Rainy day Sunday!

 Hello everyone! Greetings from wet wet Belize. When it rains, it rains!

We Andrew found an image re-sizing program so we can add photos much easier now. Not all of our followers are on Facebook, so there is some catching up to be done!

Us whiter than white folk left Edmonton at an ungodly hour carrying nothing but our backpacks full of clothing hope.

We arrived in San Ignacio, Belize to the very warm welcome of Peter and Cindy, and dog Chloe. Their other dog Tootsie was waiting at home working in her capacity as guard dog. Peter and Cindy live in the bush somewhere in Nova Scotia and winter in beautiful Belize. We are renting the suite above their home.

The place is certainly rustic, and while small, certainly is all the room we need (right, Honey?). You get what you pay for, people! We're getting used to boiling water to wash dishes, but it took a few days, for sure.

Peter and Cindy have been great to us. If they are going places they offer us a ride, or ask us to join them. We have been able to go tubing on the Mopan River, and also to swim where the Macal River and Mopan River meet. We forgot to grab the camera for Macal, but here are photos from a walk, and from tubing in the river.

There's a video of me tubing but I lost my bikini top so you no see no video.



San Ignacio is nestled near the border of Guatemala, which will be our next stop in our travels. The population here is a wonderful mix of Guatemalans, Belizeans, Chinese, and Indian, with the dominant language being English. This is certainly not the place to learn Spanish. That will have to be done in Guatemala.

The Saturday market is wicked good! Most everything is $1/lb, and bananas are 10 for $1. Good thing we only have a wee little fridge or I'd buy out the place. There is food, clothing, and housewares as far as the eye can see.

Can you spot the redhead?


 And Dad, look what you can rent here!

I have no doubt you'll be on the next flight! It's quick and cheap from Texas! 

Here is today's botany lesson: Note the difference between the two plants.

Can you tell which plant is aloe? It's #1. I thought it was #2. Rubbing the juice from plant #2 on my fresh sunburn caused me to take my first trip to the doctor. His name is Julio. I'll be seeing him again tomorrow because I have some weird bug bite on my finger that is taking over my hand. 



We haven't seen too many places in our 2.5 weeks here as we've been on foot. After seeing the 'chicken buses' and realizing that we wouldn't be able to see the places we want to see we have decided to buy a vehicle. That will allow us the freedom we want and need. Hopefully we can get that done next week.




So friends, I have run out of things to show you. I could go on about the price of drinks and food, and how beautiful the weather is, but that would be rude. I'll just part with a lovely photo of my beloved and I, out on a date last night. I'm sure you'll notice we're wearing our Saturday night best (shirts with collars!).

Goodbye friends!

Cahal Pech

A couple of days ago we went up the hill to the Cahal Pech Archeological site, a small Mayan ruins right in the town of San Ignacio. It's 1 of 3 Maya sites (along with Xunatunich and Tikal) that we plan on visiting while we are here.

 Here is a photo of an ancient Mayan. They must have been quite small, as he looks to be about 4 feet tall!

As you can see, I would have been a giant back in that time! Still would have been a Princess though!

It's kinda impressive architecture and a little awe inspiring.

For 4' tall people the stairs are totally not to code!

This is part of what the map said was a "ballcourt". Maybe where football started?

1 of many narrow passages throughout the site. This was done for protection moreso then anything...if attacked the attackers would have to come single file through the many passages and you could repel them with a smaller force.

Here is an idea of the height of some of the plaza's. Must have been considered REALLY high for 4' people!!

The Mayan people were an industrious, technologically advanced people that dominated this part of the world for the better part of 1000 years...it was quite cool to see what they built! Cahal Pech is the smallest of the ruins we expect to see, so it was a good primer for the big sites.

Tuesday's thoughts, Vol. 1

So, we thought we would have a weekly installment where we discuss and determine what we learned in the previous week. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?

Thus we bring you: Tuesday’s Thoughts (or Martes Memories if you prefer!)

Here is what I (Andrew) learned this week:

·        Service is not a Belizean restaurants best quality

·        Cooking chicken is. (mmm, pollo!)

·        I miss the Microwave immensely

·        I miss hot water so much more.

·        There are a billion dogs here, but surprisingly few cats. I wonder if there is a correlation there…

·        Emission controls on vehicles have not made it this far south.

·        The Jungle is NOT peaceful!

·        Iguanas fall out of trees occasionally. (and make very loud bangs on the roof!)

·        There are lots of food shows on the travel network

·        My wife has a disturbing attraction to prison shows

·        My wife is VERY good at Scrabble.

·        I am AWFUL at Scrabble

·        For a small people, the Mayans had really tall stairs

·        All the supermarkets in Belize are run by Chinese. I am NOT kidding about this.

·        $2Bz Rum and Cokes don’t get old very quickly

·        Maraschino Cherries soaked in 151 Rum taste very, very bad.

Hello blogger land! Week 1 was quite entertaining and educational. Here are Penny’s thoughts this week:

·        Your feet can take you places, but only so far

·        Cold showers are surprisingly refreshing

·        I will (hopefully) never get used to the sight of neglected dogs roaming around in various states of starvation, injury, and pregnancy.

