and they opened the window so there was a breeze but not great when the rain started up again. Did I mention that the water was choppy? As in, do not take this boat if you have a recently broken tail bone. Do not take this boat if you're worried about breaking your tail bone.
But we made it to the island, which was stunning, and then had to wait for our bags, which surprise! Hadn't made it on the boat with us! They came in on the next one so no worries. Next, we went to our hostel! It's called, I kid you not, Juan's in a Million. The name is more perfect than the place itself because despite checking in at 1:30, we didn't have sheets for six hours... We do have AC and a painting of a turtle on the wall but we were itching for sheets after our long travel day.
So we went out to explore instead and got a lunch/dinner combo meal thanks to jet lag. We want to try everything we can while we're here so we split an order of Belizean fish and popcorn lobster for dinner! Oh yeah, and a giant frozen margaritas because duh. I think we both liked the lobster more but not was a great first taste! We went exploring in the island with the rest of our night and watched the sunset before crashing early.
Day 2: Aka the only day where we actually had anything officially planned for our whole trip to Belize, aka snorkeling.
This was a very exciting day!! There are lots of places that offer snorkeling here but we had pre-booked with a group called Caveman Tours. And we would definitely recommend them (and are planning on writing a review on Travelocity because they were so wonderful).
We started with breakfast at a small, colorful cafe and split an order of banana pancakes, eggs and fruit. I'm already in love with the fruit here. I mean, I love fruit everywhere I go, but it's hard to beat these guys.
Onto snorkeling!! I can't really blog about this with my rehearsed indifference and sarcastic tone because this was definitely a pinch me moment. How do you sarcastically write about swimming with a manatee? A sea turtle? Sting rays? And sharks??? You just can't. On top of everything, we had Whitney's GoPro and got some ridiculous footage and pictures of everything we saw. One of my favorites was when Whitney was taking a video of a stingrays and ANOTHER stingray swam into her! I saw it happening but really had no way to warn her of the impending collision since I was, ya know, wearing a snorkel! It was so cool. Another part of the tour included more fruit! (And don't worry, we're only eating the fruit that was approved by our doctors and are brushing our teeth with bottled water; adventures our fun, dysentery is not). We also got to see sea horses and feed tarpon from the boat as a way of capping off the day.
The ONE downside of the day was that despite our best efforts, we got way more sun than we'd intended. Next time, we'll at least cover up in between dives because I got burnt and Whitney got super burnt. This is without a doubt the worst sunburn I've ever gotten which is saying something because I don't burn. Whit looks like a lobster (I told her she isn't allowed til east lobster now because it would be cannibalism. She did not laugh).
We got another wonderful meal on the island; this time splitting grilled shrimp with garlic and butter and a fish quesadilla! After that, we bought some aloe (we brought some with us but could tell that it wouldn't be enough) and we back to Juan's to sooth our burns and catch some sleep.
Now it's Day 3 and I'm taking advantage of Whitney sleeping in to write this post. We're still deciding on what to do today but it's going to involve shirts for sure!
We are now entering Day 3 of this crazy trip which means that I need to fill you in on Days 1 and 2.
Day 1 was our big travel day -- the start of this great adventure. And we did start early, leaving the house for the airport at 3 am. A perk of living in MA means that there is always a Dunkin you can stop at at this hour, the cons being that you're awake at that hour. After having gone through a very long line and dealing with some very hangry Delta agents, we got to go through security! I'm only excited about security because I got to use my TSA Pre-Check! I love TSA Pre-Check now that I've really gotten to take advantage of it a few times and BONUS! Whit got to go through with me! So she got to jump the insanely long security line as well (seriously, where is everyone going at 4 in the morning?).
Our first flight was to Atlanta and they actually had movies on the flight and everything. We shared headphones and watched "How to be Single" which was a lot funnier than I expected. After that, we had an hour-ish layover and then we were getting on the plane to Belize City (which did not have movies despite being a longer flight with the same airline).
And before you knew it, we were here! In Belize! Another country to check off the bucket list! The airport would probably make some people's skin crawl, but we got through customs, got new stamps in our passports and were on our way.
The first stop on our trip is actually Caye Caulker (which this tablet is repeatedly corrected to "Caulked" like no thank you) so that meant catching the ferry in Belize City to go out to the tiny, five mile island of beach fairy tales.
Getting to dreamland, however, was more of a nightmare. Because within seconds of us purchasing our tickets, the skies opened up. We were safe from the rain under an awning but oh god, it was unreal. Like a sheet of rain just coming straight down... on top of our checked luggage. Cool.
When we got on the ferry, it was like Satan's yacht, in that it was hot, sticky and crowded. We got seats together in the front row which was great after the rain stoped and they opened the window so there was a breeze but not great when the rain started up again. Did I mention that the water was choppy? As in, do not take this boat if you have a recently broken tail bone. Do not take this boat if you're worried about breaking your tail bone.
But we made it to the island, which was stunning, and then had to wait for our bags, which surprise! Hadn't made it on the boat with us! They came in on the next one so no worries. Next, we went to our hostel! It's called, I kid you not, Juan's in a Million. The name is more perfect than the place itself because despite checking in at 1:30, we didn't have sheets for six hours... We do have AC and a painting of a turtle on the wall but we were itching for sheets after our long travel day.
