Caye Caulker:
Our first days in Belize were spent in gorgeous Caye Caulker. It always amazes me how you can hop on a plane, get off, hop on a boat and before dinner you are sitting by the ocean, enjoying the days fresh catch and sights, smells and sounds of a totally different world. It’s amazing how your body even tends to go into a bit of a shock (let alone the emotional and mental shock!) the kind of weird clammy feeling, before my body gets used to the sweaty warmth.


Ahh Caye Caulker what a place to get our tan on before we headed down to our destination of Punta Gorda (PG). We spent the four days we were there reading, hanging out by the split (the kind of beach area), getting some sun, went for a kayak amongst the mangroves, took a fantastic sailing trip out to three wonderful snorkeling destinations on the reef: Hol Chan Marine Reserve, Shark Ray Alley (yes this one is aptly named for the plenty of friendly nurse sharks and sting rays that we swam with) and Coral Garden. All fantastic, I loved snorkeling- the colourful coral gardens and schools of fish, massive sting rays and literally a whole underwater world to be explored!

We had a great tour guide (we went with this great company called Ragamuffin tours) who would point to different fish, coral, starfish, etc, and then come to the surface and name them- so we had a great introduction to the biodiversity of the reef too. And of course no snorkeling sailing trip would be complete without delicious fresh fruit, salsa with fresh conch, rum punch and chips. Yum! Paradise really.










Trip to Punta Gorda (PG)
After a few days of acclimatizing and getting into the Belizean groove we caught the express bus (barely) to PG. About a five hour trip down to the most southern part of Belize- the Toledo District. It was an incredible drive down the Hummingbird Highway. You can fly from Belize City to PG (the flights on the tiny plane zoom just (I mean just!) over our heads here at the sea front inn) in 30 minutes or so, but it was great to see the countryside and get a sense of the geography of this tiny little country. We passed Monkey Bay Wildlife Reserve where Jim did his MA research, so that was neat to see and finally place in my mind. Really neat Karst cartography, palm forests, citrus farms, Maya mountain foothills. Punta rock music and finally Celine Dion music blasting as we finally cruised into PG. The bus dropped us off at our new home – the Sea Front Inn and we quickly unpacked and crashed- glad to be in our new home and eager to check out PG the next day.



Punta Gorda:
The weather changes quickly here, the colour of the ocean with it. The birds are singing constantly, intermittent with dog barks and the honking of cars- it is courtesy I think to honk as you pass a friend or a friend’s house. I am looking out onto the Bay of Honduras now; the winds blowing the palms, the clouds providing some nice shade from the onset of the day’s hottest hours. Today is Easter Saturday and the perfect day for PG’s EASTERFEST 2006!. It should be a riot.

Lubaantun
As our crazy luck would have it our good friend Sean (from Guelph and Ottawa) is also in PG doing some work right now too. This has been awesome and especially great because he is keen to explore swimming holes and has a car! Very sweet. So, on one of his first days here we head up to Lubaantun a pretty neat ruin and Rio Blanco National Park- a very sweet swimming spot. We have also met a really neat woman- Emily- from Portland who is here in PG working with Plenty, on an organic gardening project. She came with us on this roadtrip too. We didn’t spend too much time at the ruins because a storm chased us away- but luckily didn’t follow us to Rio Blanco. This place will be amazing in the rainy season when the waterfall is in full force. Great to get into some fresh water and cool down.

Blue Creek & Tumul Kin
Another fantastic swimming hole and a really neat morning at Tumul Kin- the only traditional Mayan school in Belize- they were having an open house. The open house began with a ceremony, and included dancing, pole climbing, and displays where the students displayed what they have been working on- from jam making to conservation activities and learning Qecki & Mopan (the Mayan language spoke in this region). It was really interesting and a true honour to be able to share the day with the excited students, parents, and grandparents. The school is really interesting it is paid for by the Fins and Mayan children are allowed to attend for free. Students stay for 10 days at a time at the campus and then go home for 4 days. It’s very unique and looks to be quite successful.