Belize
Well, so I just got home from Belize (technically, my plan landed at 9 last night, but it was in Baltimore and so we had to drive home, etc.). It was pretty cool, made me really re-evaluate some of my priorities and my opinions about what's really important. Seeing all these people who are self-sufficient in the sense that they have no electricity and no running water really kind of puts literary criticism in its place as sort of a non-essential, don't you think? And also made me realize the marked difference between my own education and that of the people I met there.
Well, enough philosophy. That's my own little thought process, and if anyone actually reads this (thank you, if you do, btw) I'm sure you'd be more interested in finding out what about Belize is cool. Well, here was our itinerary.
Day 1 : Arrive, plan excursions w/ Monkey Business (the travel shop in our hotel, responsible for anything that happens there pretty much), go out to a supermarket and pick up some food. Then get dinner at the hotel restaurant, El Divino (funky cheeseburger), and then send Shannon back out for a phone card, razors, and a bottle of wine. Yes, I did buy alcohol in a foreign country. Twice. I did no drinking, and the legal age is 18, but I didn't get carded. Nor do I think it really matters, anyway.
Day 2 : Scuba dive and snorkel at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Belize actually has the second-longest barrier reef in the world (something like 140 miles) and it's really beautiful down there. Saw a few eels, a few sea cucumbers, 3 nurse sharks, about 5 rays and many, many fish. There were wetsuits involved, and while I deplore wetsuits with a great and consuming passion, they were worth it because the water gets much chillier when you pass about 25 feet of depth.
Day 3 : Lamanai. Best thing ever. It's the ruin of a Mayan city, and to get there we had three hours of travel (an hour in the boat from Ambergris Caye to the mainland, an hour in a bus along the Northern Highway [which FYI, runs from Peru to Canada, although it is truly a Central American road in Belize, which means it is bumpy as hell, although I didn't mind] from Bomba village, and then a boat from the town of Orange Walk up the New River to the ruin). This honestly might be one of the best things I've ever done. It's for tourists, no doubt, but it's still awesome. We had an awesome guide named Ricky, and saw a fair amount of rainforest and Belizean countryside. In the boat from the New River, we passed a lot of Mennonites (there's a large community of Mennonites in Belize because they immigrated there in 1958 because of religious persecution) and traveled through a lot of rainforest and swamp, and then got to the site. We had a really interesting guide up the New River, as well, and he was the one who took us through Lamanai. Did you know that the name "Mayan" for the Mayan culture is incorrect? The Spaniards called them "Mayan" because when they asked them who they were (in Spanish), the "Mayans" replied with "Mayab" which means "I don't understand you." Naturally the Spaniards dropped the "b" at the end.
Day 4 : Chill at the hotel, shop in town (slightly harried, with a golf cart and one way streets), snorkeling at Coral Rocks and Tres Cocos.
Day 5 : Depart
Note : I managed to get hit on at least once a day while I was there. It was odd.
Well, enough philosophy. That's my own little thought process, and if anyone actually reads this (thank you, if you do, btw) I'm sure you'd be more interested in finding out what about Belize is cool. Well, here was our itinerary.
Day 1 : Arrive, plan excursions w/ Monkey Business (the travel shop in our hotel, responsible for anything that happens there pretty much), go out to a supermarket and pick up some food. Then get dinner at the hotel restaurant, El Divino (funky cheeseburger), and then send Shannon back out for a phone card, razors, and a bottle of wine. Yes, I did buy alcohol in a foreign country. Twice. I did no drinking, and the legal age is 18, but I didn't get carded. Nor do I think it really matters, anyway.
Day 2 : Scuba dive and snorkel at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Belize actually has the second-longest barrier reef in the world (something like 140 miles) and it's really beautiful down there. Saw a few eels, a few sea cucumbers, 3 nurse sharks, about 5 rays and many, many fish. There were wetsuits involved, and while I deplore wetsuits with a great and consuming passion, they were worth it because the water gets much chillier when you pass about 25 feet of depth.
Day 3 : Lamanai. Best thing ever. It's the ruin of a Mayan city, and to get there we had three hours of travel (an hour in the boat from Ambergris Caye to the mainland, an hour in a bus along the Northern Highway [which FYI, runs from Peru to Canada, although it is truly a Central American road in Belize, which means it is bumpy as hell, although I didn't mind] from Bomba village, and then a boat from the town of Orange Walk up the New River to the ruin). This honestly might be one of the best things I've ever done. It's for tourists, no doubt, but it's still awesome. We had an awesome guide named Ricky, and saw a fair amount of rainforest and Belizean countryside. In the boat from the New River, we passed a lot of Mennonites (there's a large community of Mennonites in Belize because they immigrated there in 1958 because of religious persecution) and traveled through a lot of rainforest and swamp, and then got to the site. We had a really interesting guide up the New River, as well, and he was the one who took us through Lamanai. Did you know that the name "Mayan" for the Mayan culture is incorrect? The Spaniards called them "Mayan" because when they asked them who they were (in Spanish), the "Mayans" replied with "Mayab" which means "I don't understand you." Naturally the Spaniards dropped the "b" at the end.
Day 4 : Chill at the hotel, shop in town (slightly harried, with a golf cart and one way streets), snorkeling at Coral Rocks and Tres Cocos.
Day 5 : Depart
Note : I managed to get hit on at least once a day while I was there. It was odd.