Belize

Yay, we’re finally moving to another country translation, more stamps in my passport, because come on that‘s all this trip is actually about anyway, right? :) We accidentally (on purpose) spent too long in Mexico, which was amazing but now means that we have to cut a few days out somewhere else. It’s crazy, 4 months seems like so long, but there is just so much to see and do and I feel like we could spend a couple months in each country and still not see everything! In Belize the official language is English, but lots of people speak Spanish and Creole or a mix of all three. You thought regular English Creole was hard to understand, trying throwing a few Spanish words in the mix like taco or burrito and see how much you understand then…. It was really funny walking up to people because half the time you’d ask something in English and they would give you a blank look or reply in Spanish and the other half you’d ask in Spanish and they would reply in English.

Sunday Feb 10

Corozal

We weren’t quite sure what to expect crossing the border, but it ended up being easy peasy and we took a bus from Chetumal to a little town called Corozal. We got there on a Sunday afternoon and it was completely dead and so hot! After getting checked in to our hotel (hotel is a very generous word) we walked around and decided to try and find a church, the first people we came across were working on some stage thing and we asked them if there was a Mormon church in town, the lady got a big smile on her face and said, “I am one of your sisters!” It was really cute and totally random.

Coke break! Please notice the Chinese writing on the wall, there were Chinese people here all over the place and I swear they own every single restaurant and store in this town, Chinese mafia maybe? They even had a man driving all over town with a massive Chinese flag flying in the bed of his truck. I kept getting confused at which border we had actually crossed.

Yep, this is a mother breast feeding her child….. In the shape of a statue… Proudly displayed in the middle of town.... I mean, I’ve definitely noticed a different culture around here and I swear they aren’t afraid to whip it out at anytime, but really, they couldn't think of any other way to honor the mothers around here?

This is the local swimming hole, old and young alike were to be found braving the treacherous rocky shore out to the 3 foot deep bay!

Te'oing, it’s like Tebowing only a lot more lonely….

Burger and Fries, big plate of Lo Mein and two bottles of Coke including the tip $6.50, I could get used to this!

This was the Corozalians (as I'm sure they prefer to be called) version of the Carnaval parade... No that's not your imagination, they did in fact dance around simplistically swaying from side to side holding a ribbon for ten minutes.... And it only got worse from there! :)

Monday Feb 11

San Pedro

Got up and caught the 6:00 am (as in we got to watch the sunrise, which for me happens like… never) ferry over to one of the little islands off the eastern coast of Belize called San Pedro. It’s kind of long and skinny so from one side of the island to the other was only about 3 blocks wide. We weren’t sure what to expect and even though it was super touristy, it was so pretty and definitely had the laid back island vibe going on.

Here’s the proof, we were awake as the sun was coming up, notice the bags under my eyes....

We stayed at a hostel in San Pedro called Pedro’s Inn. Despite being down a super sketchy road where we were offered drugs twice, before 9:00 in the morning, it was awesome. This is the super fancy pool complete with slivery wooden chairs! Who's living the high life now?

Do you wish your church was in a renovated hotel on the beach overlooking the ocean? Cause I do!

As part of Carnaval, these people were dressed up and going around the street asking if they could dance in front of businesses and then proceeding to dance to this terrible self recorded music that sounded like a mix between Gangam Style and traditional Mexican fiesta music with bad karaoke. The girls were dressed up like boys and the boys were dressed up like girls. I didn’t really get the concept except that they seemed to be having a really good time and then asked for money afterwards. The best part was they did it for us and then seriously moved down the street 10 yards and did it again, I think we saw the performance 3 times and heard it at least 8! 

Lucky for us, we were at Pedro's Inn at the right night, there was a pizza place attached to the hostel and they had the Kansas vs Kansas State game on ESPN and the sweet sound of Karaoke in the background. I mean that's the kind of night that dreams are made of. And yes, the man singing in the background definitely sounded as bad as he looks.

Tuesday Feb 12

Caye Caulker

Took another boat to the next island down called Caye Caulker. It used to be a lot bigger, but a hurricane split the two islands apart maybe 20 years ago. I absolutely loved Caye Caulker, it was smaller and way less commercial, they still have dirt roads and it felt like more a place people actually live instead of a place where people only vacation. We had such an amazing day hanging out by the break. Where the island used to be connected there’s now about a 50 yard gap that makes an awesome swimming area! There’s also ton of kite surfing here and we had fun watching everyone, the good ones hitting the sweet air and the beginners face planting it… :)

Paradise Hotel! If you squint really hard you can almost make out our room clear at the back away from the water, internet, and air conditioning! Seriously though, we were at the same hotel but it felt like we were living with the help, probably because we insisted on the cheap room.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the look Mckay decides to rock once we get home, I think it really becomes him!

