Belize and Other Stuff.

So it's been a little while since anything's happened here. Three years qualifies as "a little while", correct? If you're out of the loop, here's the short version:

1) Rachel graduated from Medical School and now is almost halfway through her Family Medicine residency in Missoula, MT. We drove cross country when that started.

2) Michael got a job at Ibex Outdoor Clothing in the warehouse, became the Assistant Manager, and then became an Internal Sales Rep. Ibex closed in January and I am now working at the Bicycle Hangar, a bike shop here in Missoula.

3) The TDI is still alive and well.

4) We're engaged!

That pretty much sums up the past three years, I think. There may be a little glossing over of the details but I think it covers the major points.

What's bringing this resurrection about is that we just got back from a trip to Belize, and it's going to be easier to share the experience here and fill in the gaps for folks than it will be to explain it to everyone individually and still have gaps to fill. So, here's the deal.

Rachel has a limited amount of time off from work and what time she does have off is fairly scheduled. So that means we (she - for me) have to plan ahead. When we found out she had a vacation in April we immediately started planning a trip which included touring the National Parks of the southwest/somewhere warm. The Dream is to have a (build our own?) teardrop trailer and the Ideal Dream was to have it completed/acquired by this trip. We quickly realized that this wasn't exactly feasible, so we were on to Plan B, which involved some sort of camping and biking in Moab, preferably with the ability to bring The Dog.

Temps would be iffy and if she couldn't come with us on the trails then she'd have to have a place to stay during the day. We have some good friends with a camper van conversion and were close to asking them if we could borrow it and kick them some $$ in return when someone had to suggest going somewhere warm and sandy for a spring vacation. Central America sounded like a good place.

We started dreaming of palm trees, ocean breezes, turquoise waters, and fifty-cent pineapples. Plane tickets were purchased, AirBnBs were rented, and dog-sitting plans were made. It was really happening.

April 16th rolled around and we drove to Spokane so we could fly to Seattle, then to Dallas and then to Belize, arriving there Tuesday morning at the Belize City International Airport. We took a taxi ride to the bus station and then just barely caught the Express out to San Ignacio. We took a short taxi ride to our room and then took a bit of a break after all that traveling. After a quick break we went to the local grocery store and made a lackluster meal of rice and beans. Here was the sunset the first night:

The next day we walked to Cahal Pech (it was about a mile from where we were staying) and explored the ruins. It was very interesting to read about the history and to know that we were standing where people had lived over 2,000 years ago. It was a very surreal feeling and it was also shocking to think that it had only been rediscovered in 1950. Here are some pictures from Cahal Pech.

When we finished there we went in to town and explored the streets and local market, where we purchased some cold HFCS-free and re-used bottled Coca-Cola, a pineapple, some veggies and a random fruit which turned out to be a snot apple (which I'd had on my previous trip here). We walked back to the house and got some fresh corn tortillas on the way (ten for $1Bz, or 50 cents USD). We siesta'd on the veranda.

While walking in town I became fascinated with the Actun Tunichil Muknal cave. The only way to visit this area is with a guide, so if we were going to see it we had to decide which service to use and had to book it for the following day. This also meant that it would take up our last full day here at San Ignacio and because we had to travel to the coast the following day there wouldn't be time to see anything else, like Xunantunich, which I wanted to see. Eventually, the ATM cave trip won so we walked back in to town and booked a tour, then had dinner. I ate smoked pork tacos. Yum.

The cave tour day doesn't have any pictures because cameras aren't allowed. This made the experience more unique and, in a way, spiritual, because it forced people to be present and really live the experience since there wouldn't be any way to ever experience it again without actually being on another tour. We first boarded a bus for an hour and a half ride and then there was a short (45 minutes?) hike in the jungle which involved three stream crossings. The cave entrance requires you to jump in to some cold-ish water and swim across a twenty foot pool. Then we continued walking, swimming, and climbing for about a mile until we turned off and climbed a boulder out of the water to the chambers with the artifacts and remains. After spending some time here learning about the Mayan sacrifices and offerings, we turned around and retraced our steps back to the exit and then through the jungle and to the bus. Dinner that night was ribs. Yum.

The next day we took a bus back to Belize City and then a 45 minute water taxi out to Caye Caulker (pronounced "Key Caulker"), where we left the hustle and bustle of city life for a much slower island pace. The motto is "Go Slow" and it was certainly embraced. The island is small; one could walk from one side to the other in a bout five minutes (less if you were disobeying the rule) and it was maybe two miles from north to south. Our AirBnB here came with some bikes so I just had to get a GPS of one of our rides exploring the island. Our time here was spent sitting in the sun, swimming in the Caribbean, eating good food, and getting sunburnt. Here are some pics.

Nightly meals were shrimp kabobs, blackened fish, and grilled shrimp. Yum, yum, and yum.

The trip back was uneventful and now it's back to the grind. Thanks for reading.