Pirates of the Caribbean...

MAY 25, 2011
I’m in paradise right now. I’m on a deserted island 35 miles from the mainland. I woke up at 6am on Tuesday, took a water taxi to catch the 8am bus to Dangriga. I was supposed to meet a lady to take me to the island on her boat. She called and told me that she still had to get the boat from the river and will meet me in an hour. No problem. I kept my bags at the local store and picked up some food for the trip. By the time she got there, she had to do some errands. We packed up the boat with my gear and some supplies from the mainland. At 1pm, they said they couldn’t take this boat, the engine kept cutting out. So they had to have someone from the island drive another boat all the way here to come get me and the supplies. We left the mainland at 4pm. Then the fun began! Picture this, a low profile, 20 ft fishing boat loaded down with about 1500 pounds of water, coolers, ice, mangos, bananas, food, my luggage, and who knows what else. There was me, the captain and one other guy. The instant we started moving, I was soaked. Water was coming in from every direction. I couldn’t open my eyes. It was like someone was throwing buckets of water on me constantly for one hour straight. I had to have faith that the captain knew what he was doing. I was concerned with my stuff. I had my laptop, camera, phone and books with me that I didn’t want ruined. It was the longest and wettest boat ride of my life. By the time we got to the first island, we unloaded about 1/3 of our weight. It was an island that conducts surveys of the reef. Glad we were able to support them with some food. Now, they said, come the waves. I thought, “Oh my God, what could be worse!”. We got back to the boat and past the reef into the wide open water. The waves were coming in from everywhere. I couldn’t see and the boat was tossing and launching a few times. I maintained complete calmness throughout this time and thought, this is crazy!! I wish someone could see me right now in the middle of the Caribbean, riding 35 miles in a little boat getting tossed around. AND this was after I waited 8 hours on the mainland for the boat to even show up! By time we got to the island, the sun was setting. However, I will have to say, that scary ass boat ride was so worth the time spent here. I got upgraded to the cabin over the water. There are about 10 cabins, a few dorms and tent camping spots. As I write this, I’m sitting in a hammock, with the breeze and sun and ocean right here. The sand is white, the water is blue and the diving is colorful! I brought my own breakfast food and snacks so all I have to do is buy dinner. They make fresh caught fish, veggies and fruit. There’s coconut rum and Belizean weed. There’s only 20 people on this island (10 guests, 10 workers). Apparently, it’s been known for pirates to hide out here and watch the Spanish boats go by. They would pillage the boats and murder people and when it got out of hand, they could get their quick, little boats back through the reef and on this island. The big Spanish boats couldn’t get past the reef. So there’s some old bones that are buried and perhaps some gold/jewels found here. I heard that the owner’s mom bought this island from the Morgan’s - Captain Morgan! The graves are his grandson’s! Sooo cool! On the next island, there’s a ghost of a tall headless man who walks around. Talk about Pirates of the Caribbean! I’m right here! The only animal to be careful about is the hermit crab. They are EVERYWHERE! Little baby crabs walking around and hiding in their shells when you step by. And I’ve seen crabs with shells the size of baseballs! Freakin’ huge! Gotta watch your step around here. There’s palm trees everywhere with coconuts. We can crack them and drink the water right out of the shell. There’s also kayaks that we have access to and more snorkeling, diving, night dives, fishing, relaxing, reading and of course, yoga on my deck over the water! I highly recommend people come to Belize. You don’t have to learn a new language, you don’t have to exchange money and it’s tropical, fun, relaxing and pretty cheap. I’m paying $20/night to stay here! Sure beats the last place I was staying at that had a shared bathroom. The guesthouse was made of wood and we were on the 2nd floor. The bathroom was built out with nothing underneath it but a little support and some pipes. When I stepped into the shower, it almost gave underneath. The water had soaked through the wood below it. Then I see in tiny writing, “Be careful where you step, shower not sturdy.” Oh, ya think?! I quickly got out of there. Don’t want to be the one who takes the last shower in there and fall through the floor 15 feet above the ground! Let’s just say, it’s been an adventure and I’m loving every minute of it!