This is part of a restaurant right at the split!

Does this look amazing or what? They just have the lobsters and fish swimming around in these tubs and you choose the one you want and they cook right there on the grill. And it was amazingly cheap, for lobster, which means it was still out of our price range, I told McKay he had to get me out of there right away before I convinced him that I had to have this in my life!

This is where we ate instead... Pupusas! So delicious and only $1 each, we might have gone a little crazy and were both sick from eating so much, but the total for everything with a tip was less than $10. This lady was awesome and kept laughing every time we said, more please! :)

Up next Guatemala! :)

Playa week 3 and Chetumal

Playa Del Carmen Week 3

Feb 2-9

So on Thursday night of the second week at the Royal Haciendas, McKay said, “Why don’t we just try and stay here one more week?” I was like, “Hmm… Let me think about it- ok!” The Haciendas are set up with A and B unit’s the A side is the suite and has a master bedroom, kitchen, and living room and the B side is the lock off and set up more like a standard hotel room with two queen size beds and a small fridge and microwave. Lots of people come down and have the full Villa for only two people, so we thought, we just need to find the right person to rent out their lock off side to us. So, we started looking online and then started asking around the resort the next day. Luckily my Dad loves to chat it up with so many people and he got us in touch with a couple who knew a lady who had a friend (did you follow that?) who was willing to rent their lock off! We were seriously so stoked, not only because we were getting to stay another week, but because my parents and Stuart and Louise were leaving so much food for us, ya know we can't be here without all the essentials! :)

We were beyond pumped to be spending another week in paradise, the only drawback was that the couple we were renting the lock off from (Steve and Marty)  had someone staying with them for Saturday night only (the weeks run Saturday to Saturday). So basically once we had to check out of the room with my parents Saturday morning we wouldn’t have any place to go until Sunday. It wasn’t ideal, but we figured we could spend the day by the pool and then just get a hostel in town and come back the next morning. We went for a bike ride all over Playa looking for the best deal we could possibly find and by the time we got back, my dad had already spoken with another awesome couple who just had the Suite side but said we could sleep on their pull out Murphy beds in the living room for the night, no problem! So, Saturday came and it was really sad to say goodbye to everyone, but somehow we managed….  :)

Saturday night we stayed with Greg and Colleen from Chicago, they were beyond sweet and made us feel right at home! We had an awesome time chatting with them and later on in the week we let them borrow the bikes we had rented. Sunday morning we moved all our stuff up to Steve and Marty’s, they are seriously so great! I think at first they were a little bit unsure after agreeing to let us stay, but by the end of the week we were all sad to say goodbye to each other! They are from Indiana and have 3 weeks at the Royal Haciendas every year as well, so it will be so much fun to get together with them again next year! We had such a great week and spent our time by the pool, playing volleyball and going for bike rides in the afternoon! The weather this week was by far the best we’ve had, and we made sure to soak up as much of it as we possibly could, we got so much in fact that one day McKay burned his back so bad he was afraid of the sun and wouldn’t come out of the shade for the next 3 days! Poor guy!

This is Steve and Marty, they seriously spoiled us all week long! They had some extra food leftover that they were trying to get rid of and made us amazing dinners almost every night, and basically wouldn’t let us lift a finger. To reciprocate, we introduced them to Crema de Coco for homemade Pina Coladas and Herdez salsa! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone outside of my family get as excited about Herdez as Steve, he loved it so much and put it on anything and everything including but not limited to: Veggies, Mac N Cheese, Pork Chops, Spaghetti, Chicken Nuggets…. I think you get the idea! It was making us laugh, but I was also so happy to see someone else really appreciate that little can of salsa like it deserves! :)

