Flying to Las Vegas

Mt. Rainier from the plane

 Between us, Sarah, Colin and I got a full nights sleep. My contribution to this night was 2 hours. I was up at 3 in the morning getting ready for the trip. I left home and traveled to Colin's house where we met up with Sarah and made our way to the airport. Despite last minute reservations, we were lucky enough to move around after the doors closed and sit in two rows of seats, one behind the other. Both Sarah and I got a window--poor Colin.

Pilazzo lobby fountain.

Our suite at the Palazzo.

View of the strip from our suite.

Time flies.

Fun in Paris.

Start spreading the news; we left today.

We got to Vegas and made our way to the Palazzo, where we checked into our 720 square foot suite on the 32nd floor. We had a great view of Treasure Island, and a marvelous view. After getting unpacked and settled in, we made our way to Caesar's Palace, where we ate at the Bacchanal buffet. We spent somewhere around 2 hours stuffing our faces, and then continued on down the strip, checking out hotels along the way.

Our plan was to hit Fremont Street that night, but with the lack of sleep, extreme heat, and a particular blister on my toe that I had picked up from a 20 mile walk earlier in the week, we decided to call it a day and get some sleep. I was the first to go to bed, but my toe started hurting pretty bad, and I eventually had to make a trip to the drug store to get a sewing kit, some Ibuprofen, and some rubbing alcohol (it was the first alcohol purchased on the trip). Sarah was nice enough to lance me, and things started feeling better immediately. I was the last to fall asleep, though.

Our First Windless Sunny Day

We woke up this morning to beautiful blue skies with little wind. Although it was cold enough that we had to turn the heater on, the skies were as nice as we had seen our entire trip. We had a quick breakfast at the hotel, said our goodbye's to Sarah's parents, and after a bit more reading, headed off to the airport to try to find her lost bag.

De-Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

Today we fly back home. It will actually be a two day journey. I woke up around 4:30 this morning, and we are not due to be landing in San Francisco until about midnight. Don't forget that there is a 2 hour difference. We arrived at the San Pedro airport at 11, so our total trip time will be approximately 14 hours. Tomorrow, Sarah and I will fly back to Seattle.

I'm already starting to miss the beach always in front of me, and the warm wind cooling me. I'm going to miss the wonderful food and spectacular locations, but most of all, I think I will miss the people. Everyone we have met in has been so friendly, whether they were a part of the resorts we have stayed at, or just a random person waving and saying hello on the streets of San Pedro. Oh, yes, and I think I'll miss our creepy little giraffe as well.

We have about 10 minutes before our first flight leaves. That means that they will probably start loading in 5. I just saw it land. They are pretty efficient with these little airlines. Unfortunately, our next stop has about a 4 hour layover, and there is nothing to do in the airport. Fortunately, I have not finished all of my reading.

UPDATE

The stay in the Belize International airport was long--over four hours--but it seemed to go relatively fast. We got there as another flight was getting ready to go, so there were throngs of people and long lines that we seemed to always be at the end of. Once we got through, the line was gone. We found a place that served food, and sat, read, and waited.

Our arrival in Huston Texas was exciting because I was marked for additional screening. This was due to a throwing star that I had bought over 10 years ago in Thailand, and declared when going through customs at the time. I had been told that it was illegal to have in California, and I agreed to allow the officer dispose of it. It had been a rather friendly exchange, and I hadn't heard anything about it since. However, this is what held me up when entering the US this time. It was a bit nerve racking, but the Immigrations agent was friendly all the way through the process, and I was eventually asked if I had a throwing star, and then let in.

Our flight to San Francisco had a delayed departure due to mechanical issues, and the new plane that we took had no entertainment. Thus, the flight was long and boring, with no sleep forthcoming. Although David and Anita got their luggage, something had happened to Sarah's and it got on the wrong plane. We will need to pick it up at the airport tomorrow before completing our trip.

We spent the New Years in the airport waiting for our luggage to come on the conveyor belt, and the only real notice of it was an announcement over the intercom. Once everything was ready, we hopped on a bus, and went to a nearby hotel, where we all collapsed.

