Party pants: on. Grab hydration. Grab sunscreen. Grab a snack. Grab a cozy blanket or Snuggie and prepare yourself for the latest of this Caribbean adventure. 

At last check we were putting our right foot in and our left foot out to catch the Hokey Pokey water taxi across the way to Independence and then settle in for a day of chicken buses and Maya ruins- and we did just that. 

See, proof that boats exist and we were on one and we know how to take a selfie:

If you want to feel like a local, catch the first Hokey Pokey taxi of the morning from Placencia to Independence with everyone that is commuting in for work and still half asleep on the boat. That's a sure ticket for local flavor. 

After several chicken bus adventures and some very unsuccessful attempts to sleep on what is quite possibly the worst road to have ever been paved- Dangriga to Belmopan- and passing what may be my favorite sign in the entire country (proof that saying no to drugs and drug recovery can apparently be cute and animated all at the same time)

 

we arrive in Belmopan and after some half asleep deliberations and decision making we end up having a wonderful local by the name a Halle take us to Xunantunich for the day. 

Lets take a break for a moment and discuss the temperature the last few days of our trip. Apparently the cold front that was looming over the country the past week decided to pass through and we sky rocketed into the middle and high 80s. Shock? Yes. Going from a comfortable mid 70s to that? No. If you know anything at all about me, you should know that I do not care too much for hot weather. Give me a scarf, button down with seater combo or pea coat any day, but hot weather? No thank you. Needless to say there's been a lot of sweat happening. All the damn sweat. Sweat here, sweat there, sweat in places that haven't seen sweat since the French Riviera or Rome. 

Moving on. Halle. Xunantunich. Things. They happened. 

Halle- who is she? What is her life? What does she do for fun? What are her dreams and goals? Again, if you know me then you should not surprised by the fact that I actually have the answer to every single one of those questions. So here- character development:

Halle is 18 and she goes to the university in Belmopan where she is studying English and plans to be a teacher when she finishes. For fun, she enjoys driving which I totally understand- you go girl. But the real moment I saw her eyes light up was when she began telling us about how she truly wants to one day open a fresh juice business. You know when someone is talking about something that they love and you kind of see the angle of their eyes and the vibrancy of them shift into something brilliant? That happened. So I say to you, Halle- you open that juice business and you get that big machine that makes it perfect and you chase every dream you have. I believe in you and I support you (because that means so much coming from some rando girl from Alabama that rode in your backseat for a day). You do you.

During this car ride we learned so much about Belize. We learned all about the Mennonite population and how they raise and control most of the chicken sales in the country and the Belize government actually gave them a large portion of land in the countryside/mountains in return for carrying out this contribution to the country. We also learned that the new Guatemalan president has his eyes set on acquiring the entire country of Belize as he claims that is Guatemalan land. So apparently there are court proceedings happening to figure that little situation out. You hold strong, Belize- if you can say no to drugs, you can say no to Guatemala. 

One of the most important pieces to the car ride was finally getting the lingering question about the yellow coconuts answered. This has been plaguing us for days. 

See? Turns out that the yellow ones are sweet. They go from green to yellow and as they turn yellow they get sweeter. #themoreyouknow

On the drive in, we stopped for lunch at this wonderful place in Santa Elena where Halle introduced us to Panades and Salbutes. I just.. I can't even. They were so wonderful. It's like unlocking a craving you never knew you had. 

Curtesy of Vincent and his aspiring photography skills-

In hindsight, I didn't get a picture of Halle, BUT here is the closest thing I have- the back of her head while on the hand crank ferry (which we will get to in a bit)

How she wasn't having a constant heat stroke wearing those jeans I have no idea, but it makes me appreciate her even more. 

So, we arrive at Xunantunich which is right outside of San Jose Succotz on the Guatemala/ Belize border. Xunantunich is one of those words in my life that no matter how many times I practice saying it and no matter how many times I hear it spoken, I just cannot master it. So I have settled for calling it 'tuna and itch' because that's what the pronunciation sounds like. I apologize in advance for anyone that is offended by that. Mostly to the Mayans. Don't hold this against me please.

The time has finally arrived- the hand crank ferry is a mere feet from me. I wish I could say I did a decent job containing my excitement but that would be a huge lie. Halle was very aware of my excitement over said ferry due to the amount of times I mentioned it on the ride over. So here it is in all it's glory-

And here is the lucky guy that gets to crank it all day long, back and forth

You know he loves his job. How can you not? IT'S A HAND CRANK FERRY. 

