LET'S TALK BELIZE!! If you're looking for a place to sit by the water in the sun and drink cold fruity drinks then Belize is the place to do it. If you want to drink Diet Coke though, it's not the place to do it because it is nowhere to be found over there.And I tried, I tried hard. We flew into Belize City and took a taxi to the dock for the Belize Water Taxi. It was about an hour and a half boat ride to San Pedro island where we stayed. And this was our view when the boat docked!!
Our resort sent someone to pick us up and bring us back to check in. We stayed at Belizean Shores Resort and it worked perfectly for us. The staff was so nice, they had a great pool, made excellent virgin pina coladas and helped us set up some excursions. Since Belize is bordered by reefs they don't have your typical beaches. But most of the resorts (like ours) have their own little man made beaches so you can still have somewhere to lay out and watch the ocean.
Our first excursion was snorkeling at Shark Ray Alley. I've snorkeled in a few different countries and nothing has even compared to Belize snorkeling! The guides were incredible. We saw starfish, eels, stingrays, sharks and of course plenty of fish. The sharks were nurse sharks which apparently are nice. They told us the stingrays wouldn't bother us either but Steve Irwin probably would've told us differently. We risked it anyways.
Kortni Jeane has the BEST swimsuits! So cute and comfy.
One of our favorite places was this cute little food truck spot we found out by our resort. The first time we went we walked thinking it was "so close". It wasn't. So the next time we went in a golf cart. Everyone on the island gets around on golf carts! So we got to learn how to drive golf carts and I only almost killed one person. Anyways, we found the best tacos! And they even had TOSTONES. My very favorite Nicaraguan treat. There were a bunch of food trucks and picnic tables and then around the back they had swings, places to eat on the water, corn hole, giant Jenga and other games. One night they had live music and a corn hole tournament.
After the tubing and zip lining we took a terrifying drive to the Xunantunich ruins with our trusty diver and tour guide, Carlos. I sat between the two front seats half on a cooler and half on Kelsie. Carlos assured me though that he always drives like his daughter is in the front seat. But we made it alive and the ruins were AMAZING. I wanted to stay and wander around all day.
We spent a day on Caye Caulker, an island just south of San Pedro where we were staying. There's not much to do there except for drink at a bar called The Split. We drank our millionth virgin Pina Colada and then there wasn't much else to do. We rented bikes thinking we'd go out and see more of the island and then it took about ten minutes to see the rest of it and the rest of it wasn't much. We were originally going to stay there the whole time but decided not to after a very wise friend told us there wasn't much to do there. Thank goodness.
One of our favorite places was this cute little food truck spot we found out by our resort. The first time we went we walked thinking it was "so close". It wasn't. So the next time we went in a golf cart. Everyone on the island gets around on golf carts! So we got to learn how to drive golf carts and I only almost killed one person. Anyways, we found the best tacos! And they even had TOSTONES. My very favorite Nicaraguan treat. There were a bunch of food trucks and picnic tables and then around the back they had swings, places to eat on the water, corn hole, giant Jenga and other games. One night they had live music and a corn hole tournament.
I might never be satisfied with another taco after this place.
They say there are crocodiles in this water...
We wanted to go to Tikal while we were there but everyone told us it was better to do it in a couple of days. If I were to do it again I would stay in the mainland for a day or two, maybe in San Ignacio. So we found a tour group called Mundo Maya and did a day trip. We went to some Mayan ruins called Xunantunich and went cave tubing and zip lining.
Cave tubing was incredible! They tied all the tubes together and a little Belizean guy dragged us along, paddling with his shoes in his hands. There were all kinds of waterfalls and cool formations.
So funny story, I lost my hair tie every day. Which explains the hair you see above.
I have a thing for green.
There he is...Carlos, our fearless tour guide and driver.
We spent a day on Caye Caulker, an island just south of San Pedro where we were staying. There's not much to do there except for drink at a bar called The Split. We drank our millionth virgin Pina Colada and then there wasn't much else to do. We rented bikes thinking we'd go out and see more of the island and then it took about ten minutes to see the rest of it and the rest of it wasn't much. We were originally going to stay there the whole time but decided not to after a very wise friend told us there wasn't much to do there. Thank goodness.
The Split
The Split's Pina Colada. I've never gotten so many confused looks for ordering virgin drinks.
Oh so one day we went and got massages on the reef. Our view was incredible. But unfortunately for the rest of San Pedro they just get to see a lot of American tourist's bare butts all the time. But check out this VIEW.
So those are the highlights of the trip....but the best way to sum up any good trip are the quality selfies....
Our first morning in Belize...we sat on these chairs on the beach until some guy rode by on a bike selling burritos. We ate said burritos in the sun, watching the ocean, and realized we could stay there for the rest of our lives.
Right after our first snorkeling and on our way to shark ray alley.
The cooler front seat situation. My butt was numb for hours.
If only this picture could capture the WIND on our boat ride back to San Pedro.
At this moment we had just listened to some girls talk about how hard modeling is. But we clearly wouldn't know.
This hammock goes out over the water where there crocodiles apparently are. It's also where the models pose when they talk about how hard modeling is and how much they like salad. We ate our tacos in front of them. Poor salad eating girls.
Here we are on our way to church in San Pedro. We tried so hard to look nice...ish. The branch in San Pedro was great.
On our last day we got up early to take our golf cart into town to catch the early boat into the main land where we took a taxi to the airport. In the airport we spent the last of our Belizean currency on all the snacks we could find. Three long flights later on very sunburned butts we were home. Coming back to real life is painful. So is not seeing the beach every day. And so are sunburns. But Belize was worth it.
