Saturday - Lightening and Thunder and Dangriga We landed in Belize City on the 17th and quickly got a cab to the bus station. Belize City was a place we didn't want to stay long. It is a dangerous, dirty city in a country full of beautiful sites. We took a bus to Dangriga, where we thought we had a hotel reservation. By the time the bus got moving it was night (I forgot that it gets dark much earlier when near the equator). There was an incredible lightening and thunderstorm - so incredible that I asked one of the locals if it was normal, because I was getting worried. Adrienne noticed that there were also lightning bugs in the bushes - they winked at us in between bright bolts. We had quite a show riding in a bus going 70 miles an hour on a windy road surrounded by jungle in the middle of a storm! Once we arrived in Dangriga we found out from locals that the place we had a reservation for was a 15 minute cab ride and we decided to stay in Dangriga. We also found out that the buses don't run on Sunday and that we were stuck in Dangriga until Monday (my travel book was almost completely useless :)). Luckily, we were on the bus with the right people and the bus driver, a tour guide, and a very friendly good-hearted guy helped us find a hotel and told us about the things we could do in Dangriga during our lay over. We chose to take a boat to Tobacco Caye (pronounced key), a small island about an hour's boat ride from Dangriga. Sunday - Insane guy and Tobbacco Caye The next morning we could not find a breakfast place and so we ended up getting assistance from this "tour guide"/totally insane guy Charles. Actually, he's one of the many in Belize who approach tourists, shows them around, and then ask for money after. We knew this, but Adrienne needed breakfast and I was in serious need of some coffee (big surprise for anyone who knows me well ;)). Once at the restaurant, I bought Charles breakfast and we hung out and chatted about New York City, his daughter who is the school bully in a Bronx school, homosexuality, being Muslim, drugs (he offered to sell us some), Santa Cruz, and racism. As a side note, Belize men are very vocal. Throughout the trip they were whistling, saying 'hey beautiful', and offering other choice phrases to us that I won't repeat here. So assume this is the backdrop of everyplace we went. As another side note Dangriga has a very interesting history. It is inhabited by the ancestors of free African Americans who used to live on the island of Saint Vincent. Soon, they were kicked out because the slave owners didn't want their slaves to get any ideas and these people (Garfuna they call themselves) began a 100 year pilgrimage until they landed in Dangriga, the only place that let them be. When we arrived they were playing music created in Dangriga called Punta Rock, which is a mix between rock, mariachi music, and reggae. Anyway, we took a very small boat to Tobacco Caye (once again, we thought we might die - I was sure to put on a life jacket :)). We met a couple of awesome girls from Boston and hung out with them at Tobacco Caye. It is an extremely small island (see See: http://www.scuba-diving-belize.com/) where we laid in hammocks, read, snorkeled (where I got knocked over by the surf, landed on a sea egg and had to get a two inch rock that is still partially there pulled from my thumb...) and mostly took it easy. We weren't ready to take it easy though and left the next morning for San Ignacio. Monday - San Ignacio and more insane guy We took the bus (the bus line is called Novella, a fleet mad up mostly of school buses) to San Ignacio and that took most of the day. Once there, we looked for the cheapest hotel we could find and ended up at the Backpackers Motel. The manager/house cleaner/handy man was another insane guy whose name escapes me right now. I can fairly confidently say that he was more insane than our Dangriga friend Charles. He was an older guy with a nappy beard and the eyes so black that his pupils seemed to glow. Of course, I had to get to know him. Adrienne and I hung out with him a little that night. At dusk, a huge flock of birds came to sit on the telephone lines that connected the hotel to the building across the street. I had never seen so many birds in my life. Adrienne is deathly afraid of mass amount of birds because of an incident she had in Venice (I'll let her tell this one) so she was not too happy about these birds. One came into the hotel and our insane guy caught the bird by its wings and held it to our faces. Of course we screamed for him to let it go and Adrienne made a beeline for our room. After things had calmed down, he told us that the birds were there because of him and that that they follow him wherever he goes. He also spoke