Belize

Sunday17th

We left Albuquerque at 7:05am and were able to fly first class from ABQ to Dallas and then again from Dallas to Belize. Yup, endless Mimosas, drinks, even a four course Indian Dish!! Fabulous way to start our trip! Rachel and I arrived in Belize City around 3:30 PM, and apparently the city is a little dangerous.  We tried to walk around and find a cheap place before it got dark, but were unsuccessful.  We ended up having a cab driver take us to the 'Bachelor Inn." It was 30$ us dollars, more then we were expecting, but the nice part was that we were the only ones in the Hotel and there was a rooftop that we could hang out on.  We drank some beer on the roof and called it an early night.

Monday 18th

The next day, we wanted to get out of the city and move onto the Island of Caye Calker.  It was 17$ round trip and took and hour and fifteen.  We found a hostel that allowed us to tent camp on their property for 5$.  By the end of the night there were five other campers.  There is a public swimming beach that we went to later.  The water was crazy warm and clear as glass.

 

Tuesday 19th,Rachel and I started the day off perfect with a lobster omelet. toast, fruit, coffee for 5$, not bad at all.  Later we decided that we wanted to go on a half day snorkeling tour, we were willing to pay up to 40$ for the tour, but it turns out that 20$ was just enough.  Belize is home to the worlds 2nd largest array of coral reef and we witnessed this first hand.  There were three stops on the trip.  the first: Sting ray alley-  four feet of water, 1.5 miles from the coast, blue/clear water, and 70 or so huge (3 feet) stingrays and 15+ sharks.  The guide were chumming the water and the rays and sharks loved it...so did we.  The rays didn't even care that we were there.  They would brush past our legs and the guides let us pet them.  It was unreal!  At first is was a little daunting because we thought we were going to step on a ray or shark and get bit, but after 20 mins or so it was all second nature.  The next two stops were to see the coral reef.  We were in open water and at some points the water was 60+ feet deep. The reef was beautiful and full of life. There were fish of all different colors and shapes and we even saw a more eel.  We didn't want to leave, but our 3 hour tour was over and we headed back to land.    Also, the place that we are camping at has some sea canoes that we can take out for free.  Naturally Rachel and I had never canoed in the open ocean before, but free is far too good of a deal to pass up.  We had a go at it, and after 30 minutes we got the hang of it.  The ride was very peaceful but tiring.  We were probably out on the ocean for an hour and a half, and that was plenty.  That was thirty minutes ago.