Lazy Sunday....On a Monday

At least I think it is Monday. I've really lost all track of time and Belize certainly isn't helping. Belize is about as far east as my new soon to be hometown of Chicago, but is for some reason it is in the Mountain Time Zone (or at least the Central American equivalent of Mountain time since they don't have daylight savings time). So anyways the sun rises early and its dark by 7:00 PM. We actually went to bed last night at like 10:00 PM for no real reason at all, simply because it had been dark for awhile and it felt like bedtime. Belize and more specifically San Pedro are pretty laid back locales and time is pretty much irrelevant. Shops open and close pretty much whenever they want to and people always tend to just kind of meander around with no place to go. Not that there really is anywhere to go seeing as San Pedro has like 12 streets and you can walk the entire "city" in like 15 minutes. It has a very Carribean feel, which has been a welcome change from all the rushing around from place to place in Mexico. Speaking English and actualy being understood has also been a welcome change, although most of the employees at the hotels and restaurants tend to be Hispanic imports and thus Jose is still the most popular guy for his ability to converse in their native tongue of Spanish. Although that hasn't really done him much good as we got charged extra for bread at a restaurant we went to for dinner last night, even after Jose ordered it in Spanish. For the most part Belize has been pretty expensive, even by American standards. For example it cost us $40 US to book a snorkeling excursion today, it was worth it though as you will read about in a paragraph or two.

So anyways since it gets light out so early here we were all up by 9:00ish. Jose and Greg went into the town to do a little shopping and I hung back at the hotel to soak in a little sun and do some reading. Greg let me borrow a book he just finished reading, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (gratuitous plug). So far I have found it to be a great book and would suggest it to pretty much anyone. Feel free to e-mail me if you wonder whether or not I would suggest it for you (if I've never seen you drunk please include a funny personal anecdote for me to base my decision on). Except my brother Jared, you don't need to e-mail me as I would definitely suggest it to you. I'm hoping you haven't read it yet or else I would be pissed you didn't suggest it to me. Although I guess we would be even as I completely dropped the ball and forgot you collect wooden animals and now mom has already been promised the squirrel. You have a good gift coming to though. By the way nice blog (gratuitous plug). So anyways back to the beach. I figured it would be a good idea to get a little sun before it gets too intense. WRONG. Normally I am a shade of pasty white, but now I have nice pink coloring on my upper body. I love these blue eyes and blond hair, but screw this complexion. I am definitely marrying someone with darker pigment so my kids aren't cursed. Potential applicants can feel free to e-mail me (again with a funny personal anecdote and also a picture showing your deep, rich tan) and I will throw in my decision on whether you should read A.H.W.O.S.G. as an added bonus.

So after I cooked myself on the beach Jose and Greg came back and we all headed to the snorkeling shop to book our afternoon adventure. As mentioned a bit pricey, but well worth it. We went to two different locations and spent over a half an hour at each, with a pretty cool guide. The first location is called Hol Chan (a Mayan word meaning little channel) and was a really cool corral reef site. We saw all sorts of fish including barracuda, terrapin, and a few nurse sharks not to mention all sorts of other colorful creatures. After that we headed to Shark Ray Alley. Don't worry moms, this is a misnomer as it is actually more of a channel than an alley. There were no shortage of nurse sharks or southern sting rays though. They came right up to the boat as soon as we moored. Apparently they have learned that boats equal food and sure enough shortly after mooring one of our guides began to throw chunks of fish into the water. During this feeding frenzy of roughly 20 sharks we were told to quickly jump into the water to enjoy it. And so we did and still have all of our fingers and toes intact. In fact nurse sharks don't even really have teeth and are no threat. The guide even caught one in a bear hug and allowed us to pet it. It felt strangely like a snake. He also caught one of the rays which feels much more like a fish. Just a really cool experience, even though I had to resort to wearing a t-shirt to keep from getting further sunburn.

After snorkeling we headed back to the hotel. I jumped in the shower as salt water in the "beard" tends to be pretty itchy. Meanwhile Greg and Jose went to score some beers to stock the mini fridge in our room. While walking around they fell victim to what is most likely a scam and bought a raffle ticket from two little girls hoping to win a roasted chicken, chocolate cake and some Cokes for dinner. Needless to say we didn't win anything and went to a pretty cool restaurant called Reef instead. The food was pretty good and much more affordable than other restaurants. The floor was even covered in sand. What more could you ask for? That was pretty much it for the day. Just another lazy day in lazy Belize. Tune in tomorrow for another exciting day of not much happening. Actual tomorrow will be quite monumental as our final travel member arrives around 1:00 PM.

Two final notes, first all of the pictures should now be added to previous posts as we have finally gotten a reliable internet connection and time to use it. So scroll down for photographic beauty. Secondly if you post an anonymous comment we would appreciate it if you sign it with your name. I am still perplexed as to who "Me" is.