Over the ferry and thru the woods we went, up a giant hill, until finally we arrived. Hello Maya ruins, it's nice to see you again. As I have mentioned previously, ruins are ruins and I just don't get as excited about them as most people do I suppose, but I do have to say that climbing the largest structure here was a little terrifying. 

I know it's deceiving because we appear to be the same height in this picture, but trust me when I say that El Castillo had a few feet on me. Just a few though. Let's not get carried away here. It's not like it was a commanding structure that was responsible for human sacrifice or anything. Cool it with your wandering mind. I also don't know why my arms are like that- we all know I suffer from inherent awkward arms. Embrace it. 

After I got my arms under control, we began the journey to the top of this bad boy

Now. Lets discuss rocks. Some rocks are rough and have wonderful traction. Some rocks run the middle ground where they're kind of smooth, but still have a little traction. Some rocks run the side of the spectrum where they are gloriously smooth and magical to the touch. Which rocks would you choose to make steps for a giant structure reaching thousands of feet into the air? 

I don't know about you, but I definitely would not choose the smooth ones. That's probably why I wouldn't have made it as a Mayan- because that's what they chose. Why? WHY? 

Remember in the Swiss Alps when I was convinced I was going to die on a mountain in Switzerland? That feeling came back as we were maneuvering these steps on the way down without railings. Vincent and I turned to each other at one point and almost simultaneously said- 'I refuse to die in Belize.' I made it down off that mountain in Switzerland and you better Belize it when I say I am going to make it down off this Maya ruin. 

Back on track- after a long, sweat laden, expletive filled, exhausting trek- we made it to the top and it was oh, so worth it. We even decided to use the selfie stick, but first we had some trouble making it work which resulted in this gem

We all know I have no shame, but forgive me Vincent for posting that.

So the top-

And then I selfied Vincent's selfie

And then finally we gave some love to Guatemala which was lurking to our left. Belize in the front, Gautemala in the back (along with the Ukranian gentleman who made Vincent his personal photographer)

In a previous post I commented on the dog population in Belize. They are everywhere. Every single place you can imagine, there is a dog. I kid you not with this statement because it is literally true and I realized that as we were sitting at the top of El Castillo and what is it that I see come putzing past me? 

A dog. HOW? WHY? 

Guess he just wanted to take in the view as well. OR he is the reincarnated spirit of a former Mayan and has come back to check it out and make sure that people like me are not making a fool of themselves at the top of the structure. In which case I salute your persistence, Mayans. Sigh. 

So we finally decided if we stayed any longer we might upset the Mayan spirits and neither of us needs that kind of karma resting on our shoulders so we headed out to begin our journey back to Belize City. But not before someone stole my phone and took a few pictures of himself with it

I guess Wallace just wanted to use the selfie stick as well. 

Halle dropped us off at the Bus station in San Ignacio and then we boarded our final chicken bus of the trip

Which as fun as they have been, I was glad to see it was the final one. I have been under mosquito attack on the buses and my poor skin just needs time to recover from this invasion of personal space. After a long journey and many, many stops we arrived in Belize City and found our guest house for the evening. I don't even think my body had been on the bed for more than two minutes before I was passed out- it had been that kind of day. 

Looking back at this post just now, I realize that was a very eventful and full day judging by the length of this post. Therefore, I am making the executive decision as I sit here by a pool on San Pedro Island to call this post a wraps at the conclusion of Friday and create a separate post for Belize City and San Pedro Island as I enjoy my 12 hour layover at the Miami airport tomorrow evening. 

I imagine your eyes are very grateful for this decision. I'm here for the people. Don't think a thing about it. Today we are off to snorkel in the barrier reef and visit the shark trail which should be an absolute blast. If I make it out of the shark area alive and without haven been eaten, I will report to you all the extent of our adventure. If I don't make it out alive because the sharks were unable to find a lunch place, then, well, this is it my friends. It's been a wonderful journey and don't forget to chase all the dreams. 

Something tells me I will return though, so for those of you that got your hopes us- have a seat. 

Keep my skin in your thoughts today as there is not a single cloud in the sky and I got some sun yesterday without realizing it. I suppose my move today is sunscreen. Adulting and responsibility are so difficult some times. 

For those of you curled up on your cozy couch enjoying your Saturday morning coffee- enjoy that deliciousness and have an extra cup for me. 

Last but not least. Here's a little delight I found that I knew all of my counselor and mental health friends would greatly appreciate

Happiest of weekends to you all. Rememeber- adventure doesn't have to be an activity in a foreign country, it can be something that you simply have not done before. So here's to your weekend being as full of adventure as mine.