We got up this morning and started packing. Steve and I went out early for breakfast at the Cuban place. Shortly after we returned, Matt and Colleen came out. The consensus was that today’s goal would be to find a nicer place to stay. They left me at the hotel to watch our things.
Their first stop was the hotel by the Blue Water Café. Sadly, they were booked, but they referred us to their associated suites a ways down the beach. After walking down the beach for more than the suggested four or five minutes, the group decided they were lost and Colleen went in to another hotel to ask directions.
The woman behind the desk was very nice. She gave Colleen directions, but also told her that there were rooms available in her hotel. The rest is history. After a quick tour of the rooms, they booked the rest of the week. They were driven by one of the hotel staff to our old hotel. We very quickly finished packing. They took our luggage to the hotel with Matt, then came back for us. Was I pleasantly surprised!
Our new rooms are spacious and very clean. Not a cockroach in sight! We each have a king size bed which is very comfortable. There is a fully-equipped kitchen in each room, too. We have a quiet, very effective air conditioner and two wonderful ceiling fans. Plus, there are big windows all around. Our front two picture windows look out onto the pool area, the beach, and the Caribbean. Breakfast is also included. The whole package is a slice of heaven, and for very little more than we were paying. Life is so good.
The other hotel finally agreed to refund our money, after seeing Matt videotaping the room and hotel surrounds…
After lunch at the end of “our” pier at “Wet Willie’s”, a relaxing swim and a short nap, Steve, Colleen, and I went looking for fish to grill on the barbecue on the pool deck. We walked through a neighborhood and asked one of the locals resting on his deck where we could buy some fresh fish. He said, teasing, that we would have to catch them, but then said that we should meet the fishermen at their boats when they come in between 7:30 and 9:00 the next morning. That wouldn’t do us much good for that night’s dinner, so we asked about lobster. He directed us south in a very general way, which seems to be the norm here on Belize, and we went hunting. We finally found the lobster store, tucked back behind a house, and bought four very nice lobster tails that had been caught today. They added up to 1 ½ pounds, and cost us $16 U.S. Not bad, eh? We went to a supermarket and bought other things for a delicious dinner, including the makings for a yummy rum punch, and headed back to the hotel.
Our dinner consisted of grilled lobster tails basted in garlic butter and lime juice, with pasta also dressed with garlic butter and lime. We forgot to buy a vegetable, but figured our very large glass of fruit juice-based rum punch filled that food group pretty well. We all decided it was the best meal we have had yet!
All in all, this was a spectacular day in the tropics. And it was QUIET when we went to bed! We are happy campers.
J
une 18, 2008We got up very early for our adventure today. We were headed to some Mayan ruins, called Xunant
unich (pronounced Shoo-nan-toe-neech), and then to a national park to go tubing down a river through limestone caves. Our San Pedro connection picked us up at the hotel at 7:30, drove us to the airport, gave us breakfast, and we caught the 8:00 plane to the mainland. There we were picked up in an air conditioned van and driven almost all the way across Belize to the Mayan site. The driver was very knowledgeable, and gave us all sorts of information about the country and the sights we were seeing. When we arrived at the site, we had to go across the river on a ferry. It was run by cranking this gizmo by hand—no motor at all. We got out of the van and walked onto the ferry, then the van drove on and away we went. Very cool.
Our guide was a Mayan man who is descended from royalty. He took us all around the site and gave us amazing information not only about the site itself, but about Mayan culture and how it is m
anifested today by the descendents of those who built the incredible structures. We were actually only a ridge away from Guatemala at Xunantunich—we could see it from the top of the temple. 
If you look closely at the last picture, you will see two soldiers with automatic weapons near the top of the temple. They are part of the Belize Border Guard. Because we were less than a mile from the Guatamala border, and right on the edge of what they call "No Man's Land" where neither country is in charge and just about anything goes, they patrol the area 24-7 to insure the safety of tourists and to catch Guatamalans coming across illegally. When I asked if I could take their pictures, the front guy posed a la Rambo with his weapon.
