A Couple of Well Deserved Beach Days

On Saturday Dave and I left the Corozal region of Belize.
We drove the 2 hours back to Belize City to return our rental.
It was a pretty dull ride except for when we ended up behind the huge sugar crop trucks. It can be pretty scary when the road is a bit bumpy and you see pieces of cane falling off of the truck just hoping that none of it hits the rental (we did not get the collision damage waiver...LOL).
Dave usually tries to pass these guys as soon as possible because he knows how nervous I am riding behind them.

We get our rental back in one piece, full of gas. They barely look over the vehicle - Dave must look like a reliably good driver - and then they give us a ride down to the pier so we can catch the water taxi over to Ambergris Caye and in about 45 minutes we are on our way over to the island.
One thing that always make me go Hmmmm when we travel is the lack of personal space that you are given in most other countries especially Latin American ones. On the boat ride over, this young girl maybe 10-12 years old was sitting next to me and as if the boat wasn't cramped enough already, she kept getting up and sitting half in my lap. I wasn't sure if she was just fidgety or of she was really trying to get me to move over so she could keep getting more space??? It couldn't be the latter because she just kept moving down and sitting on me...Oh well - good thing the ride was only about 90 minutes total and I probably smelt anyway...LOL

Finally we make it to the island and are met by our golf cart rental company who helps gather our bags and gets us on our way.
What is it about a golf cart that makes Dave thinks he is a NASCAR Driver? And when will he realize that there are bumps and dips in the road to prevent people like him from going too fast???

Sunday was a lazy day by the house we rented. It is south of San Pedro town and nice and peaceful in this area. A few steps from our house is the beach. The beaches here are a little different in that some have nice sand but there is much sea grass in the area so many times people enter in the water via docks because just off the shore, the water is much clearer.
Where there is sand it is pretty fine and there are tons of really small shells in the sand as well - Dave found a few that were still intact.

 And what beach day wouldn't be complete with some dog trying to make friends with us. This guy just came and plopped down at the end of Dave's chair.

Monday was Secret Beach day which sounds more romantic than it actually is. First of all, the beach is not much of a secret anymore and the ride out there is not the best. Granted it is only 4 miles north, then take a left and go 4 more miles which sounds easy peasy right? Except when doing it in a golf cart along some bumpy roads.
Dave has also been itchin for some fishing and on the road to the beach we find a small spot in the lagoon where he was able to nab a bone fish. Now it's not huge but it is strong and actually gave quite a fight and took off screaming at one point.

Now on to the beach which is a beautiful sandy walk in beach where the water is clear and warn and the place is just awesome. IT's not huge but most people came and went all day while Dave and I must have stayed in the water for about 3 hours straight....really it was that great.
After the beach, a quick stop at the Palapa Bar for some fish and shrimp tacos and we are done for the day.
This is a great way to start this week out!!!

A Tale of Two Ruins

Wednesday and Thursday were our do something days for this week.

Wednesday was fishing and the Cerros ruins. We arranged to go out with Our Island Tours and in true fishing fashion we had to get up early in our to get the fish.
So, we wake at 5:00 am and head down to the dock to meet our captain Carlo and head out. Chetumal Bay actually feeds a couple of rivers, one of them being the New River which is across the bay from where we are. Less than twenty minutes later we are across the bay and we begin trolling in hopes of catching a big tarpon - actually with our record of fishing on vacation we would like to catch anything that swims, well maybe not a crocodile but you know what I mean....
The ride along the river is very nice, there's a cool breeze going, there are a few birds flying around and so far no crocs. About 15 minutes in we encounter the hand bridge. It is a bridge that connects Corozal with a couple of points east including the farthest town of Sartenajo. We have to stop because they are in the middle of transporting a large truck and even though they are moving this bridge by hand, it is not too far and they are quick about it. We have to reel in the lines in order to pass over the cable which is also a bit of a trick because we have to make sure the motor doesn't catch the cable but Carlo has done this before so no problem.
Just after we pass the bridge we let the lines out again and not too long after is when we get the first bite and Dave reels in his jack. Once we have the fish in the boat, Carlo circles back because of course jacks travel in schools and he thinks we have a good chance to catch another. It take a second pass but that is when we got the second bite and my much bigger jack.
We then head into a narrow section of the river and we start to fish for large mouth bass.....that's right, large mouth bass in Belize. Now, it doesn't sound like they get very big but Dave's excited, but like most of our fishing trips, we can't seem to get anything to bite. Granted it is already extremely hot and I can't imagine the bass are moving around too much at this point but Dave does get one thing to come up to his lure and he does get one bite but nothing makes it to the boat.
So we troll our way out and head over to Cerros ruins which is just another 10 minutes over on the same side of the bay but we are heading towards the opening if the bay and the waves are coming in so it is a spine jarring ride over.
The Cerros site is smaller compared to others in the area and I had heard that it is mosquito heaven so we start to put on bug spray but I get bit about 6 times before I even finish getting bug spray on.....I got some sweet blood that those mossies just love!!
Unfortunately the trails are not well marked and the mosquitos are relentless so we see a few of the ruins but then head out a little quickly. We do get to see quite a few Humming Birds on our way out.


