This blog post is coming ocean-side from the beaches of beautiful Belize. It's officially spring break, and where better to spend it than in Belize? Our journey (I'm traveling with 6 other friends) began on Thursday afternoon...it was quite the commute to get here, so I'll break it down as fast as I can....bus to Guatemala City, taxi to hostel, spend the night in Guatemala City, 4:30am taxi ride to the airport, flight to San Salvador, flight to Belize City, taxi ride to water taxi station, water taxi to San Pedro/Ambergris Island, taxi to boat, boatride to our house...keep in mind we all have GIANT travel backpacks and are in 90 degree heat, it was a long day.
BUT we were rewarded with six days in paradise in our ocean-front beach house. Since there are seven of us, we decided to go all out and rent a house for the week. One of the hardest parts of living with host families in Xela is not having a place to really 'hang out'. It's been SO nice having our own space, kitchen, ENGLISH television, etc. We've really enjoyed making our own meals and feeling independant again (plus, it's been a great break from beans and tamales:)Our house is about 2 miles from San Pedro, so our typical day consists of leisurly waking up, walking into town for groceries, laying out on the beach (our front yard), catching up on reading, making lunch, heading back out to the beach, catching up on US news and tv series, making 
dinner, etc. It's been a true vacation, and we have the tan-lines to prove it! On Monday we mixed it up and hired a boat to take us deep sea fishing and snorkeling. While I really enjoyed doing both, I learned that a tiny boat + large ocean = a very seasick Steph. After fishing we docked our boat and our 'captain' went and cooked up the fish we had just caught for lunch (I'm not much of a fish fan, but the onions, peppers, potatoes, etc were great:). While he was cooking we enjoyed a beachside bar and some tasty margaritas. After lunch we went snorkeling for a second time. Belize is home to the second largest reef in the world (after Australia) and the largest living reef. We had a great time, saw lots of fish and even a few rays. I would say that we want to stay here forever, but we simply can't afford it! Belize is SO expensive, especially coming from living in Guatemala. Ex: 1 bag of tostidos chips = $7. 1 classic margarita = $10. 1 gallon of vanilla icecream = $15. etc. In Guatemala a really nice dinner (Olive Garden quality:) is about 50-60Q = about $7. Paying $20 for a meal here has proven to be extremely painful for us all. We figure that we've spent about as much in this week as we did during our previous three months in Guatemala. It's going to be sad how cheap we are when we come home. Given this little glimpse of 1st world life again, I expect some serious culture shock upon ariving home. Although it's been an expensive week, we couldn't have asked for a better spring break. We're leaving Belize tomorrow, headed to Lago de Atitlan for Easter, and then it's back to Xela for our final 2.5 weeks. We're doing the best we can to mentally prepare ourselves for the stress that's to come...3 final papers, a final spanish exam, packing, goodbyes, etc. Wish me luck!
dinner, etc. It's been a true vacation, and we have the tan-lines to prove it! On Monday we mixed it up and hired a boat to take us deep sea fishing and snorkeling. While I really enjoyed doing both, I learned that a tiny boat + large ocean = a very seasick Steph. After fishing we docked our boat and our 'captain' went and cooked up the fish we had just caught for lunch (I'm not much of a fish fan, but the onions, peppers, potatoes, etc were great:). While he was cooking we enjoyed a beachside bar and some tasty margaritas. After lunch we went snorkeling for a second time. Belize is home to the second largest reef in the world (after Australia) and the largest living reef. We had a great time, saw lots of fish and even a few rays. I would say that we want to stay here forever, but we simply can't afford it! Belize is SO expensive, especially coming from living in Guatemala. Ex: 1 bag of tostidos chips = $7. 1 classic margarita = $10. 1 gallon of vanilla icecream = $15. etc. In Guatemala a really nice dinner (Olive Garden quality:) is about 50-60Q = about $7. Paying $20 for a meal here has proven to be extremely painful for us all. We figure that we've spent about as much in this week as we did during our previous three months in Guatemala. It's going to be sad how cheap we are when we come home. Given this little glimpse of 1st world life again, I expect some serious culture shock upon ariving home. Although it's been an expensive week, we couldn't have asked for a better spring break. We're leaving Belize tomorrow, headed to Lago de Atitlan for Easter, and then it's back to Xela for our final 2.5 weeks. We're doing the best we can to mentally prepare ourselves for the stress that's to come...3 final papers, a final spanish exam, packing, goodbyes, etc. Wish me luck!
Finally reunited with Pinot Grigio
A little family dinner
A little family dinner
Self-timer
Snorkeling fun!
Never too old for floaties
3 comments:
You are all SO tan! Your vacation sounds absolutely wonderful.
That looks absolutely LOVELY! You're definitely going to be darker than me when you get back :(
Look how TAN you are! SO Jealous! Looks like you had a great time and thanks for the pic of Doug in floaties :)
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