When we left there, we had a traditional Belize lunch of rice and beans and chicken with (amazingly enough) potato salad. It was very good. We then drove to the national park, changed into swimsuits, grabbed our tubes and headlamps and walked about 20 minutes to the place where the float began. The cave was incredible, with amazing rock structures and even some bats. Being wet was a welcome relief from the heat, too.
By the time we got back to the van, we were running late and didn’t have time to change into dry clothes. Actually, it was fine as we were much cooler sitting in the air conditioning with wet clothes on. We made it back to the airport in Belize City just in time to get into a tiny plane that seated eight passengers and after a very fun 15 minutes in the air, landed back at Ambergris Cay.
We were planning to eat at a place called Elvi’s for dinner, but just as we got there, the power went out. Without fans, the place was sweltering, so we decided to try another place on the beach that was recommended by the couple who went to the ruins with us. It’s called the Blue Water Café, and it was just lovely. Dinner was good, the moon was beautiful as it rose out of the Caribbean.
On Wednesday nights the bar under our hotel holds “The World Famous Chicken Drop.” Neither Colleen or I knew what to expect, but they had awakened us with putting up an awning that morning, so we were afraid it wasn’t going to be good. We checked out hotel room prices by the Blue water Café as a fall-back in case things turned even further south. Sadly, they did.
The Chicken Drop, it turns out, involves a temporary pen being erected around a game board with numbered squares. You buy a ticket and choose a number. If the chicken, when placed gently (we were glad to see) into the pen, poops on your number, you win $100. That’s the “Drop” part. There was also a band that played until late, then the bar turned the music up again. It was not fun. When we found another cockroach in our room, we had had it.
June 17, 2008
Today we spent roaming around the quaint little town of San Pedro. Steve and I got up early and found a place where we could get some barely acceptable coffee and a cinnamon roll—not an easy thing to do at 6:00 a.m. It seems that the town doesn’t really wake up until 8:00. We went back to the hotel and relaxed on our deck, watching the boats, frigate birds, and early risers go by.
Matt and Colleen surfaced around 8:00 and we had breakfast at a Cuban restaurant. It had toasted homemade bread for starters, followed by a plate of fresh tropical fruit, followed by eggs fried, scrambled or omelet and more toast, and with a small pancake at the end. They also had an espresso machine, so the meal came with a cappuccino. What a way to start the day.
We strolled around for a while, then went back to the room for a rest. Somehow Matt and Colleen ended up strolling by an information kiosk where they were invited to attend a 90 minute timeshare presentation. Now, ordinarily none of us would agree to such a thing, but when they told us all of the things we got just for listening, we couldn’t say no. We took a boat ride north on Ambergris Cay about 10 minutes to Captain Morgan’s. Turns out it’s what one of the two brothers who invented Tombstone Pizza and were bought out by some big corporation I can’t remember the name of for $80 million. He’s got 25 acres of incredible beachfront land.
We were greeted with beers, toured around this beautiful 5 star resort, given a brief and not too high pressure sales pitch (which we all declined, even though the more we said no, the less money we could get in for…imagine that), then set us loose in their restaurant. Finally, they brought each couple a voucher for two for the price of one tour package, another voucher for $25 to cover lunch in their restaurant, and $100 American cash. They told us to enjoy their pool, and let them know when we wanted to return to the pier by our hotel. After a “Tombstone Pizza” now called Captain’s Pizza in Belize, and another beer, Matt and Colleen went for a swim, Steve and I relaxed in the shade and watched the water and the world go by. When we were ready we had a nice boat ride back. We high tailed it back to the kiosk and booked 
our tour for the next day. 
We had dinner at the Caliente, under our rooms. The food was good, and our table was on a deck on the beach. Then we went across the street for ice cream and had it on the deck with the full moon over head.
That night in our hotel was the pits. First, Steve and I had a 2 inch cockroach in our room, which he quickly dispatched. Then the bar next door played very loud music until 1:00 p.m. I had earplugs in, but Steve, Colleen, and Matt all had trouble sleeping. The bed, which was tolerable after a day of tiring travel, was much more uncomfortable. Funky was becoming yucky.
