Growing up, I had this theory. It was a theory about dinosaurs (and yes it was something I thought about often.) My thought process was the following: We have all this proof that dinosaurs existed at some point. All kinds of fossils and the like. But the thing is, we only have their insides. Nothing has been found that tells us what they looked like on the outside. All we really have are their bones.
So how could we ever know what they really looked like? We can't. It was then that I decided scientists are dull and text books can't actually be trusted. While you and the rest of the world pictured dinosaurs that were grey, and maybe even forest green or maroon, I knew that in reality they were yellow with hot pink polka dots and highlighter orange with lime stripes.
Of course, anyone I ever told this to thought I was just so "adorable" with my "wild imagination", and I quickly learned that they would never understand. I would have to keep my ingenious theories to myself and it would have to suffice that at least I knew the truth.
As I was flipping through the pages of my National Geographic this afternoon (bet you didn't see that coming), I suddenly let out a loud gasp. Those in the room looked up from their seats and asked what was wrong. "Oh nothing...just a new discovery confirming everything I ever thought to be true." They blinked a few times and continued on with their merry business.
What was that new discovery, you ask? A new type of dinosaur...covered WITH FEATHERS! Yes that is correct: Those huge beasts that you had always pictured as rough and dark, only this one is fluffy and cuddly. Of course their sketch was not neon in color, but you can't really blame them. One step at a time as they say.
Alright, so I exaggerated. Not all of my theories have been confirmed yet, but you just wait around and see. The point is that if dinosaurs could have feathers, who knows what else they could have had! The options are endless. And yes, I knew it all along.
For more evidence of my prodigy-like tendencies, visit http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/04/120404-yutyrannus-feathers-dinosaur-science-nature-biggest/
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
In Memory of my Grandma Susan
If I had to choose one word to describe you Grandma, it would be resilient. Resilient when you escaped Germany with the kinder-transport when you were only four years old. Resilient when you and your nine year old cousin traveled halfway across the world alone, to a country whose language you didn't even speak. You built a life for yourself here and started a family despite all of it. Resilient after suffering numerous heart attacks and various other illnesses that somehow never seemed to get in your way. You were so resilient in fact that numerous doctors knew who you were and of all the fights that you would put up for anyone who stood in the way of how you wanted things to go. It is this trait that has kept us going through all of our years and it is because of your resilience in particular that I am here today.
You always loved to keep things new and exciting. Whether it was moving houses or redecorating your current house, making a new painting or playing a new song on the piano, you always had something new, fancy and fun to show us whenever we came over. And you never stopped. When I got to your house yesterday one of the first things I noticed was the palette of paint which was still wet, waiting for you to perfect the canvas next to it.
Art is something that always connected us. You saw potential in me before anyone else did, and you always taught me new things when we were together. When we weren't together, you would save pictures, articles and books to show me the next time you saw me. From you I learned shading, perspective and to look at things in a different light - both literally and figuratively. When I turned 16 you took me out for driving lessons and when I got my license , you trusted me to let me borrow your car - probably just a little sooner than you should have.
Growing up with you around was always an adventure. You were always up for anything and you never did anything half-heartedly. Even when we walked to the park which was basically next to your condo, we would never take the "normal" route. Instead we had to go the long way around, through the forest and over the creek balancing on tiny rocks to get across. Inevitably someone would end up with at least one soaking wet shoe but it didn't matter, it was always hilarious and we ended up laughing the whole way. We jumped on your bed while you, the "monster", tried to knock us down and you even let us paint the walls of your atrium as we transformed them from simple concrete into a jungle filled with wildlife. We played hide and seek with you and you were so good at it that to this day we still don't know if you actually didn't see us that time you checked the closet we were in three times while we stifled our giggles trying not to give ourselves away. When we wanted to see if we were good at tying knots, you let us hog tie you with our jump ropes - it turns out we weren't very good at it but I still can't believe you let us do that. Grandma, you were always up for everything and anything and you never let any obstacles get in your way.
I will now have to continue my adventures through life without you physically in them, however the lessons that I have learned from you will forever be with me, and I will miss you.
*In loving memory of my Grandma Susan who passed away on September 9, 2012.
You always loved to keep things new and exciting. Whether it was moving houses or redecorating your current house, making a new painting or playing a new song on the piano, you always had something new, fancy and fun to show us whenever we came over. And you never stopped. When I got to your house yesterday one of the first things I noticed was the palette of paint which was still wet, waiting for you to perfect the canvas next to it.
