Last night Curtis, Kristen, Nick and I went to Elvi’s for the Mayan buffet, after looking at the buffet Curtis and I decided to order off the menu, while Kristen and Nick decided to give the buffet a go. I ordered scallops in garlic butter. Curtis opted for the grilled scallops. They were very good and the coconut rice was a bit different than in the other restaurants, but still very good. After dinner we went to the Salty Dog souvenir shop so Kristen could exchange a shirt, then we headed back to Banyan Bay.

I didn’t get to bed until after midnight, a record for the trip and possibly even the entire year. Of course what do you think happened at 7 am? Wide awake again. I peeled myself out of bed for some island coffee and computed awhile before the four of us went to breakfast at Rico’s. This time I opted for the tropical waffles, since everyone seemed to rave at about them. They were good. After breakfast we went to the dive shop to square up our bill. Ouch.

Kristen and I walked a couple hotels down to check out some handmade jewelry. They had a small selection in the dive shop and Eli told us the lady would have more displayed today. I ended up getting a bracelet directly from her, then buying a pendant that I liked back at the dive shop.

Finally a day to relax and catch some rays… it’s hard to tan when you’re constantly under the water. We were finally poolside and in the sun around 11 am. Kristen and I lounged around while Nick and Curtis practiced blowing air rings in the pool. We also racked up quite a bill while poolside… Kristen and I were drinking banana daiquiris while Curtis was enjoying mojitos and Nick was guzzling down Sprite, not to mention our snack of nachos and ceviche!!

Soon the daylight was waning and we were faced with the difficult decision of where to eat dinner. We talked about ordering pizza again, but we still needed to venture into town to get some last minute souvenirs. Then we discussed going to the Blue Water Grill since Curtis and Kristen enjoyed their meal so much. I was willing because I would have liked to try something else, but Nick wasn’t too hot on the idea. We also considered going back to Caramba. Finally we decided to ask the gals at the lobby desk for a recommendation. We had it narrowed down to either the Sunset Grill, which was on the lagoon side of the island, or Fido’s, which one a new restaurant. We decided to go to Fido’s. Once we got to town we decided to do a bit of shopping before dinner. We hit up a few stores then walked back to Fido’s. We ordered drinks then found out that they only were serving appetizers. It was 8:00 and the waiter said if we wanted to have dinner we should get going right away. He recommended Jambels Jerk Pit and gave us directions. After consulting one of the maps outside (they have mall directory type maps of the island on all the street corners) we arrived at what we thought was Jambels, only to realize we were actually at El Patio Restaurant and Grill, but quickly decided to eat there when the Maitre Di told us of the fresh arrival of lobster and snapper and started describing some of the different meals. The environment at El Patio was fun. A tall palm frond ceiling covered a sand filled floor. The chairs all had cushions which pleased our behinds, sore from the mostly wooden chairs and bumpy cab/golf cart/boat rides. In the center of the restaurant was a fountain with running water, which only seemed strange because all the other fountains on the island were filled with plants or, in the case of our hotel, dirt. El Patio was located on a side street between Front and Middle Streets, and we got to watch a group of kids playing some sort of ball game that appeared to be a volley ball version of PIG or Lightening, played with a soccer ball.

I think if I had to pick a favorite restaurant in Belize, El Patio would be the one. I ordered a spicy coconut crusted snapper with a side of coconut rice and a salad with ranch dressing. Let me tell you about the ranch dressing. It was the best ranch dressing in the world. Homemade too. It was so good I dipped my fish in it. I even let it touch my coconut rice. I’m glad we ate there the last day, because if we were there any earlier in the trip I would have wanted to eat there the whole time.

Feeling a bit full following our meal, we passed on dessert and headed back to our condo. Kristen was trying to come up with a list of reasons why she was glad to go home, but it was a little short. We packed up our bags and got everything organized for the morning before heading to bed.

Finally our first morning to sleep in and unscheduled day since the Friday after we got here!! I was wide awake at 7 am. The smell of the island roast coffee that Kristen had made lured me out of bed. You know those cartoons where the character is smelling something and their nose is in the visible aroma while their feet are dangling in the air? Yeah, that was totally me. I got some coffee and started catching up my blog from yesterday. Soon Curtis broke the disappointing news that only he and the newbie Jason wanted to dive, but the dive shop needed at least three people, else they would need to go with a different dive company and it would cost more money. Kristen reluctantly agreed to do a one tank dive but Curtis signed her up for two. I was looking forward to my relaxing day of doing nothing. The pool has been darn near empty the entire trip and I’ve barely gotten to enjoy it!! No more salt water in my mouth, no more nasty snarled hair from my mask. But soon I was feeling a bit left out, then I was feeling like I would be missing something. What if they spotted dolphins? Kristen asked me a good question, would I regret not going? Why yes, I think I would have. We left Nick in bed sense he was very adamant about being done doing things and the three of us headed to the dive shop.