Another Lazy Day

Today was another reading day. I am getting antsy to go out and do something, but we sat around reading again. It is nice sitting in the warm weather, despite the constant wind, but I still want to take advantage of being in a foreign country, on an island that I will probably never visit again.

Sarah and I did look into diving, but the wind is too strong and the seas too rough; all of the diving trips are being canceled. I was hoping to do Shark Ray Alley and possibly the Blue Hole, but was told that they probably will not be taking people out diving again until Thursday or Friday. We go home on Thursday.  Parasailing was also canceled because of the wind, although we were told that Jet Skis would be great right now with the waves. They are pretty expensive, but we may have to look into them. We did end up reserving a golf cart for tomorrow (at $90 for a 24 hour period--ouch), and will do some exploring on Monday. 

We have dinner plans coming up in just a little while, and the restaurant is going to send a boat out to our resort to pick us up. It sounds like a fancy place, and the food should be good.

Just off the coast, maybe a mile out, we can see the surf crashing against the barrier reef. There are huge waves, and the reef is the second longest in the world. I would love to get a kayak out to get a little closer, but today was too windy for that as well. Perhaps tomorrow will be better.

Update

We were picked up for dinner by a pretty fast speed boat, and taken along the super-highway that lies between the coastline and the reef. It was dark when we left, and the stars were bright in the sky. The boat was quite fast, and it was a thrilling trip. Coming into the dock, we barely missed ramming a dark boat that was running with no lights. Our captain was quite upset at the other boat, and reasonably so. Dinner at Portofino was good. Sarah and I shared a lobster with angel hair pasta and Aglio Eolio. We each took haft of each dish. The wind was still blowing on the way back, and we had to dodge waves crashing through the cracks of the dock, but the boat ride itself was relatively smooth, with just a bit of spray.

Belize Navidad

First off, I have to apologize for the punny title, but I couldn't resist.

I have spent several Christmases in tropical places. In Hawaii, we tend to go to the beach and snorkel. In Viet Nam, there was a Christmas Eve show. Here, we hardly noticed that it was Christmas. We had no gifts to exchange, and there were minimal decorations. Although it sounds like there was a white Christmas back home, we had a white sand Christmas here. The day was lazy, and I have no pictures to share. We read outside for most of the day, with the ocean waves and some island Christmas music as a back-drop. The resort restaurant had a special turkey dinner, and we watched Frozen before going to bed.

It was a quiet and restful day.

Island Hopping

 We woke up early again today, and I once again watched the sun rise over the horizon before packing up all of my belongings. The wind was blowing, and waves were splashing up on our front dock. We ate breakfast and said our final good-byes, before boarding the boat for the last time.

We got to the airport about 20 minutes before our flight--which was plenty of time to do everything we needed to. We took the island hopper again, and flew the 25 minutes to Belize International Airport. After letting Seth and Mai off--they were headed for Costa Rica--we flew another five minutes to a smaller airport, where we caught a flight to San Pedro. Done was our all-inclusive. We had to start tipping by the job, and we had ground crew, a driver, a boat driver, and the concierge all looking for a tip.

When we were showed our room, it was incredible. It was a two bedroom condo with a kitchen. The floors were hard-wood and marble, the family bathroom was tiled, and the master bathroom had a soaking tub with lounger for two people, and a stone shower. There was a walk-in closet that was bigger than all of our closet space at home. David and Anita were kind enough to let us take the master bedroom. (I know, pictures of a hotel room in a vacation blog is not the thing people want to see, but I was just too impressed.)

 

 

 

 

 

After settling in, we went to lunch, and then I rode a hotel bike the three and a half miles into town. I had accidentally left my swimsuit at the resort where we went cave tubing, so I needed to buy a new one. I also needed to pick up a few groceries for our stay. The store I was told to go to had just closed, so I found another store where I could purchase swim wear. After that, I got groceries and raced back to the hotel. The bicycle was supposed to be back by 4, and I got it there by 4:15--close.

