Martha´s Guesthouse - San Ignacio, Belize

When we went west to the Cayo district in Belize, we stayed in San Ignacio at Martha´s Guesthouse. We got the First Lady Suite which we were very pleased with because of this huge balcony that was the same size as the room...which is quite spacious. To top it off, it´s on the 4th floor and has a hammock...which was just what the doctored ordered for me! While the room was lovely, both of us found the people that worked there rather unpleasant. Somewhat of a turn-off from staying there.

Mayan Ruins of Tikal - Guatemala

We made it to the ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Tikal in Guatemala. It really was amazing to see for a pyramid first-timer as myself. Tikal is something like the most excavated ruins in either the Americas or something...sorry I loose the location...but the excavation is rather extensive. You can´t help but to wonder what happened to the Mayans, but as with all Empires, an end must come so maybe it is not so relevant...maybe there is nothing useful to be learned from why the empire fell apart as the downfall of an empire cannot be avoided.There is also plenty of jungle life to be seen among the ruins. We saw howler monkeys, spider monkeys, and i don´t know what else. The vegetation was amazing. I haven´t been to see the big trees in Cali so I was quite amazed by the size of the trees here. Our guide was so kind to pose in the base of this tree to demonstrate the size of it.

Bussing it in Central America

Taking the buses is definitely an experience. The public buses that transport you around the country are old American school buses. They will cram as many people into as possible. The part that is quite different and entertaining is that the buses stop anywhere along the way to pick up and drop off people. If you need to be picked up, just stand on the side of the road (and this can be in the middle of no where) and flag down the bus when it comes and it will stop and let you on. If you need to get off, just whistle, tap on the roof, or anything to get the drivers (or the fare guy´s) attention and he will stop immediately and let you off. The fare guy stands at the opened door while the bus is driving along and keeps an eye out for people needing to get on and will help with any big bags you might have. He'll also help you with your bags when you are getting off. This way makes the trip a bit longer but for a country where cars are not common, it makes a lot of sense.

Toilettes in Central America

I´m sure those that have traveled in Europe and Asia have encountered the toilettes that are just holes in the ground with ceramic to stand on. The surprising thing here in Central America is that so far, I have not encountered those toilettes anywhere. What is common here is that you can´t put the toilette paper in the toilette...you must put it in the trash can because more than likely there are cracked pipes along the way and the paper could get caught and build up. This sign however is the only time I´ve seen such instructions for flushing. Unfortunately, due to clogging the sink at my apartment the day I was moving out, I discovered this technique. It was a fun, educational find for me! :)

Captain Baxter´s Snorkeling

We went snorkeling with Captain Baxter in what appears to be his partially handmade sailboat. It was a nice way to go out on the water...tour speed boats being the other option. Captain Baxter was a character himself. He couldn´t be bothered to learn our names so Debbie was "Chinese Lady" and I was alternatingly "Texas Lady" or "Travel Lady". He was a bit disappointed none of us knew how to roll a cigarette and so resigned himself to smoking a cigar while we sailed and making his cigarette while we were snorkeling. He was resistant to getting in the water with us because as you can see it wasn´t sunny and so it was cold. But fortunately he did. He took us to Shark Ray Alley and Hol Chan Reserve. At Shark Ray Alley we saw sharks and sting rays. At the reserve, we saw a variety of sea life, include sharks and barracudas. He took us to an underwater cave/tunnel but none of us were experienced enough snorkelers to make it down there and back. He said there was an eel in there. He really is a fish!! It was a fun time and I highly recommend him. You can find him at the Caye Casa Condos/Hotel.

Wild Mango

This little restaurant at the south end of the main strip of beach in the town center serves tasty food and very tasty margharitas...so good I even got Debbie to get one! This is there spicy mango margharita...a mango margharita with some red chile powder sprinkled on top...tastyyyy! The food is a fusion food so don´t expect the local fare but it really is good and this place should definitely be tried. If you are not eating street food, then you are more than likely eating at a touristy place as the locals are generally too poor to afford the restaurants. On the north end of the center of town, you will start to find more street food vendors (little "shacks") where you have just a few choices of food but it is very tasty and cheap.

Pupusas

I love these little pouches :)...at least that is what I think the name translates to. It seems to be not quite tortilla dough stuffed with your choice of stuffings (meat, cheese, beans) and then topped with a "cole slaw" and red sauce (which isn´t too spicy). They are made fresh in front of you and takes longer than you would expect to cook them. This little lady in San Pedro, Belize was churning them out like a pro!

Mapping my progress

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I hear that people keep wondering where I am as I can't update my blog as often as I'd like but what I can find time to do is keep the map of where I'm going and where I've been fairly up-to-date. So, you can check out my google map link in the list of links on my blog.

Lamanai Ruins with Tanisha Tours

Debbie got a good tip that Tanisha Tours is a good outfit to use for a tour of the Mayan ruins of Lamanai. If you head out from San Pedro, you get the pleasure of a fun zipping boat ride on the river through the mangroves. This was for sure more exciting than the ruins though the ruins were interesting. Your tour guide Daniel has been doing the tours for 20 years so he is quite experienced and has loads of knowledge on the wildlife of the area. He and his helper can amazingly spot a small bat or lizard amongst the mangrove as they wiz by in the boat. They are always willing to turn around and show the animals to the people. If you come from San Pedro, breakfast of banana nut bread and juice, lunch of local styled food, and water during the tour, and a rum punch or beer is provided. The only down side is that the trip to the ruins from San Pedro via boat is about 3 hours (including an unpleasantly bumpy 1 hour bus ride), but the fun boat ride makes it well worth it. The other option (not with Tanisha tours) is to fly with TropicAir and you will still get to do one portion of the boat ride but I think the portion you do if you go with Tanisha is more interesting (possible dolphin spottings when traveling through the sea and sharper turns when navigating through the mangroves).

