Caye Caulker (Belize)

Our first morning in Caye Caulker, Jared woke up early to catch his scuba boat out to the Great Blue Hole. After a bit more sleep, Nicole and I got up and did some laundry...in a sink! It makes it so much easier when there is a sink, plus all of our clothes stunk and were still wet from Tulum, so we were able to give them a relatively good soak. Clint woke up around 10am and headed off to one of the backpackers hostels we had heard about to see if they had room for us; staying at hostels allows for a certain amount of socializing that hotels do not. Bella's Backpackers had a cabin for us, so we packed up all our bags, Clint threw Jared's entire pack on his back along with his own (quite the feat), and we walked over to the other side of the island. The accommodations were pretty standard: hammocks, grilling area etc so we were happy. After fully sweating ourselves through, we headed out for brunch at a small Labanese place. Clint headed to the beach area, while Nicole and I went back to the hostel to use a FREE canoe!! We started out great, very calm waters. Then we hit the area with a small passage to the other side of the island and the wind and waves kicked in. After a couple minutes, we paused and nearly got brought out to sea by the strong current, so we had to high-tail it into rowing gear and get ourselves through the channel. Finally making it over, I jumped out and strung up the canoe allowing for a bit of easy swimming. We opted to head back to the hostel and return the canoe instead of attempting to continue as the wind and waves were really giving us a beating. Then we just walked back over to the beach area and laid out and relaxed a bit in the sun. Jared came back from his scuba trip around 5pm, and apparently they served rum punch on the boat ride back! He had a great time, and was not at all prepared for the rapid-fire interrogation Nicole and I gave him. After gathering himself a bit, he was able to describe what he did and showed us some of his awesome pictures. That night we went to dinner with a fellow hosteler we had actually initially met in Mexico City. We got talked into a buffet, which ended up being pretty lackluster, but we did at least get our money's worth! That night we went to bed pretty early in preparation for our snorkeling trip the next morning. Belize is an hour ahead, and we have been pretty early risers thus far, so we had no issues the next morning. We grabbed a really yummy and cheap breakfast on our way to the meeting area, where we found that Jared and Clint were basically the only guys in a slew of girls...apparently snorkeling is a women's sport. It was probably the most excited they've been about any venture thus far. We loaded up our sail boat and headed out. It was an absolutely perfect day for sailing. We hit three sites along the way, the first chockerblock full of sealife and really colorful coral. The second was with reef sharks and stink rays (which everyone loved, but sacred the be-jesus out of me), and the third a guided tour around the channel area, where the captain showed us all the different types of fish and sea life, and we got to swim with turtles! The whole thing was AMAZING!!! (I feel like I'm using the word "amazing" a lot, i'll have to reread this). They gave us lunch after the first snorkel, and then ceviche and unlimited rum punk the way back, so needless to say it was great fun. The group we used, Raggamuffin, we all highly recommend! After the long day, we were all pretty pooped, though all of us were super sun-conscious, so luckily we were safe there. We headed to bed pretty early.

Belize (Belize)

Yesterday morning we headed out from Tulum. We ended up having a great time there, and meeting some really fun people. We were lucky that we had enough to time to wait out the rain and see everything the area had to offer. We packed up the car and started the drive down to Belize. We ended up making it all the way to the border before remembering that we forgot to return our unnecessary brake pads back to Autozone, so we had to hook a U-turn and explain to the officers who wanted to search our car that we would be right back...we promised (insert genuine-nonthreatening smile).
  After we finished with Autozone, we headed back to the border and into Belize. The border was relatively hassle-free. We did have to all get out, and they seemed to ask us questions in a very accusatory fashion as they searched our belongings, but again a smile and relaxed behavior works almost every time. We stopped to grab some car insurance, and proceeded into the country. Belize is a pretty poor country, and the roads spoke to that. The conditions we pretty crappy; not completely wretched and dangerous, but just not as well kept as those in Mexico. Using my trusty Lonely Planet forum, I had found a place for us to store our car while we hopped over to Caye Caulker for the weekend. After a lot of searching and asking many strangers, we finally found the house of the man that owned the storage facility, Edgar. Business is conducted very differently with this man. First off, he is an amazing bargain, and after talking to him, we realized he was fully aware of that fact, but wanted to provide a service people needed. After hollaring outside of his house for a bit, a man finally came to the door of the second story and told us to come in. Jared and I went into Edgar's actual home, while Nicole and Clint waited in the car. There was Edgar: pretty massive, shirt-less and hard of hearing. So he yelled as he explained that he would happily store our car for super cheap and even drive us into the city to the ferry and pick us up when we came back. Things don't always turn out how you think though, sometimes for the better! After driving the car into the private storage facility, we headed into Belize City to catch the ferry, and Edgar discovered that the last ferry had actually already departed. He recommended we not stay in Belize City, so he dropped us off at a cheap hotel back by the storage facility and waited for us as we dropped off our bags. He then took us to a yummy restaurant called Manatee Lookout, where apparently you can sometimes see some manatees...and dead bodies...not kidding. Luckily, no dead bodies, just yummy food, good local beer, and a great view of the Belize River. While there we met a nice Canadian/British couple who had moved down 2 decades ago and had taken up leisure and competitive canoeing along the river. They invited Nicole and I to join their team's morning workout! After dinner, we made the short walk back to the hotel, and called it a night for our early morning!
Today, Nicole and I woke up at 4:45 to get ready to meet our canoeing "instructors" at 5:15 at the docks. Soon after, Jared informed us that Belize is an hour behind, and we had in fact woken up at 3:45. Ug. Round 2 an hour later, and we met up with some of the people on the canoe team, endearingly named Grumpy "Old" Men, with the "old" circled and crossed out.  We took about an hour long, vigorous canoe ride up and down the Belize River and got to see howler monkeys, and pick mangoes right off the trees! We were pretty pooped and super sweaty after our 4.5 mile ride, but it was really fun and gorgeous!!!


   Jared had actually been invited as well, but ended up opting for sleep at the last minute. After our ride, we headed back to the hotel for a little nap and then free breakfast right in time for Edgar to arrive. We packed up his car and headed out for the morning ferry to Caye Caulker. An easy boat ride and we arrived. We walked around a bit, looking for the best deal and settled on a nice hotel. The island was swealtering, and our un-air-conditioned room did not make it any better, so we stripped down to bare essentials, and headed out. We went looking for a company that would take Jared on a dive to the Great Blue Hole. After a bit of shopping around, he signed up for a dive and then we all signed up for a snorkeling trip on Sunday.
  After the essentials were completed we got to leisure time. Shockingly, there is not really a sprawling beach area here, but there are lot of docks so everyone seems to congregate around one and get to basking. At some point the boys headed out and Nicole and I continued to relax and listen to music until hunger set in.
We headed back to the hotel, meeting up with Jared along the way, and catching a bit of a local soccer game, before making it back and picking up Clint. We grabbed a super yummy dinner of baracuda steak, curry shrimp and jerk chicken! Then we came back to the hostel and took a dip in the pool, playing a pretty epic game of Sharks and Minnows. All laying around now, playing on our Internet devices before bed.