Thursday I arranged to go to Lamanai ruins. To get to these ruins we drive about 45 minutes down to Orange Walk Town (yes, I did make us take the long dirt road instead of paved highway part of the way...LOL). From here we meet up with Antonio and we traveled just south of town to an area where we boarded our boat. There were only 5 of us plus our guide. One of the guys happened to be a local doctor of sorts, "the snake doctor" he can cure snake bites among many other health issues and is a very interesting guy.
This trip is well worth it -  on the ride along the river our guide Alberto points out many interesting things - a spider monkey, hawks, and some Jacana birds which are known as the Jesus Christ bird as they seem to walk on water. Last year in Costa Rica we saw the Jesus Christ Lizard and now the bird version.

Dave and I often find plants and tress just as interesting as the animals we see, such as the aptly named fruit of the Horse Balls tree 

And the different ruins in this area are just amazing:

And what better way to highlight the day than with a howler money visit...babies and all!!!

Hitting Our Stride

OK, so after having a little bit of a rough start, it took a couple of days to kind of get into a grove but we're in full vaca mode now.

We started off very laid back the first couple of days. Sunday we hung out around our rental while I tried to regain my strength and sanity.
Monday we drove around looking at a few of the "expat" communities that are being developed around the area. One of those is Consejo Shores which is the farthest out, about 7 miles north of town. It is the most advertised and is a very quiet area which if you like that sort of thing, this is the place for you. It still seems like it has several lots available, some of the houses seemed unfinished and it is supposed to have 2 restaurants and a store but we didn't see those.
As we drove back, we saw there were a few other developments along the road that seemed to be in the very early stages of development, maybe they are actually stalled developments??

Funny story time - I have a poor sense of direction (almost non-existent), and there is not a ton of signage here in Belize for street signs. I have a map but it's not that detailed and I found a nice little free app for my phone called Here - you can download whatever country maps you need (they have a ton) and you can use it with the true GPS signal in your phone without having to have a data connection.
So, armed with my average map and my phone app we head out to find Consejo Shores which is not on the main road (or so I thought). We head north and finally I say to Dave - OK, Take this right - we head onto a dirt road and it looks like we are heading in the right direction, we drive through miles of sugar cane fields, some of which are being burned, others that are being harvested and every once in a while we see a large truck overfilled with the harvested cane, hoping it will not fall over onto us.
We keep driving along and I say to Dave - "Well, I see why not many people chose to live up here" because even though it is listed at 7 miles outside of town, it takes a lot to get up this way on this windy dirt road.
Just then we come to a T in the road and realize (because there are cars coming from the right) that this road, which is somewhat paved, leads right back to Corozal!!!
Good thing Dave and I like to take the road less traveled...LOL

On Tuesday we arrange our fishing and trip to the Cerros ruins with Our Island Tours for Wednesday and then we hang out down by the water.
A few things to note about the area, there are no real sand beaches here. The area is located on the Chetumal Bay and there are a couple of places along the banks to get into the water to swim but most of the area is surrounded by a rock wall which also has rock and coral below so you wouldn't jump off from there either.
But we hang out a bit here and then have lunch at a good place right on the water.

Dave has "made friends" with Nathaniel who does maintenance around the property we are renting and he arranges to go fishing with him just off the docks and such down the street. So they head out about 4:15 and I stay back at our rental. It's nice to have a little time to myself and I read a little, watch a little TV and then I look out the window and realize it is dark out, Dave's not home. I check the time and it's only 7:00 so I tell myself...no problem, it's early. But then I also tell myself, it's dark, he's alone, we are in another country....etc.
Don't get me wrong, I feel completely safe here and I would not have let him go (or go alone) if I felt anything else, but I am a little bit of an anxious person and I can easily get in my own head so I try to think about other things and watch the game on (hoping Lebron loses) and next I look, it's 8:00. Now I am wondering what time is it that I should panic but I keep my cool...finally about 8:30ish he comes home. Nathaniel is with him and they show the fish that they've caught (Nate caught them all) and Nate has one of his sons with him as well. We talk for a little bit about how they caught them and such and then they head home.
Dave had a good time in learning how they do things here - they go down to the little brooks and use a small net to catch some sardines, then they take those and go down to the bay using a hand line trying to catch fish.
Nate also has a nice throw net that he used to catch some of the fish they brought home too.
I don't really tell Dave about my anxieties but I mention that I did have a couple of thoughts that I just pushed aside. I am glad that he had a good time and got to see how the locals do it.
In all, a couple of good days to ease into things - good thing we have 2 weeks or we would have spent half our vaca getting into vaca mode!!!

Off To A Rough Start

It's now Sunday just before noon in Belize and the first 18-20 hours of our "vacation" time have been a bit less than pleasant (at least for me).

