Matthew's web log

We used L''s Lonely Planet to find a place to eat for our Christmas dinner, Elvi's kitchen.  Last night's recommendation was good and so was tonight's.  I ordered fried chicken and our waitress, Anna, told us it took about twenty minutes.  No problem, I replied, since we have nothing planned later and I like leisurely dinners.  After more than 20 minutes, the team is blaming me for the delay in our food.  They even jokingly tell Anna this who confirms it.  Some time later a different person comes by and L' tells him to tell me that it's my fault -which he does.

We finally get our dinners and Anna apologizes and again says it's my fault.  Dinner is good fried chicken and plenty of it.  We order the amaretto cheese cake for dessert which is the highlight of the meal.  After dessert, the waitress asks if we ant anything else and L' orders hot tea.  It takes a little while and again the team and Anna blame me.  After the tea, we get the check along with a comment card.  Since we've been rotating who pays for dinner, it's L''s turn.

While they check her card, I fill out the comment card and have a little fun and revenge on our waitress.  I check all the "excellent" boxes since it was a good meal, but when I get to the comment section,  I write in "Great dinner, but it's not my fault.  Merry Christmas".  Anna returns with L''s card which she places in front of me (I'm on the end).  She sees the comment card, reads it, and laughs.  I said it may be my fault, but watch this…and I pass the bill to L'.  We all get another laugh.  As we head out, we get a picture of me with Anna and she also takes our first group photo.  As we wave goodbye the waitress says to another employee that I'm the funny one, which is one of my favorite compliments to receive.  We then walk back to the hotel and have a beer to end the night.

 The locals are very friendly and chatty.  When working on our plans today, we stopped at a tour organizer and were talking about our options for today and tomorrow (Christmas Day).  They ask us what were doing for Christmas and we tell them that we're Jewish.  They're interested in this and we wonder later if this is the first time they've knowingly talked with Jews.  One of them has seen the movie "Borat" and recalled one of the antisemitic satire scenes of the moive.  She asks us how come so many people hate Jews. We look at each other and say "Do you have all day to go over it?"  The conversation is interesting and L' explains about the impact of the Church, deicide, and Pope John Paul II attempting to fix that mess.   The locals made another comment that they would never want to visit the U.S.  Watching CNN, she sees terrorism, serial killers, and mall shootings ("If I go to the mall- if we had a mall- I don't want to get shot").  We comment later how the U.S. used to be a beacon to the world and now people don't want to even visit.  What a shame.  Travel is enlightening and humbling to others' views. 

Today is our first full day in Ambergris Caye.  We awoke to be ready for breakfast at 7:30 because we wanted to book the glass bottom boat and snorkel tour for 9am.  The front desk said the glass bottom boat was full and when we tried calling it, one number was disconnected and the other just went to voicemail.  I wanted the glass bottom boat because I'm not a snorkeler, but wanted to see things and go for a swim.  I'm not into snorkeling because I don't do well with the snorkel in my mouth and can't see without my glasses assuming the mask even fits.   Giving up on the glass bottom boat, we booked snorkeling for 2pm, had breakfast, inquired about tomorrow's plans and options (since it is Christmas), and got some groceries.  I was a bit stressed this morning when it was looking like we might have 2 days with nothing to do, but was much calmer now that plans were forming.

After lunch at the hotel, we changed into bathing suits, lotionized for the strong tropical sun, and grabbed our stuff for the snorkel trip.  We get to the meeting point for the boat, and of course they have no mask to fit over my glasses (at least they had fins for my small feet).  While waiting for the snorkel boat, I chatted with the snorkel saleswoman.  I asked about our trip- how long we'd be on the water, how far out we go, and what we would see.  Always the comedian, I asked her if we could use Lonnie to chum up the water for the sharks.  She said "Of course, yeah of course you can do that".  Wow, we did pick the right tour operator!  Lonnie seemed a little concerned, however.

We headed out to Hol Chan shortly after 2pm.  It's a fifteen minute boat ride and when we arrive there, there are already sharks swimming thanks to all the boats tossing bread and food into the water.  The water is a beautiful turquoise blue, probably in the upper 70s and about 4 feet deep.  The guide will lead a group further out, but I opt to stay near the boat where I can walk around and at least see things in focus.  A bunch of other people do the same thing.  For 10 minutes, there's nothing to see, but then a nurse shark buzzes by and I'm glad I made the trip.  There was another one a bit later along with some coral.  The water was a bit cold so I headed back to the boat about 30 feet away to warm up.  About 10 minutes later my travel team returned to also warm up.  

The boat's next stop was Shark Ray Alley.  It is so named because fishermen used to gut their fish here so sharks and rays congregate there.  This is still true today as we were about to witness.  One of our guides was holding a ray that  swam by the boat.  There were plenty of fish around also.  I didn't bother going in the water and only a few folks did- and not for very long.  We then took the boat back to shore and made the short walk to the hotel for a hot shower.  

After all the advance planning and tricky logistics we arrived on time in Ambergris Caye (pronounced "key"), Belize.  The complicated airport transport to SFO (which will save us considerable time coming back by leaving a car near the airport) went without a hitch.  Although the new cabbie forgot to turn on the meter, we got to the airport with plenty of time for our flight a little after midnight.  Check in at the airport was a bit slow on TACA, but we had our seats in business class (more like a cross country biz. class than transcontinental, but nice in any case).  

The day was three flights that were successively shorter and on smaller planes.  I've now been to another country solely for its airport after connecting in El Salvador (which my friends assured me was long since past its Civil War).  After connecting to Belize City, we took the small prop (~20 seater) to the Caye.

The hotel is right next to the airport so we walked over to check in.  With only one room ready, we dropped off our bags and browsed the town.  A little while later we checked in to the hotel and had lunch there.  I looked forward to my Coca-Cola in a glass bottle only to find that it didn't taste like the coke I'm used to.  I'll have to try one more to be sure that this first one wasn't just a dud.

Finishing lunch, we browsed around the island trying to stay awake. By around 3pm, I returned to the room, showered to get the sand off and took a nap until about 5.  We then departed for dinner and were able to get good food and, more importantly, sample the local Belikin beer.  Belikin is mild with no after taste.  And I needed a couple to cool the mouth from the good, yet spicy, jerk chicken.

Doing a quick internet check to find out about snorkel options, we then just wandered a bit.  L' had her third good idea today- buying water at the local store (2 gallons for US$3 instead of US$1 for a 16oz bottle at the hotel).  This followed her other good ideas of walking out of the way of oncoming traffic and avoiding walking in the sand before returning to the room.  

Finally ready to crash for the night, I swatted a mosquito that just had dinner, leaving a nice bloody mark on the wall.  We later noticed other splattered bugs around the room.  Welcome to the tropics.  Tomorrow the real adventures begin.   

(Posted from Belize) 

Limited internet time, but a quick update.  We arrived safely and on time in Ambergris Caye, Belize.  Spent the day orienting around town and plotting out our upcoming adventures.  More info as the adventure continues.