Spring Break part 1

We left at midnight actually on Thursday and missed most of the flower festival because we didnt want to arrive late in Belize since we didnt actually know how long the trip was going to be. We had a five hour 'layover' in D.F. and then was on a bus for over 20 hours straight. We arrived in Belize saturday late afternoon and was picked up by Alex's uncle. We rode in the back of his truck, 6 of us, for about an hour into the jungle where he co-owns a jungle resort with a buffet eating style, pool and different kinds of lodging options. Since we were not really paying for this, we got put wherever there was room. The first one was a tree house with a outside shower to complete it. The windows were only screens as it was hot and you could hear the jungle noises all night. The tree houses were off of a bank so half of it was supported on stilt things and not the ground. prolly my favorite place. except that the howler monkeys in the trees around us were RIDICULOUS. They were so loud and close and they sound kinda creepy too. woke us up several time nights. The next tree house was similar but actually had a tree through the middle of it. The last area was just a room with a large bathroom and lots of beds and some hammics. It was nice, but not as nice as the tree houses, those were pretty cool.

The jungle was humid. Really humid. Sunday, our first full day there, we went to the ATM cave. Sometimes you swam, walked in water or climbed rocks but the further you went back the more Mayan artifacts there were and at the very end there was a full skeleton of a sacrificed girl. We learned lots of things like the royal people were sacrificed, blood letting was through the tongue and penis with a vine, they were dying of anemia before the spanish came and caused problems and there were A LOT of offerings. Before we got to the ATM cave, we went by Alexs uncles farmhouse (also owns a lot of citrus) where we swam in the river. It was so clear, warm, perfect and tropical. It might be my favorite part. The next day we went to mayan ruins and could see Guatemala. They are so HUGE with big steps so that you would always be bowing to the gods as you climbed to the top. Mayans were only about 5 feet tall, so they woulda had to bow more. Tuesday we went ziplining throught the jungle and then to the zoo. Both were really cool, but the zoo was awesome. All the animals were rescued or saved from illigal activity and are attempted to be released into the wild again. All are local to Belize and in really nice natural habitats. There were even some running around free. The fences were low and you could get really close to all the animals. All the cats, big and small, smelled really bad. There were HUGE falcon bird things and tapirs too, (mountain cows). We saw nesting macaws that flew to the fence trying to chase us away from their egg to protect it. The next day we went to another cave where we climbed up waterfalls in the cave and then jumped down the ones that were deep enough. It was a rush. You have to land in the right spot and only have a headlamp and hard hat to protect you from hitting the rocks above you in the air as you jump. There were bats flying around in the small spaces and even hit my arm and really gross large scorpian-spiders. They are kind of both, not a spider or scorpian. The crickets in the caves also have really really long anteanas. I kind of always thought that nothing really lived in caves, but some small fish were in the water and we caught some crabs also. There were some mayan artifacts in this cave too. I was a little sick this day and was definately worried about having an incident. And the mosquitoes ate me alive. And sometimes the fish will bite at your fingers, its a weird feeling. It was pretty bad. Later that day we left and went to Hopkins where her uncle owns a house and another resort.

It was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. The water was perfect, pool, docks, hammocks, warm and sunny. The first day there we all kinda lounged around, swam in the pool and the ocean, jumped off the docks and chilled out. We even saw a manitee in the water eating. It was nice since having so much other stuff to do in the past few days. None of us even stayed up late since we had to get up early and be ready for everything. The next day we got up and went snorkeling. That was SO cool. It was on the barrier reef, second largest in the world to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. There were so many different kinds of fish, eels, coral. Small fish, big, black, white, green, blue, pink, purple, yellow, red, reflective, florescent, striped, spotted, both, clearish, funny fins, skinny, round, baracoudas, tiny ones in the water around you, rays, schools of fish and lobsters too, it was pretty amazing. We stopped at another picture perfect beach on an island and went to our second location. The rest of the day we chilled out and left the next morning. Alexs uncle took us to the bus station, where we took the bus to Belmapan and split up with Kelsey and Booper, our new German friend. From there they went back to Mexico and Aly, Coleman, Alex and I went to Guatemala. The buses in Belize are old school buses. Apparently on Good Friday in Belize, no buses run anywhere.

In Guatemala we took a bus to Flores, a little town on an island in a lake. It is colonial and similar to Guanajuato, but we liked it a lot. I was also not feeling too great this day and lost my appetite for the next several days. The hostel that we stayed in was really cool and even had their own restaurant that was really good and really cheap. There were dogs and a rabbit just wandering around that were friendly and obviously lived there. There were lots of types of people but everyone seemed pretty cool. We met a funny guy named Rob who graduated from Humbolt and has been traveling 10 weeks already. We took a boat ride with him and went to their zoo and some water slides. The zoo was not nearly impressive and it was really humid. We met some isreali guys that just got out of the army and were traveling around. Rob got into a heated conversation with them over dinner as they were pretty close minded about americans and california. I was taught how to play a card game by Alex that was a lot of fun and we left at 5 the next morning to head back to Mexico. From there it took us until tuesday around 4 pm to get back to Guanajuato. Long Long ride, but the buses in Mexico are really nice with lots of padding and room, even a bathroom in the back and they play movies. It was so much better than the buses in Guatemala and Belize. We watched "The boy in the Striped Pajamas" it was really sad, but they played lots of other movies also. Sleep schedual is pretty messed up, but it is super good to see Casey.