Hello All: We are having a very low key vacation, so I haven’t had much to write about, but we are in a lovely place! Our apartment has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room with a big sofa. I’m currently on the balcony overlooking the lagoon. There is a nice breeze so it’s perfect weather for being on the balcony and the view of the lagoon is beautiful. This is the off season, so there are very few people at the hotel or in town, so it’s easy to book things and we don’t have to wait for anything.
It is cooler here than we expected. Apparently, December and January here are the “cool” months. That means it’s high 70s and low 80s all of the time. That’s great for being outside, but a little cool for water activities. It’s also windy here, so the ocean near the beach stays a little churned up and the water isn’t super clear.
We had planned to do snorkeling/diving today, but the dive shop didn’t get back to us. We probably could have taken a taxi into town to see if the shop was doing a dive today, but we decided to go down for lunch instead and try to book something for tomorrow. We still have several days to book some diving/snorkeling.
Yesterday, we did a cave hike and “blue hole”swim. I really enjoyed the hiking. After we did the first cave, I went on an additional hike by myself to find a second cave. I never found the second cave. It must have been further along on the trail, but I didn’t want to make Bill and the driver wait for me too long. It took me an extra 45 minutes as it was. It was a great hike though. The trail is fairly well-maintained and it’s covered in a canopy of vegetation. Part of the trail was rough steps cut into the side of a “mountain” so it was pretty steep. I was soaked in sweat and humidity by the time I got back, but it was fun. It also made the blue hole feel really good even though it was a little cold. I should have taken more pictures, but I have one of an easy part of the trail.
The blue hole was interesting. Mexico has better ones. This one was really more of a spring fed pond that flowed into a river that went down into a cave. The water was cold but clear and clean. I took my snorkel gear so I could dive to the bottom. It wasn’t very deep. There weren’t many other people there, which was nice. I came home exhausted and went to bed at 8pm. We had intense rain here last night that came in waves. It woke me up several times through the night. Like everywhere else, Belize’s weather is changing dramatically.
I have had some really good food here! We went to a restaurant called Omars a few days ago and I had some of the best blackened fish that I’ve ever had. I had really good grilled fish at a restaurant called Wendy’s too. I also found an ice cream place with delicious coconut milk ice cream. Dairy ice cream does not hold up well in hot climates. It melts and re-freezes so it has little ice crystals in it and it melts really fast. Coconut milk ice cream is super creamy, it doesn’t melt nearly as fast and it’s delicious! I got a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of mango. If we go back to town for lunch, I’ll may get some more.
Bill and I have been to several of the local grocery stores. We eat out for lunch and cook breakfast and dinner. Pizza at the hotel is really expensive, so Bill made us a really good pizza a few days ago. The fruit is good here so I’ve had delicious yogurt, fruit, granola bowls for breakfast, and we found some homemade sour dough bread and tortillas. It’s really nice to be able to cook some food. The hotel restaurant is fine, but the food is a little bland.
I have not had any migraines since I’ve been here. I didn’t have any in Roatan either which is not too far away. I’m not sure what is different here, but even with the wind blowing almost every day, I feel so much better than I do at home. It’s worth being here just to feel better for a while.
Hopefully, I’ll have some good snorkel stories in a few days.
Traveling with Emily! 