Art is something that always connected us. You saw potential in me before anyone else did, and you always taught me new things when we were together. When we weren't together, you would save pictures, articles and books to show me the next time you saw me. From you I learned shading, perspective and to look at things in a different light - both literally and figuratively. When I turned 16 you took me out for driving lessons and when I got my license , you trusted me to let me borrow your car - probably just a little sooner than you should have.
Growing up with you around was always an adventure. You were always up for anything and you never did anything half-heartedly. Even when we walked to the park which was basically next to your condo, we would never take the "normal" route. Instead we had to go the long way around, through the forest and over the creek balancing on tiny rocks to get across. Inevitably someone would end up with at least one soaking wet shoe but it didn't matter, it was always hilarious and we ended up laughing the whole way. We jumped on your bed while you, the "monster", tried to knock us down and you even let us paint the walls of your atrium as we transformed them from simple concrete into a jungle filled with wildlife. We played hide and seek with you and you were so good at it that to this day we still don't know if you actually didn't see us that time you checked the closet we were in three times while we stifled our giggles trying not to give ourselves away. When we wanted to see if we were good at tying knots, you let us hog tie you with our jump ropes - it turns out we weren't very good at it but I still can't believe you let us do that. Grandma, you were always up for everything and anything and you never let any obstacles get in your way.
I will now have to continue my adventures through life without you physically in them, however the lessons that I have learned from you will forever be with me, and I will miss you.
*In loving memory of my Grandma Susan who passed away on September 9, 2012.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Papaya on the Beach
Today was a rather chilled out one. Woke up a little on the later side, grabbed some ice coffee (from a touristy place that actually knew what it was) and took a stroll around town. We then had fresh squeezed banana papaya juice on the beach until it was time for our water taxi ride back to the mainland.
Our ferry back was significantly smoother than the last time, as we do not check our bags and decided to take them with us. When we arrived in Belize City, we caught a taxi to our hotel. The driver helped us in and closed the door for us. Instead of the usual sliding the van door shut, he closed it almost all the way but not completely. He then "secured" it shut with a lock that can only be described as a hook through a metal loop. The kind that you occasionally see in a not so fancy public bathroom. Comforting eh?
We thought we would maybe catch a movie tonight so we asked the cab driver if there was a movie theater nearby. After asking the same question 3 times, the driver did not understand what we were asking. Now this was not because of a language barrier (fun fact: Belize is actually the only country in Central America where English is the official language), it was because he did not know what a movie theater was. It turns out that there are only 2 movie theaters in the whole country, and both of those theaters only have movies playing on the weekends. So there went that plan.
Alternative plan: grabbing water from a local mini-mart and hanging out in our again not so five star hotel. And by not so five star I mean the kind where the bathroom walls do not fully reach the ceiling of the room. Aka we have a hotel room with a bathroom stall in the corner. But it has beds and an air conditioner which is more than we can ask for, and it is our new home until we are forced to say goodbye to Belize for now as we hop on our plane to Atlanta tomorrow morning. Farewell Belize and thank you for being a fantastic host to some of the craziest adventures I have experienced thus far.
Our ferry back was significantly smoother than the last time, as we do not check our bags and decided to take them with us. When we arrived in Belize City, we caught a taxi to our hotel. The driver helped us in and closed the door for us. Instead of the usual sliding the van door shut, he closed it almost all the way but not completely. He then "secured" it shut with a lock that can only be described as a hook through a metal loop. The kind that you occasionally see in a not so fancy public bathroom. Comforting eh?
We thought we would maybe catch a movie tonight so we asked the cab driver if there was a movie theater nearby. After asking the same question 3 times, the driver did not understand what we were asking. Now this was not because of a language barrier (fun fact: Belize is actually the only country in Central America where English is the official language), it was because he did not know what a movie theater was. It turns out that there are only 2 movie theaters in the whole country, and both of those theaters only have movies playing on the weekends. So there went that plan.
Alternative plan: grabbing water from a local mini-mart and hanging out in our again not so five star hotel. And by not so five star I mean the kind where the bathroom walls do not fully reach the ceiling of the room. Aka we have a hotel room with a bathroom stall in the corner. But it has beds and an air conditioner which is more than we can ask for, and it is our new home until we are forced to say goodbye to Belize for now as we hop on our plane to Atlanta tomorrow morning. Farewell Belize and thank you for being a fantastic host to some of the craziest adventures I have experienced thus far.
