Paradise day two

We slept a lot on this trip. a) we were super relaxed and that made us tired, b) we were in a pretty remote location so there wasn't always tons to do and c) we had some icky weather days.

Our first full day after arrival in Ambergris Caye was one of those icky days. It wasn't awful, but it was very overcast and pretty windy. Not a good day for the beach.

Fortunately, our resort had plenty of fun toys you could check out (kayaks, paddleboats, sports equipment, sail boats, all sorts of stuff!) We thought it'd be fun to go for a bike ride on the beach. The cute boy in charge of equipment check out, Henry, reminded me so much of A.J. I'm not sure why - I think it's because he seemed really shy in front of new people, but you could tell he's really not. And just the way he talked reminded me of A.J. It was very endearing.

Ah, I digress. Anyway, we asked Henry how long it would take to bike to town. He looked at us quite doubtfully and said definitely over an hour, maybe an hour and a half. Turns out, there's not really a road that leads from town out to Mata Chica. There's a dirt path, but he said it was so marked with pot holes it wasn't really a viable option. He recommended just following the beach all the way down. Without much else to do and curious to check out the island, we decided to go for it.

The coast line was really beautiful. The water was so clear and cool that was stopped often to put our feet in and check out the various crabs and fish swimming around. We saw very few people in our hour plus journey. Some of the other resorts we passed looked completely deserted! It was weird.

Once we got to the foot bridge (which turned out to be a toll bridge, thanks for the heads up on that one, Henry), there was a road that we could get on. But like he had warned us, it seemed more like a collection of potholes connected by patches of mud. As we rode down the "main street" of San Pedro, I kept looking at the dilapidated shacks crowded right up on top of each other lining the street. Most of them didn't look inhabitable, but I'm fairly certain many housed more than one sizable family. The contrast from the pristine luxury of the north end of the island to the main town could not helped but be noticed. It felt like another world.

In town, we ate lunch at a place called Elvi's kitchen that Monica from work (who has been to Belize several times) recommended. It was super cheap (especially compared to every where else we'd been so far!) and incredibly tasty. I mean, we only got a burrito and quesadillas, but some how they still felt gourmet.

Then we kind of wandered around the town, looking at the different shops, walking along the beach watching the various tour ships going in and out. It was slow-paced and lazy and wonderful.

We originally told the resort that we'd take their complimentary shuttle back home. The small motor boat (the same one that picked us up) didn't have a regular schedule. It only made trips to and from the town to shuttle guests as they arrived and departed and to transport hotel employees. Almost every day, though, there's a final boat of the night that departs the town at 6:30 p.m. to bring the overnight security guards up. We planned to catch that boat back, but by 4 p.m. we felt like we'd sufficiently wandered and were ready to go home. So we decided to ride back!

We took our time riding back, stopping often to splash in the water as the tide went out. After biking for three hours, often in pretty soft sand, my butt was hurting like none other by the time we got home. But it we had a blast, so it pretty much made the day.

Not wanting to eat at the hotel again, we went to the front desk to ask if there were any other restaurants nearby. The hostess, Anita, recommended a restaurant called Portofino even farther north on the island. She even called their complimentary boat to come pick us up. Let me tell you, the service at this place was amazing.

Portofino was a beautiful, beautiful restaurant. It's pretty much an oversized tree house. Very romantic. And surprisingly few people were there! We felt like we had the place to ourselves. We shared snapper, grouper, and crab and all of them were so succulent and delicious I couldn't stop eating even after I was full. That still didn't stop us from getting the frozen key lime pie for dessert. It made me thankful for the three hour bike ride.

And home again. A beautiful end, to a wonderful day.

You better Belize it.

And we're back!

We got home from the world's most perfect honeymoon (that's right, I'm just gonna say it!) yesterday and we've been trying to get back into our daily routine. Woo, that's hard to do after a week in paradise.

Over the next couple days, I'm planning to upload daily recaps of our trip, complete with photos! So to kick things off, here's Day 1:

We drove to Houston Sunday night and slept three hours at Hans' mom's house. Then it was up at 5 to dash to the airport - three hours early, thanks to a certain would-be bomber. Our flight was only about two hours and I was able to sleep most of it. We sat in the front row so we had some extra leg room (which Hans loved!) and the aisle seat in our row wasn't taken so it was just the two of us. Quite comfy.