·        The jungle is deafeningly loud at night

·        Humidity makes you sweat without even working out, so I’m thinking I don’t need to work out.

·        I am struggling without unlimited internet and television at my fingertips. After a lot of internal debate, I’m ok with that. Minimum standards are called minimum standards for a reason.

·        The ‘hot’ faucet is a mean, mean teaser. Nothing even comes out of it.

·        Living with bugs is a way of life in the jungle. Killing them seems like cutting grass with scissors.

I’m sure we both have many more thoughts and comments but that’s all we can come up with at the moment. Plus, we want you all to come back next week!

Stay tuned…for Foto Friday!

Take care, loved ones.

P&A

Friday night and Saturday in San Ignacio

So, apparently last night was the start of the weekend! When you don't have a watch or a calender, or any commitments of any kind it's amazing how quick you lose track of the day!

Last night we decided to go into town and see what the San Ignacio nightlife was like. I'm not going to lie, I was a little disappointed! We did find a great meal at one of the local tour vendors/grigo bar. Great meal, Penny had a Fish Curry dish and I had some Creole Chicken. Add in 8 Rum Punchs and it was $30 well spent! We had some good conversation with some younger girls from Ontario who had just come in from Cay Caulker and an older gentleman from the US. Lots of gringos downtown which was nice. There is apparently a fun karaoke bar somewhere down there that we tried to locate, but no such luck...navigating an unfamiliar town when you are inebriated is not always the easiest...

We also got introduced to what I have now deemed "The Belizian Death Cherry!" In the Rum Punches ($3 Belizian, $1.50 Ca) they have the standard maraschino cherry. Or. So. You. Think.

Bite into it and you quickly learn otherwise! Apparently they are soaked in 151 Rum...


Good.

God.

I think there was more alcohol in the damn cherry!

The night slowed down pretty early, before midnight, which was the disappointing part. I did learn that there is a Casino in town however...look for a review on that in the next post!

We did go to the market today, it was reasonably impressive. It's said to be the biggest market in Belize. We got 10 Banana's for $1BZ ($.50CA) so the prices were pretty good. Selection of fruit is okay, but vegetables are a little hard to come by. That's about the only bad thing. There is some pretty good corn I hope to sample next week...

We've got some stuff on the go this afternoon. I will keep up the same mantra for the rest of the day.

I will not complain about the heat...
I will not complain about the heat.

I will not complain about the HEAT!

Belize!

Well, folks. We made it. 1 day in and everything is still good. :) We arrived at our scheduled time after a slightly harrowing time on our first flight. Apparently -31 isn't so good for airplanes...neither is "sorry folks, apparently they forgot to put something on the airplane..." A close to 1 hour wait on the tarmac in Edmonton (#YEG) made for a slightly dicey connection in Houston (food, who needs food..) but it all worked out (as it always seems to) and we arrived to +30 weather. Nothing like a 60 degree change in temperature to brighten your day.

We were met at the airport by our hosts, Cindy & Peter, and taken out to our mode of transport from Belize City to San Ignacio. A 10 to 15 year old Isuzu Trooper. To call this thing a Jalopy might be an offense to jalopies around the world! It was AWESOME! 2 door (who knew they made the Trooper in 2 door??) 5 speed, absolutely nothing for shock absorbers, mangy mutt in the back (I kid, Chloe is a great dog) windows for Air Conditioning, and what felt like a board for a seat.

I want one!!! I am currently trying to convince Penny we should just buy a truck here and drive around! If not that, maybe an old motorcycle or scooter. Apparently we can buy a new scooter for $1500BZ!

The house we are staying at is about what you expect. Sparse, functional, and totally old school. It even has an old tube TV...without a remote! We are really roughing it here! It looks like it came from a hotel somewhere, in that it has channels set up improperly and stuff...I may needto get a remote so I can set it up properly...I saw on the channel guide they have Sportsnet...I may even be able to get an Oilers game or 2...

Might be easier to watch them lose in +30

Yes, +30..you are going to hear that a lot from me...just because I can. :)

We are currently exploring the town center in San Ignacio...more to come later.

Adios all, keep in touch!

It's that time!

Well...the craziness that is our adventure is about to start! It is 0-5-godawful in the morning and we are waiting in the airport to board our Continental flight to Houston. It is -31 outside!!! I would like to thank Mother Nature for reminding me exactly why we are embarking on this most epic odyssey. :) I'm pretty pumped, I won't lie to you...and I am really hoping our hosts will be at the Belize airport to pick us up! i While I am ready for the adventure of navigating Central America, I am thinking day 2 is a good time to start... I am most interested to see how this blog(and us in general...) change over the weeks to come. Hopefully these 2 most unlikely travellers (and that is a story to be told shortly!) will come through this relatively unscathed and better for it. I''m pretty sure our friends are giving good odds on that. :p For those who had 4.5 minutes for the first disagreement, consider yourselves winners! (Apparently getting food when you are hungry is just CRAY-ZEE... (sigh) I want to thank the Delano's for putting up with us for the last week, and the rest of our friends for, well...just putting up with us! Off we go...I have no idea how this is going to go...but I'm sure it will be interesting!!! (and significantly warmer than -31!!) Adios Canada!