Natural Scaffolding

One thing that is refreshing is the use of natural, unmanufactured materials for various purposes. Granted, this is probably done out of necessity but it keeps open the question of how much we really need to manufacture. (This is really a post for my mom because she was wishing she could get into the scaffolding business the first time she went to Europe and I know she loves natural "construction".)

Critters

This little crab somehow managed to crawl into our bathroom at night and die. It was there first of what to be some critter visitors in our little cabana at Hotel Del Rio in San Pedro, Ambergris, Belize. The "hotel" has a nice little common area where the guests seemed to use quite frequently which gave it a nice community feel. So much of a community feel that Debbie and I had no qualms of dashing to one of the other cabanas late at night to get a guy to come kill what was the biggest spider either Debbie or I had ever seen. Really...it had to have been at least 6 inches in diameter (including the legs). It moved to fast for us to get a picture of it. The owner and manager of the hotel says they didn´t know what type of spider it was. We are still alive now so I suppose it doesn´t matter now.

Belikin Beer

I took the opportunity of drinking Belize's beer to test out my handy-dandy Swiss Army knife. It worked wonders! I was pleasantly surprised by how good the Belikin beer is. One could even call it pretty good. I'm definitely surprised that the national beer is good...at least from the comparison to the "national" American beers.

TropicAir Flight to San Pedro

We opted to fly to San Pedro from Belize city which meant we flew on a plane that takes about 15 people. It's only a 15 minute flight. The Belize City International Airport is quite small and the flights on TropicAir leave as soon as the plane is full so we left about 15 minutes earlier than the scheduled time. It's a nice view over the ocean to the island of Caye Ambergris. There is another airline (Maya Air) that flies to San Pedro and they have the same flight schedule and similar prices. Not sure what their planes are like but I had no complaints about our flight with TropicAir.

Let the adventures begin...

Well...my around the world trip started in luxury. Debbie and I got upgraded to first class for our flight to Belize which meant we could get into the American Airlines lounge. We lounged in-style while we waited for our flight. I had to soak it up because it is probably the last vestige of luxury I will have for a while :).

The Power of the Consumer: Carrot Mob

This is a great demonstration of how we can put our over-used power of the consumer to good use.

Carrotmob Makes It Rain from carrotmob on Vimeo.

Wall-e

Come on people...really...you can't in the first 2 minutes of the movie get the theme of the movie?? I saw Wall-e the other day and was struck by the strong message in the movie that was for me blatant in the first 2 minutes. What has baffled me is how no one (in the mass media) is talking about this and how the message seems to escape a lot of people. So, I write this post so that anyone planning to go see Wall-e will know to look for a message about our current path on Earth in the first 2 minutes. If you are not sure what it is by the end of the movie, please contact me and I'll explain then.

In-room coffee at Carmel River Inn

Now I have to admit one thing that I didn't like about Italy (and a few other countries in Europe) was no coffee maker in the room. It is a standard that I had become accustom to in the US and England (well...there it was water boilers for tea) and it is nice to enjoy your morning cup in the privacy of your own room. But let me say that no place has lived up to the coffee luxury of Carmel River Inn in California. A coffee machine with a built-in coffee bean grinder....in your room...I'm loving it!!

Peace

Ha...Enough said.

A new phase

Alright, while I had mostly been a tourist in the places I had been living, I have now returned back to the US and Austin where I lived previously and so am quite familiar with it. That being said, Austin has changed a lot in the past couple of years, so now the blog is going to focus on exploring these new things of Austin and also information worth sharing as I prepare for my year off, volunteer, and travel around the world.

Bar Quadronno in Milano

This little place serves up tasty unique little sandwiches but a bit expensive. It probably will take two to fill you up and they go for about €6 each. But it will be tasty! Here's a link to the google map.

Bring it on Mediterranean Sea!!

As I was walking to the beach in Tel Aviv, it hit me that this was my first visit to water since my lasik surgery where I could actually get in and enjoy. Let me tell you...it is so nice to be able to swim and play around in water without having to worry about water getting in your eyes because of contacts (not wearing the contacts was not an option because I can't see anything without them)! So, to anyone considering Lasik...I say do it! The freedom is liberating! Plus, you don't have to worry about sandstorms in Africa either! Water and sand...I have no fear now!

Tel Aviv Beach Sunset

Well, I thought I would welcome myself back with a nice peaceful picture from my trip to Tel Aviv. Apparently, kite surfing is very popular here and it is a most peaceful time to spend sitting on the beach watching the kites float through the air. It's way better than watching birds fly through the air I must say...the kites stay around longer and keep soaring. You have the excitement of near misses with water and specators on the beach when the kite glides breathtakingly close to either. Too top it off, you can sip on a beer or cocktail with the sunset in the background. Really, I couldn't have imagined a better way to spend my last night there.