Monday, January 9, 2012
The Tourist
Our room has no ac but has two standing fans that are rather loud. We slept with them on last night and were somewhat concerned that we would not hear our alarms over the noise of the fans. As a result I woke up every hour to see what time it was, so as not to miss the tour that we paid for in advance.
A speed boat picked us up from our hotel dock at 6:45 am. You know those super intense hand dryers that are sometimes in public bathrooms instead of paper towels? The kind where it is hard to hold your hands under because of the force of the air? Combine that with never-ending massive stomach-dropping roller coaster waves. That is what our boat ride was like for an hour and a half. (Dear mom, you would have hated it). We rode through the Caribbean to a river and up it. As you can imagine, it was already not a good hair day for anyone involved.
We got off at a small town called Bomba. So small that it has no electricity and around 70 people living there. The people there cut down wood from the trees that are overgrown in the river with machetes and carve them into souvenirs that they sell to tourists. We walked around for a few minutes and then took a big blue bus on a dirt road, dodging potholes for an hour. Once we reached our destination we transferred into another boat, our final mode of transportation. This boat sped through a winding narrow river alongside Mangroves and baby crocodiles. At one point, we drove over to a tree and a monkey casually hopped on board! She strutted across the boat on her two feet and walked up to each of us looking for food. When she was satisfied she casually turned around and strutted right back off into the tree that she had come from. Pretty awesome.
We then reached Lamanai (finally). Lunched was served, which for us was a protein bar and papaya. We then walked over to the site where thousands of Mayans once lived. We saw ancient temples and climbed to the top of the tallest one which was built 2,100 years ago. We were there for some time and then took our boat to our bus to our boat to our hotel again. We had some fresh squeezed juice and called it a night after our many hours of traveling and hiking.
Fun fact: There is a tree here that they call "the tourist". When the sun hits it for extended periods of time, the bark turns red and peels off. Hence, the tourist. (It is also an antidote for poison ivy)
The slogan of tomorrows hotel (since when do hotels have slogans?) is "where THE interesting people meet!" Should be interesting indeed...
A speed boat picked us up from our hotel dock at 6:45 am. You know those super intense hand dryers that are sometimes in public bathrooms instead of paper towels? The kind where it is hard to hold your hands under because of the force of the air? Combine that with never-ending massive stomach-dropping roller coaster waves. That is what our boat ride was like for an hour and a half. (Dear mom, you would have hated it). We rode through the Caribbean to a river and up it. As you can imagine, it was already not a good hair day for anyone involved.
We got off at a small town called Bomba. So small that it has no electricity and around 70 people living there. The people there cut down wood from the trees that are overgrown in the river with machetes and carve them into souvenirs that they sell to tourists. We walked around for a few minutes and then took a big blue bus on a dirt road, dodging potholes for an hour. Once we reached our destination we transferred into another boat, our final mode of transportation. This boat sped through a winding narrow river alongside Mangroves and baby crocodiles. At one point, we drove over to a tree and a monkey casually hopped on board! She strutted across the boat on her two feet and walked up to each of us looking for food. When she was satisfied she casually turned around and strutted right back off into the tree that she had come from. Pretty awesome.
We then reached Lamanai (finally). Lunched was served, which for us was a protein bar and papaya. We then walked over to the site where thousands of Mayans once lived. We saw ancient temples and climbed to the top of the tallest one which was built 2,100 years ago. We were there for some time and then took our boat to our bus to our boat to our hotel again. We had some fresh squeezed juice and called it a night after our many hours of traveling and hiking.
Fun fact: There is a tree here that they call "the tourist". When the sun hits it for extended periods of time, the bark turns red and peels off. Hence, the tourist. (It is also an antidote for poison ivy)
The slogan of tomorrows hotel (since when do hotels have slogans?) is "where THE interesting people meet!" Should be interesting indeed...
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Shark Bait
Woke up early this morning for our snorkeling adventure. Just as we were starting to think that we were waiting at the end of the wrong tiny old dock, a boat came along and swept us off our feet. We spent some time getting to the actual site and putting on our gear, and then we jumped on in. Our first stop was at Hol Chan where we swam around for an hour looking at the most amazing array of coral and tropical fish. At one point we swam over the 'high coral' which was inches away from the surface of the water. We were told that we were only able to glide with our bodies over the surface and that there was "no room for error" lest we touch the coral, injure it and it (and its surplus of wildlife) injure us. Needless to say, getting back in the boar after that was a huge relief.