As we were flying in over Belize City I was amazed by how green everything looked. It looked like this big cushy, bright green blanket covering everything. We landed and disembarked onto the tarmac... no real terminal! It kind of reminded me of a shack in the middle of an airstrip. Amazing. I can't believe that's an "international airport." We found our baggage easily but had to wait in a long line through customs. We knew we needed to take a taxi to the dock, but weren't sure about anything. We didn't really plan anything for the trip, just figured we'd wing everything. This taxi driver picked us up and said he'd get us to the dock, no problem. We'd been warned by the resort that it would be about a 25 minute taxi drive.

No. Not with this dude. He was the craziest driver I've EVER seen. He was taking corners super sharp, passing four cars at once (in narrow stretches of road with "no passing" signs clearly posted). When we got downtown he was swerving in and out of traffic as people honked and cursed at him. When he turned down a narrow alley I thought "This is it, he's taking us somewhere secluded to kill us." But no, he was just going to the dock. I think we got there in 10 minutes instead of 25 minutes. I"m thankful to be alive.

The water taxi was just about to leave and they wanted to squeeze us on so that we wouldn't have to wait another hour for the next one. We had to sit up front and it was the bumpiest ride! I felt so sick. It was a pretty big speed boat, held maybe 20 people. There was a native grandmother sitting across from me and we'd both wince as we hit the big waves and then she'd smile conspiratorially at me. But we did get our first glimpse of how gorgeous, clear and bright blue the waters are. The journey took 70 minutes and I think I checked the time every 8. Not sure a water taxi was the best idea....

Finally, we arrived on the island of Ambergris Caye, in the town of San Pedro.

Since we'd caught the earlier water taxi, our resort guide wasn't expecting us for another hour. We had dressed warmly since Houston was so cold that morning - jeans, shirt, sweater, tennis shoes. But Belize was warm and we were sweating.

We stopped in a place called the Baker for a quick sandwich since we'd been traveling so long. It was delicious! We then headed over to the dock to meet our guide, Chris. He came running up a few minutes later, apologizing. He'd been waiting for us over at the water taxi dock. Oops! He was really sweet though. We waited until the resort's boat came to pick us up. That's right, a plane ride, a taxi, and a water taxi later and we're still not at our resort. A 10 minute motor boat ride later and we've arrived. Now, I was aiming for something secluded (this being our honeymoon and all) but I feel it's safe to say that I succeeded too well. We were in the middle of nowhere! The island is about 27 miles long and at its widest point only 3 miles across. The northern part of the island is separated from the southern end by a cut in the island that has a little footbridge over it. From what I could tell, the northern part of the island is uninhabited - no homes, stores, etc - just resorts. We had a resort directly to one side of us, but that was it. Nothing within a good 15-20 minute walk. Crazy.

As the boat pulled up to our resort, Mata Chica, we noticed a girl on the dock smiling and waiting for us. Mayra greeted us and the boat captain, Charlie, told us to just leave our luggage. "Woah, cushy!" I'm thinking. She lead us into the lavishly decorated lobby where a waiter was waiting for us with a tray of virgin Strawberry Daquiris.

Mata Chica is a cute little boutique resort - instead of one main building, it has 13 little casitas - basically one or two bedroom little thatched-roof bungalows. Instead of having room numbers, they are named after fruits. We were in "Cocoa."

 

As we walked in, I think it took my breath away. It was really simple, but so beautiful. A snug hammock stretched across the porch and screened, wooden double doors opened up into the bedroom.

The big white bed has a mosquito netting draped romantically above it and housekeeping had decorated the bed with fresh, tropical flowers. Native wood carvings and tapestries decorated the walls. At the back of the bedroom, on either side of the bed, are two doorways. The left doorway leads to the bathroom which wraps around the back of the house. The glass-walled shower has a beautiful mosaic tile mural and bamboo pillars. The right doorway opens to a large closet.