So we went out to explore instead and got a lunch/dinner combo meal thanks to jet lag. We want to try everything we can while we're here so we split an order of Belizean fish and popcorn lobster for dinner! Oh yeah, and a giant frozen margaritas because duh. I think we both liked the lobster more but not was a great first taste! We went exploring in the island with the rest of our night and watched the sunset before crashing early.
Day 2: Aka the only day where we actually had anything officially planned for our whole trip to Belize, aka snorkeling.
This was a very exciting day!! There are lots of places that offer snorkeling here but we had pre-booked with a group called Caveman Tours. And we would definitely recommend them (and are planning on writing a review on Travelocity because they were so wonderful).
We started with breakfast at a small, colorful cafe and split an order of banana pancakes, eggs and fruit. I'm already in love with the fruit here. I mean, I love fruit everywhere I go, but it's hard to beat these guys.
Onto snorkeling!! I can't really blog about this with my rehearsed indifference and sarcastic tone because this was definitely a pinch me moment. How do you sarcastically write about swimming with a manatee? A sea turtle? Sting rays? And sharks??? You just can't. On top of everything, we had Whitney's GoPro and got some ridiculous footage and pictures of everything we saw. One of my favorites was when Whitney was taking a video of a stingrays and ANOTHER stingray swam into her! I saw it happening but really had no way to warn her of the impending collision since I was, ya know, wearing a snorkel! It was so cool. Another part of the tour included more fruit! (And don't worry, we're only eating the fruit that was approved by our doctors and are brushing our teeth with bottled water; adventures our fun, dysentery is not). We also got to see sea horses and feed tarpon from the boat as a way of capping off the day.
The ONE downside of the day was that despite our best efforts, we got way more sun than we'd intended. Next time, we'll at least cover up in between dives because I got burnt and Whitney got super burnt. This is without a doubt the worst sunburn I've ever gotten which is saying something because I don't burn. Whit looks like a lobster (I told her she isn't allowed til east lobster now because it would be cannibalism. She did not laugh).
We got another wonderful meal on the island; this time splitting grilled shrimp with garlic and butter and a fish quesadilla! After that, we bought some aloe (we brought some with us but could tell that it wouldn't be enough) and we back to Juan's to sooth our burns and catch some sleep.
Now it's Day 3 and I'm taking advantage of Whitney sleeping in to write this post. We're still deciding on what to do today but it's going to involve shirts for sure!
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Monday, June 13, 2016
Counting Down
In less than 48 hours, I will be in the air on my way to Israel! Just a few things to note before the trip:
1. I remain terrible at packing despite my years of experience. (Walking around the house shouting "I hate packing" has yet to produce any real results).
2. I'm a little worried about the other members of my trip because on Facebook, it appears that the fact that a person gets one carry-on and one personal item seems to be a major revelation for some people. No judgment but hopefully everyone already knows that they need a passport to leave the country.
3. I am not bringing my laptop on the trip. I am going equipped with my phone, an iPod and good old fashioned pen and paper. I plan on leaving my phone off and away for the trip and blogging from my iPod. This means that the quality of my blog posts will suffer because I will not be able to post any pictures but I'm sure I will type out all of my snarky comments when I have the opportunity (which, quite frankly, might not be all that often). My camera is coming but since I won't have anything to hook it up to, I will be unable to post the pictures I take. There was a way to sync the camera with WiFi but that still doesn't give me anyway of blogging.
So that's me. Just got to finish that pesky packing thing and soon I shall be on my way. Updates to come, I'm sure!
1. I remain terrible at packing despite my years of experience. (Walking around the house shouting "I hate packing" has yet to produce any real results).
2. I'm a little worried about the other members of my trip because on Facebook, it appears that the fact that a person gets one carry-on and one personal item seems to be a major revelation for some people. No judgment but hopefully everyone already knows that they need a passport to leave the country.
3. I am not bringing my laptop on the trip. I am going equipped with my phone, an iPod and good old fashioned pen and paper. I plan on leaving my phone off and away for the trip and blogging from my iPod. This means that the quality of my blog posts will suffer because I will not be able to post any pictures but I'm sure I will type out all of my snarky comments when I have the opportunity (which, quite frankly, might not be all that often). My camera is coming but since I won't have anything to hook it up to, I will be unable to post the pictures I take. There was a way to sync the camera with WiFi but that still doesn't give me anyway of blogging.
So that's me. Just got to finish that pesky packing thing and soon I shall be on my way. Updates to come, I'm sure!
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
The Postcard Diary
Although I cannot recall a specific post, I'm sure that I've written about my postcard diary during my year and a half on the road. Today, I counted all of the postcards I sent myself during that time and the grand total is 145!! That's 2.95918367347 postcards per residency! Now, some weeks I didn't send myself any postcards and I also sent myself postcards during unbooked weeks but no matter how you cut it, it's pretty cool. Particularly when you consider how much time I spent in the middle of nowhere!
In other news that is totally unrelated to postcards but is also very cool, I leave for Israel in a week! I just confirmed my spot on the trip and now I just need to get ready!
In other news that is totally unrelated to postcards but is also very cool, I leave for Israel in a week! I just confirmed my spot on the trip and now I just need to get ready!
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