We then took the boat over to Shark Ray Alley, which yes, is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a small area of water swarming with sharks and sting rays. We geared up again and jumped right on in (casually of course...) Our guide threw in large pieces of dead fish, summoning the enemy even closer and then continued to wrestle a 9 and a half foot shark. Yes that's correct. He brought it over to us underwater for everyone to pet it's belly. I looked at it's large teeth from my way to close for comfort location and politely declined. We saw massive sting rays and an spotted eagle ray (severely cool! It looked like a sting ray with spots and swam like it was flapping it's wings). After a sincerely terrifying half an hour, getting back into the boat was the second huge relief of the day.
When we arrived safely on land we switched to our next location: the not so five-star hotel. We walked into our room to find our two beds with a TV in the middle of them, all facing the same wall. In order to watch it, we have to rotate the TV towards one bed and both sit on that bed. Hence: not so five-star.
We took a walk on the beach and decided to grab some coffee. I asked for an ice coffee and everyone in the place looked at me like I was psycho. Apparently ice coffee is not a common occurrence in all parts of the world.
While we were sitting there, we were chatting with the waitress and a local man who were buddies. He asked us where we're from and what we do. (Cautiously and aware of the rules of stander danger) we told him that Avital just finished nursing school and that I'm in school for social work. He suddenly burst into a rap about Avital and I, of which we could only understand our own names and something about me becoming a socialist. We politely clapped...and quickly bounced.
We walked on the beach, sat on a dock with our iPods and books, and just chilled the rest of the day. Off to bed early tonight as we are waking up at 6 am to catch our river boat to the Lamanai temple.
Hasta luega!
We then took the boat over to Shark Ray Alley, which yes, is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a small area of water swarming with sharks and sting rays. We geared up again and jumped right on in (casually of course...) Our guide threw in large pieces of dead fish, summoning the enemy even closer and then continued to wrestle a 9 and a half foot shark. Yes that's correct. He brought it over to us underwater for everyone to pet it's belly. I looked at it's large teeth from my way to close for comfort location and politely declined. We saw massive sting rays and an spotted eagle ray (severely cool! It looked like a sting ray with spots and swam like it was flapping it's wings). After a sincerely terrifying half an hour, getting back into the boat was the second huge relief of the day.
When we arrived safely on land we switched to our next location: the not so five-star hotel. We walked into our room to find our two beds with a TV in the middle of them, all facing the same wall. In order to watch it, we have to rotate the TV towards one bed and both sit on that bed. Hence: not so five-star.
We took a walk on the beach and decided to grab some coffee. I asked for an ice coffee and everyone in the place looked at me like I was psycho. Apparently ice coffee is not a common occurrence in all parts of the world.
While we were sitting there, we were chatting with the waitress and a local man who were buddies. He asked us where we're from and what we do. (Cautiously and aware of the rules of stander danger) we told him that Avital just finished nursing school and that I'm in school for social work. He suddenly burst into a rap about Avital and I, of which we could only understand our own names and something about me becoming a socialist. We politely clapped...and quickly bounced.
We walked on the beach, sat on a dock with our iPods and books, and just chilled the rest of the day. Off to bed early tonight as we are waking up at 6 am to catch our river boat to the Lamanai temple.
Hasta luega!
Saturday, January 7, 2012
A Sink Full of Noodles
My suspicions have been confirmed: sleeping in the jungle is not an easy endeavor. Also, fun fact: roosters do not only crow in the mornings.
Woke up in the treehouse early in the morning (slash unclear if I even slept at all) brushed our teeth outside in the jungle and carried on our way. The owner of the lodge, a serious surfer dude (jungle dude..?) offered to drive us into town to catch the bus and we graciously accepted. He showed us to the car, Avital took the backseat and I was therefore chosen to sit in the front. I walked over to the passenger side and opened the door. Our jungle friend said [insert surfer voice] "dude, you planning on driving?" I looked in the car and sure enough, the wheel was on the passenger side. Now you may be wondering if Belize is one of those places where they drive on the left side of the road. No it is not...his wheel was actually on the wrong side of the car.
Nevertheless, we made it in time for our 3 hour bus ride across the country. And when I say bus ride, I mean big-yellow-school-bus-painted-green-with-squished- standing-room-only kind of bus ride. Luckily there was a stop around an hour in where other people got off and we sat down.
