The Belize Cayes

Well, this is definitely the best spot we've found so far.  Belize is awesome.  Can't even compare it to Mexico.
The reef is amazing.  It is clean. Logan is in heaven playing with all the local kids.
Shane loves swimming in ankle deep water and picking up little coconuts on the beach.
Ali is happy swimming with kids.
You can be barefoot in a city and not even worry about a thing.
I dove yesterday and grabbed onto the fin of an 8 foot shark.  I picked up a sting ray.  I saw turtles, a lion fish, amongst the schools and endless schools of fish on the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world.

People are friendly and smiling.  We have even been dabbiling with the idea of property here - ridiculously cheap.  A guy from New Zealand in our hotel bought a house and land for 120K.  There are lots for 40K.  Ridiculous.

We have rented a place on Caye Caulker today after leaving Ambergris Caye.  It is very nice here.

Sandy streets and laid back vibe.

Corozal, Belize

The mossies got to us this a.m.  That tropical storm left us with a tonne of rain on our lakefront paradise.  Also, because our place had a kitchen, that meant that we had to do dishes and clean up.  Why on earth would we cook when someone else can cook FOR us? We packed up and headed to the border of Belize. 

Corozal. Liking the vibe here so far.  We've had more conversations in 2 hours here than we had in 2 weeks in Mexico.  And it's not a language related thing since we really don't understand this carribbean pirate talk that everyone talks here anyway.  Just throw in a "true...true...." and give a high five slap or fist pump and you're suddenly cool runnings wit' dee locals man.  People are super friendly and helpful here.

I think it is important to add that our taxi to the border cost $10 and it was about a 40 min. ride on a highway.  Why is it important?  Because at home that wouldn't even take me from downtown to my house! We were going to cheap it and walk across the bridge to Belize when some guy said, "Senor, why not take that taxi there?  It's only 5 bucks to the next town."

Done.

Laguna Bacalar

We have rented a casita (cabin) on the shores of Lake Bacalar.  This lake is ridiculously blue.  Bacalar means lake of seven colours in Mayan.  It is freshwater but you would swear it is the Carribbean sea.  Logan got in his water wings and hat and went out for a kayak this a.m. with daddy around our section of the lake.  It is fed by seven cenotes which give it the incredible clarity.  Lots of swimming throughout our days.  The village is very laid back and clean.  Oh, I should also mention that it is cheap.  Not really developed for tourism, pueblo bacalar is keeping it real!  Delicious food too.  Barbecued chicken in a huge stone oven.  I like 6 dollar meals for a family of four!

Internet does not seem to upload any photos from Bacalar so these are later add ons.  We figured this spot out from looking at google back home and saw the colours and white sand.  It is right near the border of belize about a half hour from mexican city called chetumal.

Seriously....  this is a lake, not an ocean.  I think this takes the cake for clearest water for us now.  If you click on the image you can even see fish. 

From the porch at the casita.

Adios!

Tulum

The ruins of Tulum are in an amazing location.  Limestone cliffs next to the Carribbean sea with coves of white sand that stretch for miles of coastline.  It was an important Mayan port for trading along the Carribbean coast.  It kind of reminded us of Dreamland in Bali.   We´ve heard there will be an international airport going in Tulum in 3 years so people are starting to buy up land - this place will be the next Cancun, so we hear.

Logan was very excited to see all the iguanas all over the temples and the grounds.  He explained how to say iguana to Shane many times.




Ali getting all reflective.

 Because we stayed in town and were able to arrive shortly after the park opened, we basically had the place to ourselves.  Very nice to appreciate it that way.  By mid morning, we had seen the grounds and went down to the beach to cool off in the ocean.  Busloads kept arriving.  By the time we got out we had to fight our way up the stairway on the cliff.  Mass hordes of tourists smoking, yelling, breathing heavily and just generally being part of the mass. Only the different colours of wristbands they wore distinguished them apart from one another. The Mayans would make quick work of them.

After

 

Yes, it is the rainy season.  This was 8 a.m. today.  We watched lightning storms and it´s been an inside day of internet and activities.  Clearing up now so off to do some stuff.  Stuff is good.

Cenotes and stuff

Made our way to the town of Tulum where we did an amazing visit to a Cenote - limestone caves filled with the clearest freshwater.  Truly another world with fish, turtles below and bats flying above. Logan loved it.  Shane took a bit of a dip, but the flapping of his hands indicated the water was mucho frio!  

We´re finding things are ridiculously expensive here considering its Mexico.  Equal or more than Canadian prices for meals and accommodation.  We tried lowering our standards to save a bit one night in Coba, but it still ended up as 35 bucks for a room of standards that Ali and I would have barely considered when we were 23 years old.  We will be moving on.

