Belize Part 4

Day four was mostly going to be travel. We woke up and had a lovely breakfast and tried to take in as much sun as we could before we had to head to the airport. I will still never get used to people just coming and magically transporting my luggage.

Our 7 mile boat ride to the other side of the island was a little choppy. I think it was worse than the tiny plane flight! (going, not the one I was about to get on). Anyway, we got to San Pedro town with some time to kill. It's very strange only having to arrive at an airport about 15 minutes early. We checked in and got rid of our bags and then wandered around to explore. San Pedro really is another world. John wants to live there and become one with the locals. While I did love the resort life, I can see the appeal of getting to know another culture. And there are a lot of ex-pats in town. So next time maybe we will stay in town. They certainly seemed to have good BBQ, from all the street smells.

Gold carts as the main mode of transportation? I could get on board with this.

Our tiny airport! I actually like this "just hop on board" lifestyle. 

 Random shack to show what it's really like in town.

Manatee street signs? Another thing I can get on board with. We didn't go to the area of waters where the manatees live. Next time?

Soaking in the sunshine!

Oh, I don't have a picture, but this is about the time I got my one souviner (I'm a terrible shopper in real life, you think I shop on vacation? Barely ever happens.) Anyway, I got some yummy chocolate at a little shop. It has chilies in it! My favorite.

This was in a sketchy alley behind a school. Police just fock up everything.

For John's niece. 

Streets signs of happiness.

Ok, so John somehow got me to board the barf plane again. Probably because the first flight was so dang easy. I admit, I was a little excited. I was also drugged this time. It was a little bumpier, so I wasn't thrilled most of the time, but there were still good views. At one point the pilot obviously did a crazy turn to avoid flying through a big cloud. That's just weird! Also, the hour long trip ended up only being about 35 minutes, so my suffering was minimal.

Welcome to San Ignacio!! 

Cattle at the airport. 

We were picked up by a wonderful guide, who not only took us grocery shopping for some cocktail supplies, but also introduced us to the best BBQ in San Ignacio (if not Belize), Rodriguez! Seriously, side of the road grilling at it's finest.All hail Rodriguez!

 Our new home, the Gaia Riverlodge, was an hour drive from town on an unpaved, full of pot-holes road. We loved the adventure. But luckily we didn't travel in the rainy season, because I see why everyone is warned about that road. And what you get when you arrive is well worth all the bumps.

What was best about this lodge was that it was right above an amazing waterfall. We spent a lot of relaxation time just enjoying the view. But on Day 1, we went swimming! That's right, waterfall swimming!! I was super excited. It was quite chilly but after the hike down 300 stairs, also refreshing. We also took a little hike down the river. Can't get much better than that.