Have I mentioned that there is fantastic 90's music playing everywhere we go? Fantastic as in Bbmak/Savage Garden/Hit Me Baby One More Time fantastic. It's like my ideal playlist continuously playing in the background soundtrack of my life. At some point on the bus ride, I turned off my iPod because the music was actually better than my own.
We got off the bus and made it to the water taxi for our 2 hour ride. Before we got on, we "checked" our bags and boarded the tiny little speed boat that they called our ferry. The boat had 2 stops and we were getting off at the last one. When we arrived at our destination after hours of traveling, we went to pick up or bags only to find that they were not on the cart with all the bags. Turns out our bags got off at the stop before ours and were currently chilling on a different island. Alone. No big deal...not like there was anything important in there...like my passport or anything... The men who worked there were very kind and an hour and a half later, we had both of our bags and were good to go in our new (what feels like a 5 star) hotel for the weekend. This hotel has mini shampoo and conditioners, which is how you know it's actually legit.
We attempted to make wacky mac with no burner (i.e. using hot water from the sink and a disposable tin). Note to anyone who thinks this might work: it doesn't. Not to worry, we had excellent wraps with all kinds of things we bought from the market.
Shabbat was beautiful and included lots of bananagrams, reading by the pool and long walks on the beach. We made kiddish and havdalah on plain vodka. Note to self: next time bring grape juice.
Next on the agenda is snorkeling, kayaking and moving to our next hotel. No idea what's in store but stay tuned.
Woke up in the treehouse early in the morning (slash unclear if I even slept at all) brushed our teeth outside in the jungle and carried on our way. The owner of the lodge, a serious surfer dude (jungle dude..?) offered to drive us into town to catch the bus and we graciously accepted. He showed us to the car, Avital took the backseat and I was therefore chosen to sit in the front. I walked over to the passenger side and opened the door. Our jungle friend said [insert surfer voice] "dude, you planning on driving?" I looked in the car and sure enough, the wheel was on the passenger side. Now you may be wondering if Belize is one of those places where they drive on the left side of the road. No it is not...his wheel was actually on the wrong side of the car.
Nevertheless, we made it in time for our 3 hour bus ride across the country. And when I say bus ride, I mean big-yellow-school-bus-painted-green-with-squished- standing-room-only kind of bus ride. Luckily there was a stop around an hour in where other people got off and we sat down.
Have I mentioned that there is fantastic 90's music playing everywhere we go? Fantastic as in Bbmak/Savage Garden/Hit Me Baby One More Time fantastic. It's like my ideal playlist continuously playing in the background soundtrack of my life. At some point on the bus ride, I turned off my iPod because the music was actually better than my own.
We got off the bus and made it to the water taxi for our 2 hour ride. Before we got on, we "checked" our bags and boarded the tiny little speed boat that they called our ferry. The boat had 2 stops and we were getting off at the last one. When we arrived at our destination after hours of traveling, we went to pick up or bags only to find that they were not on the cart with all the bags. Turns out our bags got off at the stop before ours and were currently chilling on a different island. Alone. No big deal...not like there was anything important in there...like my passport or anything... The men who worked there were very kind and an hour and a half later, we had both of our bags and were good to go in our new (what feels like a 5 star) hotel for the weekend. This hotel has mini shampoo and conditioners, which is how you know it's actually legit.
We attempted to make wacky mac with no burner (i.e. using hot water from the sink and a disposable tin). Note to anyone who thinks this might work: it doesn't. Not to worry, we had excellent wraps with all kinds of things we bought from the market.
Shabbat was beautiful and included lots of bananagrams, reading by the pool and long walks on the beach. We made kiddish and havdalah on plain vodka. Note to self: next time bring grape juice.
Next on the agenda is snorkeling, kayaking and moving to our next hotel. No idea what's in store but stay tuned.
Cave Limbo
We woke up early for our 8 hour adventure of Actun Tunichil Muknal. Our guide picked us up from our cabana home to drive us an hour through seriously rough terain, including small bodies of water so that we could begin our hike.
Flash backwards for a moment to the night before. We were told that we needed water shoes for ATM so we bought some frocks (fake crocs) for 15 belizian dollars ($7.50 American) in town, and walked back to pack our bags for the next day. The only bags that we brought to Belize with us include 2 backpacks, as in seriously huge backpackers bakpacks and one small bag each. my small bag happens to be a hot pink/blue/green flowered le sport sac. Naturally we were not going to bring our huge bags with us on the hike so we packed our change of clothes and some protein bars in our small bags and went to bed.
