June 17 - Caye Caulker and Snorkeling with stingray and over the reef

We awoke on June 17th to a rainy cloudy day. It was a little chilly so we were worried our snorkeling and beach day would be ruined. We decided to go anyway and pray it cleared up by the time we got out to the Caye. We made the right decision except that the boat ride out to the Caye about did me in! It was so bumpy I thought I was going to die. The water was so rough I was afraid the boat would flip. I'm not exagerating! Just look at my face in the picture!

When we got to the Caye it was starting to clear up a little. The rain was gone but the clouds were hanging out. We took a little golf cart taxi (they drive golf carts and bikes on the island. We did see one car.) to the a snorkeling shop. I have to say that if you go to Belize it is much more economical if you book your own passage out to the Caye and then book the snorkeling yourself instead of going through a hotel or tour agency. The price we paid was so much less than they offered.

We booked a 3 hour private boat trip out to 3 snorkeling sites. The first was a site with stingrays. It was shallow. Probably 3-4 feet and the stingrays were huge. It was a little freaky at first but the water was beautiful and crystal clear and the kids loved it! Nathan and I took turns staying in the boat with Gabby. I ended up getting really sick between this site and the next (could have been motion sickness from the boats or from all the salt water I inhaled trying to remember how to work a snorkel) luckily I had my first aid kit (yes! I knew you would be proud!) with some anti nausea medicine Grandma Beenie gave me before we left.

Our guide became buddies with Brigham - of course- and took care of him at the second spot. It was snorkeling over a shallow reef. They had to swim quit a ways from the boat and I was feeling pretty sick so just stayed behind on the boat with Gabby.

The third spot was a deep reef spot. Our guide and Xela stayed behind with me because they had to swim quite far. I thought it was because he was worn out from pulling Brigham around at the last spot, but I soon learned that it was because he needed to smoke a joint. Lovely!

Nathan will give a description of all of this because I missed it. I grabbed a water camera from home but it was out of pictures OOOPPPS! We will have to get pics when we come back again in 3 months. Sorry!

We really enjoyed Caye Caulker and Snorkeling!! I would love to go back when it is sunny and warm and spend several days on the beach! It was a very fun place to visit. The roads are sand and everyone runs around barefoot and it is only 3 streets wide and the main street is lined with palm trees that you cruise through on your golf cart.

The boat ride back to Belize City was smooth since the rain had passed. Another homeschooling family with 4 kids from Williamsburg was on the same boat with us. They are in the process of deciding whether or not to move to Belize on a mission trip for their church. They asked if we felt it was the right decision for our family to move to Guatemala and of course I said "Absolutely!" I did tell them that I miss all of you horribly though!

Belize City, Princess Hotel June 16-18

When we got to Belize City it around 7pm and had just got dark. We were so shocked at how unpopulated Belize is. The city was very small and the people had all gone home. It was a little erie driving around looking for a hotel. We went to the Radison and they wanted $160 a room and wanted us to get two rooms. We are a little spoiled by Guatemalan hotels that have 3-4 beds in some of their rooms to accomodate big families and are usually between 20-30 dollars. Of course they are nothing compared to the Radison but we just aren't used to paying that kind of money, so we kept looking. We found the Princess Hotel and Casino (No we didn't hit the Casino:)!
They also have a movie theater (nothing kid appropriate) and an arcade with bowling alley and a pool (it was too cold for us to swim though! We are used to 100 plus and sunny and it was 80 cloudy and breezy! Gabby got in the baby pool for about 5 minutes and froze!)The hotel was nice and reasonably priced but the service in the hotel was horrible and the food was not that good so if you ever plan to stay there you may want to eat out of the hotel. The view was beautiful though.

Driving from Rio Dulce Guatemala to Belize City Belize June 16th

We were originally planning to take a boat from Puerto Barrios to Punta Gorda and then take a bus or a plane up to Placencia, Belize, but we heard that you could drive to Belize City in 7-8 hours.

We started researching it and figured that we could do it because tourists on line mentioned that they had driven from Belize City to Tikal and we have driven from Rio Dulce to Tikal so we decided to give it a try and save the money it would take for transporting all six of us to Placencia.

While we were researching all this we found two interesting things. 1. People asking about RV parks in Guatemala and Belize. This was super funny to us because we had never seen an RV in Guatemala. We did however see 3 on our drive to the border. We think they may have been part of a traveling circus we saw later on. 2. People that drove from Belize City to Tikal kept mentioning how they knew they were in Guatemala when they crossed the border because of the poor conditions. This confused us because Belize was Guatemala 30 years ago. So we couldn't see how it could be but so different. When we got to the turn off to head to the border we realized why they had that perception. The road conditions for the last 90 km were not that good. The road was paved most of the way but in need of repairs. They are infact starting to repave it. The last 15 km though is a dirt road which does give the impression of poverty. We even had a couple of pig crossings while on this road. I just have to say to all who have made this drive to Tikal that all of Guatemala is not this way. The roads in fact are very good.

