Travel Day-

Home again Home again. I think we were ready to get home.

We got a late check out on Thursday because our ferry didn't leave until 1pm, we figured we would let the kids swim and tucker them out a little bit. We knew it was going to be a tight travel day but we had everything lined up. A pre-booked water taxi, a pre-booked ride to the airport...what could go wrong.

Dustin tried paddle boarding with me again this morning...takes some serious strength when you have a 50+ lb weight on the front of the board with very little balance. I would like to try it again when we are on calmer waters, like a lake.

We grabbed a taxi who then dropped us off at THE WRONG ferry, so we had to hike with our luggage over to where our water taxi was waiting. Our water taxi was 15 minutes late leaving- causing my anxiety to go up a little bit. On the water taxi I also realized why our water taxi was the cheapest one...we had some interesting people on our water taxi on the way back to Belize City.

We got to Belize city late, and because our water taxi was late our ride and left...he told everyone he would be back to get us. We waited for about 10 minutes then a guy who works at the ferry offered us a ride, assuring us that we would fit in his car. He drove a Ford Escort. Dustin had Rowe on his lap in the front, and the four of us squished in the back seat.

We made it to the airport, still needing to go through customs an hour before our flight was scheduled to leave...

Luckily we were the only ones at the check in so we got straight through- no stopping.

We made it back to Houston around 8pm and are excited to get back into the normal schedule.

Secret Beach

With our condo we rented we were able to get 24 hours of a golf cart. We decided to head up to Secret Beach for the morning.

Since the kids don't really sleep in we went and tried out a breakfast place called Mesa, I ordered the coconut french toast and it was amazing. They were three pieces of giant homemade bread, covered in a coconut syrup with fresh bananas and pineapples- it was amazing. The kids ordered banana pancakes with a homemade chocolate syrup, and Dustin ordered a chorizo egg scramble- you really couldn't go wrong with anything ordered there! And the couple that owned it were originally from Houston too.

After breakfast we loaded up in the golf cart (quite the sight) and started the trek. The "Secret Beach" is on the north end of the island, and traveling by golf cart loaded with 6 people takes a bit of a hike. You start on the paved road, then end up on a gravel road traveling to the middle of nowhere. It really seemed like we were getting lost at certain points but we eventually made it. This beach was beautiful!! There were only two other small families out there so we had the whole place to ourselves (benefits of getting up early). Dustin swam out as far as he could and could still stand with the water touching hitting his waist the whole time. From Secret Beach you could also view Blackadore Caye, which is Leonardo Dicaprio's island that he will be developing. The views were amazing. Although once the kids saw their first jellyfish and experienced Sea Lice I think we lost their interest at the beach. They lasted till about noon- which was perfect. We drove all the way back home stopping at the butcher for some fresh ham for sandwiches, the fruit stand for avocado (they're huge compared to the US) tomato, and the bakers for a fresh loaf of bread. Sandwiches and swimming for the rest of the afternoon.

We tried our best with paddle boarding in the open ocean but the waves were pretty intense. For dinner we went with a local pizzeria- a fresh Hawaiian Pizza and swam the night away.

Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley

Today was a day we have been waiting for this whole vacation. The kids were so excited they were all up by 6am (doesn't hurt that we all slept great for the first time in a couple days). Dustin and I went out to the local bakery right around the corner and grabbed sweet rolls and pastries for the kids. the baker moved to the island 4 years ago from Ireland...he was ready for a change. Ate breakfast and the got ready- We went snorkeling with Lil Alfonse- we had even been practicing in our local swimming pool. He picked us up at 9am right at the dock of our hotel. Sadly we had 3 other couples on our boat, but we were the only ones with kids. On the way to Hol Chan, Alfonse gave instructions on how to snorkel...basic stuff but still great to hear.

Our first stop at Hol Chan was great- it took a long time to get our family outfitted in gear but when we were finally ready we all got in the water. Dustin took Rowe (who can swim like a fish) at first while waiting for me to get in, until we realized that one also needed to watch Miles too. So I hopped in and found that I could snorkel with Rowe laying on my left shoulder with my arm wrapped around him guiding him. (phew...) that only lasted for about 20 minutes until I finally told Rowe he was a great swimmer but he needed a jacket around his waist to help him float so I could just drag the jacket and not his 50lb body weight. Then we started to enjoy it. We saw: two sea turtles, an eel, corral, snook, barracuda, one nurse shark and two stingrays along with other multiple fish.