of homicide and the motivations for it and about his cousin who is in jail for burglary and battery (yikes). He too offered to sell us drugs (do you see a pattern here?). From our mostly non-sensible conversations with him, I would guess he was a little bit schizophrenic and very lonely. However, the beds were filthy, the place had cockroaches, the back flight of stairs that we had ventured down earlier that day were decaying, and he was a little scary. Adrienne and I vowed to get out as soon as possible and cough up the extra $5 for a nicer place. In the meantime, we signed up for a tour. Originally, we were going to go cave tubing, but the woman (later we found out the owner's sister) at this place called Mayawalk convinced us to go on the Achtun cave tour. Tuesday - Achtun Cave and human remains The tour was incredible - one of the most memorable days I've had. Just by luck, we were the only two taking the tour and got a private tour with our excellent tour guide, but not so excellent driver, Eddie. Eddie got us stuck in the mud first thing in the morning, but the walk on the road in the blistering sun and the effort to try to get the truck out was well worth it. We hiked through the jungle the first 45 minutes (wading across a river 3-4 times on the way), during which Eddie ate termites from a termite nest (supposedly, they have a lot of protein and taste like peanut butter - Eddie tried to get me to eat some, but I decided I would wait to see when I was actually lost in the jungle starving ;)).  Once at the mouth of the cave, we ate lunch next to the creek that went through it. After lunch, we swam, Adrienne and I wearing our bikinis and hard hats with lights on them) through the cave entrance and to the other side. We then splunked/swam our way to ancient Mayan sacrificial grounds - the crystal cathedral. The Mayans believed that caves were passageways to the underworld, and they performed all of their sacrifices in caves. They also only sacrificed royalty (a time in history where being white (or brown ;)) trash was a benefit) - being sacrificed was a great honor for Mayans because they believed those sacrificed skipped hell and pergatory and went directly to heaven. Anyway, we were right next to all of the artifacts and human remains - I accidently stepped on someone's femur :( (this would have never happened in the U.S) and it was just the three of us. There were 5 or 6 levels of caves that we ventured through. At one point, Eddie had us turn off our lights (he was trying to scare us) and had us edge along the wall of the cave - after a minute or so Adrienne freaked out and she turned on her light. When we turned around, we saw the skeleton of a woman - her jaw open in a scream and her arms and legs stretched out as if grasping. We were both a little shocked- those Mayans didn't play around when they sacrificed people. Later, we found out that we weren't even supposed to be in the other layers of the caves because the archeologists were in the middle of a dig - I hope we didn't get Eddie in trouble. Here's a link if you want to check it out the cave and some of what we saw: http://www.mayawalk.com/actun.html That night, we went to the movies and saw some bizarre horror flick. The movie theater screen was about the size of a large screen TV here and the theater was a bunch of chairs set up, it's amazing how interesting the little differences are when traveling. Wednesday - Mayan temples and karaoke Wednesday, we journeyed into Guatemala and saw Tikal, which I believe is the largest Mayan city known of at this time. Once again, we lucked out and got a private tour with Edgar. Unfortunately, Eddie was the driver, but he got us to the border safely and partially redeemed himself. Once in Tikal, we climbed the giant steps of the temples that towered over the jungle. Edgar told us stories of when he lived in Tikal - he strongly believed that Tikal was haunted and said that he and many others who live there have been visited by Mayan ghosts.. Check out this link to find out more about Tikal: http://www.destination360.com/tikal/guide.htm. On the way back, we stopped at a small store and purchased hand made blankets and hammocks. The contrast between Belize and Guatemala is pretty immediate. There are 8 women to every 1 man in Guatemala because of the warfare that has been waged the past decade there. Guatemalans are much poorer than Belizeans and we saw families of 10-12 living in small huts along the roadside. Soldiers walk the roadside wearing camoflauge and carrying automatic weapons. A couple of months before we went to Guatemala, a dozen tourists had been held captive in Tikal by the guerillas. As a side note, a man (a local Belizean) we met on the plane flying to Belize told