After our dives we were starving. We showered quick and decided to go to Caliente again. I think Curtis wasn’t happy with his fishy banana chowder cere and wanted to get the fajitas Nick and I raved about. The lunch menu was more of a classic Mexican menu. Both Curtis and Nick ordered the fajitas, I got a burrito (good, but the fajitas were better) and Kristen got the fajitas rojas. I was disappointed that they were out of guacamole since avocado was now out of season, their guac the other night was the best ever!! And just think, if the avocado right before the season cutoff was that good, just think about how good it would be peak season!! We decided to get ice cream after lunch so we walked to Manelly’s. On the way we passed a jewelry vendor on the street. FINALLY!! The pretty jewelry I’ve been dreaming about. I bought a few items and we continued on to Manelly’s. They were out of pistachio ice cream which was rather disappointing. I settled for coconut and banana. The coconut was as good as the first night. The banana tasted just like banana bread. It was good, but I really wanted just plain banana.

When we got back to Banyan Bay Kristen and I went poolside and there I ordered a banana daiquiri to quench my banana craving. Amir (who I haven’t mentioned prior to this point because I didn’t know his name), our waiter for about 70% of our Rico visits, was now on poolside duty (first time all week someone has served poolside). He said he will be manning the swim up bar when it opens in a couple of weeks, but it’s not busy enough now. Nick came to join us at the pool while Curtis napped in the room.

At about 4:30 I started itching to do my blogs since Nick has monopolized the laptop for the last few days. I headed inside while Kristen headed for the lobby for immediate internet satisfaction. After finishing my blog for Lamania (if these Belize posts read a little rougher than my typical savvy blogging, please keep in mind I am typing them in notepad, usually distracted, and hours, sometimes days, after these events have happened. It’s hard to keep the proper tense, let alone make complete sentences as I go back to fill details I’ve forgotten) I headed to the lobby, where I am now. Soon we will go to dinner, the Friday night Mayan buffet at Elvi’s Kitchen!! Mmmm… can’t wait!! :D

Lamanai Jungle River Adventure
Enjoy a delightful continental breakfast as you wind your way through the Northern River where you will see a rich variety of flora and fauna. Once at Bomba Village you will board a private bus that will take you along the Old Pan America Highway to Tower Hill. At Tower Hill you will board another boat. As you make your way to the new River you will encounter wildlife including birds, monkeys and crocodiles. Once at Lamanai you enjoy a lunch of local fare below the canopy of the jungle and get a guided tour of the ruins that majestically perch on the waters edge.
Includes: Breafast, lunch, beer, sodas and rum punch.

This morning the alarm went off at 6 am. Like yesterday, we packed up our bags, loaded ourselves with sunscreen, laced up our tennies and were out at the pier at 7 am. I missed the sunrise again, but this time it was due to the clouds. We patiently waited at the pier with two other girls that were staying at Banyan Bay. Soon we spotted the purple boat in the distance and this time it came and picked us up. There were 6 people already on the boat. A young couple from far north on Ambergris Caye, a couple who Nick and Curtis had met on the Blue Hole dive, and two guys, Matt and Dan, who were really, really good friends. Our guides for the day were two Jamaicans named Collin and Devin**. They explained how our day would be laid out.

**It has been brought to my attention that Devin and Collin were in fact not Jamaicans, but Belizeans. However since they looked like, spoke, and wore Jamaican colored hats like Jamaicans, I will allow my post to continue referring to them as Jamaicans. Right.**

We would start out with an hour boat ride or so to get to the North River on mainland Belize. From there we would be going at top speed as to not ruin the motor in the shallow water. We would stop at Bomba, a small village of 20 or so, for breakfast. Then we would board a bus for another hour to bring us to another village, where we would hop on another boat for an hour to get to Lamanai, where we would have lunch and get a guided tour through the ruins, then come back.

The first boat ride wasn’t too bad. A little bumpy at times, but we were still relatively close to shore. The North River was neat. There were mangroves on each side. It was narrow, only wide enough for two boats in most places. I spotted a crocodile when we first entered. It was sitting in the mangroves with it’s mouth wide open… waiting. No one believes me, they all think I saw a logodile, but I know what I saw. We were going fast because the water was shallow. It went by so quick I barely had time to point, but no one saw me pointing because I was in the back of the boat. We also saw a group of sleeping bats in the North River, they looked like fuzzy bumps on the tree. Matt saw what he thought was a crocodile, getting the whole boat in a tizzy, but it turned out to be a logodile.

