Belize

Day 26: Friday, Dec 3rd (Caye Caulker)

We arrived in the rain yesterday, so we were excited to wake up to the scorching heat and headed right down to the beach. Funny enough, the beach is located at the channel which was recently created by a Hurricane that separates the island into two pieces. It's literally 50m's make but has a bit of a current due to tidal movements but it also has a nice spread of sea creatures. We watched a guy snorkel and catch lobsters which he then turned around and sold the local restaurants. The local restaurants all have outside bbq's going all day with the fresh catch of the day.

We met some locals the night before at the bar, which have later turned out to be straight bullying hustlers trying to get a cut of everything on the island. They were able to set up a night sunset tour on the coolest reggae boat with a nice captain for $5 US which is nothing as long as we brought the booze to share with everyone. We had a gang of about 10 of us which he provided dinner of chicken and fresh fish to make sandwiches. Later in the night, we were talking to the captain only to find out that these guys took a cut of the profits, drank and sailed for free against his will. He basically said they run around as a gang and do whatever they want, are friends with the police so nobody can really stop them from doing anything. The cruise was a blast but it was a bit disturbing to get a little insight into how things work around here. We also booked a tour for the following day to go out sailing and snorkeling.

-Jason

Day 27: Saturday, Dec 4th (Caye Caulker)

This morning we woke up semi early so that we could go and size our masks and flippers. Then we had to wait around until 10:30 for the boat to leave. It took us about an hour before we got to the first snorkeling spot. I can't believe how blue the water is. None of us have ever been to the Caribbean so it quite the experience and nothing like we have ever seen before. We got to the first stop and they threw us right in with the sharks and the sting rays, no baby steps I was kind of intimated at first but there were two guides in the water with us. It was pretty crowded with the 20 of us that were on the boat in the water at the same time, and there were a lot of fins to the face. It was pretty crazy to be that close to the sharks. The next spot was a little bit away and it was right in the middle of the coral reef. We were split into two groups and then we went off with our guide. We took us around and through the channel and in a line and at the end we got to see a sea turtle, which might have been the highlight of my trip. We then hopped back into the boat to go to our last spot. In the end only me and Kristin went into the water to snorkel, so the two of us ended up having a photo shoot of us. On the way back we had unlimited rum punch and some seafood ceviche. We finally made it back to the mainland when the sun was setting. I ended up straining something in my back and was pretty much out of commission for the rest of the night, which sucked because it was still super early. I didn't end up waking up till 9 and the night was over.

-Lisa

Group shot, we've been traveling together since Tikal.
Back left and right, Dino and Dom from London, who have suprisingly done almost the same trip as us
Mike from New Zealand who's on a 8 month trip, hitting 37 countries. His hair gives you and idea what Taylor will look like when he comes home
Kristen from Ontario, who is attending UVIC in Jan and has been for the last 5 years

Day 28: Sunday, Dec 5th (Caye Caulker)