Christmas in Belize (Part 2 of 2)

After a 10 minute puddle jumper ride we landed on a tiny, paved runway on Caye Caulker; a small island off the coast of Belize in the Caribbean. Luckily, ours was the only baggage in "baggage claim" (aka the cart they pushed over to the plane to fetch luggage) so it didn't take very long at all. We stayed at the Iguana Reef Inn, the place all the locals considered the nicest hotel on the island. Since we didn't know where it was, we approached one of the folks hanging out and looking helpful. Turned out he was a cabbie and could take us to our hotel via the golf cart he had parked next to him. We marveled at the cozy feel of the town as we rode through - people walking barefoot through sand-covered streets, golf carts and bicycles comprising the majority of the vehicular traffic, lengths of rope serving as speed bumps. Almost every restaurant had a Belikin sign advertising their name (we theorized that Belikin sold the signs cheap in exchange for free advertising. Belikin is the local Belizean beer and apparently quite good).


Once we got settled into our room, we pored through the tourist guest book as well as our own tourist guide book. It was almost disorienting having to plan our own meals and activities. Mystic River had served as an almost all-inclusive resort (we had the option of striking out at the nearby towns on our own but we didn't.) We were too hungry to fully appreciate the choices we had so we went with the hotel's recommendation, The Rainbow Bar & Grill on the beach. That was the lunch when I discovered that there were multiple flavors of Fanta and vowed to try all they had available.



That afternoon, we just wandered around the streets to get the lay of the land. It was a surprisingly short walk; probably only half an hour to walk the main areas. We spotted some of the restaurants and tour guide offices we had already read about in our tour book.

Later in the evening, we ate at Rose's Bar & Grill because they had fresh fish/seafood at the front of the establishment where we could pick out what we wanted grilled before we even sat down to eat. As we waited for our food in the back of the restaurant, we heard a commotion and some reggae Christmas music playing outside. Since most of the restaurant went to go look, we had to get up and check it out as well. And what to our wondering eyes should appear but a Santa Claus sitting in the back of a small pickup truck with some of his helpers waving to the crowd, spreading good cheer while a small parade of children followed the truck on foot. They even had a lighted Christmas tree in the back with them. Just another reminder that it was Christmas time in the Caribbean.

The next morning after brunch (had a delicious honey mustard chicken quesadilla with my Red Fanta - strawberry) we went on a manatee tour given by local legend, Chocolate (yes, he goes by that name). It was through his advocacy that the 9000 acre Swallow Caye Wildlife Preserve was established in 2002. While Chocolate's knowledge of the manatees was somewhat limited, his adoration for the gentle creatures was crystal clear and quite endearing. Manatee sightings were somewhat slow at first. We didn't see any at the first stop and even at the second stop where Chocolate and his apprentice would point them out in the distance, I wasn't able to differentiate water glare from sea creature. As luck would have it, a mother and calf took a liking to our boat for the last 40 minutes or so. They swam back and forth under our craft, surfacing on either side for plenty of closeup opportunities. I tried the underwater filming thing, but the Discovery Channel isn't hiring me for ocean footage anytime soon.



The following day was snorkeling day with Patrick and Rafael of Ragamuffin Tours. (Captain Patrick pictured below)



We were on the RaggaGal, a yellow wooden sailboat, for our 3 stop snorkeling tour. The first stop was the Coral Gardens, fairly shallow with plenty of interesting fish in the sea grass and coral. We were left to our own devices to snorkel around. Back on the 'Gal, we had some watermelon, papaya and pineapple while I noticed a chill in the air. One of our fellow snorkelers pointed to a horizon that had grown ominously dark to explain the chill (cue Gilligan's Island music). That same snorkeler asked with some trepidation if we were headed directly into that rainstorm. To which Capt. Patrick shrugged and replied, "That's how we roll," as donned his shorty wetsuit. The second stop was called Shark Ray Alley, where there was a proper downpour going on. Unwilling to brave the water when I was already shivering, I opted to stay on the boat while Rafael took most of the rest of the snorkelers on a tour just beside the boat. At least I didn't miss out on the nurse sharks and rays because Rafael picked one of each up, plopped them on his chest to point out their poor, confused features to the snorkelers. Meanwhile, Patrick was flinging sardines into the water to attract those sharks and rays and even a flock of seagulls looking for a free lunch. After Shark Ray Alley, we had our lunch and headed off to the crown jewel of snorkeling stops, Hol Chan.

