Belize~ Days 7-8

Belize was GOOD to us! We were able to relax and pack in a ton of fun! We did 6 dives in 3 days! I was kind of nervous to get Scuba Certified, but I DID IT!!!! Yes, I am really proud of myself! The Scuba instructor (Scuba Steve) was very laid back and took all the stress out of it.

Our first dive down was AMAZING!! We had been underwater only a few minutes, Billy and Scuba Steve were trying to show me an eel hiding in some coral, when I here a muffled yell. I look up to see Scuba Steve frantically motioning me to come toward him. I start swimming toward him and look over my shoulder to make sure nothing is behind me. I see something swimming right towards me! I think my heart might have stopped for a minute until a dolphin swam right by me! Yes, shark was my first thought! There was another guys diving with us and he went back to the boat and got his underwater camera. He filmed and took pictures of these amazing dolphins for about 15 minutes!

The dolphins were incredibly smart! There was a fish trap and they would turn the trap over and over and work together to release the fish and then eat them. The dolphins would swim within just a few inches of my outstretched hand. I think Billy touched them a few times. When we came up out of the water, Scuba Steve was SO excited! He said he has never seen anything like that before. We don't have any of the footage yet, but I hope we will be able to, cuz it was incredible.

The pic above is taken from a restaurant where we had breakfast. Below is from our hotel at sunrise!

All the dives were amazing! We went down about 80 feet.

We saw sharks, eels, sea turtles, sting rays, all different kinds of fish.

I think one of my favorite things about our trip was riding cruiser bikes in Belize!! We would ride them on the beach in the morning and then again to go Scuba diving.

We stopped at a road side fruit stand (Pupusa's) for most of our meals. They would cut us up some fresh pineapple. (I think we easily ate a pineapple a day). They were so sweet to us! Mama Pupusa made these fresh tortillas with beans or meat in them. It would get dark before 5:00pm. So usually on our way home from diving, we would get a pupusa and go back to our hotel and relax.

The roads were all cobblestone. There were a few trucks and vans, but for the most part everyone drove golf carts or rode bikes.

When we first landed in San Pedro, all the parents were taking their kids to school in golf carts. It was so cute! I love it!

I wish I lived somewhere warm year round!!

Belize~ Days 5-6

We arrived in the boarder town of Corozal late at night, we didn't know where else to stay. So we stayed at the hotel above. I would not recommend it.....enough said. Also in the pic is our rental car that survived the speed bumps. :)

We boarded the first flight that morning and enjoyed the 20 minute flight to San Pedro.

The air strip is in the middle of the island, which makes it right in the center of town.

Their luggage carts!

I loved the sign for Baggage Claim below! I was taking a pic and a guy said, "You like it? It was my idea." SO GREAT!

At the airport!

We knew our hotel was only a few miles away, so we skipped the $6 taxi and decided to throw on our back packs and walk. We asked someone where a bike rental shop was (our first mistake). We walked a mile north to the shop and decided maybe it would be better to just rent them at our hotel. Sooooooo we went to beach, had an amazing breakfast of fry jacks, eggs, and fresh grapefruit juice. By the time we got done eating it was about 10:00am. We were so excited to be on the beach that we decided to walk in the sand to our hotel. Whenever we would talk to someone, they would ask if we wanted them to get us a taxi. We kept saying, "we're fine, it's not that far". They would look at us like we were crazy. We only walked about 4 miles since leaving the airport, but with all we packed for 10 days on our backs and walking in the sand, it took us much longer than expected. By the time we finally got to our hotel, we were hot, sweaty, and tired. We changed right into our swim suits and jumped in the ocean!!

In Mexico we didn't see any conch shells, but in Belize they were not hard to find. Conch is a main seafood there. I still couldn't bring myself to order it. When we went out to eat, I would get the shrimp ceviche (which by the way, was SOOO good! We have been making it since we got home) instead of the conch ceviche. In the pic below is one I found. Billy took a pic of one coming out of its shell for the boys..... gross!

We relaxed the first day! I will tell you about the rest of Belize in the next post! Overall, we had FUN, FUN, FUN!!

Day 4 ~ Chitzen Itza

Day 4 was jam packed with driving, ruins, driving, ruins and then crossing the Mexico boarder into Belize. Most people would have taken a few days or even a week to do this. My husband is definitely not like "most people".

We checked out of our hotel early in the morning, rented a car and drove 2 hrs. to Chitzen Itza. Chitzen Itza is one of the 7 Wonders of the World for good reason. All the architecture was amazing. They have many huge buildings still standing and some are in very good condition. It truly is remarkable that the Mayans were able to build these structures and lived and worshiped there.

Billy in heaven!! He loves architecture, history, and traveling!!!

Juego de Pelota is the main ball court in Chitzen Itza. It is the largest and best preserved ball court it the world. This court really did amaze me. I would love to see how the game was played and see someone kick or throw a ball through the tiny holes.

After leaving Chitzen Itza, we drove though Valladolid, and decided to stop in Coba. We knew we didn't have much time, but it was fun to climb the tallest Mayan Temple in Southern Mexico.

There were locals at the trail head offering to pedal you to the ruins, but that's not how we roll. We ran/walked the 2 miles to the main temple. This was my favorite ruin. In Chitzen Itza, we weren't allowed to climb the large temples. In Coba, we climbed the eroding steps to the top. The view was incredible. It was hard to make out all the other ruins we passed along the way. The jungle goes on forever. I do wish that we would have rented some mountain bikes to zoom down the trail after climbing and sweating in the humid weather.

After leaving Coba, we headed for Belize. It really wouldn't take that long if it weren't for all the speed bumps. Billy counted on the way back and it was something like 60-70 speed bumps.

Billy would go really fast until right before the speed bump, so the "back seat driver" that I am kept telling him there was a bump. I knew he had to be getting sick of me saying it, and it was dark and I decided to let the reflectors tell him instead of me. Well................. we went up one of the speed bumps like a ramp going 110 mpk!!!! The wheels kept spinning in mid-air, we lifted out of our seats so that we could feel our seat belts holding us in, the backpacks hit the top the trunk......when we came down from our "Matrix" slow motion experience, the car bounced back to the ground and made a vrrrrooommm sound, but we didn't keep going forward, I truly thought this is where we get stuck and die.

The car had come out of gear and was fortunately fine and took us all the way to Belize that night. It took 2 hours crossing the boarder. Luckily we picked up a Boarder guy "Shaddy G" that rapped his latest songs to us while we waited.

That night we stayed at a "Shaddy" hotel. I will show you pics in the next post. All I can say is I do NOT miss the silky bright pink blanket that was a little too silky, cuz it slid right off us, or the coils that would jab your ribs if you layed on your stomach. As Billy would say....."Good times, good times"!