Re-living Belize

The summer before I turned 18 my Dad took me & my brother to Belize. 

I know there's an entire album on Facebook from a few years back, but I really wanted to write {for you and me} about the time we spent there & all of the absolutely amazing things we got to do.

We flew into Belize and took a puddle jumper 

a.k.a a really tiny, scary, shakey, small airplane to the island we were staying on.

That's defintely fear in my eyes.

We then took a boat to our hotel…

Where we got welcome drinks! {which I felt super cool about}

The view from our hotel balcony >>>>

The plan was to spend the first half of the trip relaxing on the beach & scuba diving, but due to a tropical depression we only to got to go out in the water for about 20 minutes.
This photo was taken while we were waiting to get on a boat that would take us out to the dive location.

{Although is doesn't look like it} I seriously had one of the best times of my life scuba diving. When you're down there you are in a completely different world! It's incredible. I can't wait to go again. I'm thinking Ben & I need a real honeymoon!

 While at the beach, we visited some of the local surroundings. A few of these pictures kind of make me laugh, but they also make me really thankful for what I have here in America. 

We visited this neat little place out on a very untrustworthy pier. When the wind blew hard enough {which was quite often} you should feel it sway! I defintely thought we were gonna end up in the ocean!

The beach was amazing & even though we didn't get to go scuba diving as much as we wanted, it was still a phenomenal part of the trip!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Welcome to the Jungle {yes that's a Guns N' Roses reference}

All I can say about this half of the trip.. SO MUCH FUN.

We stayed at the Jungle Dome in Cayo, Belize. We were the only family staying there for a while. Every morning we woke up to breakfast.. which was so nice but I just love American food…

{I know I sound like a brat but trust me, if you've ever eaten in a third world country you would agree}

This was the view from the room that Max & I stayed in. See that giant tree? Let me put it in perspective for you.

HUGE

The Jungle Dome family dog & I became buds (:

My absolute favorite memory from the Jungle Dome was riding these retired race horses.

We saw wild monkeys, and crocodiles, & bugs {oh my!}

Max & I liked riding so much that we went out again the next day. When we got to an open space we decide to race. {Bad idea} Something happens when you get a retired race horse in their groove & they just don't want to stop. So when we left the open trail and headed back into the jungle I was almost certain I was going to die. I had to duck, bend, & swerve to make sure I wasn't getting hit by trees and branches and scary jungle creatures. It was the best time ever though, & a memory I will never forget! 

The picture above was taken on our walk to get to the spot pictured below.

Here, we entered this river and tubed through a cave that had waterfalls inside. None of those pictures turned out very well so I don't have them to share with all of you.

But sometimes it's nice to have memories that are all your own (:

Then there was zip lining in the jungle! The hot, sticky, sweaty jungle (:

In my defense some of that is bug spray!

I know you're just dying to find out where you can get a helmet as fashionable as this one!

Wait, no. This helmet is way better. It has a head lamp!

These two pictures were taken before we did the most awesome thing ever. 

There was a cave that you had to swim to get into.. you know, like in the movies? And it was REALLY open in some spots but most of it was teeny tiny and cramped and claustrophobic. In certain areas you were in water up to your neck {or over your head!} while squeezing through a tiny little passage! It's just about the coolest thing I've ever done. Unfortunately, the other family that was with us never ended up emailing us the pictures {our camera was sealed up in a water tight bag} so the only one I have of the entire time is this one:

Although I did get these pictures once we climbed high enough away from the water.

This wasn't like visiting artifacts in America where everything is taped off and placed in a glass case. These pieces of history were still in tact many, many years after they had been left.

It was so neat to be able to see a part of history in such a unique way! 

On our way back to the Jungle Dome, our drive stopped to pick up this little baby bird for his Mom at some random house, hahaha. I had a good time playing with it!

Max on the other hand, not so much!

We also saw a bit of Mayan history visiting the ruins that lie on the border of Belize and Guatemala. 

From the top!... after many, many stairs.

On one of our last nights in Belize our "tour guide" and friend David took us on a night walk {with his machete} to see all of the bugs creatures that aren't out much in the daylight.

tree frogggggg!!!

I can't remember if we are posing in front of a tree or a giant termite nest in this picture……

As you can see, I was a big fan of the "thumbs up". 

We saw a lot of really cool things on that walk and it was a fun way to end the trip.

Oh, & there's this..

How to Eat Termites {high in protein, yum!}:

1. Let them crawl on your finger

2. Taste, they're minty!

3. Gross yourself out about the fact that you just ate bugs.

Ew right? I know. Why are you even friends with me?

Who knows.

I just want to say THANK YOU to my Dad for making in this such an unforgettable experience for both me & my brother. I am so lucky to have you & to get to do such awesome things because of you!

I love you Dad.

Thanks for the memories.

xo,

Noodle