McKay and Steve got in to a wicked Ping Pong match, Steve was a pitcher and played Pro for a couple years until he had shoulder surgery, so he was very competitive! Marty and I were cheering from the sidelines and the official water girls anytime the boys needed a little pick me up! We had eaten these awesome chicken nuggets for dinner this night, but I was so bummed cause we didn’t have any ketchup. We still had chicken nuggets left so I knew we would be eating them again soon. So, on our way down to watch the boys play Ping Pong Marty and I passed a room that had half eaten room service trays sitting outside their door with unopened Heinz 57 ketchup packets sitting there ripe for the taking (you just can’t understand how hard it is to get legit ketchup down here) I only had to think about it for a second before I reached down and scooped up all the packets while sheepishly asking Marty, “Is it weird if I take these?” She got a big kick out of that and when we went down to meet the boys, McKay saw the ketchup packets in my hand and said to Steve, “See I told you she would take those.” Haha apparently my husband knows me to well! Everyone kept teasing me about it for the rest of the trip, they could laugh all they wanted but my chicken nuggets were much more satisfying the second time around! :)

Ahh, we love these guys! We had so much fun just chatting away with them every night, they were so sweet with each other and were so nice and wanted to hear all about us and our trip. They really did feel like family by the end and definitely remind me of what my grandparents were probably like 20 years ago!

Here we are cruising on our bikes into Playa, they’re finishing this awesome walkway that’s going to go all the way from the Royal Haciendas right in to the main walking street in town. It’s a great ride as long as you avoid all the presents the dogs have left on the path!

At this point you might be thinking, why are you two in the exact same clothes in every picture, were these all taken the same day or something? First off, I’d like to congratulate you on your keen eye! Second, I wish I could say that was the case, however, when you’re paying for laundry by the kilo, your definition of dirty slightly changes… Don’t worry I’m sure we only smelled marginally bad….

Here we are heading back out in to the sad poor (as in us) backpacker world void of pool volleyball, swim up bars, clean sheets, hot showers, and sports center (ok, I could care less about that part, but that was a big sacrifice for McKay)! Goodbye life of luxury, you will be desperately missed! :)

Chetumal 

Saturday Feb 9

We took off first thing Saturday morning to head down to the bus station. Steve and Marty were so cute and wanted to make sure they were around to see us off and see how we managed with just a couple backpacks. It was like Mom and Dad sending us off again! :) The part that killed us about getting to the bus station was in a taxi it cost 140 pesos for less than 10 minutes, then once we got to the bus station it was going to be 120 pesos to ride 6 hours down to the border. How does that make any logical sense at all? We debated on just walking the couple miles back out to the gate entrance and just catching a combi, but when we had tried to give Steve some money to tip the maid, he told us he had that taken care of and we should use the money to get a taxi instead! Haha, I think they were pretty surprised at the lengths we would go to, to save a few bucks! :)

We took a bus down to the border town of Chetumal. It is a cute little town and we were there on the night they were having their big Carnaval parade. It was such an awesome atmosphere and so much fun to experience! During the day we walked around this awesome walkway all along the beach, it wasn't sandy like in Playa, but the water was still beautiful! We also stumbled upon a group of boys battling each Step Up style, only the really amateur no actual dance skills style, seriously though this was not a joke to them and we couldn’t take our eyes away it was so bad in a completely endearing kind of way.

They don’t mess around in Mexico; this is a giant slide that goes straight in to 2 feet deep water with jagged rocks at the bottom. Fun and safe!

Every time we walk past one of the ladies on the street selling corn with mayo McKay threatens to buy it for me, today was the day that threat finally came alive. It actually was pretty good as long as you could choke down the raunchy cheese on top.

This is a hot dog wrapped in bacon covered with grilled onions! On the one hand it was amazing in theory on the other this was just one of the many food failures we had at Carnaval, we were 0 for 4 on our food choices!

I can’t believe this is the only picture we got of the parade, the rest are all videos, because I was seriously in shock and laughing at how many people were not only attending it and watching from the side but also how many people were actually in the parade. Seriously there were at least 45 different groups with boys and girls dressed in costumes and dancing. Every size (but really every size) every age, every dance style, and every revealing costume type you can think of. Some of them had big floats and some of them were just wearing big headdresses. You can definitely tell it is very important to everyone down here and really a part of their culture! Clearly McKay is as thrilled as ever to have his picture taken in this moment!

Up next Belize!

