Chillax

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So the reality of the blog is that this wonderful trip is now over by about 2 weeks...but I still have 2 more posts to do! So here goes:

Chill out. Relax. Chillax!

The Official Mom Section of the trip began in Belize City. I arrived early to the airport with my iPod and waited for her arrival. Although a bit late, she finally came drudging out of the passenger area and bellows "You don't know the HeLL I have just been through!" Yowza! Turns out the customs guy wanted a specific location for her 1st night in Belize. Amidst all the hubbub, she could only assure this man that her son was waiting on the other side of the door with all of the appropriate information. He graciously wandered around to find me but somehow came back empty handed. After several more pleading attempts (I think she paid him off) he let her pass.....just in time to see some random person walking off with her bags! WAIT! Fortunately, this random person was an airline rep cleaning up the leftover bags...Phew! The adventure begins!

We high-tailed it over to the water taxis to take us to the allegedly more upscale San Pedro on Ambergris Caye (pronounced "key"). Being a Bold Mom, she agreed to continue my previous groups improv style travel that frowned upon making advance plans. So we arrive to the island with no hotel. As became a theme on this trip, our fellow passengers were always surprised to hear our lack of accommodation. Lucky for us this usually means we get "Walk-in" rates instead of inflated u.s. travel agency rates. We found a nice beach front hotel (by far the nicest amenities and beds I had been around all trip) and settled in. A few peculiar things about the room included a gusting hurricane sound that happened whenever we left our screen porch open. It was dramatically loud and spooky. Additionally, the power would turn on and off for the entire island every few hours. Apparently they have problems with the humid air and the power-lines.

One thing was immediately clear about San Pedro...tourists love golf carts. Nothing spells vacation like blasting around a tropical island in a mini automobile! Although it is a tad annoying dodging these reckless cubes of death as a pedestrian, the story changes once you are behind the wheel. So we took the guilty plunge and wrangled ourselves a vehicle. We buzzed around town for a bit amidst the 100's of other carts. This grew old pretty quickly, so we decided to head south. This was clearly the road less traveled. As we left the bustle of the city behind, we were surrounded by only beautiful coast and meager houses and food shacks of the locals. There were virtually no other carts around. Not yet satisfied, we blasted all the way north on the island to scope out some of the ultra fancy resorts that the likes of JULIA ROBERTS sometimes stays. This required finding a hidden bridge crossing that was protected by a bridge toll man of sorts. We did not see this man on the way up and so got by without paying the toll. On the way back, we are happily blasting off the bridge when we hear a bunch of hootin and hollerin behind us. This man clearly thinks we are bandits and is demanding money. His story is backed up by a giant sign hanging on the bridge that describes the toll process. Another brush with the law! The journey was long and hot and we started running low on gas. Although we spotted no celebrities, it was a swell time.

The next day we organized a trip to Hol Chan Reserve. With a bit of prodding, mom agreed to do a bit of snorkeling while I did some scuba diving. Perhaps part of the reason she agreed to the trip was that she imagined herself floating gently among a few pretty fish in shallow water beside the beach. The reality was that this reserve is out in the middle of the ocean (protected by a reef) and is nick named Shark and Ray alley. She toughed it out and actually did great. Although she had a few snorkel breathing problem at first, she was reaching out to pet these giant docile Sting Rays in no time. The dive was extraordinary. Perhaps some of the most fish I have ever seen on 1 dive.

The NExt day we organized a trip to the Lamanai Ruins. I had considered making the trip back to the border of Guatamala to see the Tikal ruins, but flights from Belize no longer make that route and the bus trips would have been a bit brutal for our shortish time frame. These ruins turned out to be excellent. We took a rad speed boat trip through thick Mangroves where we saw some Crocs lounging about the edges. We stopped at a small village with no electricity or running water. We were able to visit a bit with the locals, eat some food and buy a few handmade crafts. Another boat ride later and we arrive at the site of the ruins. One of the most striking parts for me was how these giant structures were nearly invisible from the river even though they were just at the waters edge. This was obviously done strategically to remain unseen to the casual passerby while still having easy access to the water. At one point in the journey, 2 families of howler monkeys were screaming at each other for territory. Hearing these guys is always a treat.

Ready for something new, the next day we took the short water taxi ride to Caye Caulker. I quite enjoyed this island with Dave and crew and didn't mind returning at all. The chilled out atmosphere was much more my style than the more resorty-ness of San Pedro. We spent lots of time Chillaxing here after our site-seeing hustle of the last few days. One bit of energy I did exert came in the form of a Kite-Surfing lesson. For those who don't participate in high adventure water sports on a daily basis, Kite-Surfing is where you strap a giant parachute type sail to your torso and fly it high above your head. Then you strap your feet into a surfboard device and let the air whiz you around the ocean. Yee-haw! I have been warned of the extreme difficulty of this recreational activity, but I was determined to give it a try. Lo and behold it is hard, but also loads of fun! I got to what they call "body-dragging" pretty quickly in the 1st lesson and the instructor said I show promise. Sadly that day was the end of the season, so now I must decide if I want to continue this adventure back in LA.

While we were there, the lovely Hurricane Alma peeked its powerful wind and water into our vacation. One particularly interesting moment came during dinner at a nearly unprotected restaurant. No walls and barely a roof. I swore the whole place was going to blow away as we sipped our Conch soup. Mother Nature!

Next up....Costa Rica!

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