Blissfully Belizean

Safe back in Gracias!

I arrived safely back into San Pedro Sula on January 2nd.  Five of us girls stayed the night there so we could travel to Belize for a few days, since school starts on the 9th.  The next morning we started off from San Pedro Sula, Honduras taking a number of buses to get to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala.  From there we took a ferry to Punta Gorda, Belize.  This "ferry" was a small motor boat that could hold about 20 people..it was very cold and raining a bit, so we covered ourselves with black tarps for the hour boat ride!  It's pretty amazing that within a 24-hour time span, I was in the United States, Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize.  Breakfast in Honduras, lunch in Guatemala, and dinner in Belize.  God is awesome!

 

To our surprise, Belize is English speaking--very nice surprise! We decided we wanted to check out two places in Belize; Hopkins and Placencia.  So we started our Belizean journey on a bus to Hopkins first.  Our bus dropped us off in the dark on the side of the road by a sign that showed Hopkins to the right, down 4 miles.  They told us to catch a ride.  WHAT!  We couldn't believe they weren't going to take us all the way to the town--all we could do was laugh.  It was then that we were very thankful we were in one of the safest countries in Central America.  We decided not to start walking down the unlit dirt road towards Hopkins.  So we kind of stood around casually waving cars down and that's when a police truck filled with 5 officers turned to the road we needed to go down.  They stopped and we asked if we could ride in the back to Hopkins.  They were very friendly and let us ride in the back as we flew down the bumpy road to the town.  They dropped us off and we checked out a number of places to stay at, until we found a cute little place (Windschief) directly on the beach.  We enjoyed dinner at our hotel that night and eventually fell asleep to the sounds of waves.  

The next morning Kiley and I woke up early and took a nice walk on the beach.  It was nice to see the area a little better in daylight.  When we were all up, we all woke up and walked to Thongs Cafe for breakfast.  The other great thing about Belize is that the people there are SO friendly.  Smiling faces, friendly hello's, and help when needed.  After breakfast we enjoyed the beach for a bit.  We were soaking up the sun when some local boys came by us and began talking to us.  They kept us entertained for awhile, as we played hangman and tic-tac-toe in the sand with them.  Later we got lunch at another little delicious place and then we rented bicycles for an hour and rode to Sitee River, about a 25 minute bike ride.  We enjoyed the scenery for a few minutes and then headed back.  That night we planned to go crocodile hunting in the river at night with a guide (coolest thing EVER, I was SO excited for this I cannot explain how much of a happy little kid I was like) but unfortunately the guide was completely booked.  Such a bummer, but I hope to one day go back to Belize and do it!!  Hopkins didn't have a very good night life during the week, so there wasn't much to do that evening.  We enjoyed dinner and then played cards and went to bed.

The next morning we headed out on a morning bus to Placencia.  The bus dropped us off again on the same side of the road, where we were told a bus would pick us up for Placencia in 15 minutes later.  An hour later, we were still sitting on the side of the road.  Luckily a few minutes later, the bus came and took us to Mango Creek, where we then took a quick boat ride to Placencia.  This town was a lot more touristy and resort like, having many more shops, restaurants, and things to do.  We started looking for hotels, and stopped at Sweet Dreams to enjoy some breakfast.  We eventually found a hotel with cute little cabanas all along the beach, so we stayed there at Ranguana Lodge, in the Shellfish cabana.  We enjoyed the beautiful sandy beach for a bit and then took a walk through town looking at all of the attractions.  We thought about taking a tour to either the Cayes to snorkel or something, but with the expensive prices and us having done snorkeling in La Ceiba, we decided just to enjoy the town of Placencia.  That night we went out to The Shak beach Cafe for dinner, where we enjoyed dinner and the sight of many dolphins swimming around.  After dinner we went out for a bit and ended up enjoying the nightlife there, singing a number of karaoke songs together at a place on the beach. 

The next morning Kiley, Heather and I decided to head back to Honduras so that we would have a full day back in our towns to prepare for school.  We took a ferry from Placencia, Belize all the way to Puerto Cortes, Honduras.  It was a beautiful boat ride and we even saw dolphins again!  We then got a bus to San Pedro Sula and then to Santa Rosa, which is an hour away from Gracias.  Unfortunately we missed the last bus to Gracias so we stayed in the night in Santa Rosa with a missionary family we know.  

And here I am back in Honduras, preparing to start off the second part of the school year with enthusiasm, encouragement, confidence and most importantly love!  

My New Years Resolution:  "To love more, to smile more, to trust more, just to be more."