Belize II

While in Caye Caulker, I stayed at Bellas, a super chill hostel made from two converted Mennonite houses. It's $15 BZ (half that in US dollars) for a dorm, with a shared kitchen, hammocks, and canoes and bikes (although they are tiny and do a number on my knees). Def. recommended if you find yourself on the island. Although I would NOT recommend camping...it's seems like a good idea to save $,until one night you wake up in an inch and a half of water b/c of a huge storm (how the f*&k did I not wake up before that?!), and pour a full cup of water out of your computer. Luckily the woman running the place was kind enough to let me stay a couple nights in the dorms at the same price, and on her advice I saved my computer by putting it in rice to dry out. The other hostels are, respectively, too quiet and too fratty. Here's a pic of Bellas:

I take one of Bella's canoes out one day,getting a terrible sunburn in the process.I don’t know how, but I end up rowing against the current both ways(!) so it takes a while. It’s cool to see the mangrove swamps though, and some birds. I row all the way down to the airport on the southern part of the island.
So as I mentioned in my last post, I got mistaken for a rasta a lot w/ the dreds...speaking of rasta, check THIS out:

Yes, that really lists such people as Peter Tosh and Abraham Lincoln along with the somewhat more traditional prophets Abraham and Mohammed.

It takes a few days of trying, because it’s slow season, but eventually I find a dive shop going to the Great Blue Hole.  The dives are a two hour, VERY choppy boat ride away – my stomach falls out like I’m on a roller coaster more times than I can count.  You go down to 40 meters, which is the recreational diving limit and the deepest I’ve ever been.  I STILL don’t get “narced” (which is an effect some people get on deep dives that’s supposedly like being high), which is actually a disappointment because I’ve always wondered what it’s like. You swim through these stalactites and stalagmites, but because it’s so deep you’re only down there for 8 min. and it’s cool but a little underwhelming.  

There are two other dives, though, and a visit to the lovely Half Moon Key:

In addition to the beaches, there is a trail to the bird sanctuary, where we spot hermit crabs the size of a Patron bottle, lizards, and tons of these guys:

 

One of the girls from the boat told me about drinking young coconut – I have to say, I’m not a fan, the taste is too green for my liking. 

After I leave Caye Caulker I take a boat to San Pedro, which is the town on the next island, Ambergis Caye.  I do some more diving, and this time I get to see nurse sharks, which are very friendly and will swim right up and sometimes let you pet them.  They feel like sandpaper.  There are also green moray eels that instantly call back memories of Ursula’s henchmen in The Little Mermaid.  They aren’t actually going to bite you, that creeping opening and closing of their mouth in your general direction is apparently how they breathe.

One of these days I’m going to buy a GoPro (the ubitiquous dive pressure proof video camera) and I’ll have pictures from my dives, but they’re quite pricey.  That's all for now, safe travels everybody, wherever you are.