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