I'm somewhat of a planner and I have been so crazy busy at work that I haven't had time to plan much about this vacation except where we are staying and how we are getting there. Now, I'm not the type that plans our every second but I try to familiarize myself with where we are headed so that I know what options we have for things to do and I always try to figure out if we can fit in any fishing for Dave, but as I've said, I've not done any of that for this vacation.
No problem really, we will just wing it until that moment when Dave will say to me, "So, what are we going to do today" and I will respond with "I don't know".

So, because I am planner and I've not planned anything for this trip, I have a bit of anxiety before we get going. I have this feeling that I've not studied for a really important test tomorrow.

It's Friday morning, we drop Roxie off at the kennel, go back home and finish packing and cleaning (because you know I don't want some thief to see I have a dirty house??).
As I said, I already have a little anxiety and about half way to our hotel for Friday night I get a call from the kennel, "Roxie has been getting sick and they are a little worried about her". Great thanks, now I am as well.
What do we do, how bad is it, we are horrible people if we go on vacation and our dog is sick.
I speak with the kennel people and since our vet is right next door to them and they have the authority to bring her there, they will try to arrange that.

Now I am really feeling anxious.

The kennel calls back a little later and they've arranged to bring her to the vet but they're not sure if the vet will be able to see her tonight. So we still don't know much and still don't know what we should do about it.
When we get to the hotel, Dave calls the vet and they confirm that the doctor will be in to see her and they will call us back after that.

Now I am sick to my stomach, anxiety about the trip, worry about my baby girl and just an overall bad feeling that I can't seem to shake and finally the waterfall of tears.

Dave is a great guy, he just lets me get it all out without trying to stress me out about making any more decisions and then the vet calls.
She thinks that Roxie will be OK, she has given her IV's and they will keep her overnight and see what happens. Dave explains that we are due to fly out tomorrow morning early and she says that she'll call once she's seen her and leave a VM if necessary.

So now Dave and I try to get bed early Friday night because again - the flight is at 5:00 am and we need to wake up at 2:30 to check our bags and get through security.
It is a restless sleep for both of us but probably more so for me - it takes everything I have to think of things other than the things that are on my mind.

Overall our check-in, and security process is smooth and we board our first flight to Miami and head out. Once in Miami we check and there's no word yet from the vet but it is still early.
So, we board our flight to Belize and arrive at what is 10:00 (central no DST). Our phones only work via wi-fi but there is none at the airport or our car rental place so we pick up our car and stick to our plan which is to head out to the Belize Zoo.
The zoo is nice, a little overpriced but if we wanted, we could have stayed there longer but we are also hot and tired and so we head out to Corozal which is about 2 1/2 hours away.
We get to our rental and the manager is telling us things and we are like yeah, yeah, Dave only wants to get connected to check his voice mail and I only want to pass out.
Well, Dave does get his VM and the vet said that Roxie is doing better and they are going to keep her one more night to make sure she is really turning around and then they'll bring her back to the kennel.
Now we have to go out and find groceries and a place to eat and I'm so tired now that I'm not in the mood for either so we drive around a bit and every place that Dave points out I just shrug and say sure, whatever.
Finally we stop, get our groceries, bring them back to the cottage and then go get some food.
The food was good although I ate very little because almost as soon as I started eating, I was full....Dave really enjoyed his chicken with rice and beans though so that's good.
We head back to the cottage, shower off the past 24 hours of sweat and tears and head to bed early to catch up on some sleep.

This morning things look a little brighter, Dave made our usual vaca breakfast (yummy) and the vet called and said that Roxie is doing much better so they will bring her back to the kennel today.

So, while for me this was the roughest start I've ever had to a vacation, things are better today and now we will begin our adventures albeit maybe a day late.

Here We Go Again

So, Dave and I are off again.......

In our quest to find a nice laid back affordable place to retire early, we are now heading to see what Belize may have to offer.
As some may know, we have gone to Costa Rica twice, each time traveling to different areas to try to see if there was one that would fit us best. There is much to like about CR and it is not totally off the list but if we will be retiring in the next few years we are interested in a nice Caribbean beach vibe and there is not as much of that in CR.

Next on the list then is Belize. This country hasn't been high on my list because the country is a little more expensive for the most desired areas to live: Placencia, Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye and the countries health care is a bit behind other countries in Central America. On the flip side, it is English speaking, it is close to Mexico which has excellent health care and even though many areas are becoming more traveled, it seems like there are still plenty of times in which the visitors are fewer and things seem more slower paced.
So, we'll be spending our time in 2 different areas. The first will be in the farthest north area in Corozal which is on the bay of Chetumal and just minutes to the Mexican border. It is still a very laid back less developed area so it will be a good test for us to see if we can handle that type of environment.
Our next stop will take us to Ambergris Caye which is the busier of the northern cayes and will give us a good idea of what our real costs could be if we chose to live on an island.

Aside from all this let's find a place to live stuff, it is still vacation so we hope to see a few things, do a few things and take a few pictures along the way.

In typical style (although not entirely my fault - thanks American Airlines) - our flight out is at 5:00AM Saturday morning - Dave is not impressed!!!

Stayed tuned and see what exciting (or maybe not-so exciting) adventures that Dave and I might stumble into.