Ugh. Waking up at 4am in the morning is never fun. Especially when it is raining. Especially when you are about to leave people who have become your family after a short period of time. ESPECIALLY, when you know you are going to be starting school in a short number of days and your days in Mother Nature's Best Kept Secret are numbered.
After climbing in the back of Catherine's truck and having a very 'fun' incident with my hand, we were driven to Proworld. I must say, I've always wanted to sit in the back of a truck, and it was good to finally have that experience. Plus, having a cushion of other people's luggage was a nice touch.
We then said goodbye to Proworld and subsequently San Ignacio on our way to Belize City, to catch a water ferry to Caye Caulker. About 45 mins from our destination, we were stopped by what I believed was a police officer, who made a headcount of all the people on the bus. Maybe they thought we were smuggling people or something.
Once we arrived in Belize City, the real fun started. We had about 10 mins to get to our water taxi, and traffic was very heavy. Thankfully, the Maya gods were on our side, and we made it just in time, with two mins to spare. Because breakfast is the most important part of the day, myself (along with a few other people) feasted on Cheddar Cheese Pringles.
The water taxi took about 45 mins, and the closer we got to the island, the more blue the water got.
And then we were finally there -- water as aqua as a Mermaid's tail, sand as pristine as well, pristine beaches usually are. As all travelers usually are, the first thing that happened (upon receiving our luggage) was that we were 'attacked' by 'taxi' drivers. Well, not attacked because they were pretty chill, but I needed to put a word in there. For the flat fee of $1 US, our luggage was magically transported to Tom's Hotel, the place where we were staying.
Roommates were assigned, and the room Dani and I got placed into had a bathroom, which we wanted to monopolize, since not everyone had bathrooms. However, because we were good people (lets just say that) we didn't necessarily charge people. After changing we went for a stroll to find a place to have some lunch, because our Pringles weren't holding us over. We (and by we I mean the 7 of us) found this nice place by the water and sat down. After waiting a pretty generous amount of time for our food and drinks (to be honest I didn't mind waiting because the view was outstanding and when you are with awesome people, it doesn't really matter), we ate; I had a pretty sad excuse for a BLT and some lemonade.
Because we were on an island, we then decided to take a tour of the island on our way to find the beach, but we ended up near a power plant, and realized that we were in the wrong place. Eventually, we reached their 'swimming place', because you can't really call it a beach. We spotted an orange octopus, which just seemed to chill in the cool water.
Before you know it, it was time for us to go snorkeling. I won't bore you with all the details, but the highlight was walking with stingrays and kissing sharks. If I didn't have a great title for this post, I would so call it Walking with Singrays and Kissing Sharks. Heck, I think I might copy write that and then write a book or something. This is evidence people! No one attempt to steal it!
After that we had water from bags and some watermelon, then went to two more swimming holes. I only swam in one because, as I have stated before, I am a hydrophobic being. It's not that I'm scared of water or anything, its just that I don't like not being able to feel my feet on solid ground.
On our way back, our boat had some delicious pineapple and caught some nice views.
Just like that, half the day was done. We showered (how nice it was to have our own bathroom) and then went out for dinner. The Quatro (I think I'll refer to us like that from now on; it sounds cool and is descriptive -- Herbie, Hunter, Dani, and I) had dinner and then some bubble tea.
We then retired to our humble abodes pretty early, but not after some very 'entertaining' dancing.
I have to say, going to sleep that night, I was already starting to miss Belize and all the wonderful things I'd seen. I knew that in the morning we would leave this place, but then the thought of actually having the experience and being able to remember it made me feel at ease. I fell asleep with the thought of how grateful I was, to not only the school for providing me with the opportunity, but for my parents, who so generously helped sponsor the trip. (That sounded like a winning an award speech or something).
Here's some more pictures of the island that I took on our walks.
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| I literally did an inside dance when I saw that; I've wanted to shoot something like this for the longest time. |
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