We were however wrong about Belize and Guatemala being similiar. They are so different and this is apparant as right when you cross the border. The people appear to have similiar if not worse living conditions in my opinion than Guatemalans because they build their small homes out of wood instead of block and the wood does not hold up well in the wet climate of Belize. The houses look like they are going to fall apart. There are some made of block but the majority are of wood.

The people are a hodge podge of races, which was nice for me because we blended in a little better than we do in Guatemala. There were alot of Chinese, mayan, garifuna (sp?), (Nathan please correct that one I can't remember the name)and mennonite and some americans. The main language is English but Spanish is spoken and chinese of course. You see signs in all three languages. I was told by a man at the border that if they don't speak fluent English you know they are not from Belize.

The border crossing went really smoothly and didn't take long. The time it took from home to the other side of the border was 5 hours including the crossing. We were starving when we got across so we stopped at a really yummy mexican restaurant I will add the name when I find the brochure so if you ever cross into Belize you know to stop there. The food was sooo good. The steak was perfectly cooked and the Belizian rice and beans was delicious! The pics above are taken at the restaurant. It is in San Ignacio.

We were even greeted with a beautiful rainbow! You can barely see it in the last picture but it was very bright that day.

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Today is Nathan's birthday!

To make this a memorable day I thought it would be fun to have everyone post something special for him that he can look back on. I will also print it and keep it in a book for him.

Please put your favorite memory of Nathan or a funny story or anything to make his day memorable.

Thanks!

Mel

June 14th

Thanks for those who have posted! Those who haven't yet feel free to still do so.

Nathan was actually sick for his birthday, so he spent the day in bed! Now you have to know he was pretty sick to do that. Miraculously he is better today! We pumped him full of fluids and herbs and prayers... We did go out for breakfast at Mario's marina. Nathan wanted a typica breakfast and I am not proficient at making tortilla's yet! (Not even close!) It's kind of become a Saturday morning tradition to go there. They have a yard sale for the boaters docked there and some of the local entreprenuers set up. They also have a little video rental shop that you can rent 3 videos at a time for $5 a month so we trade in the videos every week from the week before. They have quite a selection because the boaters can pay their membership in videos. All the marinas around also have a book exchange program where the boaters leave a book and take a book. So I took advantage of that this week and found a great little book containing 3 books about wedding stories. Really fluff reading but fun.

The Castillo Family is in town and it was Angie's birthday a few days before. Xela had a bladdar infection and high fever so she wasn't able to play much. We decided to make her a brownie cake to cheer Angie up.

Even though we weren't able to party for Nathan's b-day, we will celebrate when we go to Belize this week. So don't be too sad for him!

Next weekend we will post pics from the trip!

I wrote Nate a poem for his birthday since I wasn't able to go shopping with out him. Next year I will make it up to him and get him something really good. You know I'll be rockin the Spanish by then!

Mel

Weekend fun!

We have had a busy weekend. It was fun but busy.

Saturday we went to Puerto Barrios for the fair. It was fun. The pics are of Gabby and Brigham on the ride. Sorry there are so many! They were just so darn cute I couldn't eliminate any. Gabby would have love Busch this year. She is the perfect age for Disney also.

We also watched a few minutes of soccer. It was super hot though so we didn't last long.

We ate McDonald's for lunch. Nathan and I agree that a quarter pounder with cheese tastes better in Guatemala for some reason.

Then we went to the church for youth night and stayed and played kickball, soccer, basketball. The kids are getting really good at soccer. They play a lot with the kids that live near the car lot and then every Saturday night at the church. It is really fun to watch them.

I just got a calling to be in the primary! Is anyone surprised?! I think it will be as a teacher, which will really help expedite my Spanish.

We had a family come to church with us today which was great. They seemed to really enjoy it, then we went to someone's house for lunch and a birthday party for the Primary President. The food was soooo good! It was similiar to a roast with a delicious gravy served with rice mixed with veggies, and avacodo chopped up with lemon. I have to learn how to make it. I was so amazed at how efficiently a meal can be served to so many people and cleaned up in no time flat. We had one table for 8 people and over 20 to serve and everyone had a sit down dinner.

We didn't get home until after 4pm so I am super tired. I just wanted to make sure and put up the pics from the fair before I chill.

