Into the Ocean Blue!

We woke up to thunder & a downpour on the roof. We looked at each other & said, "Well, guess it'll be another day before we leave for ReefCI." Just then, Esme (Kate's replacement while she's traveling) knocked on our door even before our alarm went off, with breakfast tray in hand. Five minutes later she was back, saying that a taxi would be there in 15 or 20 minutes to pick us up. We were going! To say that we were flying around the apartment packing & picking up last-minute things would be an understatement. But we were sort of ready, even though it was raining & we couldn't imagine that we were actually leaving. And we didn't really leave the taxi driver waiting.

We met up with everyone at the Snack Shack again, then were driven to the wharf where all our bags were put into plastic sacks & stored here, there, and everywhere.

Were we really going to leave in this rain? Eight guests and 5 crew people piled aboard the open skiff & away we went. And went.

And went. We headed out into what looked like the open sea, and an hour and a half later we pulled up to a tiny island. Montana and LuRue expected to be landing on a small island that we might be able to drive around in half an hour. We would have to stroll very slowly for it to take ten minutes to walk it!

After a short introductory welcome, we were shown our rooms. More pictures of the buildings later. We are truly living an island experience. The crew is wonderful!! Very friendly, accommodating, and patient.

After lunch, we had our first scuba lesson. We and two guys were shown the equipment, hand signals, how to put on the gear, and next thing we knew, we were nudged off the wharf into the water by the instructor. LuRue was relieved to see that we actually floated!

Before the lesson was over, we had learned how to use our breathing equipment, how to kneel on the bottom, how to change mouthpieces if the main one was knocked off, and how to work with someone else's mouthpiece if in trouble. We were also shown how to clear water from our goggles, but both LuRue & Montana had to repeat this lesson for different reasons. They both had to go to the top to breathe. But they got it the second time.

We spent the rest of the afternoon snorkeling...around the whole island. The most interesting place was the roughest because of the remnants of the storm, with the water breaking over us. But it was worth every second!

Does this remind you of anything

Find the fish

Good dinner, good company and a promise of lots more to come.

Rain, rain, go away...cancelled trip!

Monday, June 17, 2013

Punta Gorda

Plans change…particularly in the tropics…particularly during the beginning of hurricane season.

At 9:00 this morning Jo was beeping the horn to pick us up for the trip to Thomas Owen Caye. We were ready & jumped into a cab with her where we met up with the rest of the group at the Snack Shack. Lots of people were milling around the tables, so we were never sure just who was part of our group. After a half hour or so, Jo was making phone calls with Polly on Thomas Owen Caye, who said the weather was deteriorating & to call back a bit later. In the meantime Simon (?)  gave some of us a slide presentation to the program which would normally be an introduction after we had arrived on the island. Shortly after that, Jo was handing LuRu back our Blue Belize room key & helping others make arrangements for places to stay.  It is looking like it will be Wednesday before we actually leave for the island. The Mayan gods are still angry with us.

ReefCI is watching the weather map & tropical depression closely to see where it is moving and how quickly.

This is bad news for those who were going to stay for only this one week, especially when they have reservations for some major activities this coming weekend. We do, too, but after we got back to the Blue Belize, I called and changed our drumming lesson & related activities to the final weekend. If we go to the island on Wednesday, we’ll not be coming back on the weekend as normal, but will stay straight through. We’re one of the fortunate ones for whom this will work out great.

What a delicious salad!

So back to our apartment as if we had never left…even our leftover food was still in the fridge. We had another rainy day walk through town. 

Montana is actually smiling...

Don't think she knew that at the time

This time we went to a restaurant we had checked out earlier. We had bean burritos, then went back to the Snack Shack for a yummy Oreo Mint milk shake, the first real one we’ve had in Belize.

We can’t really unpack much because we might get a surprise call in the morning to leave if the weather breaks.

Just FYI

In spite of the mini hurricane and flood flies, it looks like we it after all. On the island, there may be no wifi, so we may be out of touch for a while.
See you as soon as possible.

Rain, Flood, and Flood Flies

The day began with a wonderful breakfast, but before we were through eating, the rain, lightning, & thunder of last night came back with a vengeance. It seemed almost like a mini-hurricane with winds blowing the rain right into our apartment. Considering our place is on the 2^nd floor, we were feeling deluged.

As the weather raged, we filled our morning with poses for our modeling portfolios. 

After a chicken lunch, we geared up for the rain & took a long walk around town as the wind and rain had let up by then. We had to stop, of course, at our favorite ice cream place, actually the only one we know of so far, and which can’t possibly compare to Lilly’s in Bonaire. It’s a Chinese restaurant that gives out ice cream cones in cups—a two-scooper apparently requires two cups.

As we returned from our 2-hour walk, we got on the Internet to check out tomorrow’s plans with the drumming lessons. They have be postponed because the man giving the lessons is stuck in Belize City. Because we don’t get WiFi reception in our apartment, we have to go around the corner to an outside chair. We began to notice a few flies, looking like flying ants. Before long, the few turned into dozens and by the time we got back to the apartment, they were turning into hundreds & thousands. Worse…they were crawling into the crack under the door and creeping everywhere!

While I worked on the photos for this post, Montana kept busy sweeping, sweeping, sweeping. When Kate came over with our breakfast, she told us that they are Flood Flies & very common after heavy rains.  We are now down to just a dozen, mostly by the door. They are learning, however, not to mess with Montana! The storm went away quickly, luckily, and hopefully they will, too.

A Living Mayan Experience

Kate appeared at our door late last night to tell us she had heard from the woman at the Mayan place. Rather than try to meet us at 10:00am, it would be better for us to take the 10:00 bus from Punta Gorda. Yay!!! That meant more than an hour of extra sleep this morning.

