Caye Caulker, Livingston, Rio Dulce

Fresh Conch

Giant gecko!!

Caye Caulker

Snorkel Tour Guides, ma and Fatima after rum punch

On the sail boat to go snorkel

Sorry it´s been so long since I´ve blogged....Here´s what I´ve been up to...

Alex and I took a bus to Belize City and took a boat out to Caye Caulker Island. It was my first time to the Carribean, and I was blown away by the glowing turqouise water, palm trees, white sand and all the beauty. After dropping our belongings off at a hostel, right on the ocean, we headed strait to the beach where we parked ourselves for the rest of the day. The following day, I signed up for a snorkel tour around the great reef. We left at 10am and sailed to our fist destination, where we were told to get in the water and that we had 45 minutes to swim around and figure out how to use the snorkels, but not to go too far from the boat. We hopped into the warm turqouise water, buddied up, and went on our way. We floated around and saw coral and some pretty fish. It was a tease into what we were about to see. At our next stop, we were broken up into groups and taken out with our boat guides. We got out, swam around and saw some more colorful, flourescent fish, coral, the reef and so much beauty! Our last stop, which was the highlight, is called Shark Ray Alley. There, we swam with nurse sharks, sting ray, sea turtles, baracudas and fish that I don´t even know the name of, but are so vibrant and beautiful. After our last stop, we got back on the sail boat, blasted the reggae and were fed all the rum punch we could drink....good times. The next 2 days, we relaxed on the island, layed on the beach, wandered around and enjoyed the garifuna culture. It´s unbelieveable how different Belize is from Guatemala. Everyone speaks English...like you Bob Marley, the population is very diverse with blacks, Chinese, Indian, Maya and Mestizos. People are friendly...almost too friendly somtimes. We spent one night in Dangriga, a city in Southern Belize. It´s a large city, but we were there for Easter when all the people leave to go to other places. It felt deserted and we got some much needed rest.

From Punta Gorda, Belize...we took a boat to Livingston Guatemala. We picked the wrong day to take a boat across the Atlantic Ocean. As we boarded the boat, a local stopped by to warn us about the weather and the ocean. We should´ve listened! But, we got on the boat, gray skies above us and were handed bright orange lift vests. We headed out to sea, and in no time it was pouring buckets of rain, while waves were splashing over us. It felt as if we were going to flip and sink into the ocean! Low and behold, we made it to shore after what felt like an eternity, but was only an hour. We were drenched from head to toe, and had to go through immigration before being able to warm up and dry off. We finally made it...to a hostel...which partied until 8am (we were unhappy campers!!!).

Livingston is the only Garifuna city in Guatemala. It´s similar to Belize. Lots of people of color there and the Garifuna culture. We spent our full day there going to Siete Altares, a creek with waterfalls in the jungle. We walked along the ocean for 2 hours to get there, very beautiful.

Yesterday, we took a boat from Livingston to Rio Dulce. The boat ride was unbelievably beautiful. We saw all kinds of birds, people fising in the river, lush plant life. We even stopped in the middle of the river so that our boat driver could buy some fresh shrimp from a fisherman. Classic! Rio Dulce was alright. It was so humid and muggy there, everything is moist. I stayed just one night in a crap hostel...got no sleep...seems to be the theme in my travels. It´s hard to sleep when you arent in your own bed!!

I found out yesterday that I was accpeted into the University of Washington Masters of Social Work Program. I am REALLY excited and a bit in shock. I have some big decisions to make in the next bit. I have 3 weeks to decide, and I´m still waiting to hear back from Portland State. Should be any day now...Anyone out there want to fund my Masters tuition?? Its only $50,000 for the next 2 years at UW!!!

Today I came back to Antigua to get myself together...a shower, do laundry, run errands. Tomorrow, Im heading back to Lake Atitlan to meet a friend for the weekend...then Im REALLY leaving Guatemala.