Travel Log: Belize, Ambergris Caye Belize (May 2009)

There are a lot of things I want to do and places to visit. I must admit, Belize was not on the first page. I didn't know a lot about Belize and traveling to areas that are more or less third world never captured my imagination. But here I am - sitting on the eastern edge of Central America, on a quiet romantic coastal town under picture perfect palm trees drinking Belikin beer with Tee ... and her whole family. Her parents are scuba junkies and Belize has the 2nd largest coral reef system within eyesight of the shoreline (2nd only to The Great Barrier Reef). Who knew?

We've been staying at the Xanadu Resort in Ambergris Caye. Over the past 4 days we've explored San Pedro (the only town on the caye) via foot, bike and boat; devoured a lot of seafood (snapper seems to be the local fav); found the locals to be very friendly and helpful (even the ones that aren't trying to sell us a tour); and jumped into snorkeling.
I've never snorkeled before, but was interested in trying it. After taking in more than my fair share of the sea, I got the hang of it and loved it. We 1st went out to Hol Chan Marine Reserve. The coral was neat, but the fish stole the show. The diversity was amazing. From what I can remember we saw angelfish, a couple types of grouper, snapper, several types of parrotfish (really neat), tarpin (~4 ft), southern rays, barracuda (those catch your attention!), a green turtle (very cool!) and dozens of friendly horse-eyed jack swam around us (1-2 ft). It was a blas.

To top that, the whole clan took a day trip on Tuesday in a small boat further south for more adventure. Our fist stop consisted of visit with manatees amongst the mangroves. Then we skirted southeast to Goff's Caye, a 1 acre island we had all to ourselves.This was amazing.

While one guide took us snorkeling around the island, another prepared lunch on the fire pit (fish stew, coconut rice, potatoes, homemade tortillas and brownies). Words don't do it justice. On the way back we stopped at another snorkeling hot spot and jumped in with a dozen friendly southern rays - one goosed Tee pretty good!


We loved the snorkeling so much (and we can't do this back in Raleigh, NC), so we ventured out again one more morning. This time highlights included a moray eel and nurse sharks.

To top off the evening and stay in Ambergris, we enjoyed a sunset catamaran sail this evening.

We'll be up early Thursday to switch gears - time to head into the jungle!

Krispy Kreme Challenge... Mmm doughnuts

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. The blog is not dead, it has just been hibernating!
Spring seems to have sprung in Raleigh as fast as the stock market tanked last Oct. Two weeks ago there was snow on the ground, children sledding, cars sliding and offices/classes canceled due to some wonderful flakes. Early Spring weather, or at least of preview of what will come in 6 weeks, is a benefit of the Raleigh area (the New Englander in me does love winter weather - in Dec & Jan). It was time to take advantage of this 70° weather; what could be better than a morning jog downtown? How about 2 miles, some doughnuts and 2 more miles. Yeah!

Five years ago some NCSU students dreamed up the "Krispy Kreme Challenge". Game for trying almost anything once, I joined this 2 mile run, dozen doughnut devouring & 2 mile run back, with 5,500 of my closest friends (including T! - her 1st offical/organized race! u go girl!). A quick disclaimer - being of somewhat reasonable sound mind & body, I ran as a "casual" runner (e.g. I only ate 4 doughnuts) ... next year I might do the dozen! We had a blast. Lots of creative running outfits (including suits - 3 piece, as well as gorrilla). My favorite sight: 2 guys pushing their buddy with a broken leg - in a shopping cart! Ahhh college memories.
Proceeds ($35k) all went to the NC Children's Hospital.
Want more? Read one of several N&O articles.
Want to join next year? Register early!

Give me one good reason to vote for McCain/Palin. Someone. Anyone. Just one.

One week til the election. Let's talk politics. An acquaintance recently asked (in cyberspace - does anyone still call it cyberspace??) "why do so many smart people support Obama?" - Ummm... I think that question answers itself.

I want to know why people (smart or not) support McCain/Palin. If you are hell-bent on the abortion view and can't see past that one issue, okay, you get to vote along that line. If you are pulling in over $250k and don't want your taxes raised, okay, you've got a better reason to vote republican this year.

So aside from that, why do you support Palin/McCain? I'm curious. Please comment on this post. I want to hear other perspectives. Share.

The Obama/Biden ticket seems obvious to me. Obama's campaign stresses reasons they should get your vote. McCain's message weighs heavy on why you should not vote for Obama. Obama's 1st presidential decision was his running mate - he selected Biden to compliment his skills and experience which can be leveraged running our nation. McCain (after loading up his campaign leadership w/ former lobbyist) selected someone with charisma and a pretty face. Sure, Palin shook up the race, but was a short term pawn to help win the election, not run the USA. She has no useful experience to bring to the white house, she can't even get her hometown newspaper's endorsement for that reason.

"The election, after all is said and done, is not about Sarah Palin, and our sober view is that her running mate, Sen. John McCain, is the wrong choice for president at this critical time for our nation." [Anchorage Daily News, 10/25/2008]

Just look at Obama's endorsements compared to McCain's endorsements, the shear volume is astounding. I'm astounded that this race is even close. After 8 years of Bush-blunders, Colin Powell and I are ready for a change, a positive change, an intelligent change.

Rock on.