While typing up this blog post on the veranda, the power went out for about 10 minutes. Something must have happened in town, but we got it back pretty quick. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. 

Cave Tubeing

Today was another early morning. We got up at 6, ate breakfast, and then boarded the boat for shore once again. Today, we were headed out to do some cave tubing. After dropping a couple off at the airport, we headed up to Cave River Resort, where we boarded the old bus once again. This time, instead of repelling gear, we took along inter tubes. We took a short hike through the orchard, and then got into a slow moving river and started paddling upstream. It wasn't long before we reached the mouth of a large cave system.

 

 

 

Our goal was to tube and hike deep into the cave, exploring and examining Myan artifacts. The river was higher than normal, and the current was stronger. However, Sarah's mom and dad, Seth and Mai,. and Sarah and I were able to make our way into the mouth of the cave, where we saw stalagmites and stalagmites, and large columns. It was a large cave, with lots of things to see. The ceiling must have been 30 to 40 feet up, and the river may have been up to 5 feet or deeper in places.

We traveled upstream past where you could see light from the exit. We were shown brain suckers--strands of sticky web that would attach to passing bugs. We also saw a scorpion spider--very creepy. We saw fruit bats, but were told there were also vampire bats, centipedes and millipedes that made their home in the cave.


 

We had to climb up onto a ledge to get into one of the chambers. There, we were shown a carving of a Myan fertility god. Our guide told us about how the Myans would come and make a sacrifice to the fertility god, and believed that by the time the woman reached the entrance of the cave, she was already pregnant. However, she had to sacrifice her first child to the god, or it would die of sickness, and she would never be able to get pregnant again. If she did sacrifice the child, she would have as many children as she wanted. Archaeologist dug for the bones of the children in the room next to a stalagmite that was carved to look like a pregnant woman, but found none. Another chamber, deeper in the cave, contained several bones from human sacrifices, and this is where the archaeologist believe the children were buried.

 

We went back and ate a nice lunch next to the underground river, and then boarded the tubes to float back out of the cave and into the jungle.

We purchased some cheese at the resort, and then headed back to our island. We had to pick up a few other people at the airport, and the planes were late, so we stopped to watch some children perform a tribal dance, and for some unknown reason they decided to pull me into it. They all had cool masks and shells, and I just had bare feet. Somehow I managed to make it through the ordeal--I wish I could say my pride was still in tact, but I am sure they were laughing at me behind those masks. We picked the late arrivals up from the airport and headed for the docks. The crossing was the roughest yet, but we made it and had another great meal. It was our last night on the island, and we were a little sad that we were leaving. However, tomorrow we will be heading to la isla bonita--San Pedro.

Snorkeling

Today I got up early and watched the sun rise from our deck. The family met for breakfast, and then we boarded a boat for an ocean adventure. Sarah and I were going to do a three tank dive, and the rest of the group was going to snorkel. We got as far as the next island over before the boat broke down. They pulled up to a dock, made a few calls, and decided that for safety, they needed to cancel the trip. We were all disappointed as we headed back to our island, however it was better than getting stuck in the middle of the Caribbean.

 When we got back, one of the members of our party got Thatch Caye to comp us a snorkel tour. We went out to a reef called the Aquarium, and snorkeled for an hour. We were going to go to a second place but had to cut the trip short due to one person getting sea-sick. The time out there was fun, however, and the boat ride was a good sight-seeing tour. 

Once we got back, we had lunch, and then I decided to try paddle-boarding around the island. The west side went just fine, and I was at the northern point in no time. However, the wind was kicking up around here, and paddling was difficult. I eventually had to kneel on the board. As I went around the northern point to the east side of the island, the wind really kicked up, and I had to start dealing with chop. It was a struggle making it from the north point to the south point on the west side, and by the time I got there I was exhausted. I jumped into the water on a particularly white sand-bar, and cooled off before hopping back on the board, standing up, and traveling back to my starting point.

