a very long post

Last Thursday was Election Day here in Belize so I got off of school Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. After class on Tuesday, Jess, Phil, Bitsy, and I prepared for a trip to Cay Caulker. That night, though, we had a bit of a scare. One of the members of our trip, Dan, went missing at 5 o’clock. People said they saw him leave class at 4:30 and thought he was going to take the bus back. But by 8, no one had seen him yet. It was unlike him to wonder off so we searched around town, called different people from Galen and eventually talked to the police. They found him at a bar at the top of the hill with a couple of Galen students. He had gotten a ride home with them and gone out drinking and didn’t think twice about contacting anyone because he felt comfortable. It’s hard to realize you might be missed when you are with people you know. He was brought back to the Inn around 11 o’clock after a long search. Meg and Jay were mad, but I was just glad to have him back. When he was gone people began to worry a lot.

I was also glad we found him because that meant we could go on our trip still. We got up at 6:50, grabbed some pre-ordered breakfast burritos and headed for the 7:30 express bus to Belize City. There we joined up with Katie and Becky from the other international program. Global Learning Semester

Being one of the more comfortable buses, we were able to get some sleep on the ride there. At 10:30 we were on the water taxi over to Cay Caulker and grins were on all our faces! After a 45 minute ride we arrived there, excited to get started on our vacationing. The last time people had come, they had been greeted by people trying to take them to hotels and places to stay on the island so we didn’t make a reservation. When we got off, there was no one so we wondered the streets asking here and there about places to stay, but no one had room. One man offered to show us a room in the south part of the island and we walked for 15 minutes to find that it was a dump. We returned to Center Island and by now our bags were heavy and the sun was getting to us. Some people were getting antsy about finding a place so we split up. I went to talk to a land lord who rented houses to tourists. She said she was full but her friend had a 3 bedroom house that would be perfect for us, so I said yes and called everyone to meet up. The house was beautiful. It was set back from the street and elevated on stilts. There was a pink bush to the right hand side and it had a porch overlooking a basketball court across the street and beyond that, the sea. The rooms were spectacular and for 20 U.S a night it was affordable! Imagine if Cape May was that cheap! We could stay for a month.

Anyways, we went in and got settled and found out that one of our members, Phil, found a hostel for himself and decided to ditch us, making the rent $25, but still affordable. After, Phil and I went searching for dive shops and the girls went out to lunch. Later, I met them up at the Split, which is the divide between north and south island. The split was created a while back by a hurricane which cut right through the middle. It was some incredible swimming with a huge diving board, 20 foot clear water, a big rock to tan on, and the Lazy Lizard bar. We relaxed there all afternoon before heading back.

For Thursday, Phil booked a dive trip to the Blue Hole, one of Belize’s main attractions. It was tempting, but I wanted to save my money. Plus I was pretty sure dad was going to go with me over Spring Break (which he wasn’t but now he is!!!). So Thursday was just more relaxing. It was also Election Day so everyone was anxious to hear the results. I decided to book a dive trip for Friday and see if Phil would join. I couldn’t go to Cay Caulker and not dive after all.

That night our house was a burn ward. Jess needed some extra aloe for her sensitive skin, but I turned out alright after one day in the sun.

The next morning, my dive was scheduled for 12 and Phil did decide to come along. The dive shop was called The Black Durgon, and the day before the Dive Master, Simeon, had sold us on a dive to Hol Chan Marine reserve, but that was for Thursday when Phil wanted to do the Blue Hole. This dive was my first dive in 2 years, but I remembered everything. The ride up was 20 minutes and took us very close to Ambergris Cay. We could see San Pedro not to far off. After going through the dives, we headed through the channel in the Great Barrier Reef and got out to see, where we dove close to 70 feet! It was great being underwater again and I feel like I did very well. I sucked air fast though and ended up with only 500 PSI remaining. After that, we took a break for a snack of fruit and got to snorkel around the channel. There were many other guided snorkel trips on but Phil and I got to go on our own. As we were ready to jump over board we hesitated an instant, because sharks were circling the boat, and jumped in. Here, we saw more wild life than on our dives. It was teaming with all kinds of life, from Eagle Rays to Barracuda. Then came our second dive, and that time, we got to swim with a turtle. It was a shorter dive, but still just as fun. There was so much to see and we got to swim through some of the canyons that developed on the reef’s outer wall. At our safety stop before going to the surface (every dive has a safety stop at 15 feet to decompress) Phil and I played under water rock, paper, scissors. We each won 2 so the championship game will be held at the Blue Hole. Also, the assistant who stayed with the boat, a boy named Ozzy, dove down and sucked on the dive masters air for a while. It was pretty awesome.

When we got back, I could feel it was my turn to get the burn. There was lots of sun. After leaving the dive shop, I spotted a parade heading up the street, fire engine wailing and golf carts cruising with many people on board (no cars on Cay Caulker). It was the UDP, the party who, I assumed, had won the election! They drove around the Cay twice and then the music parked right in front of our house and the basketball court until 11 at night. Basketball went on and people partied on the street, but we were pooped and stayed inside. The UDP won 25 seats and the PUP got only 6. What a change of power. People say change was necessary. Let’s just hope the government can do its job right.

The next day, Katie, Jess and I went snorkeling with a tour group called Ragamuffin. The ship was captained by Jermaine, Jose and Reynolds. The day before, Simeon had yelled across to the boat and they talked trash to each other. They were good friends and I got to hear about their exploits on the ride back to Hol Chan. It was a long ride because the boat was a sail boat. It was very fun riding the wind all the way up there. Jess, it turns out, was the only person who hadn’t snorkeled before and the snorkel felt funny in her mouth at first, but after two swims, she was able to graduate from the floaty. She also brought her camera and we took some AMAZING underwater pictures of Moray Eels, Barracuda, Sting Ray and more. I hope you check them out. I even got to dive through an underwater cave filled with fish. It was pretty sweet and I was very impressed with Jess who was able to swim against the strong current.

On the way back we had a little rum punch to drink and took an even slower trip back. It was very relaxing and enjoyable.

The next day we took a water taxi back at 11, caught the 1 o’clock bus, which was packed, and made it back to San Ignacio. It was a great time and I wish you all could have seen it. I hope you can live vicariously through my photos.

Sorry again for the long post, but this will be the last for another week. Jess and I plan to get away to Tobacco Cay this weekend in honor of Valentines Day (and our 1 year 3 month anniversary haha)

My internet is down so I again am having trouble doing work and checking my email.

Hope everything is still going well in the states,

Lots of love,

Colin