Then we hopped into the boat and went to Shark Ray Alley- I don't know what I had in mind but it far exceeded expectations. He told us as we were getting close to get ready because they would come like dogs when you call them. We (being the wonderful parents we are) had already told our kids that we would help them get ready as we got close but we weren't going to wait for them to get in...we wanted to see this and weren't going to convince them. As we pulled up we got in- and it was absurd. Alfonse revs the engine of the boat around in a circle and then throws in this pvc pipe with holes in it filled with fish parts. And then he starts throwing fish parts overboard- he probably had 15-20 nurse sharks at the boat trying to eat...and each of these sharks range from 4 feet long to about 9 feet long, they were HUGE! They were swimming all around us - the only thing he told us was not to stick fingers out...they would try eating them. We swam around them for about 10 minutes and then Alfonse jumped in and things got crazy. He would catch a shark and then have us pet the shark... like you pet a dog. He even had Miles hold the shark- and luckily we got all of this on video. Alfonse also grabbed Sting Rays- he would grab them by putting them on his head to bring them up and then hold them for you to pet them. Rowe was great petting the sharks but was petrified of the Rays- Alfonse approached him holding a giant one and Dustin and I on either side pushed him forward (what great parents we are)- but he ended up petting it! IT was a great adventure.

We came back after snorkeling and ate lunch. Dustin and I grabbed the resort bikes and ran to the butcher to get some ham- we went by the fruit stand but she didn't get anything fresh in so we just grabbed a pineapple and a papaya. We made sandwichs for lunch and let the kids watch a show to cool off after being in the sun all morning. After lunch we went swimming in the resort pool for a couple hours..kids have so much energy.

Grabbing the resort golf cart we loaded up for dinner and went to a restaurant called Waraguma- they specialized in different seafood burritos and papusas. Kids ordered Quesadillas and Dustin and I shared a lobster burrito...food was pretty good- we also had Watermelon drink, and that was amazing.

After dinner we went searching for the icecream parlor on the island, we couldn't find it! But then a local jumped on our golf cart with us and showed us where it was. We got him an icecream cone as a thankyou. It was a great day.

Monday- first day of travel

We woke up today with the joy and knowledge that we would be leaving Parrots Nest. Don't get me wrong- highly recommend staying here if you want a true jungle experience...and the food has been AMAZING (homemade goes a long way) but we are ready for some AC and a nice shower.

*Shower note... not sure if I ever shared about our showering here. The shower in our cabin (myself, Halle, and Miles) first off smelled like medal. Not sure if that is from the container it sits in...if it has lead in it...but it isn't pleasant. Then you have the temperature- it is either ice cold, or scalding hot- so you turn it on, feel it and wait...then turn on the warm, and as it starts warming up you hurry and wash as fast as you can until it gets too hot to shower in...then start all over again. It took me about 30-45 minutes to shower-and I wasn't even feeling that clean. But it was quite the jungle experience.

Anyway- back to our travel day. We packed up and said goodbye to Marcus and Theo loaded up the car and began the drive back to Belize City. It took about 2 hours to get up to Belize city, we even got some great video of what the kids were doing in the car to keep themselves occupied (songs, games- the boys even made up a video game that they were the characters of while we drove). When we got to Belize City Dustin dropped the kids and I off at Ocean Ferry...Belize City is quite the unique city. We had decided that it would be safest if Dustin dropped us off at the Ferry while he returned the rental car, because if he ended up having to walk to the Ferry I figured we would seriously stick out like a sore thumb with 4 blond headed kiddos. He dropped us off, I had cash strapped to my travel fanny pack inside my pants (pretty cool foreign travel thing) along with passports- and my brood. We got inside the ferry station and felt safe waiting there- I made the kids some sandwiches and we ate some lunch while waiting on Dustin. It took Dustin about 45 minutes to get the car returned and to get back to us. We sat and waited for our Ferry to take off, it left Belize City at 1:30. We finally loaded up like sardines inside the ship and started heading out to sea. We rode for about an hour before we stopped at the first island Chapel Caye which is a golf resort island only. It has one hotel, and is only for people that are staying there. After that it took about 15 minutes to get to Caye Caulker another island- where some more people got off. Finally we got to Ambergrise Caye- we got off the boat and grabbed our bags- the first taxi guy offered to take me wherever I needed to go and then saw the size of our family and found a different person to take. Ha. We got our taxi and he took us to our next resort- the Xanadu Resort.

Checking in they were very friendly and we were just excited to see what the beds/shower were like. They accidentally double booked for one night so they apologized profusely- and put us in a two story condo with plenty of beds for our family. It is nice, it has AC and showers...we are happy.

We let the kiddos swim for a bit just because we needed to wear them out- then we walked down to Robins. It is a local joint that specializes in Jerk Chicken- he cooks it right there on a charcoal grill- and it was phenomenal!