Playa Del Carmen Week 1

Jan 19-26

Saturday Jan 19

After a crazy unforgettable long 19 hour bus ride from San Cristobal, where we endured a screaming baby directly behind us, the driver taking liberties with his latin salsa music and blasting it as loud as he could to stay awake in the middle of the night, thousands of topes (speed bumps), and not nearly enough potty breaks we made it in to Playa at about 5:30 in the morning! It was still dark and the bus stopped at a station clear out in the boonies away from town (that’s the thing with these local buses they always have these super sketch bus stops to try and detract any wary tourists from taking them, we‘re just not smart enough to understand that part). So, instead of taking out chances with the taxi drivers, we just asked the bus driver if we could stay on the bus and drop us off on the side of the highway once we got to the resort. So a mile and a half walking later in the dark with our disgustingly heavy backpacks and looking like bums, we get to the Royal Haciendas. I’m sure we walked up and they all thought, this is way too nice of a place for someone who can’t even afford to take a taxi here to come stay. :) We got checked in, but since it was 6 in the morning our room wouldn’t be ready for another 6 hours. They held our bags and we hung around, alternating between sleeping like bums on the beach chairs to sleeping like bums in the hammocks. You know us, we’re as classy as it gets!

This is the view from our room! I love this place so much!

The rest of the crew finally arrived and we made our annual first and most important stop of the whole trip to… Sam’s Club! Seriously, it’s serious business ensuring the hunger needs of the Smalley family are met, once there it is very necessary to stock up on a few of the Mexico essentials or food groups as they will hence forward be known (and in a very particular order); 1. Cheese (but not just one kind of cheese, we have to cover all our bases here, so I’m talking Mexican blend, Oaxaca, and Manchego) 2. Herdez salsa (I know you can get it in the states, but that doesn’t make it any less Mexican to us!) 3. Coconut Syrup (how else could we make amazing cheap Pina Coladas) 4. Tortilla Chips (duh!) 5. Black Beans (not refried or pinto, just black) and 6. Nutri Leche milk (seriously it’s like drinking milk with fruit loops only you don’t even have to eat the fruit loops first). Some might say we have an unhealthy fascination with food…. I just like to think we’re passionate! :)

We had such an awesome week of luxury with everyone. Nachos by day, Pina Coladas by night, happy hour at the swim up bar, beach volleyball, pinochle, tennis, snorkeling, what a life! My parents have a couple weeks down here every year and this year since we were traveling anyway they let us stay with them for both weeks! Even though we’d only been traveling for two week, it was still awesome to take a break from the backpacker lifestyle and get spoiled!

Here’s the gang minus my dad! This is at Akumal beach, one of our favorite places to come, they have awesome snorkeling where you can see Turtles and Manta Rays and this week there was a school of 50,000 fish hanging out in the bay! We come here every year and I’ve seen turtles every time I've come except for the two times I’ve been with McKay…. He thinks we’re all just lying about the turtles playing a big joke on him! :)

This guy is legitimately flying like Iron Man! His suit thing was attached to a wave running and it would push water out of the hands and feet and he could fly up in to the air and spin around and dive in to the water. It was amazing!! And for the very reasonable price of $100 for 30 minutes, you too can also fly like a superhero.

Oh don’t worry we’re just living the Buena Vida at the Buena Vida (restaurant)…. See what I did there? This was a late celebration of my mom’s birthday, I think she turned 35 this year…. :)

And this was how we discovered that 5 is in fact the magic number for the on deck hot tub…

Quick, two of the essential food groups are in this picture! Rest assured we maintained a well balanced diet including all the Mexican Sam’s Club food groups.

Saying goodbye to the kids, I felt so bad that they were leaving and we had to stay a whole extra week in paradise without them. And then we walked back to the beach and the feeling was gone….

Week 2 Jan 26-Feb 1

It really was way sad for Bryce and Jill and Kelsey to leave us Saturday, but we didn’t waste anytime at all adjusting to our new beach side room and waiting for the next group to arrive!

This was the amazing view from our beach front room! We all loved the view so much, but decided it was too far of a walk from the car and reception area to stay here on a yearly basis (can you say first world problems?)! :)

While waiting for the others to arrive we ventured out to Playa and grabbed some lunch at this little out of the way place. We used to always see Taxi drivers eating in this area so we tried it a couple of years ago and now it’s one of our main fixes! We all got drinks, soup, and a main dish for $20 total! We went out on a limb here and treated my parents to lunch, two weeks at an amazing hotel for one $5 lunch…. I mean we’re nothing if not fair, right? :)

My uncle Jeff and our adopted family from South Africa (Stuart, Louise, Jenna, and Emma) all arrived safe and sound Saturday afternoon! We quickly got them adjusted to the Mexican lifestyle by whipping up a fresh batch of nachos and quesadillas, followed by another Sam’s Club run!

