Flores, Guatemala

How to start this post...

So lily and I had an amazing time in San Juan del Sur...learning Spanish, surfing and beaching it up. Met some super cool people and and had a few fun late nights squished in between our studies (no, we really did study...a lot). It seems like so long ago already.

So I just got back down here from my time back in the States. I'm very glad that I went back. Couldn't have imagined missing the celebration for Lily. It was everything that she would have wanted.

My dad ended up coming down with me on the first part of my second journey. We flew into Belize City, got out of there the next morning (that was plenty of time) and headed to Caye Caulker. We did a day of snorkeling where we got to swim with nurse sharks and rays. Really cool. I just can't believe the first time for me to see a shark in the water I was just snorkeling. They cheat though and feed them to bring them around...sounds a bit ridiculous, but no incidents so far! Can't wait to dive it all. But everything was shallow enough and I don't feel that I missed much be only being at the surface.

The next day we jumped on a boat tour from Caye Caulker to Placencia. 3 days 2 nights. Super fun. We had a bunch of snorkeling stops, did a little fishing, and a bunch of drinking (come on, I was with my dad). Unfortunately, my dad had a run in with a conch shell. He put a nice sized puncture in the bottom of his foot, then ground it into the sand. We tried to get out all of the sand, but it still got totally infected. So he was hobbling around for the rest of the trip. Not that happy of a camper. But the crew (and me) got a kick out of his under his breath bitching and moaning. And after a we got to Plecencia, we got a house call from the doctor and got it fixed up proper.

Did I mention that we camped both nights? The first night on Rendezvous Caye which was about the size of a house and totally deserted. Had a campfire and the crew (Jerry, Germain and Kevin) cooked up the fish they caught that day. It was so dark out there, the stars were amazing. And the second night on Tobacco Caye which had a couple of places to stay and 3 bars. That night we had a little drum circle and a bunch more rum punch. Great trip. Totally relaxing and I didn't even get sea sick (thank god for calm waters!).

So I am up in Flores right now. Kim is flying in to meet me and head up to Tikal (Dad opted out for the leg of the trip...considering he can hardly walk, it was a good choice). Than plan on getting back to Belize. Can't wait to see the Mayan ruins of Tikal standing up this time...last time I was there, I was so stomach sick, I was puking and curled up in a ball watching my friend climb up all over everything. Feeling great today-but don't want to jinx it!