We were originally planning to go to Fiji for our honeymoon. Back before Andrew and I started dating he wrote me a letter that said, "...let me take you away to Fiji..." and from then on we just assumed we would go there. Turns out that Fiji was having political problems, so we set out to find a place that was similar. After meeting with Jayne, the AAA agent, we found a great package to Belize. Mayan ruins, hiking, snorkeling, it just sounded like the perfect combination of everything, and that's how we ended up in Belize!!

Friday April 27, 2001

We left Orlando International at 9:15am and landed in Belize City at 1:32pm. A taxi van was there to pick us up and take us on a tour of the city. After the tour we were dropped off at our first hotel, The Great House.

Saturday April 28, 2001

Woke up early and had our free "American Breakfast" that came with our room. Eggs, potatoes and toast! The van came to pick us up, same driver as the day before. There were others on this tour. No sooner did we get outside the Belize City limits, the van broke down. Andrew and the other guys in the group had to push the van to the side of the road. The driver got out and began to beat on the engine with a stick! (Later we found out that the van had just run out of gas!) We waited on the side of the road for an hour for another van to come pick us up. While waiting the driver described our location as "the last speed bump out of Belize City" and since we were bored we took a picture of the funny boob-like speed bump sign! Our first stop was the Mayan Site of Lamanai. We had to take a boat through winding rivers to get to the site. Along the way we saw some familiar Florida faces, baby crocodiles! When we got off the boat we were taken to a picnic area and treated to a traditional Belize lunch of stewed chicken, beans & rice and Fanta orange soda. While eating we got to see wild howler monkeys in the trees surrounding the area! The hike through the rainforest to get to the ruins was wonderful, besides the monkeys we saw wild tucans, parrots and iguanas!

Sunday April 29, 2001

On this day we were to leave The Great House and move on to our next hotel, San Ignacio Resort Hotel. Of course we did not realize that this meant we had to take all of our luggage around with us in the van as we went on the day's tours! For this tour there were five other people in our group, two of which had gone on the Lamani trip with us. The first stop was at Sisters Falls for lunch. Yes, another traditional Belize lunch of chicken and beans & rice however we were give a big glass of watermelon juice instead of soda! After lunch we went to the Belize Zoo. Here we saw the nation animal of Belize, the Taper. Not just ANY taper, but THE taper, April who is the "Official Taper"! We didn't take too many pictures of the zoo since everybody knows what a zoo looks like! From the zoo we drove to San Ignacio to visit the Mayan Site of Xunantunich (Shoe-nan-tune-itch). To get there we had to cross the river on a hand-crank ferry! Xunantunich is home to the highest ruin called El Castillo. This is where the "Mayan royalty" use to live. We got to climb to the very top and boy was it steep! Andrew managed to get it on video and not kill himself, whereas I was busy holding on to the rocks for dear life! The view was great and the border of Belize and Guatemalla could be seen. Our last stop was the hotel. It was wonderful, had a tv and phone, a remote controlled air conditioner, porch with rocking chairs and a pool! (We didn't realize how much we take all of this for granted until later on in the trip!!!)

Monday April 30, 2001

On this day we got to sleep in and our tour did not leave until 3:00pm. There were no others on this tour, just us and the tour guide to go canoing on Barton Creek through caves. Surrounding Barton Creek is an Amish community and we saw horse and buggies! The caves were dark and the only light we had were the huge flash lights hooked to car batteries that were in the canoe. Most of our pictures were too dark to scan in, but luckily these few turned out great! It was SO fun, the cave was filled with bats and you could hear them flying around and squeeking. Andrew got an excellent picture of a family of bats hanging down from a hole in the lowest part of the cave ceiling! The one thing that I was not fond of was the huge spiders. There was also a Mayan burial ground and we saw bones and pottery stuck in the cave walls. The canoe ride lasted for two hours and then it was back to the hotel for a swim and a nice steak dinner.

Tuesday May 1, 2001

The day's adventures began at 8:30am. Once again, there were no others on the tour with us! After a very bumpy 2 hour drive we reached the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. Here we got out of the van for a 3 hour hike through the forest to get to the Rio Frio Caves. In one of the caves we saw a Blue Crowned MotMot, Andrew is so proud of this picture! The caves were awesome! The river running through them created a rippled shelf which, along with other huge slippery rocks, we climbed on to get through to the other side. Brenda ACTUALLY made it without hurting herself! Granted she did slip and fall in the water once but was able to laugh it off. From Rio Frio Caves we went to Rio Hon Rapids for lunch. Luckily this wasn't a traditional Belize lunch, we were given chicken sandwiches, oranges, cookies and good old Coke! After lunch it started to rain so we did not choose to hike down the mountain to go swimming in the rapids for fear that one of us (need we mention names again!) might slip and roll down! The drive to 1,000 Foot Falls was scary. None of the roads in the reserve are paved and with the rain everything was mud. We didn't stay long at the falls, just enough to get pictures! Next it was off to the "airport" to board an "airplane" for a hop, skip and a jump over to the island of Ambergris Caye, and our next hotel, Coconuts Carribean Hotel. This hotel was special. No tv. No phone. Double beds. It DID have air conditioning, thank goodness. (Damn spoiled Americans!!)

Wednesday May 2, 2001

Remember how special we said Coconuts was? It gets better. Upon check-in we were told that they serve a free continental breakfast each morning, so when we woke up we went straight to eat. Refried beans and tortillas? Not the breakfast I had in mind, but free is always good!! The water at Ambergris Caye was perfect. Warm, blue and you could see straight to the bottom! Our snorkeling excursion began at 9:00am when we boarded a tiny boat, with another honeymooning couple, and went half a mile offshore to Ho Chan Marine Reserve. Our tour guide started off by telling us a little about the coral reefs and sea life that we would encounter while in the water. After his talk he began to throw chum into the water and in no time the boat was surrounded by nurse sharks and rays! The guide then instructed us that it was time to get in the water. Brenda was afraid but, after much reassurance, was able to jump in the water and soon was petting sharks and rays with no problem! The snorkeling lasted for 3 hours and then we returned to the hotel where the rest of the day was free. We rented bikes and pedaled around the island to do some shopping. We also went swimming and walked along the beach. The day was perfect!

Thursday May 3, 2001

Upon getting out of bed on this morning we realized the cons of snorkeling for 3 hours. Our backs were so burnt that it hurt to move, yet our fronts were still white! This is where we must thank Jenny for the Aloe lotion that she gave Brenda at the bridal shower! We got up just before sunrise so we could take the first picture you see here, and then went back to sleep! The second time we woke up we decided to skip the refried beans and pedaled around on our bikes instead! We found a nice spot of beach where there were no other people and spent the day in the water there. Another perfect relaxing tropical day! At night we hung out at the Cocunuts Bar and drank Pina Coladas.

Friday May 4, 2001

The morning was free and we spent it roaming around the island and laying on our backs in the sun! At 1:30pm we took a flight from the municipal airport of Ambergris Caye to the Belize International Airport in Belize City. We hung out at the airport until our 3:45pm flight back to the States. Our lay-over in Atlanta was horrible because there was a group of high school band kids there that were extremely noisy. Wouldn't you know it, the band kids were going to Disney World to march in the parade and were on our flight. They were yelling and throwing things, ringing the flight attendant buzzer for no reason, and kicking the back of our seats. What a great welcome home!