Flash forward to this morning. There is couple who we are traveling with on the tour. They show up in waterproof clothing (the kind where the pants zip off into shorts) hiking boots and a backpack whilst we are in our frocks with our over the shoulder le sport sac ready to go. The guide hands them a delicious looking meal for them to eat lunch along the way, and then hands us a large bag of bananas. Needless to say, our new friends are highly confused.
After our psycho joy ride (which according to our guide was a "free massage") we reached the entrance of our hike. We decided to go to the bathroom before we left, which was actually a small hut with a large hole in the floor. Enough said.
We started on our hike and immediately came to a wide river. The guide jumped right on in and casually scurried across. Frocks on slippery mossy rocks and le sport sac high above our heads, we eventually made our way across as well. We quickly learned that our guide was not interested in our well being and frankly did not care whether or not we were actually behind him. If we stopped to take a picture, we would have to run ahead to catch up with the group. We carried on this way for an hour, crossing the river three more times and listening to our guide joke repeatedly that only three of us would return (as opposed to the four who had arrived).
We stopped for a snack, our guide handed us helmets with lights on them and we hiked again. We reached the mouth of the cave and our guide asked if we could swim. We nodded, he said "good enough!", and plunged right on in to the water. We swam a few feet, climbed back up onto jagged land and carried on our merry way. The sunlight slowly faded as we hiked/ ran/swam/waded through half a mile of pitch black caves with a guide who assumed we were cave experts. He sped on ahead of us, attempting to shout out helpful hints such as "big drop" or "jagged rock" but the loud rushing water and his incredible pace make it impossible to hear. We started a game a telephone attempting to all make it out alive and in one piece. At points the water was up to our ankles and at points to our necks, against a seriously strong current. Some of the rocks were the coolest shapes and I found myself praying "please do not break under me" as I balanced on the tall skinny cylinders that I know took hundreds of years of dripping water to form.
We reached a landing point and our guide said take off your shoes and put on your socks, as this is a holy Mayan temple with ancient artifacts all over. We then sped/hiked/ran/waded/ swam/climbed ladders barefoot through a pitch black cave with ancient artifacts.
We saw all kinds of vessels, but the coolest part was the skelletons of the high-class Mayans who were sacrificed in the caves to the rain gods. The skeletons were fully intact due to calcifiction inside the caves over the years.
An hour and a half later, we turned around and made our way back to the opening ofthe cave. If you know me at all then you already know: speed is not my thing. Thank God for the helmets, as I smacked my head numerous times while basically doing the limbo through stalagmites, stalactites, and tiny cracks in huge rocks. So now in addition to the mystery bug bites from yesterday, I now have scratches, bruises and cuts to add to my collection.
After another "free massage" aka joy ride, we made it back to the hotel just in time for us to check out and move on to our next lodge.
Muscles soar and so tired, I am now writing from my bed which is suspended around 50 feet above the ground. In a tree. The only thing keeping me from being one with nature is a tin roof and some broken screens. My pants are tucked into my socks, attempting to ward out the large amounts of mosquitos, which quite obviously are interested in eating me alive. I am hoping that I will fall asleep quickly and sleep soundly through the night however the jungle (which is next to my head) is telling me otherwise.
Of course there is no Internet in our tree, so it is unclear when I will be able to send this but if you are reading this now, I obviously found a way.
Waking up bright and early to travel to our hotel on the small island of San Pedro. Sending some sunshine your way!
Flash backwards for a moment to the night before. We were told that we needed water shoes for ATM so we bought some frocks (fake crocs) for 15 belizian dollars ($7.50 American) in town, and walked back to pack our bags for the next day. The only bags that we brought to Belize with us include 2 backpacks, as in seriously huge backpackers bakpacks and one small bag each. my small bag happens to be a hot pink/blue/green flowered le sport sac. Naturally we were not going to bring our huge bags with us on the hike so we packed our change of clothes and some protein bars in our small bags and went to bed.
Flash forward to this morning. There is couple who we are traveling with on the tour. They show up in waterproof clothing (the kind where the pants zip off into shorts) hiking boots and a backpack whilst we are in our frocks with our over the shoulder le sport sac ready to go. The guide hands them a delicious looking meal for them to eat lunch along the way, and then hands us a large bag of bananas. Needless to say, our new friends are highly confused.