That time, Patrick was our snorkeling guide. An accomplished spear fisher and free diver (he said he could dive 80 feet), he had no problems freediving down to the 20 or 30 feet to point out the fishes for us. Thankfully, the rain had stopped by then. We saw a giant grouper hanging out underneath the boat as soon as we got back in the water. It even came over to get a chin scratch from Patrick. We saw some green moray eels investigating a conch shell. The schools of fish were much bigger than the earlier stop, both in numbers and size. There was a tightly packed group of black margaritas looking very much like a black cloud underwater. There were also a few groupers trying to hang with the cool kids and blend in. Patrick showed us an underwater cave 20 feet down by freediving through it. Only Lee and one other snorkeler managed to make it through it. I was sticking close to the surface so I wasn't about to try it.

The highlight for me (and I'm bummed our camera glitched out so we don't have a picture) was when we swam to the shallow sea grass and found a grazing sea turtle. Poor thing had a stub in place of his right flipper, but seemed to have no trouble getting around. I swam alongside it for a while as it alternated between munching on the sea grass and getting gulps of air from the surface.

Back on the boat, everyone was treated to rum punch and shrimp ceviche. I had a Coke and chips and salsa. To our delight, the wind had picked up and Patrick and Rafael put up the sails to sail our way back home. I joked with Lee that he had gone native as he strolled through the sandy streets in bare feet, carrying his sandals and rum punch.

The rest of the time was low key. We tooled around Caye Caulker, spent some down time hanging out at the hotel "beach" which consisted of hard sand near a dock. I finished my Fanta tour of Belize - Orange, Red (or strawberry), Ginger Ale and Yellow (pineapple). We also made it a point to buy some foodstuffs from the wandering vendors as the tour book suggested. We had some of Charlie's Tamales, but my favorite was the Cake Man (The tour book tells me his name is Lloyd) who sold us a moist and delicious chocolate cake and oatmeal cookies on our way to the Lazy Lizard bar at the northernmost part of this half of Caye Caulker for some sunset viewing. We took in another half day snorkeling tour with Ragamuffin where I actually got to be in the water when we visited the nurse sharks and rays.



Christmas Eve was our final full day in Belize and we packed our schedule. We had breakfast and spa massage at Coco Plum Spa near the airport. It was a farther walk from the busy "downtown" but set in among a veritable jungle where it felt isolated and relaxing. I got a prenatal massage from a Mayan midwife who, in addition to providing me with the traditional Mayan womb centering treatment, found the baby's heartbeat and let me feel it too. We went back to Sobre Las Olas where I had my honey mustard chicken quesadillas again for lunch. We were befriended by a local dog who was happy to keep us company as well as a roaming band of neighborhood kids. One little girl, Teoni, took a liking to me, wanting to share my swing seat as we waited for our check. She grabbed my hand as we got up to leave and wanted to know where we were going. Then she was distracted by a jellyfish sighting by one of her friends and she scampered off to ooh, ahh and squeal in disgust at it. We found Cake Man again for our Christmas Eve chocolate cake and headed to the Catholic church for the very small Christmas Eve service. Besides us, there was a family from Chicago and a local family in the church with a service given by a Jesuit priest. We wandered back to our inn where Lee had some rumpopo (rum egg nog. Is there any liquid they don't add rum to here?) and rum chocolate fruit cake. I had orange juice and the white cake (and of course my chocolate cake from the Cake Man). For dinner we went to the Sand Box where I had the local favorite, stew chicken with rice and beans. Lee had his customary grilled lobster. Then it was off to the movies at the Paradiso Bar where for the price of a drink, we could watch a DVD being projected onto the side of the building by the beach. We watched Unstoppable with Denzel Washington and Chris Pine and I collected a whole lot more bug bites on my legs.

Christmas Day was a day of airports and family phone calls. Traveling went relatively smoothly, even getting through customs in Houston was palatable.

What a wonderful way to spend a tropical Christmas. We'll have do it again someday.

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Christmas in Belize (Part 1 of 2)

I would be lying if I said I'd never before experienced a tropical Christmas, but I was a kid the last time I did. I do know that I have a bit more appreciation now than I did back then. Still, wearing shorts on the beach next to a palm tree decorated with Christmas lights and listening to White Christmas on the radio is a little surreal.