I just checked my email after 4 days and have 2 emails from job offers. One in Guatemala on Lake Atitlan with a Waldorf School teaching elementary kids yoga twice a week, while helping out with recess and playing with the kids. The lake is beautiful and there’s hiking and yoga everywhere. The other job is back in San Pedro, Belize on Ambergris Caye. It’s marketing for a organic farmer/holistic business. He wants me to teach yoga and learn Spanish and market his biz while he does Chi Gong and massage, guitar lessons, etc. I’m having a hard time figuring it out! Thoughts???

Unbelizeable

I'm settling in Belize pretty well. It's "unbelizeable" as the locals would say! I just spent the last week bouncing from caye to caye (pronounced keys) or islands. My friend Shad was down here with me. We snorkeled with nurse sharks, turtles, big moray eels and lobster. Belize has amazing dive sites. We spent a day looking for whale sharks but sadly didn't see any. We saw dolphins instead, which was pretty cool. The food in Belize is amazing! Fresh snapper everyday! Mangos, papayas, bananas, watermelon...yummy! We took a little puddle jumper plane to a place on the mainland called Placencia. It has a wonderful long beach with lots of drumming live music. There's a few reggae bands, too. It's a small town. You can walk from one end to the other in under 20 min. I enjoyed the feel there. In the town of San Pedro (Ambergris Caye), the men are very aggressive. They will try to hustle you into buying weed or hanging out with them. Then they want your money and I've heard some bad stories. But down in Placencia and Punta Gorda, they are just chill. They'll say hello and that's about it. No one tries to get up in your space.

I just spent the evening with a bunch of Americans. I'm down in Punta Gorda for the Cacao Festival (the local chocolate). I ran into some of the dancers and musicians and they invited me to a birthday party. They are all in the peace corps and have been living down here for almost 2 years! Very nice group of people. Today, the festival is at a Mayan ruin with live music and dancing. Then I'm heading back up to Placencia for more diving this week.

It's funny, but when I travel I realize the world is so small. I will see a guy on the bus or walking down the street and then run into him later or see him in another town. I guess that means we are meant to talk and become friends. It's nice bc it's easy to make friends in a small town.

More to come...
Love,
Julie

Belize

I've been wanting to go to Belize for about 10 years now, ever since that show Temptation Island back in the day. :) Well, it is paradise. There's sooo much to do. It's a divers paradise. Some of the best diving in the world is here. The waters are clear, the weather is perfect, the islanders are welcoming and the cerveza is flowing! I'm staying at Akbol Yoga Eco Resort. It's a perfect place for a retreat. We do yoga every morning at 9am on the pier over the water. With the breeze, it's the perfect temperature for yoga. The food is amazing and the cabanas are facing the ocean with showers outside. It's incredible. I'm about 2 miles from town. Luckily, I've been meeting the locals and getting hookups on boat rides, snorkeling and drinks. I've met so many people already. I'm staying here for another few days, then heading over to another island and down to Placencia for the full moon dive with the whale sharks! I can't wait! The Blue Hole was amazing! Very deep and murky. We saw a bunch of stalagmites. Not too much in the form of fish, although there were a couple of sand sharks, but I didn't get the opportunity to see them, darn it! There's soo many Americans here. They take US currency, speak English and cater to tourists. It's basically a resort for Americans. I was hoping to get a little more into the culture, but I guess that's what the mainland is for. I plan on doing tubing, camping and swimming with the sharks. I'll keep you updated!

Mexico

Welcome to my first blog of the Mexican/Central America trip. I just spent 4 wonderful, fun days/nights with 2 friends. I met them in Greece last summer at the dive shop. We kept in touch and they invited me down to Cancun to visit before I headed down to Belize. We laughed the entire time! I forgot how beautiful it is down here. Turquoise waters, powder white sand beaches with palm trees everywhere. It’s paradise. We went to Tulum, Playa del Carmen, Isla Mujeres and Chitzen Itza. Everyday was an adventure! We explored Mayan ruins, went to beaches, danced at amazing clubs, and I even swam with a fenced in shark! It was really nice to be with someone who is from Mexico to show me some of the culture and teach me a bit of the language. It’s a great transition from The States to traveling alone.

