Belize

We just got back from our vacation to Belize (okay, so it was a week ago) but wanted to share pictures and some trip details.

Why Belize? Raymond just wanted to go. No, particular reason other than it is in Central America and that it was reported that English is the primary language. This is really not so, even though the teach English in school, every one's first and primary language is Spanish.

We decided to take a non-stop flight out of Houston so at bedtime on the night before we flew out we drove to Houston. I really kind of like driving like this, Molly sleeps and Raymond and I get to talk. It is nice. We stayed at a Holiday Inn near the airport that I booked through priceline. Normally the room goes for $123 and I got it for $50. I also found a coupon online for airport parking and ended up paying $5 a night, which was the best deal I could find. In any case our flight left around 3pm so Molly was totally awake and ready to play. The first problem we encountered was that we fly on Taca Airlines and was told that Molly could sit on my lap for only 10% of the cost of our ticket. That meant we should have only paid about $26 for her to fly. When we got to the counter they had so many fees and charges that her flight........cost more than ours. What can you do about it? We decided not to argue but Raymond is in the middle of getting some funds back because surely there is an error. Surely.

We arranged transportation with the first place we were staying at. After endless days of searching I picked to stay with Iguana Junction (http://www.iguanajunction.com/). The trip was hot and bumpy and took about two hours to reach San Ignacio. Molly did good and fell asleep (finally) about half way into the trip. San Ignacio is in the middle of the jungle and a center point for all of the ruins and other activities. If you ever go, stay at Iguana Junction. It was truly the best place we have ever stayed (Raymond and I are in total agreement of this). The cost was $45 a night, breakfast $5, and dinner $8. We ate most of all our meals here because it was just convenient and such good food! We ate lunch in town or while we were out and about. One night we rode with the owners into town to eat dinner. We went to this restaurant that had a huge grass area with a park. Genius. It was a good dinner because we didn't have to worry about Molly bothering other guests. Another night we went to the bus stop where a lady was making pizza to order and baking it in her wood oven stove.....at the bus stop.....genius.

While in the jungle we relaxed a lot and took in some of the sites:

Caracol - Mayan Temple Ruins

Rio Frio Cave

Rio Frio Pools

Xunantunich - Mayan Temple Ruins

Iguana Project -A little place that was set up to educate people (tourists) and kids about Iguana's

Belize Zoo - I was so hot and tired at this point in the trip that I did not feel like taking any pictures. Not to mention Molly wanted to be carried the whole way through the zoo which just left my arms feeling like spaghetti. Here is one photo where Molly would get down to touch the bird.

We also went tubing down the Mopan River. I don't have any photos of this adventure but Molly did awesome. She sat on my lap half the time and the half, I just dragged her along.

After San Ignacio we took a taxi back to Belize City and jumped on a water taxi. The water taxi took us over to Caye Caulker, a small island of the coast of Belize. There is not a whole lot to do on the island but we walked a whole lot, went to the beach and went snorkeling. We even sneaked in a massage! A total treat a very awesome. The hotel we stayed at is not worth mentioning but where we ate a very good breakfast and has our massage was the Coco Plum Cafe. If you are ever here, you must go check it out.

Here is a little picture of the cabana we stayed in. It was on ocean but there really was no beach to play in: Here is a picture of the main strip of Caye Caulker, along with main mode of transportation:

We took in a snorkeling trip and this is how Raymond and Molly snorkeled:

We only stayed three days here and headed back to Belize City. Since out flight left at 10am we decided not to risk being late due to weather or taxi schedules so we stayed our last night in a fancy resort, Black Orchid Resort. I forgot to take pictures but we should have allowed more time here, there were a few things to do in the area, I wanted to do the baboon sanctuary but we were out of time.

Random Photos:

This is our snorkel guiding holding one of many stingrays in the area.

A cemetery in Bullet Tree (near the hotel).

Molly entertaining herself, with the tubes we used to float down the Mopan River.Raymond and Molly throwing rocks in the Mopan River.Our trip back was uneventful and Molly fell asleep...YEAH!

Used Car

Raymond found this awesome used car for Molly. It is too cute, she really doesn't have the actual driving away thing down but she does have the getting in and out, turning the wheel, kisses goodbye and dancing to the radio. I do have video of all of this but cannot get it to upload so this little clip will have to do and you can imagine all the fun things going on.

Birds and Bees

It is always a challenge for me to keep Molly entertained. I just always have this feeling that we need to be out and about. I am slowly learning that Molly needs to learn to entertain herself and that I when I am entertaining her we don't need to be spending money. I do try to plan at least one special thing a week and the rest is free like bike riding, walking, playing at the park....etc.

This week we went to the Austin Zoo. It isn't so much a zoo as it is an animal sanctuary, so not a whole lot of "zoo animals" but there is a lot to look at when you are 18 months old. Really the most fascinating thing is the juice box you get for snack and the little statues that are just the right height. Really we played with the statues for about an hour.

These statues are located on a wooden bridge where the tigers are on one side and the tortoises are on the other side. I saw the tortoises and took some pictures because they are not quick enough to run from me and just watched Molly play with the statue. Then I heard this weird noise coming from the tortoises pin, so of course I went to look and noticed that the larger tortoise was trying to climb a rock.

I thought it was pretty neat that I was going to see this super large turtle try and get on this huge rock so I took pictures and called Molly over to watch. In true toddler fashion Molly looked, pointed and walked away. I stayed to watch.............and that is when I noticed, that the tortoise was not trying to get up on a rock.

I can hear my girl now, "no, my mom did not tell me anything about the birds and the bees, but she let me watch the turtles get it on."

Disclaimer: Yes, she did feed the goats. Yes, you were allowed to feed them. Yes, I did a risk assessment of the situation and decided it would be okay. Yes, we did wash our hands thoroughly right after touching the goats.