us that he and his friends had been held at gunpoint by guerillas in Guatemala. He said the guerillas were actually very polite - they apologized, but said that they needed to support their families somehow and told the man and his friends that they needed to hand over their money and that if they didn't, they would be shot. The guerillas, out of respect, didn't search the women, thanked the group, and left. Anyway, the night after visiting Tikal, Adrienne and I ran into an archeologist and his friend who we had met on our trek to the Achtun cave outside of Mayawalk, where we were now staying. He convinced us to go out and sing karaoke with him and the locals and pretty soon we were sitting in a bar (the only tourists, which was the case for most of the first part of our trip) and then singing karaoke. Cameron (the archeologist) insisted that I sang The Rose, which seems to be the Belize national anthem. Adrienne and I agree that it is a boring song, but afterward I had a circle of people around me telling me how beautiful it was and what a wonderful song so I figure that Cameron made a considerate choice for me. Adrienne sang a little Pat Benatar and danced around the floor like a cheerleader as we cheered her on. We walked back to the hotel under a light rain and I fell immediately to sleep (the rum helped do the trick!) By the way, if any of you travel to Belize, be sure to check out Mayawalk in San Ignacio for tours and accommodations. It is a family-run, honest, well-run business. Thursday - Pastries and Chinese Food The next morning we got up early so that we could go to a place that we saw sold doughnuts (this was the first and only place of the sort that we saw on the trip and I'm a bit of an addict). The doughnuts looked good, but were the worst tasting doughnuts I have ever had in my life. They were made with nutri-sweet and very cakey, but the woman who cooked them was a single mother and very sweet and so we smiled and ate the doughnuts. We then took the bus to Orange Walk because Aaron, the owner of Mayawalk, told us that Lannai would be a good place to visit (another of the ruins). Orange Walk is a town on the borders of Mexico and Guatemala. Almost everyone speaks Spanish there and they are mostly of Indian or Latina descent; however, their businesses were a bit interesting. Mostly middle eastern people owned the stores and the only kind of restaurants we could find were Chinese restaurants. I asked a local about this and he said that Belizeans in Orange Walk are too lazy to work so hard and so they leave it up to others to run the businesses and instead just go for the tourists. Friday - Boat tours and Howler monkeys Next day, we went to Lannai. To get there we took a speed boat down a river that is full of crocodiles and next to the jungle with a lot of other wild animals. We saw a bird species that the female is the hunter/gatherer and has several partners. The males stay at the nest and take care of the babies. (Howler monkeys below are the reverse of this). Belize is an incredible natural reservoir. 81% of its rain forests are now protected and they have a zero tolerance policy for those who violate these laws. It was nice to see a country taking a proactive measure and understanding the value of the jungle. Once in Lannai, we walked through more Mayan sites, most of which have not been and will not be excavated. The temples looked like small hills since the jungle had completely overtaken them. On the trail, we also checked out a couple of Howler monkeys. They were across from each other in trees and yelling at each other. The Howler monkeys are patriarchal and one male resides over several females - this makes them very territorial. Soon, we took the boat back and spent a couple of hours watching television (this was the first and only room we stayed in that had television and Orange Walk didn't have much to do anyway) and then headed down to a dock on the river as the sun set (with layers of bug spray of course). Then there was another incredible lightening and thunderstorm that Adrienne stayed up to watch, but I was out by 9pm and missed most of it. Saturday - white sand beaches and obnoxious neighbors Our final leg of the journey took us to Caye Caulker, what some call the "backpackers" Caye, but which I like to refer to as the Rasta Caye because of the exceedingly large number of dreadlocks and pictures of Bob Marley. We spent 6 days there and it was truly beautiful (I'll send pics later). When we went to a cafe, Ricael, the café manager, invited us to a birthday party for one of the locals. We went to the party where there were drummers and dancing. We also got a free golf cart ride when I wanted to get my camera (there are no cars allowed on Caye