As the last Christmas BK ("Before Kid") and since we hadn't actually taken our annual vacation this year, Lee and I decided that a tropical Christmas would be the perfect thing. We wanted to visit inland to see the Mayan ruins and also get some beach time so we split our week and a half long visit between Cayo, in the eastern border near Guatemala, and Caye Caulker, one of the quieter tiny islands in the Caribbean.


First off, Cayo. The picture is our humble abode at Mystic River. The jungle resort is owned and run by a French and American couple, Nadeje and Tom. On our first afternoon there Tom gave us a tour on his beloved Polaris four wheeler to the top of their hill where he had some unexcavated Mayan ruins he was excited to explore. Apparently once we started recognizing unusually geometrically shaped hills or mounds, it's quite easy to spot Mayan ruins and they're everywhere. On the way back down to the resort proper, Tom put the Polaris on coast as we bumped down three sizeable plateau steps that were once Mayan terracing. As someone later dubbed it - Mayan roller coaster sans rails.

The following day, we set out for a cave adventure at Actun Tunichil Muknal or ATM with our guide Ben. We had never been cave adventuring before but Gina, Mystic River's tour coordinator, insisted that it was a must-do. So off we went with another couple from Mystic River and originally from Colorado and a Dutch pair that we picked up along the way. The last part of the ride there was once again on bumpy, dirt/gravel road that is a common theme inland. Once we parked, it was about a 40 minute easy hike to the cave entrance. The hike in was also where we acquainted ourselves with the the water via three river crossings. It was cold but not unbearably so and seemed pool-like. At the entrance, we snacked on some watermelon, donned our head lamps and left any unnecessary (read: things we'd like to keep dry) gear.

And there was the entrance:



Yes, that is a swimming pool (though a bit warmer than the river crossings) to get inside. Inside, there was more moving water, sharp rocks and bouldering over, under and through said rocks. There were a few tight squeezes and narrow tunnels but they were always short passages so it didn't trigger any claustrophobic reactions. This was definitely an athletic tour. Once we clambered up a particularly tall rock, we came upon a treasure trove of ... shoes? It turned out that we were to shed our shoes and traverse the rest of the cavern in our stockinged feet. Ben made sure to carefully position us as we moved from area to area before we could look around. As we went on, it was clear to see why: calcified pottery blending into the cavern floor was littered all throughout. He pointed out several that had already been broken by previous careless tourists. He told us that the government had limited the number of licensed guides that could make tours through ATM to cut down on the traffic, but judging by the number of souls in that cave with us, we wondered if that were enough or if they would eventually have to shut the place down for tours.

The cave itself was primarily used by the Mayans as sacrificial grounds. As we swam and crawled and scaled rocks, I tried to imagine carrying that pottery with fire-making supplies as the Mayans must have. The pottery lying about was to cook their corn offerings. The human offerings they left whole.



The skeleton above was a teen-aged Mayan girl from the elite class that was sacrificed. Dubbed the "Crystal Maiden" because her bones have been calcified and look sparkly.

The way out went much more quickly than the way in and once back at the picnic area, we really appreciated the delicious lunch Ben provided. On a side note, I think Belize has the best banana bread I have ever eaten.

The following day, we went to Caracol. A two hour bone-jarring bumpy ride towards the Guatemalan border. The site itself is about half an hour's hike to the border. We were on the tour with the same couple from Colorado as well as another couple from the far-away land of San Francisco, CA. Along the way, Lewis, our tour guide treated us to many stories about the sights we saw. The most interesting one was by way of explaining the sign that we were to have a military escort into the Caracol site.

Apparently four or five years ago, Guatemalans were crossing the border to harvest leaves from a particular tree in Belize. When they had largely decimated their chosen crop, they decided it was more lucrative to rob the guides and tourists that were coming to the area of Mountain Pine Ridge where Caracol was located. It wasn't until an American tourist wrote about their ordeal on the internet that the government took action and installed a military presence at Caracol and required that all tours entering be escorted to and fro for the last 10 miles. This also shortened the hours that the tours could go visit (9am to 2pm). On an interesting side note, the crop that the robbers were previously harvesting was the leaves that would create the green dye used in US currency; someone was paying them (rather poorly at that) in order to counterfeit US dollars.

But back to Mayan ruins. Caracol is the largest Mayan ruin site in Belize that supported approximately 140,000 people at its height. The picture below is the top part of Caana, the tallest structure on the site standing at 140ft. above the ground floor. There are less than 100 steps to the top which made climbing up there a decent workout. There are still significant portions of the site that are unexcavated, but they're easy to spot as very geometrically shaped hills.