Once we arrived at Bomba they served us breakfast in front of one of the shops. Banana bread, pineapple, watermelon, juice, coffee and a Belizean equivalent to bagels sandwiched with some meat. I ate fruit and the banana bread, which closely rivaled the banana bread on the Road to Hana in Hawaii. We got to window shop at the gift shops for a while, little huts where the villagers sold their wood carvings (I later found out that a lot of the street vendors that sell wood carvings in San Pedro buy carvings from the mainland then sell them at inflated prices). The shops had a different selection of the same stuff. Bowls, masks and animals of the region carved out of wood and jewelry. The shop we had breakfast in front of had a skull of a jaguar that was found in the bushes, almost complete except for a few of the tiny teeth that were absent. Collin and Devin had told us previously to just look around when we got there. They would give us more shopping time on the way back. There were a lot of dogs in the village, just like everywhere else on Belize. I think Matt had a deep internal struggle with all the skinny flea ridden dogs. He said he just wanted to come back with a bunch of Frontline.

We boarded the bus (a used school bus, painted blue) to Tower Hill. The road was bumpy to say the least, being a dirt road pitted with pot holes. It was probably quite similar to the roads on Ambergris Caye, except wider and we drove faster. They gave me a glass bottle of Coke and I was drinking it cautiously as not to chip a tooth during the ride. Collin and Devin were great guides and made the hour ride there go by pretty quickly. They explained that the highway we were on went all the way to California and that’s how a lot of things get to Belize. People go there and buy used cars then come back and sell them. Most of the cars on Belize, including the school buses, were used US vehicles. They also talked about the process of harvesting sugar cane. Sugar used to be the number one money maker in Belize, supplying sugar to the US and Europe, but the market got very competitive. Now the number one industry is tourism. They also talked about what the villagers do and of the school systems when we passed them. We even picked up a few villagers while on the road. There were two women with a baby that were on the bus for over 30 minutes. It made me wonder if they intended on walking the entire distance or if it was customary to pick people up.

Devin also explained that Belize is working on their own power line system as the current power lines run all the way from Mexico. When Mexico gets mad they just cut Belize’s power for a little while, like when Belize wins a soccer match, like last night. Full of knowledge and full of kinks in our back, we arrive at Tower Hill. We take a short bathroom break before getting on our next boat. Joining us was Eddie, a part Mayan guide with gold front teeth, who drove the boat down the New River. He turned out to be a great guide too, very funny. I thought this hour long boat ride was fun. The river was really windy, and we sped down it unless Eddie’s eagle eye caught a glimpse of something interesting to look at. He spotted a nocturnal bird sleeping on a tree, it was bark colored and looked no different than any other nub on it. No crocodiles, although one of the other boats got fooled by a logodile. Finally we arrived at Lamanai around 11:30. Eddie told us that technically the city isn’t called Lamanai, it’s Lama’an’ain, some sort of clerical error if you will, but since that’s what everyone calls it, I will continue referring to it as Lamanai, for simplicity’s sake. Wow, I just made that really complicated, I probably could have omitted that entire sentence. Or I could have deleted it. Oh well, too late now.

First thing on the agenda: lunch. We had a typical Belizean meal. Chicken (someone said it was jerk, but whatever it was it was very good), coconut rice and beans, pineapple, salad, coleslaw and some hot salsa looking stuff which I didn’t try. Since our group was finally in a quiet location and crammed at a picnic table, we took the opportunity to compare notes. Where was everyone staying, who had done what on the island, where had everyone eaten, who had vacationed where, etc. Matt and Dan both recommended Wild Mangos and we found out that they recently took a Cecilian(?) cooking class where they learned to make lemon chicken.

