I’ve been traveling a ton recently. Right before Christmas, I headed to Belize for a vacation before the whirlwind poker tour I’ve been planning for early 2008.

 

Day 1a – The arrival

    We went to our room and I must say that I wasn’t expecting it to be half as nice as it was.  We had a kitchen, a living room with a 42” flat screen, a huge bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub, a very comfortable king sized bed with a 36” television, and a balcony overlooking the ocean and the resort pool – complete with a swim up bar ;)  There was even a hot tub out on the balcony.

 

Day 1b – The arrival part II…Josh & Candice

    Amber’s best friend, Candice, and her husband Josh arrived the following day and we picked them up in a rented golf cart.  This was no ordinary golf cart, however, as the “roads” in San Pedro are more like dirt paths that have eroded into a Mezo-American doomsday aftermath.  Unfortunately, their bags were lost en route, compliments of Continental Airlines.  We picked up some cool weather clothes for them and then headed back to the resort.

    After dinner we decided to have a few drinks and go “boonie crashin.”  We stumbled into the Belizean ATV and headed for town in search of excitement, locals, and booze.  We came across a hole in the wall bar where the only one in the place was the owner himself behind the bar.  We had a few drinks, signed our names on the wall, and kicked his butt in some foosball before making our way back home.

 

Day 2 – Sail Boat

    We had lunch and then headed back to town…or so we thought.  We were apparently a little to harsh on the ride the night before and now it wouldn’t start for us.  After hitchin a ride to town, we bought a new carburetor for it and started walking along the beach.  We signed up for a couple of dives for the following day, cave tubing & a Maya Ruins tour the following day, and then took a sunset sail boat ride.  When we got back to the resort we called it an early night.

 

Day 3 – The Dive

    After oversleeping for a bit we raced down to the dock to see if our ride was still there, and luckily for us he had nothing better to do.  We took two dives and absolutely loved it.  We saw all sorts of tropical fish, awesome coral, neon green eels (just like the ones in the Bahamas, for those of you who remember), and a bunch of nurse sharks.  The sharks are so passive that none of the fish are scared of them at all.  I was nervous at first, but after a while I got used to them and I almost even kicked one with my fin!

    After the dive we paid to dive the Blue Hole on day five.  We had dinner with Josh & Candice and crashed once we got home

 

Day 4 – Cave Tubing & Maya Ruins

    The mornings were getting earlier and earlier.  Two days ago we slept in till 11:00am.  Yesterday we managed to get up by 8:00am.  Today it was 6:15am!  We took a water taxi to town, then caught a taxi to the airport.  We boarded a water hopper and headed to the main land and met up with our tour guide, Carlos.  Carlos was a really fun guy and earned every penny we gave him.

    He picked us up in a rental van and we drove for a good hour and a half to the Maya Ruins of Xunantunich (Shoe-nan-tune-eetch).  We crossed the small river on a ferry and explored around.  This guide definitely knew his stuff.   After about an hour of learning every possible fact (from the type of trees surrounding the land, to virtually the entire history of the Maya people) we hopped in the van to head to town and grab an ‘authentic’ Belizean lunch.  This was one of my favorite meals, including roasted chicken, rice & beans, plantain, and of course some cold Belikin (the local beer).

    After lunch we went cave tubing.  I had a great time, but was expecting a bit more of a bumpy ride .  Along the way we saw some really cool stalactite formations, bats sleeping with their eyes open (a little creepy!), and a beautiful forest with mist pouring over the hillside.  This day trip was incredible.

 

Day 5 – The Blue Hole

    5:00am.  Yes, that’s right.  5:00am.  Unbelievable!  I somehow managed to stumble out of bed and make it down to the docks.  I made it down there by 5:25am with my gear, despite the pouring rain.  The boat wasn’t supposed to pick me up until 5:30am, so I waited….and waited….and waited.  Finally, at 6:00am I gave up and went back to bed.  When I woke up I went down to the front desk to call the dive shop.

“Oh, you didn’t get the messages that we left for you?”  BS.  I was so disappointed because not only did I drag myself out of my warm bed at 5:00 in the morning, I now couldn’t dive the Blue Hole because there is a required 24 hour time delay between diving and flying.  I am still really bummed about not being able to go.

    The weather actually cleared up so we decided to just hang around the resort playing games, swimming, and laying out in the sun.  Josh brought Drinking Jenga, so we played that for a while with a few people staying at the resort.  The drinks were great, as was the food.  Speaking of food, we headed to a neighboring resort for dinner and had the best meal of the trip!  I had a seafood combo, including lobster, crab, snapper, and mashed potatoes.  We had a great bottle of wine and a few appetizers as well.  All in all, it was about as good of a day as I could have hoped for, given missed blue hole opportunity.

 

Day 6 – Loungin by the Pool part II

    We had another nice dinner (though not nearly as good as yesterday) at a different neighboring resort and walked around for a bit.  When we got back we put off packing till the morning

 

Day 7 – Goodbye!

    We packed up and settled up with the resort, fun times…I put a call in to the dive shop to make sure they’d have my money for me when we took the island ferry back to town.  The guy said that they didn’t have any cash and that the banks were closed.  I said I’d think about what to do and give him a call back.  Then I talked with the resort and they said the banks were still open for another hour.  I then called the guy back and he said that his clock was wrong, but that he was the only one at the shop and therefore couldn’t leave to go get the money.  I asked if he would call a friend or co-worker and he said they were all out on dives and there was no way he could get the money.  Josh ended up calling the owner of the dive shop and explained the situation.

    We took the ferry to town and the guy gave me the cash…in Belizean currency.  Now we had a new problem – we had to change the money to US dollars.  I went to about five different places in town asking if they would change the money, but none would.  I ended up having to exchange the money at the airport and lost $100 of the $500.  On top of that, some jerk stole my dive computer out of my bag.  I know it was someone who worked at either American Airlines or the Belize airport because it was in its box when I packed it that morning.

    All in all a pretty lousy ending to an otherwise awesome trip.  Unfortunately, the bad parts of any trip are easier to remember than the good times…