After our psycho joy ride (which according to our guide was a "free massage") we reached the entrance of our hike. We decided to go to the bathroom before we left, which was actually a small hut with a large hole in the floor. Enough said.
We started on our hike and immediately came to a wide river. The guide jumped right on in and casually scurried across. Frocks on slippery mossy rocks and le sport sac high above our heads, we eventually made our way across as well. We quickly learned that our guide was not interested in our well being and frankly did not care whether or not we were actually behind him. If we stopped to take a picture, we would have to run ahead to catch up with the group. We carried on this way for an hour, crossing the river three more times and listening to our guide joke repeatedly that only three of us would return (as opposed to the four who had arrived).
We stopped for a snack, our guide handed us helmets with lights on them and we hiked again. We reached the mouth of the cave and our guide asked if we could swim. We nodded, he said "good enough!", and plunged right on in to the water. We swam a few feet, climbed back up onto jagged land and carried on our merry way. The sunlight slowly faded as we hiked/ ran/swam/waded through half a mile of pitch black caves with a guide who assumed we were cave experts. He sped on ahead of us, attempting to shout out helpful hints such as "big drop" or "jagged rock" but the loud rushing water and his incredible pace make it impossible to hear. We started a game a telephone attempting to all make it out alive and in one piece. At points the water was up to our ankles and at points to our necks, against a seriously strong current. Some of the rocks were the coolest shapes and I found myself praying "please do not break under me" as I balanced on the tall skinny cylinders that I know took hundreds of years of dripping water to form.
We reached a landing point and our guide said take off your shoes and put on your socks, as this is a holy Mayan temple with ancient artifacts all over. We then sped/hiked/ran/waded/ swam/climbed ladders barefoot through a pitch black cave with ancient artifacts.
We saw all kinds of vessels, but the coolest part was the skelletons of the high-class Mayans who were sacrificed in the caves to the rain gods. The skeletons were fully intact due to calcifiction inside the caves over the years.
An hour and a half later, we turned around and made our way back to the opening ofthe cave. If you know me at all then you already know: speed is not my thing. Thank God for the helmets, as I smacked my head numerous times while basically doing the limbo through stalagmites, stalactites, and tiny cracks in huge rocks. So now in addition to the mystery bug bites from yesterday, I now have scratches, bruises and cuts to add to my collection.
After another "free massage" aka joy ride, we made it back to the hotel just in time for us to check out and move on to our next lodge.
Muscles soar and so tired, I am now writing from my bed which is suspended around 50 feet above the ground. In a tree. The only thing keeping me from being one with nature is a tin roof and some broken screens. My pants are tucked into my socks, attempting to ward out the large amounts of mosquitos, which quite obviously are interested in eating me alive. I am hoping that I will fall asleep quickly and sleep soundly through the night however the jungle (which is next to my head) is telling me otherwise.
Of course there is no Internet in our tree, so it is unclear when I will be able to send this but if you are reading this now, I obviously found a way.
Waking up bright and early to travel to our hotel on the small island of San Pedro. Sending some sunshine your way!
Welcome to Belize!
The plane here was pretty standard, nothing too eventful which is great news for a flight. We took a cab to our hotel which was two hours away, with a cab driver who spoke to us in only Creole. We literally caught every 2 out of 100 words and just nodded and smiled the rest of the time (which was a loooong time).
We got to our "resort" where they said they would be "upgrading" us to a better room because our original room was taken. They showed us to our private cabana, which is a tiny bright blue hut in the middle of a jungle. There are three beds inside, one is actually like sleeping on a wooden bench, one is like sleeping on a pile of springs and the other is a tiny cot in the corner of the room which is juuuust right (minus a large metal bar through the middle of it). Avital decided on the cot and I decided on the pile of springs. It was pretty cold so we slept bundled in layers, with our "blanket" (aka top sheet) over us. All in all, things were pretty smooth (minus the tv that would not turn on and the shower head that fell off in the middle of avital's shower) and we actually slept like babies due to sheer exhaustion.
We woke up this morning and decided to go ziplining through the Belizian rainforest. Our guide picked us up from the hotel and immediately warned us that we had a very bumpy ride ahead of us that was about an hour, and that if his driving scares us we should tell him. Apparently the car had no shock absorber whatsoever and so VERY bumpy it was. The ziplining was so cool and we got a little nature tour as well, where we learned that termites are actually edible. The guide stopped for a snack, cut open a piece of a termite nest and began picking at the bugs. They offered some protein to us as well. For numerous reasons, we declined.
