9-11-08 (from hand-written journal)

9-12-08
1:11am
Today (well, Thursday) was awesome in ways I could have never imagined/anticipated. We left the Trek Stop at 7am, and hired William to shuttle us back to Belize City. Just like when arriving last Sunday, William was a trip, and very entertaining.

William being entertaining:


William being helpful:



(The following portion is being written from memory on 9-20-08)

When we had arrived in Belize on 9-07, William had recommended that on our way back to Belize City before we head to San Pedro, that we might want to check out the Belize Zoo. I thought it was kind of odd to come all this way and spend time at a zoo, but it was only $8 to get in, so I agreed to it. The zoo ended up being pretty cool. There were some pretty exotic animals there, and I took some of my favorite pictures here at the zoo as well. I'm still amazed at the vibrant color and detail my camera captures.





The jaguar above has been raised since birth in the zoo. In the video below, a zoo employee next to the cage can be heard trying to convince us to pay $100 BZ to get into the cage with the jaguar (we declined said offer):










These little guys are leafcutter ants. We saw numerous colonies of them in the jungle, chopping leaves off plants and carrying them off to other locations. I saw a colony of them on a gravel path at the zoo, which was the first time I had my good camera with me when seeing them, so I snapped some shots and video of them:


(9-20-08 portion ends here)

After spending a little more than an hour at the zoo, we got back on the road, arrived in Belize City at about 11am, and took the noon water taxi to San Pedro.

Me, William and Adam at the water taxi station in Belize City:


On the water taxi:


Insane water taxi employees sitting and laying on the front of the boat as it zips across the ocean:


Upon arrival at about 1:15pm, Adam called Belizian Shores, and they sent a water taxi to bring us to the resort. Our room here is a palace compared to Trek Stop. It's pretty much a fully stocked 1-bedroom condo. Since Adam won the coin toss at the Trek Stop and got the good bed there, he offered me the bedroom, which is where I write this entry from. There is a pull-out couch in the living room, which he is sleeping on.

Some time around 2:45-3pmish, we head out to the pool with walk-up bar(fully equiped with bar stools in the water) to cool off, get some lunch, and have some beers. This is where we met Traci, who has been here by herself since last Sunday. Though here by herself, Traci has met the 20 or so other guests at the resort. She tells us a group are going into the city for dinner and karaoke, and invites us to joing them, which we do. We meet out on the dock, and are introduced to Amy and Adam. Though going to town for different reasons, we also meet MacCleod and Laura as well, who end up joining us for drinks later. When the taxi got to town, they went off to do their Christmas shopping, and we headed to a restaurant called El Patio. It was about 6:30pm, and Adam and I had only eaten a few hours ago, so we didn't order dinner. Instead, we both ordered some fresh fruit to snack on. I got a side order, which was very small. Luckily, Adam ordered the plate, which ended up being more than enough for all five of us at the table. The other Adam, Amy and Traci all ordered various seafood dishes, which all looked excellent. I'd like to go back there and actually eat dinner tomorrow (Saturday). After dinner, we headed over to Club Jaguar for the karaoke. It was about 8:40pm, and the back room they were doing the karaoke at didn't open until 10pm. So, we took some seats on the patio and enjoyed some drinks out there. MacCleod and Laura joined us here for a couple of rounds, but had two small children back at the resort (being watched by the kids grandparents, who were also there on the vacation), so did not stay for karaoke.

Outside of Club Jaguar, waiting for karaoke night to start:


At 10pm, we head over to the other room, pay our $10 BZ cover charge to get in, and go inside. As it turns out, it wasn't open karaoke, but the Belizian equivelent of American Idol, full out with three judges and all. To make it even better, the entire thing was being broadcast on both TV and radio. To bump it up yet another notch, about halfway through the night, during one of the performers, the emcee came over to us and asked where we were all from. When the performer was done, the emcee made a point to introduce our table as very special guests from America, and the camera man zoomed in on us for about 20 seconds.

Inside Club Jaguar:




Videos I found on youtube from the tv broadcast:




The next morning, Laura told me she saw the contest being broadcast on tv (but did not see the part with us). In conclusion, we arrived at Belizian Shores with no plans at all, and ended up on local access television by the end of the night, having some of the most fun of the entire trip.

Funny side story: Shortly after meeting Traci, she asked me "Your name is Gary, right???" I told her that wasn't even close, and reminded her my name was Ryan. Without hesitation, she came back with one of the most brilliant responses I've ever heard, arguing that Gary shares 3 out of the 4 same letters as Ryan, so technically she was close. I was floored at how quick she came up with such a witty response on the spot, and just cracked up.

Side story complete, and it's time to wrap this one up.

Until next time,

Ryan