I left Cancun Tuesday morning to take a bus down to Bacalar (about 35 km from the border). I was told by David (the guy from Cancun) that it’s much prettier and nicer than Chatumal (the border town). I said goodbye to the guys and hopped on a 5 1/2 hour bus ride to Bacalar. I sat in the second to last row looking out the window to the side with the luggage. I like to watch when people get on and off and make sure that my stuff is not taken. All of the sudden the guy that was sitting in the front row runs to the back of the bus and sits behind me. Then he picks up an empty bottle off the floor and sits back down behind me. He sat there for about 5 min and then ran off the bus when it stopped and peed behind the bus station. Apparently he couldn’t hold it any longer and almost peed in the bottle behind my seat. Gross!! He gets back on and sits in the front seat.

At this time I’m seeing signs for Bacalar. I go up to the front to get off and he says “Senorita, you don’t want this stop, you need the next one for Bacalar. It’s the main station in the town.” I thank him and sit down behind him. At that time, someone had reached in the luggage compartment and taken his bags. He yelled at the bus driver to stop the bus and took off running down the street after the thief. Crazy! All I can think is I wasn’t sitting by the side with the luggage and I really hope that my stuff is still in there! Luckily, it was.

A minute later the toothless guy next to me starts speaking Spanish at me. I have no idea what he’s saying. I only know a handful of words to get me by. So I just smile and say “No”. All of the sudden the bus gets back on the freeway and starts going south. I say, “Bacalar, Bacalar!” That’s where I need to be. The guy next to me says that I just missed the stop and he went up to the bus driver to tell him to stop so I can get off. I thank him and get my bags. I’m now standing on the side of the freeway in the middle of nowhere. I can’t believe it. I start walking down the street with all of my bags and head towards the town.

It’s a small town. Luckily a taxi came by after about 10 min of walking. I told him to take me to a hostel or hotel that would cost about $17-20. He takes me to the hostel. It’s a shack. I ask the guy for a room and he offers me a quad but tells me that there’s no one else going to be in it. That part is fine, but there’s no one in the entire hostel! It’s more like a secondary house in the back of their house. It has a patio and bathroom and a kitchen. I pick a bed and ask for sheets. Then I realize the door has no lock. I ask the guy (mind you, he doesn’t speak English and I’m barely scratching the Spanish surface) for a lock on the door. He says, “no, it’s not necessary”. Picture a wooden door with not even a doorknob. I’m thinking of all of my things are just out in the open. This hostel is $7/night. I see a place next door and ask how much their room is, they say $280/night! I mean, really!? It didn’t look that much better than the one I was in. Especially not 40 times more! So hostel with no lock, here I am.

I start walking through the lonely town to see a few kids playing in the street, stray dogs walking by and a beautiful park and lagoon. I went to dinner at an ok place for fish tacos and then walked to the “excursion” area. Normally, Mexicans run up to you because they want your money, but this time, no one even blinked an eye. I seriously, no exaggeration, am the ONLY tourist in this town. It’s dead. No one is at restaurants, no one is at the park. I saw one guy kayaking. I’m getting a little weirded out. I’m not too comfortable. At least it was nice scenery!

I decide to walk back to the room and take a cold shower and realize there’s no toilet paper. Oh well, I’ll just shower. As I open the door to the bedroom, I see a centipede run across the wall. I don’t see it now, but I’m laying in bed listening to chickens and donkeys and dogs and who knows what other animals are out there making noises. As I’m typing this right now, I just saw a 3 inch baby lizard crawling up the wall. God, get me through the night. I’m never going to sleep. My stomach is in knots and I’m a bit on edge. I’m borderline scared. I need to think positively and pray for the light to come out so I can head straight for the bus station to get the ferry to go to Belize. There I will be greeted by other yogis with a door that locks!

I’m holding on to Mimi’s Buddha rock foot all night for strength! What a crazy couple of hours.