To celebrate my exertion, I went to the bar and had a Zombie. Omar, our bartender, liked the idea of the drink so much that he made it the drink of the day. I have a feeling that relaxation is big in my immediate future. I have a good book and a hammock that I intend to make use of. Perhaps I'll share that hammock with another Zombie.

Island Day

Today was an island day. We decided not to do any tours, but instead try out all of the amenities that the island has to offer. And relax. Relaxing was the emphasis for the first half of the day. I was able to get caught up on my blog posts, which I was far behind, and take a leisurely walk around the island. Everyone else did some shore snorkeling, but I decided to focus on taking pictures and lounging around.

After dinner, there was a local African drum circle with chanting. I am writing this as I listen, which is why you don't have to uffer through as much text. Just sit back and enjoy the pictures.

After lunch, we took some paddle boards out to test our balance. I was happy that I was able to get up, and when I dove into the water after a bit of paddling, I was surprised at how warm the water was. I was expecting at least a little shock from the chill, but it was a perfect temperature. We swam and paddled and played for an hour or so. I even made a sand castle on my board from the pure white sand from the ocean floor.

After paddling around, I took a quick shower, and was going to go read on a hammock, but just outside my door I saw a spotted eagle ray. We watched this swim around our hut for about thirty minutes before it decided to try another hunting ground. I continued my attempt to read, but got caught up in talking to Omar, one of our bartenders. More people showed up, and eventually I gave up on all pretenses of reading. 

The Black Hole

Today, Seth, Mai and I ventured off to do the Black Hole--a 300 foot repelling expedition in the Belizean jungle. I got up at 6:30, showered, and grabbed a quick breakfast. We then boarded the boat for the mainland. The resort van was waiting for us, and took us an hour into the mountains to a jungle resort. From there, we boarded an old stereotypical run-down bus. We took this a ways into an orange orchard, heading towards the jungle, where we promptly got stuck. Although it is not the rainy season, it has been raining quite a bit over the last couple of days. After five minutes of back and forth, we decided that we had made it far enough, called for a tow, and started walking.

 The jungle was muddy. The jungle was full of mosquitoes. We used DEET. Lots of it. We walked up a steep, muddy path through a dense jungle. It was very slippery, and there were several people who fell down. After about an hour of up and down, we arrived at a spot that they said was the Black Hole. However, we had to wait for the previous group to finish before we could continue, so we had lunch. It consisted of home-made tortillas, carrots, onions, salami, cheese, hard boiled egg, and cabbage--a build-your-own burrito. After lunch, we continued around to the other side.

The Black Hole is a 300 foot deep sink-hole in the middle of the Belize jungle. We were there to repel down into it, and I was up first. I had my harness and helmet on, and was locked onto the repel line. We were using a ladder connection rather than a figure eight, which pretty much meant that you had to force your way down. However, walking down the steep slope to the edge, and then looking down the 300 feet to the jungle below was an adrenaline rush. Walking off the edge, to the "hell-hole rappel"--sitting ,and lowering yourself with nothing to keep your feet on--was also a bit frightening. Really, just hanging there, hundreds of feet above the jungle, surrounded by cliffs and caves, was an amazing experience. I later described the trip as buying drugs. The drug of choice was adrenaline, and I was manufacturing it, but the Black Hole was the catalyst.

 

 

 Since I am writing this post--Mai-Tai in hand--you know that I made it safely to the bottom. I waited for the other people from our island to make it down, taking some pictures of the various caves. Once those of us from Thatch Caye were all on the ground, we left the second group and joined the first group. We were late for our pickup. We made pretty good time climbing out of the Black Hole, but it was still a long and slippery trek back to the bus. From there it was about a two and a half hour journey back to our island. We were so caked in mud that we had to wear plastic garbage bags so we didn't get the van dirty.

   We were greeted with drinks and snacks, which I partook in before heading for a nice long shower--that included my jeans and shoes. We spent a little more time at the starfish bar, which is on a platform over the ocean, before heading towards dinner. I was distracted for a while with the slack line, and then enjoyed a nice meal of freshly caught fish. It was a wonderful day.