Sabbath and Xunantunich and Iguanas

The Sabbath day- best day of the week. We got up this morning and got ready for church. We enjoyed a great breakfast of homemade pancakes, eggs, and avocado (from the fresh tree) and then sat around and played Uno for a bit before heading to church. Even though we don't have an alarm we don't have any problem getting up nice and early.

There is a local church right down the main street of our town...it is a small church with just one branch located inside. When we showed up there were 17 people in the congregation...and they were all so welcoming and open to having us there with them. All the women greeted me with kisses, and shook everyone else's hands. Church was in Spanish... the music they used a cd player and sang along with it (in spanish). The kids were pretty good sports until the talks started...then Miles gave me the look I can see coming in years when he will be a teenager. I tried my best to follow along but I could only catch a word here and there. They had an intermediate hymn and then the next talk was in English! All the kids immediately looked around...maybe thinking they were actually understanding spanish now.

After church we headed to the Xunantunich ruins. They were AMAZING. Right before you crossed the river ferry to get to it some locals were wanting to be hired to be tour guides...we decided to hire one that way Dustin and I could understand a little more of what was going on rather than running from ruin to ruin watching our kids use it as their playground. Naz was his name and we were so glad we hired him. He took us from section to section explaining exactly what each was and what it was used for. When we got to the top of the highest ruin it was such a spectacular view- you could even see Guatamala from where we were. While there there were a lot of guards walking around guns (Rowe got a kick out of that)- The government decided to bring more protection here because years ago some Guatemalans would come and rob the tourists. With tourism being over 50% of the income for this country they knew they needed to keep it as safe as possible.

We did the classic pb&j for lunch while driving back to San Ignacio and headed to the Iguana habitat.

We got to the San Ignacio hotel which is where the habitat is located- the only issue is they only run the tours on the hour and we got there at 3:20. The kids were desperate to do the exhibit so we sat in the lounge of the hotel- I fell asleep and who knows what the kids did for that 40 minutes. Finally at 4 we started, the guy came and got us and took us into the habitat which was located behind the hotel. Probably the size of our kitchen with 36 iguanas inside. All of them were injured at some point and are being nursed back to health in order to be put back into the wild. There are only two that they will never release back into the wild- Ziggy (who has some form of spinal bifada) and Star Gazer who they said was born as a preemy and not everything connected in his head...he sleeps on his back like a dog, looks constantly up to the sky, and just doesn't behave "normal". During the time we were feeding them one jumped on Dustin's back and while I was laughing at him another one crawled up my front...and then another one joined that one so I had two climbing all over me. As excited as the kids were once we were in there and they saw how close we could get none of them wanted to touch them...

Cave Tubing and Zoo

First thing- we slept awful last night. Go figure. NO AC in the jungle.... not a good idea... two nights left though.

This morning we decided last minute to go cave tubing. We are glad we waited last minute because our price was cut in half (score). We drove about an hour north of San Ignacio were we met our guide Victor. We grabbed our tubes and then hiked about 20 minutes through the jungle to get to the entrance of the Mayan Caves. Of course we were hot when we arrived so Victor said the kids could swim upstream... they didn't listen and he had to go in and rescue Halle who started the tubing excursion with no tube. After that brief "this is why you should listen" moment he tied the tubes together and we were off. Victor share with us that the Mayans believed that there were three worlds, the upper world, middle world, and the under world. We were traveling into the underworld where they didn't live but would only visit and use to transport goods back and forth. The caves have been there for houndreds of thousands of years. We floated through and about halfway we got out and climbed out to where there was a collalpse in the tunnels years ago, there he also let us jump off a rock structure in the water- about a 15 foot jump. Once Dustin and Rowe did it none of the kids wanted to be outdone by their 5 year old brother. They all followed. I gladly watched... haha. We got back into the tubes and continued the float through the dark caves. All said and done it was about a 2 hour float. The kids loved it.

After we floated we ate lunch there which was rice/beans, grilled chicken, and a coleslaw type of thing. (None of us touched the coleslaw). It was good... but a veggie of some sort would be oh so nice.

