Caye Caulker, Belize

Saturday March 22, Day 14-
Last night I joined my 2 new friends, Nathan from San Diego, and Jirgen from Germany, at the islands sports bar for Trivia Night. Nathan has won the last two times so there is pressure. Obviously they have never played trivial pursuit with me...however, b/t the three of us we don't miss any sports questions, but we come in a dissapointing 4th due to some lame question regarding whether or not you can bite into someones hamburger in Oklahoma. This morning I woke up and did nothing. I slept late and then put on my bikini. Then I threw on some sunscreen and took my towel 20 steps out to the pier with my book "The Kite Runner" where I read for a few hours. When I got hot, I moved to the shade of the hammock and listened to my IPOD. In the afternoon, I watched Dave, from Rhode Island, catch live Barracuda with his bare hands and a baby nurse shark. It was like Survivor. He went ahead and borrowed some tackle from Rob, from Toronto, and went out a little farther to catch more-then Rob fileted them in front of my eyes while Amy and I made rice and potatoes and a big BBQ was had by everyone at the hostel. Tommy, a chef from Pittsburgh, threw together a fresh cucumber/tomato salad and we enjoyed the feast as the sun went down. That night Christy, from Milwaukee, and I went to the Bamboo Bar...where the floor is sand and the chairs are swings...and had pina coladas, before a group of us attempted to find a bonfire. We had to settle for a bonfire, which isn't my style, so I headed home and went to bed. Tomorrow I have a full day of snorkeling to Turneffe Atoll, where we will see sea turtles! YEAH!

Sunday, March 23-Day 15
Today I awoke for a full day of snorkeling. Louise, from London, who has been traveling for 2 years after quitting her job after 6 years (hmm...ideas?), heads over with me and we find out both our tours are canceled. So, we go to Tsunami tours and sign up for a 9:30 am snorkel trip to see manatees and Shark Ray alley, and Caye Chapel Aquarium. On the boat ride out, the guide lets me steer the boat! It's a good thing Jason lets me steer his sailboat and has prepped me for this a little bit...people actually think I know what I am doing. At our 1st stop, we see about 5 manatees and one dolphin so big I think it is a shark...he is in the mangroves. We head to St. George's Caye for lunch, a secluded island that has no grocery stores and where the homes don't go for less than $1 million US (Michael Jordan has a home here). This is a postcard place-it is so beautiful. I have a fish sandwich and a FANTA (the "official" drink of the islands), then we head to Caye Chapel Aquarium for more snorkeling. The coral is so beautiful; radiant colors of purple and gold-I go swimming down so deep that my ears are popping, but I want to see the fish!! There are little blue ones that are my favorite; however, we also sea a sea cucumber and turtles which I get to hold! We go to Stingray Alley again-I am not afraid of them anymore! On the way home there's a cool breeze and it's very peaceful. This evening I gave out travel advice to people going to San Ignacio and Tikal before showering and heading to the sports bar for tria night. There are 8 of us from the hostel, so we divide into 2 teams; mine is me, Vicky from London, Jergin, and Christy. We win! I must say that the last question involved what year was the Superbowl played in San Diego...1998! Thank you very much-I LEAD MY TEAM TO VICTORY! We won $50 BZ so we drink to our win and have some chicken nachos. Then we all head home and get some sleep-many people are leaving tomorrow. But not me, I have another long day of sleeping late, sunbathing and reading. Today I finished "The Kite Runner." It is a hard life I am beginning to discover.

Monday, March 24-Day 16
This morning I woke up to hard rainstorms outside. For a while they subsided and I hit the pier to read my new book, but soon the rain came back. After a nice lunch of fresh watermelon, papaya, and pineapple/granola/yogurt I get a Scrabble game going. (I haven't been backpacking with travel Scrabble for no reason). Of course my roomie is an English major, so this game is deadly, but in the end I am out of letters first; however, she still wins. There is no better way to pass a rainy day. I have some Aussie hostel mates who are playing now, but a different version called "Speed Scrabble" and they're gonna teach me when I come back...it doesn't involve the board. After Scrabble we all treated ourselves to ice cream (Dad, I have tried ice cream all over Central America) and walked down to the split. Then I took a nap. That was pretty much it today. On Wednesday I leave Caye Caulker and head to North Carolina for a few days-thank goodness, a hot shower, my own bed, mom' s loving touch, Chick-fil-A-before heading down to Miami and catching the cruise ship around the Caribbean. Hope you are all well.