Kimbo,
The disney shows sound great for Xela but our DVD/VCR got fried in a power surge so now we just have the xbox for movies. We did just get satellite hooked up however so we have Disney now. Thanks for thinking of XeXe. It was so thoughtful and thanks for the hugs.

Sonia,
That is so awesome about Courtney making it into the dance company. She has worked hard for many years to earn it and we are so proud. I am thinking about letting Xela do facebook also but a little nervous. It would be fun for her and Courtney to keep in touch that way though.

Mama,
If it is ok with you I may have everyone send donations for the orphanage to you?! If not let me know.

Jessica,
Fabric would be fantastic! We are actually learning how to make skirts for homemaking next week. It should be interesting - no patterns and sewing by hand! Anyone want to take a poll on how my skirt will turn out?????

Mel

Xela

You know what this is for same as all my other Posts

Rancho Esperanza

First of all I have to give a hallar out to my big sis Kelley "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!"

We have been having computer issues so it has been difficult to get on and post, but we think we have it fixed now.

I posted a picture of Eddy and Ingrid. They are leaving us and we are so sad. Ingrid has been my laundry fairy and her kids have become a part of our everyday life. We don't know who will be replacing them but we will find out soon enough. Hopefully they are nice. Eddy and Brigham have become quite good friends so they will be missed.

Brigham is so funny. He makes friends with everyone he meets and charms them half to death. He has picked up a lot of the latin mannerisms which is so funny. He points with his lips and clicks his teeth with his tongue when he doesn't like something. I wish you could watch him in action it's quite funny.

We went today to te Rancho Esperanza. It is an orphanage a mile up the road from the car lot. We've been wanting to go by there for awhile now and see how we can help out.

It is run by a couple named Karen and Mike. I didn't get their last name. The ranch is beautiful and they set the orphanage up in such a way that the kids seem so happy. They have an orchard of different trees, horses a creek, and they are about to build a playground. They have 3 houses on the property, only two have children in them now. They put 8-10 kids in each house with a couple to be parents and try to make it feel as much like a family as possible. They have 8 kids in one house and 7 in another. They have a long waiting list but need another couple to live in the third house.

The kids were so cute. We met Michael and Danny. We brought a trash bag full of Gabby's pullups that we ended up not needing and a few of her outgrown dresses (some of them came from Eliza to Gabby and she outgrew them. So thank you Sonia they are still blessing lives!) The boys were so excited about the diapers! Danny took them and carried them all around the house. Imagine how he would have felt about toys! We have got to figure out a way to get more clothes and toys here for them.

They also reach out to the community. They have sunday church services in a chapel and youth bible study every Saturday night and every 15 days they have a movie night and show a video to the kids in the area that want to come. Soon they will be building a place to cook and serve food to the hungry children in the area. I am sure that this is where we will be serving the most. I'm sure they will need lots of hands for that.

She said that they are wanting to start a crochet and cross stitch class with the girls. I would love to help with this, soooooo if anyone has any extra supplies to donate - I don't think these things would get stolen out of the cars being shipped to us. Any kind of crafty stuff would be great! I had so much of it but couldn't fit it in the cars! Bummer!

We will have pics and more to report on this later.

I'll try to post again soon. We have kind of settled into an everyday routine so not as much to report as often.

We have to leave the country for 3 days to renew our visas so if anyone has any recommendations for any of the bourdering countries let us know. We are thinking Belize or Mexico. We can't do Honduras because they are in some alliance or something so we have to go outside the alliance.

Did anyone see the picture of the headless boatman??? Freaky!

Mel

PS

I just read the comments from the last post:

Kim, I love to hear about Gracie and Aaron! Keep telling us about them! You are right! I've been a total slacker posting but in my defense we were having computer probs!

Robin, your car rule made me laugh! I am so glad you have joined our conversations. I bet Steve does keep up with the car now.

Hannah, Keep trying! I want to hear from you and the kids! Do what Kelley said and save before you post.

Leslie, our family misses you also! We had some funnnn times. My kids loved jumping on the tramp with you. I had a dream the other night you were pregnant. I was so happy. We do have candy bars. They are Q6 ($.75). So worth it for me. The first few times we visited Guatemala we couldn't find hershey's chocolate anywhere! I thought I would die. Nathan is settling into the quetzali mindset and thinks it's expensive so we don't get them to often but he bought us m&ms last night! YUMMMMMY!

Joanne, I didn't think I would miss fast food but I totally do. I feel like a kid when we find one. I don't know how many chicken nuggets I could eat but I am sure you probably got me beat!

Kelley, Happy Birthday! The fruit in the trees are bananas. Sweet huh? Thank you for your prayers. We appreciate it so much.