We changed into dry clothes and then headed to the Belize Zoo. I had heard that if you are going to be in Belize you HAVE to go to the zoo. We got in and were one of 3 cars parked there...not so busy. When we walked in I asked about the different animal encounters they have and he told me all about each of them... we opted to do them all! They wanted to do the encounters right away just because the animals would be getting hungry for dinner soon. SO - the first animal we fed was the Macaw. We got to feed it pumpkin like seeds...kids loved feeding them. They are beautiful creatures. After that we went to the Tapir (look up a picture)... they are the funniest creatures! Their nose moves around, almost like an elephant nose- but it is known as the mountain cow and is the national animal of Belize. The kids got to feed it a bucket of carrots -right to it and pet it. Then we hoped over to the Keel Billed Toucan. The Zoo Ranger took the kids into the Toucans cage and let them feed him papaya. While the kids were feeding it another ranger told me that this isn't the original one they usually let guests feed. BUT, the original one got in a fight with this one and this one maimed it enough to kill it... (and my kids are in this cage...) THEN came the best one of all, a Jaguar experience. We paid for just the kids to go do this, but the Zoo Ranger said no all of you are coming. We walked over to the cage, they called the jaguar over to a different part and locked him up and then let us INTO his cage. In the center of his cage is another cage of humans, I couldn't stand up straight in it and there was just enough space for 4 bums to sit. They put us in the cage (with the Zoo Ranger) and then locked the cage. He then let the Jaguar out and he came right up to the cage. Dustin had Rowe on his lap and I had Miles. He had the jaguar to 3 somersaults in front of the cage and then the jaguar jumped onto the cage we were sitting in...Miles just about died. At this point the zoo ranger told us he wanted to give kisses...so stick your forehead up high enough. Rowe went first...stuck his forehead up to the top of the cage and the cat licked his head 3-4 times.... then Bennett, then Dustin and then looked at Miles and Miles said no way. After doing that he stuck whole pieces of chicken up through the cage and the jaguar would grab it, and then lay on the cage so we could pet him through the cage while he was devouring the chicken. This happened about 4-5 times. At one point he started gnawing on the cage and I thought- if he really wanted in I don't think this cage would stop him.... they then called him back and locked him up. Then they came and unlocked our cage. Miles was THE FIRST one out of there. We walked around and observed all the other creatures...most of the animals at this zoo are rescues. And most all of their fences are only about mid-chest (to me) high (except the cat cages). It was a wonderful experience!!

Drive to Parrot Nest, Bullet Tree...

Woke up this morning- ate another scrumptious breakfast. They have an amazing french toast that is to DIE for here. We finished that and then decided since we would be driving a good ways today we needed to wear the kids out- so more swimming. Kids played all morning while I tried washing a load of clothes... the dryer was pretty bad. I finally laid all the clothes out on our banister to dry. We checked out right at 11- and as a good bye present to our staff Bennett had pulled 3 coconuts from the trees because he wanted to try them...see what they tasted like. So as we are leaving they opened them up and we got to try fresh coconut water. The kids said they loved it but I don't know if it was actual liking it or more saying they liked it.

We pulled out and found the countryside of Belize to be a lot prettier in the daylight. The Hopkins Bay area is...beautiful BUT once we got to the other side, the San Ignacio side we were amazed. The Hopkins people are lazy (that is even what they have said), they have a very laid back kind of life. Why work harder than you need to- so they don't. Reaching San Ignacio the countryside is different. Land is cleared, homes are in a little better condition...pretty unique.

Driving we were following "Belize instructions". And we got lost. We knew we were lost when we reached the Guatamala border...oops. We turned back around, went back through San Ignacio and still couldn't find our turns. Dustin finally went into a Shell gas station (a nice looking one) to ask for directions and she had never heard of the place we were staying (great) but knew the city of Bullet Tree. She got us there and then the directions started making sense...a little bit. We arrived and were greeted by a huge german shepard (Kiba) and a short squaty dog (Palle)- we walked up to the front opening area and this place is straight out of Swiss Family Robinson. Its crazy. We checked in with Theo (Ta-yo), who then informed us that dinner wasn't until 7pm (it was 3). We dropped our gear, Dustin is sleeping with Bennett and Rowe and I am sleeping with Miles and Halle in our treehouse, non-ac, cabin.

We hoped back in the car and drove to Cahal Pech Ruins right in San Ignacio. On the way we ran into some Elders...one was from Utah the other from Honduras. We got to Cahal Pech and went to explore. This place is pretty big and like a huge playground for the kids. All of them were fearless until Rowe spotted a snack slithering through some of the bricks- he then became my instant sidekick. These ruins were pretty amazing- and the fact that they let people climb all over them.

After that it was still only 5:45 so we opted to stop for some dairy free icecream (recommendation from our hostess here) and it was good! The boys tried the Craboo Icecream (a fruit found here) while the rest of us ventured for the banana/chocolate, rootbeer float, and Carmel shake. It was all delicious! (Especially because we have been craving sweets forever). We pulled back into the Parrot Nest to find dinner family style, and SO GOOD. The best homemade food we've had all week WITH lots of veggies!! They even through avocado in everything because they have a tree growing right off the eating area. We sat with another couple who has two kids and they decided to travel the world for a year. This is their 9th country... they have been gone from Australia since January. They hope to make it back by Christmas to put their two boys back in school. Sounded a little nutsy.