Monday, October 12, 2009

UnBelizeable

I waited WAY too long to make this blog update. Sorry about that.

Let me tell you about our recent trip to Belize.
Belize, for those who do not know, is a small country just South of Mexico, and just East of Guatemala. It has an ancient history in the Mayan culture and parts of it were once major ports for the Mayan civilization.

When we first got to Belize, we flew into Belize City and stayed one night on the mainland. After that, we took a boat to the resort island of Ambergris Caye. Everything was very laid back on the island. There were cars, but most people drove golf carts around. In fact, one of the first people we met on a golf cart was a guy from Michigan.

He owned a restaurant on the island called Sunset Grill. As we were trying to make the long walk from out hotel to the "downtown" area, he offered to give us a ride into town on his golf cart. Being the trusting folks we are, we accepted. As he took us into town, he gave us a tour and told us a little about the history of the town and how he had found himself living here after so long in the US. The tour ended, of course, at his restaurant. We had lunch here, mostly as a courtesy to him, but also because it was lunch time. One of the neat things about the restaurant is the location. It was right on the water. Not only that, but the place had a group of Tarpon that basically hung out around the restaurant and waited to get fed. BY HAND!

Molly and I both tried it out.
But the owner was much more comfortable feeding and grabbing the fish right out the water. Very cool!
The next day we took a LONG boat ride back to the mainland, and up a river to the Mayan ruins at Lamanai. This place was on the river, and was a major trading port for the Mayans to trade jade and other goods. It consisted of a bunch of temples (Jaguar Temple, Mask Temple, High Temple) and also a ball court, courtyard and other ruins. The cool thing is that most of the site had not even been excavated yet. There were still lots of ruins which were covered by trees and earth. So in 20 years, we could go back and get to see, basically, a whole new set of ruins.

The next day it was back out on the boat to go snorkeling. I can't do scuba diving, so snorkeling is our only option to explore the sea. We saw lots of fish, some nurse sharks and even a sea turtle. My 1st time seeing a sea turtle! (Thanks to Cap'n Ron over at Reef Adventures for setting up our excursions)

All in all we had a great time. We love traveling to new countries and experiencing new cultures. We picked up a great Habanero Hot Sauce that we've been putting on everything called Marie Sharps. For under $1200 (2 round-trip flights, hotel & excursions) in total, the trip was easily one of the cheapest we have been on, and was well worth the money.

Here are some other photos from our trip:
My 1st Belikin Beer (The Beer of Belize!)

Molly enjoying a fruity island beverage.

The Jaguar Temple at the Lamanai Ruins.

Me on the steps of the Jaguar Temple.

The steps up/down the High Temple.

Molly and I at the top of the High Temple.

A ball court at the ruins. (Sometimes they would kill the winners as a sacrifice to the Gods. Other times, they would kill the losers. Not my kind of game).

Molly outside our hotel (Banana Beach Resort in San Pedro)

Just Us.

Friday, October 2, 2009