When we were done with lunch Eddie told us to go into the museum and look at stuff, but not to pay attention to the literature. That proved rather difficult, because it’s not like we knew what we were looking at. I assumed he would talk about the stuff himself, but once he met us at the museum we began our hike through the ruins. The hike lasted about 90 minutes. Eddie told us a lot about Mayan history and culture. The highlight of the hikes were the ruins. The second one that we came to was 33 meters tall and we got to climb it. Eddie told us “going up is physical, coming down is psychological.” Boy was he right. The first set of steps wasn’t all that bad. They were really tall. Someone made a good point of why they would make such tall steps when they were so short. The second set of steps were both shallow and steep. There was a long rope that we could hold on to. This set proved a bit more challenging. Some held onto the rope, others climbed up on all fours. I made the mistake of looking down, then I made the mistake of saying “don’t look down” because then people started looking down. There was some major vertigo going on. We had to walk to the right of the tower to find the third set of stairs. Once on top (mind you, 12 people on the top of this thing felt really crowded) we had a stunning view of the area. We were above the trees and could see the river behind us. It was scorchingly hot too. With no shade, no breeze and being 100+ feet closer to the sun, we were all feeling the effects. Kristen and I were anyway. We were the last two to come down, and Eddie was right, it was very psychological. Physically coming down was easier. About halfway down Kristen decided to get a video going. But we both agreed that the photos and the video don’t do the giant tower any justice.

Also when we were on top we started hearing the howler monkeys. Personally I would call them roaring monkeys because if someone told me they were some sort of large cat I would probably believe them. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any monkeys during the hike (Devin said monkey sightings are at about 90%), but we did get to see a couple of toucans which they said was pretty rare. After our hike we looked in some of the gift shops. They had a lot of jewelry as well as some wood carvings and pre-made knick knacks like shot glasses.

We boarded the boat and headed back down the New River. Eddie stopped because he spotted a crocodile. I didn’t actually see it, but I did get a picture of the general vicinity, so I hope someone can point it out to me later. When we got back to the bus they served us brownies as a snack and the were great!! Baked in muffin cups too, I’ll have to give that a try. (I liked how all the food had a homemade feel, they brought our lunch with them in mismatched tupperware containers). The bus ride seemed to take longer, probably because we were all tired and there wasn’t as much information from the Jamaicans on the way back. Matt wasn’t handling it very well, I think he was getting a little motion sick. He also watched a bug climbing up the window and falling down for almost the entire ride and he was starting to feel sorry for it. He was trying to grab it and it fell down onto his leg and he flipped out. Luckily Collin was nearby to scoop up the bug and throw it out the window. He was going in with a flat hand and I thought for sure he was going to squash it on Matt’s leg. On the ride Matt and Dan were also talking up Wild Mangos again, so we decided we should give it a try for dinner.

Once back at Bomba we were given some shopping time if we so chose. I wanted to get a wood carving, but I wasn’t sure of what. I thought a mask would be cool, but I didn’t find any that didn’t creep me out. There was a really nice lady that I talked to when we stopped at the village earlier and she said she would engrave the village name in the bottom, but I didn’t really like any of the carvings she had. I liked the bowls a lot, but getting a bowl home may have proved a bit difficult. Also most of the places didn’t have prices on them, and I really didn’t feel like bartering with anyone since Nick wasn’t by my side. And one of the bowls in a shop that Matt and Dan were looking at was $75, which seemed a bit spendy. Besides the fact that I only had $20 on me. Eventually I went into the shop with the jaguar skull so I could have another look before we left. The lady at that shop was the most outgoing out of all the women. I asked her if all the shops operated individually and she said yes. The other four shops belonged to her sister, brother and two cousins. She told me if I liked anything she would engrave the back for me (yay!!) and that she would accept credit card payments. I repeated it back to clarify, since the village didn’t even appear to have electricity. She told me she helps the SEAduced crew with breakfast, and they help her out with credit cards. I asked if the bowls were usable and she said yes, most people treat them with olive oil. Hmmm, the bowl idea was getting better and better. I picked up a shallow bowl (seemed easiest to pack) which was a combination of rich chocolate brown and very light wood. I flipped it over and read the price tag of $20 US. Hmmm, no credit card needed. The woman quickly engraved “Bomba Belize 2007” into the bottom and I was on my way.

I got back into the purple SEAduced boat. Matt and Dan were showing off their purchase, a heart shaped ashtray that they requested on the way through. We all agreed it resembled an acorn. On the ride back we saw a bunch of great blue herrons as well as a little crocodile. It also started to sprinkle which got a bit stingy, but it stopped right away.

Once we got back we showered up and headed to Wild Mangos. The older couple from the tour went there as well. We had good food and great big smoothies. We decided to try to get back for lunch one day for more smoothies, and I really wanted to try the chicken tortilla soup, which was specifically what Matt raved about. We went to a few shops after dinner, then caught a cab back. Nick and I stopped at the Casino Belize for about an hour so he could play some blackjack and collect a $5 casino chip. We opted for a 15 minute beach walk back as opposed to another taxi. Curtis and Kristen were already in bed, so we hit the hay as well.