 

Coba did have some amazing ruins.  Those Mayans.  They left this place in ruins! 

A huge archaelogical site with 6500 ruins, most still uncovered, and those that are uncovered were amazing!  This was a day of intense hiking.  There is no rest for the parents of having to cart things on our backs.   

Logan hiked up to the top with daddy, which was a serious feat.  There was only a moment to enjoy the incredible views before we had to descend as the rain approached in seconds.  After it seemed like the rain stopped, he did it a SECOND time for mommy´s turn up to the top.  That one, however, did not turn out so good as the biggest downpour let down and flooded the site.  They were stranded on top and he was less than pleased trying to get down with all the rain. 

Doing this stuff with our kids is tough - I can´t even begin to describe how tough - but fun as we have to slow down and limit ourselves to only activity a day.  It´s making us really focus on the highlights and making sure things go smoothly.  It´s funny to see the reactions to certain things - like Logan is stoked just to see ¨"construction guys" climbing up buildings and digging holes, or "those guys on motorcycles with no helmets on, I hope a police officer doesn´t come" ... nevermind the beaches and ruins thank you very much.

Waterlogged

Activity du jour: swimming in warm hotel pool, walking up and down touristy pedestrian street, napping twice (Shane only)
Weather du jour: rain
Drink du jour: Sol con limon y sal
Food: amazing! But not cheap!

Planning our next leg and enjoying the ease of being here before we head into less touristy areas.

200 aniversado

Well, we arrived on the 200 anniversary of mexico's independence. Boys did well travelling. Shane slept for the first half of the flight and was ready for a second nap by the time we boarded our bus. Logan loved the plane ride, he said his favourite part was taking off. So excited to be on a bus, he took in all the sights and fell asleep, not waking up until an hour after we arrived at the hotel. Travelling couldn't have gone more smoothly today, very little waiting and to top it off our hotel is one short block from the bus station! We barely needed to break out our stash of toys and activities. Very hot, nice balmy breeze and white sand. Feels nice to be back in the tropics!

Start with the End.

The past few trips we've done, I kept written notes.  Not a journal - that's soo college.  As a matter of fact, I write manifestos.  If you've been lucky enough to have travelled with us, you already know this.  If not, then you are probably hoping we'll invite you on our next one, just so you can read what I scribble down.
I will tell you one tidbit I wrote in caps: "START WITH THE END."  It's a warning to myself to plan all trips starting on the last day of the journey.

As such, I made sure that our departure taxes and tourist tax fee for Mexico have already been paid.  When I added Shane to our itinerary, the airline assured me that Shane's was paid as well.  This made me check my visa bill - because I know that airlines say the opposite of what they mean to say.  It's not their fault, they just live in opposite land.  I can see from the lack of a charge that I will also have to set aside the cash funds for him.

You might be wondering: "How could they tax an  infant who weighs less than carry on luggage?"  Trust me, they do.  Costa Rica nailed us for Logan.  I'm taking advice from Dubya: "Fool me twice, shame on me."  I only pay fees in U.S. funds.  Dubya would like this too.

Also, we packed a duffle bag filled with our winter clothes. The bag will come with our parents when they  pick us up in the dead of winter at the airport. We will enjoy watching those other people at Pearson with flip flops and their Senor Frogs shirts as they exit the terminal and freeze.  Clearly they were not invited to read this travel blog.

two shots down...

Logan (recently turned 3) and Shane (just turned 1) have made their first of 2 visits to the doctor to recieve their  Hep A/B shots.   Things went surprisingly well with both boys - not a tear from Logan at all!  On top of this, Shane had his 12-month baby checkup last week and got his scheduled jabs.  They are going for their second round of HepA/B the day before we leave.  All these pokes in the arm don't seem to be phasing Shane at all - he's happy go lucky as usual, and becoming much sturdier on his feet which should make our lives a bit easier on the road!  Now the goal is for him to learn to back down the stairs rather than going forwards on his bum.  Logan is very proud of his new kid-sized backpack and has already started to put together a collection of toys to bring - the winners so far are his beloved buzz and woody as well as his "skateboard guys" avec skateboards.  Does he know what big adventure lies ahead?  He's enjoying his books on airplanes and the videos on Mexico and Costa Rica we borrowed from the library, and will happily tell anyone who asks that he's "going to Central Merica, first we go to Blize then Guadmala".  This week we will be adding to and editing things out of the big plastic bin we have in our living room.  Can we fit it all in 2 backpacks??  We did it 2 years ago, but add one more kid and the task becomes a bit more challenging!

Tuckered out after a day at the sprinklers - hope they can nap this well on our trip!