Caulker). Later, when we went back to the hotel we had a nasty incident with our neighbors. It was two guys from Texas and they got very drunk and decided it was a good idea to walk into our room without knocking. Needless to say, we were angry, kicked them out, and locked the door. That night, we heard them talking about us and snorting a lot of cocaine until about 4am. Thankfully, they left the next morning and the rest of the stay we spent in peace. Sunday - snorkeling and swimming with sharks The next day, thanks to the recommendation of a couple of girls we met at the party from Louisana, we visited San Pedro (on a different Caye), snorkeled the reef, swam with and pet nurse sharks and sting rays, and saw a couple of Manoties. It was a great day. We were exhausted and went to bed early and decided to be mellow the next day. Monday - R&R We read, laid in the sun, swam, and hung out on Monday. One day of mellowness was plenty for us, and we signed up for a scuba diving trip to the Blue Hole the following day. Tuesday - Change of plans I had some problems sleeping that night (loud neighbors and insomnia) and so at 5 am when we were supposed to go, I decided to opt out and go diving the next day. An hour or so later, Adrienne was back. Three people didn't show up and so the trip was cancelled. We went down to the scuba place and verified that I definitely would be going the next day. We tried to go sailing, but the wind wasn't very strong. We almost got a free sailing trip by talking with a few people who had just gotten to Caye Caulker, but they were heading one-way to San Pedro so we had to pass. Finally, we decided to go sea kayaking. We kayaked around about 1/2 of the island, getting out to swim once in a while and stopping at this structure on stilts that we are still not sure what was used for, and then came back and hung out with a few locals we had met - Carlos, Carlos, and Carlos (who took us on the snorkeling trip) and Heather and Kristin - the girls from Louisana. We all sat in chairs on the main street, listened to the reggae music that blasted constantly from speakers in Caye Caulker, and watched people as they passed by. I almost felt local. J Wednesday - Diving and Nitrous Narcosis We went to bed early because of the diving the next day, woke up at 5:25 (we were supposed to be there at 5:30), rushed to get ready and then ran the 3/4 mile or so to the diving company. We were just in time to have some coffee and fruit and board the boat. The boat trip out to the Blue Hole was about 2 hours over some huge waves. All the tourists were hanging on for dear life, but the dive master who wasn't driving the boat laid down for a nap. Finally, we reached the Blue Hole. I was a little nervous at first, but as soon as we went under and I saw the tropical fish, the reef, and the 100 foot visibility, I forgot to be nervous. We went all the way down to 140 feet. There were stalactites hanging from the sunken reef (at these depths, it used to be a cave) and 10-20 feet below us about a dozen very large reef sharks that were checking us out. I started feeling a little giddy (nitrous narcosis) and almost took off my regulator to talk about the sharks to my buddy when I realized that I was not thinking rationally. We went up 20 feet or so and then I was ok. Here are Blue Hole pics and information if you are interested: http://www.ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/greatbluehole.html. Next, we went on a 70-foot reef dive where we saw a lot of exotic fish, some sting rays, some eels, and crabs. We swam through a small crevice and then gradually made our way up. On the last dive, we went down 50-60 feet and saw the coolest turtle. It was huge and swimming mellowly through the water - it is my favorite animal. :) Another incredible day and we wished we'd allotted more time for diving in Belize. After diving, we arranged to meet everyone we dove with for drinks that night at Oceanside, a local bar, and offered to treat our dive masters for saving Adrienne's life (a story in it's own that I will let her tell). That night, the dive masters complained that the visibility was only 100 feet and the day was awful!! (for non-diver's - average visibility in Monterey is ~10 feet). We hola hooped and chatted and Adrienne got a free t-shirt from the bar (I'll let her tell that story too). We then decided to go down the road to INNAI - a bar that had swings for seats and a monkey walk. At midnight, while sitting on chairs and laying in hammocks. We sang happy birthday to Adrienne and I breathed in the last night in Belize. Thursday - Back home. Next day we took a boat to Belize City and flew back to California. And that's it, hope I didn't bore you with all the details - but you asked! :) Fawn