At 8:30 Kate appeared with our breakfast tray, a yummy meal of moist zucchini bread, fresh fruit, and orange juice (with which Montana was a bit less than thrilled, but a request to Kate will produce .something else hopefully)

Our public bus stop was just up the hill less than a block, so we had plenty of time to look around. We found the B&B where Mark & Teresa stayed because their neighbors were very quiet & peaceful…skeletons, actually. A large cemetery overlooked by their veranda.

The bright green, yellow, & red bus was easy to spot, so we jumped on after asking the conductor if this was the bus that stopped at the Big Falls Bridge. It was a 50-minute bus ride and turned out to be the major stop for zip-lining & river-tubing. The Mayan lady, named Anita, called to us from the bridge, so we knew we were in the right place.

She took us up the hill to the house built in the style of the Mayan fifty years ago. 

Her husband (Luis?) was the main guide as he showed us the many tools and uses of natural trees & plants used not so long ago. People could live off the land quite comfortably. 

A

fter we washed our hands with soapberries, we were also served a lunch which we had helped make. We both thought it delicious.

Another daughter walked us up the road to the second place which featured the family doing crafts. Carlos the son introduced us to his father Juan who demonstrated making baskets from forest trees with extremely thorny branches. We each got to try some of the basket making, then Juan’s wife showed us 

the weaving. Montana did a few pass-throughs of the shuttle for making a handle to a purse.

Juan walked us back to the bus stop & we were soon back in Punta Gorda. It was a very good experience that we thoroughly enjoyed.

A Lazy Day

We awoke at 8am and had breakfast. We got packed and hung out at our BNB until eleven, which our taxi driver came, picked us up and drove us to the airport. We got into the airport, but there was barely any check in that we had to do. We didn’t even have to go through security. We hung out at a café until 12:10, which we then went to the waiting room and stayed there until 12:30. At 12:30, our plane left. We were the only ones on the plane at first, but after a few stops the plane was full.

We landed in Punta Gorda at around 1:30. A driver was there to pick us up & take us to Blue Belize. Kate met us at the gate & showed us to our room. We have a wonderful veranda which overlooks the ocean.

Kate had mentioned several good places to eat & mentioned some grocery stores, but we learned after walking..and walking…and walking—that restaurants here close at two & don’t open until 5:00 or so. We did find a store with a sign just inside the doorway with arrows pointing groceries to the left & hardware to the right. In reality, the hardware seemed to be encroaching on the grocery part. We finally chose a couple of frozen chicken legs, a bag of rolls, and a can of butter from New Zealand. Time to get creative!

We returned by way of another street & found a Chinese restaurant open for business, so  we stopped in there & ordered plates of food that were quite delicious. More than enough, so we brought home leftovers. LuRue got Chicken Fried Rice; Montana got Sweet & Sour Chicken.

We did find another grocery store later, but decided not to buy much more right now, but will remember it as it didn’t have wheelbarrows mixed in with the grocery aisles.

Swimming with Sharks

Another early morning for two people who hate getting up to alarm clocks, but having a full breakfast served to you takes away some of the sting.

LuRue got serenaded at breakfast with "Happy Birthday". The day was off to a good start.

Our taxi was here at 7:45 to whisk us through Belize City to the water taxi. After buying round trip tickets to Caye Caulker, we boarded the ferry...it took about 45 minutes to get there. EZ Boy was waiting for us. We had our own masks & snorkels, but got some fins from them. A group of six joined us on the boat & we took off to the reefs. There were three major stops. During the first one boat driver Harry took us on a tour around a bunch of coral. He picked up a couple of things from the ocean floor...a conch & a sea anemone, which Montana held.

The next stop was Shark Alley. The area was as advertised--full of sharks and sting rays, but with four other boats there, the main creatures we saw and came into contact with were rear ends of homo sapiens...LOTS of them, too! But we did have lots of opportunities to see the sea creatures as they swam beneath us. Harry fed sardines to some sting rays until he was able to hold one long enough for us to feel the smooth skin.

The third major stop was called the Coral Garden. It wasn't much of a garden compared to Bonaire, but there was still lots to see.

Back to Caye Caulker and one more round of Happy Birthday to LuRue before we said goodbye to our 6 snorkeling partners and Harry.

A lady at EZ Boy pointed us in the direction of the Rainbow Restaurant. Montana and LuRue both had shrimp meals, complete with garlic butter, baked potato, and cole slaw (hmmm...why did Montana's plate still have cole slaw left on it?) Oh, yes, we also celebrated with a banana daiquiri and a pina colada--both virgins.

What is a birthday meal without ice cream? So we went in search of a place & finally found one after circling the same stores about three times. We were beginning to think that ice cream doesn't exist in Belize. Montana bought a birthday cone for LuRue (and herself, too, of course!)

Then it was time for the 3:30 water taxi back to Belize City. We found a nice taxi driver to take us back. He insisted on taking us to the grocery store, waiting for us, then driving us back to the B&B.

Montana immediately arranged the mirrors on the closet to look at her back. Her bare back looked like she still had on her bathing suit. Slathering on some body lotion helped. She's now wishing she could sleep on a bed of ice (cream)!

Once again the day ended on the promise of our mouth-watering ice cream bars. What could salvage these pathetic lumps of goo? Montana nuked hers in the microwave, then spread it on Ritz crackers. LuRue also nuked hers, but spread a thin layer on a saucer to go back into the freezer. Montana's description of what it looked like won't be mentioned here. Needless to say, we're still on the hunt for some good ice cream in Belize.