We learned quite a bit about their elite class who liked to flatten their foreheads and induce cross-eyedness by piercing the bridge of their nose with something bright and colorful to focus on. We also learned about a brutal ball game they played that involved throwing around an 18lb. latex ball. I didn't get to hear what the rules of the game were (I suspect it isn't definitively known) but it sounds like it would hurt.

After lunch and Caracol we stopped by a much shorter cave, the Rio Frio Cave. No water scrambling needed, but we did take some nice shots towards both entrances for the nifty contrast. A little farther away were the Rio Frio Pools where we could take a swim. We didn't actually go swimming, I just wanted to see how far I could get across the river by hopping from rock to rock without getting my sundress wet. I didn't manage to make it across the river, just halfway across, but it was fun nevertheless. Then it was back to the resort through some more bumpy roads.

I don't want to leave Mystic River without mentioning their very earnest bartender, Leo. Every meal he would come to the dining room from his bar at the hut next door to check to see if we wanted anything. He also had a daily drink special that sounded like he concocted himself and was very eager to have people try. I almost felt bad that I couldn't order any of his drink specials so I ordered some fruity smoothies instead. Our last night there, I told him about my favorite Forbidden Island drink, the Banana MamaCow and in exchange he told me about a new banana flavored drink that I'll have to wait to try out - the Dirty Banana.

The following day, we took the 2 hour drive back to Belize city with Angel, our cab driver, and the other San Francisco couple, David and Amy. The local airport had apparently suffered during the last hurricane as their terminal lost a wall they were still in the middle of repairing. Our ride to Caye Caulker was a prop plane. Sadly I couldn't sit in front right behind the pilot as we did in Costa Rica since we would be the only ones getting off at Caye Caulker. Everyone else was headed to Ambergris Caye, the more popular tourist destination.

In the interest of hitting the publish button, I'll save the Caye Caulker write-up for the next post. Stay tuned!

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Birthday 2011

I celebrated my birthday on Monday, but it's not my birthday that occupies my mind nowadays, but rather the upcoming one in June heralded by the above picture.

We sent a copy of that picture in a frame to the soon-to-be-first-time grandparents for Christmas and received delighted, excited, even emotional reactions across the board. It was fun to finally be able to share our little secret and get that reception both in person and over the phone.

Thankfully, I have had an uneventful first trimester. No morning sickness - yay for me! Even so, the routine medical appointments are annoyingly frequent. I understand it gets even worse in the third trimester. Blessedly, the prenatal tests are all coming out normal and quite average. I'm not showing yet, I can still wear my regular pants and so far no one has been guessing that I'm pregnant. Perhaps they're just assuming that I simply ate heartily over the holidays. I certainly feel full - full of baby. It's starting to be a little extra effort to pull my socks on. I noticed that my balance isn't quite what it used to be at karate practice. Sensei has banned me from sparring but I hope to keep going to practice up until I have to go to the hospital. We'll see.

We felt the baby kicking two nights ago. My doctor described it to me as feeling like gas bubbles. Once I recognized the sensation, it felt more like someone was poking me from the inside. Lee got to feel it too. That moment, every time I get an ultrasound or I hear/feel the baby's heartbeat makes all this seem real. Without that, I just feel like I'm getting extra round in the middle.

Not that I don't have moments that come up short of wonder and joy. Mourning for my rapidly fading figure - and to think I only recently started to like my figure in the past year (I had a waist! My body will never be the same again!). Pre-mourning for having the time to sleep, go out to movies, dinner, outings, video games, having the time to make elaborate Halloween costumes. I've been reading a bunch of books on pregnancy and preparing for the whole labor and delivery process. Scary! My dad is OB/GYN - I grew up listening to painful sounding experiences of delivery. There were many dinners growing up where I vowed to myself that I'd rather adopt than put myself through that. Guess I lied. And let's not even get into the worries of complications and issues with the baby or the extent of psychological damage I would inflict on another human being throughout its life. Deep breath.

Meanwhile, there's birth classes and hospital tours to schedule, names to ponder, decisions like disposables vs. cloth and what would make a good family car to replace the Saturn (thanks Consumer Reports), what color to paint the nursery. Every time I find a new website or talk to someone new about my delicate condition, there are more considerations to take into account and decide on. I suppose I don't have to figure it all out now. Suffice to say that this June birthday (or May) takes a whole lot more energy than all my January ones combined.

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