There is a reason Belize is sooo popular

We were skeptical of Belize before going but had a fantastic two weeks. We started out in the Garifuna- Chinese community of Dangriga where Courtney scared me high fevers and sweats. He quickly recovered and in 24 hours we found ourselves at a private campsite overlooking the Cockscomb Wildlife Sanctuary with a short walk down to pristine waterfalls fit for drinking. After a two days of hiking, floating on the river, and swimming in the waterfall we went for a day at Gayles Point. This tiny Garifuna community is sprawled out along a very narrow pennisula in a huge lagoon. The lagoon is a favorite breeding and hang out spot for the manatees. Our guides were quite literally the Grumpy Old Men of Belize. They were sweet old guys but had clearly been working together for a long time and loved to bicker. "Sticka da pole tha" the boat driver is demanding of the owner and he ignores him and waits until it is too deep and the driver gets frustrated and they go back and forth for awhile.They were really comical guys when I could make out what they were saying. In the end we saw 6 manatees, hung out in the magroves and took a dip in the ocean, which we hadn´t been in months (it was a relief to get wet). We spent a few hours with a rad drum teacher who called us over and chatted with us about life in Gayles point, drum making, drumming, coconuts, and even played for us. Really one of the nicest guys I have ever encountered. Back in Dangriga we stocked up on groceries and set out for Glover´s Reef Atoll. It was seven days of bliss. We had a secluded campsite on the backside of the coconut palm covered island that you could walk around in 2o minutes. The snorkeling just off of our site was incredible! Our first time in we saw a spotted eagle ray, two nurse sharks, and a plethera of fish and coral. All of this is in less than 3 m of water. One late afternoon snorkel we encountered and were checked out by a shark that made our hearts pound. It was either a bull shark or a black tip that measured well over 9 ft. and had some girth. I´ll never forget how fat that thing looked especially in about 10 feet of water and it was headed for shore! He slowed checked us out, I screamed, Courtney followed, the shark turned toward us, Courtney stopped following and then the shark continued on his way. Definitely a thriller and so were our dives. On three dives I saw some of the healthiest coral and sponges I have ever seen... so vibrant and diverse. Some of the highlights were an ooooold loggerhead turtle (a magestic slow swimmer with a thick neck and huge head and a barnacle encrusted shell) and a pod of dolphins in the distance. We were surrounded by some lovely people that were so generous and gave us their excess fish and even taught how to clean and prepare a conch...mmm coconut conch was incredible. Speaking of coconuts they were abundant and the only thing for free in all of Belize. We took full advantage and Courtney husked and cracked probably 50 coconuts and saved us a bundle on buying water. Overall Belize was far from a bust but we were happy to spend 2 days back in Guatemala on the Rio Dulce before arriving here in Honduras. Next stop is Utila to take the Rescue Diver course. Hope everyone is well and please keep us updated on what you all are up to.

C: So we ended up going to El Mirador and dragged scotty boy along with us. He agreed that the food on the trip couldn`t be have as bad as in flores so so we all took off with what was meant to be no more than 7 people. That`s what the tour guy said...

M: Ok so nine hikers, 3 guides, 5 mules, and a lot of ticks made the glorious five-day journey north. In the end we traveled well over 120 km, trekking through jungle and lots of mud. Fortunately it has been ¨drying out¨ and we didn´t have to wear gum boots. We began in the tiny village of Carmelita a chiclero settlement of 368 people which was founded on camping out in the woods collecting chicle by slashing a particular tree with a machete and and collecting the white gummy substance for chewing gum. Now they receive 5Q or about 75 cents for a pound which is primarily sent to Asia to make cosas (things). All of this was directly from our endearing guide Alex....

C: it`s good to see meagan talking in kilometres. it was a great trip. the hiking was tough and I have a lots of bad stories about our tour organiser but a lot of it is my own fault and he is just a shadey guy. But the trip was worth it and i definitely enjoyed my time there. Our guides were great people and amazingly hard workers. My favourite part by far was this tunnel that we got to go in. I can`t publish the photos as part of our being allowed to go into the tunnel, but they are digging away at a tunnel to find the old layer of different temples that were built upon each other over many centuries. It was awesome! A huge Jaguar Head and paws were carved and painted and sitting right there! it was awesome. I also loved the sunset over the past few days and then today we just got back from a great trip to Tikal. I really enjoyed seeing the amazing amount of work they have done there and trying to understand the enormity and massive scale of these Mayan cities.

M: Enormous doesn´t even begin to describe some of these temples. Dante at El Mirador soars above the canopy with a height of 71m and we climbed right to the top aided by a rope. You can´t do shit like that at Tikal. My favorite part of the trek was spending 5 whole days in the jungle away from civilization yet surrounded by the remains of some very prosperous civilizations. Howler monkies were everywhere and climbing a temple meant getting to be right at their level. Courtney and I witnessed a whole family moving and playing completely aware of us but still tending to their young and not moving away either... magical.

C:We got a lot of ticks on us hiking and we had to hike with our heads down looking at mud most of the way, plus scotty got a bunch of blisters - really bad ones. Poor guy. But it has been great hanging out with him and he`ll be missed, maybe we can get him to hang out in the bay islands... if we ever make it there.

tomorrow we are heading to belize to explore about the most expensive country in Central america - damn english speaking countries! But our penny pinching ways will only keep us there for about 2 weeks until we head back in guatemala for a few days and finally on to honduras. Hope everyone is well and hope to hear from you all soon

Hotter than.....

well its hotter than a lot of places. For instance the water off of Catalina island. Way to go CELP crew on your lifeguarding checks! Hope you all are having a wonderful training and I wish you the best of luck. To Travis or someone that will talk to Travis, we wish you a feliz cumpleaños!

Seriously the heat here in Flores is incredible but nothing we can´t handle mentally but physically my body has revolted and I have a solid heat rash. Don´t worry mom nothing serious and I will be just fine. While we are waiting for Scotty we have spent some time for ourselves relaxing, shopping in the market and cooking some amazing meals and swimming in the lake. We are pondering whether to do a 5 day trek to the unrestored Mayan site of El Mirador. More news on that it happens.