We then took a cab to the iguana project where they are working on saving the iguanas, who are on danger of extinction. While we were waiting, we looked down at our ankles which suddenly had large red splotches all over them presumably from the rainforest. They didn't hurt and weren't itchy but they were getting bigger and the outside of them was turning a little white. We freaked out for a moment but then they stopped getting bigger and we feel fine, so we assume that we are...
The iguanas were so big, around four feet long. Avital held one named Roxy, who did not want to be held by me and kept digging her claws into me. What can I say, I'm a dog person. We went to the place where they kept the baby iguanas an they climbed alllll over us (which tickled).
We went to town, bought some fruit and vegetables, and walked back to out cabana home. When we walked inside we saw that they had made our beds, and quickly noticed that where goldie locks' perfect cot once stood, there was now a large empty space. So there goes that, we are now back to our bench and springs.
We made ourselves some awesome wraps for dinner, and read by the pool. Next on our list will be a Belizian pineapple for dessert and soon off to bed. Tomorrow we are going on a 10 hour tour/hike/swim of Actun Tunichil Muknal (google it!) and then we will be leaving our jungle cabana to sleep in a treehouse for the night. I am going to venture to say that we will not have Internet access there (though you never know with the trees nowadays) so if it's a while til my next contact with the outside world, that is why.
Until next time!
We got to our "resort" where they said they would be "upgrading" us to a better room because our original room was taken. They showed us to our private cabana, which is a tiny bright blue hut in the middle of a jungle. There are three beds inside, one is actually like sleeping on a wooden bench, one is like sleeping on a pile of springs and the other is a tiny cot in the corner of the room which is juuuust right (minus a large metal bar through the middle of it). Avital decided on the cot and I decided on the pile of springs. It was pretty cold so we slept bundled in layers, with our "blanket" (aka top sheet) over us. All in all, things were pretty smooth (minus the tv that would not turn on and the shower head that fell off in the middle of avital's shower) and we actually slept like babies due to sheer exhaustion.
We woke up this morning and decided to go ziplining through the Belizian rainforest. Our guide picked us up from the hotel and immediately warned us that we had a very bumpy ride ahead of us that was about an hour, and that if his driving scares us we should tell him. Apparently the car had no shock absorber whatsoever and so VERY bumpy it was. The ziplining was so cool and we got a little nature tour as well, where we learned that termites are actually edible. The guide stopped for a snack, cut open a piece of a termite nest and began picking at the bugs. They offered some protein to us as well. For numerous reasons, we declined.
We then took a cab to the iguana project where they are working on saving the iguanas, who are on danger of extinction. While we were waiting, we looked down at our ankles which suddenly had large red splotches all over them presumably from the rainforest. They didn't hurt and weren't itchy but they were getting bigger and the outside of them was turning a little white. We freaked out for a moment but then they stopped getting bigger and we feel fine, so we assume that we are...
The iguanas were so big, around four feet long. Avital held one named Roxy, who did not want to be held by me and kept digging her claws into me. What can I say, I'm a dog person. We went to the place where they kept the baby iguanas an they climbed alllll over us (which tickled).
We went to town, bought some fruit and vegetables, and walked back to out cabana home. When we walked inside we saw that they had made our beds, and quickly noticed that where goldie locks' perfect cot once stood, there was now a large empty space. So there goes that, we are now back to our bench and springs.
We made ourselves some awesome wraps for dinner, and read by the pool. Next on our list will be a Belizian pineapple for dessert and soon off to bed. Tomorrow we are going on a 10 hour tour/hike/swim of Actun Tunichil Muknal (google it!) and then we will be leaving our jungle cabana to sleep in a treehouse for the night. I am going to venture to say that we will not have Internet access there (though you never know with the trees nowadays) so if it's a while til my next contact with the outside world, that is why.
Until next time!
This Fried Brain
I have always wanted to start a blog. With a little push from a friend (hat tip Cheli Ramras) I decided to do it here and now. Besides, what better place to start blogging than Belize?! Here are some thoughts/adventures/journeys/weird things from this Fried brain (in Belize & beyond.) Feel free to comment and share some pieces of your own brain as well!
I entertain myself and perhaps you'll find me entertaining as well. If not...well, then at least I'm having fun.
I entertain myself and perhaps you'll find me entertaining as well. If not...well, then at least I'm having fun.
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