After the Sam’s Club run, everyone was tired and hungry, we found a local taco place and had McKay order us a big spread so they could try a little of everything! Everyone was so impressed by his Spanish and ordering skills!

Oh man, it is so hard choosing between all these awesome beach pictures…. This is on the beach in Cancun, we drove up there for half a day on Sunday!

Atlante is the professional soccer team in Cancun, we’ve always wanted to go to a game and this year we finally made it happen! It’s also a lot easier to get behind a team when their jerseys only cost $12, I mean I’m not saying you can buy my loyalty… But if the price is right, I’ll cheer for just about anyone! :) Plus they were playing the Jaguares which is McKays team from Chiapas, so it was doubly exciting!

It was a crazy game! Atlante took an early 2-0 lead, and in the second half Jaguares got two red cards to go down to only 9 players. But something must have started a fire under them, because they came out and scored the next 3 goals to pull ahead 3-2! Then with 5 minutes left a guy on Atlante broke his leg, it was crazy, we could hear the snap from the stands. Plus they were out of subs so they had to play down a player. That was enough to get Atlante motivated though, because they scored two crazy goals in stoppage time to win the game 4-3! It was definitely some sloppy soccer but an exciting game to watch!

Have I mentioned how sweet these two are yet? They’re 8 and 10 and have more manners than most adults on a good day! On Sunday as we were walking in from somewhere Emma (the youngest) said to McKay, “ When we were swimming in the pool, I wasn’t really sure who you were. So, if it’s alright I’d like to come with you so I can get to know you better.” Ha, I almost died laughing it was the cutest thing I’ve heard in a long time! These two kept us entertained all week with their awesome jokes and funny stories!

Ever since we got to Mexico, McKay has been craving a street cart hamburger, so we convinced the whole crew to try it out. We got a burger with cheese, ham, fried onions, and fries all for 25 pesos ($2)! Plus all the indigestion at no extra cost, that is a killer deal!

Our brave subjects! This was right by a little store where the lady that was running it had her little kids there with her and they were just kind of hanging out playing in the street. Jenna was so sweet and wanted to buy all the little kids a piece of candy with her own money. She asked McKay to explain it to them and they were all beyond stoked!

This was our guide for the day in Tulum, Jose (he told us, he was the first and original one in Mexico). Tulum is beautiful, we came here about 6 years ago when it was still pretty quiet. It’s insane how much it has changed since then and is seriously a tourist nightmare now! It’s still super pretty and they are the only ruins in Mexico located right on the beach and when the Spaniards first landed in Central America there were still people living in Tulum.

Ooh, who's the tough guy now?

This is looking over the awesome beach where you can swim at the ruins!

 One of the outposts for the city in the background. There are 4 outposts each one representing a season and depending on where the shadows were being cast at a certain time in the day it would tell you what season it was.... Seems a bit complicated to me, I'd rather just check the calendar.... 

Sometimes it's just hard to explain how we can look so tough and yet so.... No that's it just tough.

After seeing the ruins in Tulum, we went to this awesome cheap local fresh seafood place right in town. My uncle Jeff ordered fried Grouper and this is what he got. They literally take the whole fish splash on some batter and throw it in the deep frier. Once he got over the fact that it seemed to be staring right at him, it was actually beyond amazing!

As we were leaving the restaurant a truck pulled up with this cooler of freshly caught fish that had probably been swimming in the ocean ten minutes earlier, and this is what they serving their fish from. That’s about as fresh as it gets!

Along with the fish these guys walked in with this shark on their shoulders, I mean it‘s probably a baby shark, but I'd hate to meet that thing on a dark night in the ocean! It was kind of sad they just started chopping it up right there, cutting it’s fins off and slicing it in to pieces. If I listened closely I swear I could hear Jaws in the ocean weeping for this young one....

If only you could see where the license plate is supposed to be on this car. They don’t just give you parking tickets in Mexico, they actually take the license plate right off of your car, so that you will go and pay your fine! How do we know this? We’ve had to learn the hard way, two years in a row…. :)

Our last meal together at Cheester’s, our new favorite restaurant in Playa! We ordered two things for 5 people and still had leftovers (you know there was a lot of food when the Smalleys don’t clear the table)!