Hans managed to unpack in about two minutes while I was still laying on the bed taking it all in. Once we got settled, we changed into swimsuits and headed down to the beach to get some sun. We pulled some chairs farther down the beach to try and catch the last rays of the fading sun. No sooner had we stretched out, we both promptly passed out and didn't wake up until it was almost dark and we were the only ones left on the beach.

I was surprised by how early it got dark there. The sun is completely gone by about 5:30 or 5:45. By about 4 p.m. the sun is setting and the wind is picking up, so you can't really stay at the beach much later than that. I think we woke up around 5 and it was pretty chilly, so we headed back to the room for a warm shower.

After about 6 p.m., there's not a whole lot to do at Mata Chica. It's too dark and the mosquitoes are crazy bad, so you can't really walk along the beach. To get into town you need a boat, and they cost $12.50 per person, each way. 50 bucks to go into town and back? No, thank you! That means that your options for dinner are go into town and find dinner for dirt cheap and still spend a good $75, or eat at one of the North island resorts and spend $50-60. We opted to eat most of our meals at the resorts and they were pretty darn tasty (not to mention we felt very fancy!)

The first night we ate at our resort's restaurant, Mambo. I had pork tenderloin and Hans had the Fillet Mignon. I think he chose better - it practically melted in your mouth!

Even though we were done with dinner by 7:30, we decided to call it a day. It'd been a long one so we turned in early. It was a lot of travel, but we felt like we'd arrived in paradise.

See ya later!

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we're off to Belize for our honeymoon. We'll be back next week!

I love lamp!

We decided to name the new breadmaker "Lamp" just so Hans can hear me say "I love lamp!"

But seriously, we tried it out yesterday for the first time and it is A-MAZING!! I love it. It took maybe 15 minutes to dump all the ingredients into the tray. Wet ingredients first, then the bread flour, then you make a little well in the flour to put the dry yeast in, and that's all! Then you put the tray into the bread maker, click a few buttons, and it just goes. Three hours later it came out crispy on the outside, warm, and moist and fluffy inside. It's so good. So, so good. And our house smells wonderful! The best part was that I was able to run to the gym, clean the house, and take a shower instead of watching the bread and it just did the whole thing itself. I have a feeling I'll be using this baby verrrrryyyy often.

Well, hello, 2010!!

For this first time EVER, Hans and I spent New Year's Eve together. I've always either been home with my family or working.

Since Liz moved in with us a couple days ago (I mentioned that, right? Ooops...) We decided it'd be the perfect time to throw a party! We got a group together for a fancy dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. The food was delicious (Chicken di Pana.... yum!) and our waiter was hilarious. At one point, he leaned over Jared and asked "Acqua di Gio?" Jared leans away and goes "Yes...." looking at the guy warily. I think I saw water come out Mandy's nose she laughed so hard. Later, he leaned over Stephanie and said "Wow, you smell really good!" That guy really knew how to work the table to get his tip. It was hilarious. But, Jalaine's diet coke never went empty, so the guy did an amazing job. Especialy for a group of 14. What a blast!

Then it was back to our place for game night. The singles headed off to make an appearance at the stake dance, so the old married folk played hearts. Unfortunately, like last game night, the wives didn't bring our A game and the husbands were kicking our butts. We need to get together and strategize better. Adam, Josiah and Hans all work together and I swear they know what each other is thinking at this point. Candace, Mandy and I are just not that in sync. We were grateful when the singles showed up to save us from the slaughter.

Then we played Pictionary Man! He's a little electronic guy and the word you're supposed to draw shows up on his foot when you push a button. He has two props that you can use to draw out different parts of the word and even act it out if you want (like a guy catching a soccer ball if he's supposed to be a goalie). It was really fun! Stephanie Hall's little brothers came and they are hilarious. Steven (Stephen?) had my in stitches. I wish they lived here and could make us laugh like that every weekend.

At midnight we watched the ball drop, debating how old Dick Clark is and whether or not he had a stroke and that's why he talks funny (I think he did, actually). We toasted with sparkling apple cider and booed at all the couples in Times Square using way too much tongue for national television.

Kind of low key, but still a wonderful way to ring in the New Year! I have a feeling it's going to be a great one.