Ray had a crazy busy last day too! Today he had his first scuba diving lesson ever. He loved it—I don’t think it will be the last. This afternoon we fed the tarpon. These beautiful fish are protected in Belize. If you catch one you have to put it back in the water. They love to jump up and eat delicious sardines. Loving our last unbelizable weather. You are always in my Prayers. Love Mom.
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This morning I hopped in a five seater plane with some of my new friends and flew over The Great Blue Hole.
It is a giant sinkhole off of the coast of Belize. It is the largest formation of its kind in the world. I’m really glad I had the time to see it. It was really, really BLUE! You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. P.S. the flight on the small plane was fun too😄 When we headed off on the Ragga King there was a light rain, but it really didn’t matter too much because we were planning to spend most of the day in the water. Belize has the second largest Barrier Reef in the world (the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the largest). Although the Hol Chan Marine Reserve has incredible coral and many colourful fish it has something we found even more fascinating—Shark Ray Alley. We snorkelled in three different locations and saw quite a few rays...the Spotted Ray was my favourite. They are so graceful when they swim. We also saw at least 50 nurse sharks. Some were sleeping on the bottom and some swam right underneath us. They look friendly but when they swam close by I held very, very still. Do you think you would like swimming with the sharks? At the end of the day the Ragga King hoisted the sails and we came back to Caye Caulker to enjoy the sunset from the beach. Heading home tomorrow but there is still a lot of adventure left for today. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. Disclaimer: none of these pictures are mine...cameras and cell phones are not allowed in...
Photo Credit: Island Family Adventures San Ignacio Actun Tunichil Muknal is definitely more than a cave experience. The Mayan considered it a sacred place—sort of like a church—for hundreds of years. The Government restricts the number of visitors so we feel very fortunate we had this adventure. Of course, we had to swim across three rivers holding on to a rope (so we didn’t get washed away) before we even got there. Once we were in the cave we had to walk through water that was sometimes chest deep or even sometimes swim. At one point you had to stick your neck through a tight space in the rocks first and then let the current of a small water fall pull you through. At some points I could only manage to climb up and down the rocks by sliding on my butt or crawling on all fours. Although we traveled only 2 km into the cave it took hours! On the way to the hidden chamber you pass incredible sparkling stalactites, stalagmites, and flow stones. You can see them pretty well because you wear a headlamp. Once you are in the hidden chamber you can see the artifacts still lying there—pots, cooking stones, and even skeletons. We headed to the island of Caye Caulker this morning...we can see the waterfront from our room. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. My horse was Jack and Ray’s horse was Thunder. Jack was a really gentle horse and I really enjoyed riding him. The family dogs ran along beside us as we rode. Occasionally they would break off to chase a few stray cattle. Our guide kept his machete out at all times to whack away at the bushes if they blocked our path. We headed two hours by horseback into the jungle. Once we were there we enjoyed a very refreshing swim at a swimming hole with a small waterfall. Nature is beautiful here in St Ignacio and we are really enjoying the weather. Home soon—you are always in my prayers. Love Mom.
Belize is where old school buses from North American come to retire; so this morning we caught a repainted Blue Bird Bus from Belize City to the Guatemalan border. The locals call them chicken buses. Why is it called a chicken bus? Well, you are definitely packed in tight like chickens and apparently sometimes they bring chickens on the bus. We didn’t see any chickens on the bus but one lady had a blue fronted parrot. We knew it was going to be quite an adventure, but it turned out to be even crazier that we thought.
About ten minutes from the border most people got out and got into taxis. The helper on the bus invited our group to stay on the bus and said the driver would take us right to the border. So, off we went for about two minutes and then we were in for a huge surprise. Four taxis had rushed ahead and were blocking the road so the bus couldn’t get through. They weren’t happy that the bus was taking away their business. There was a LOT of screaming (not from our group—we sat really, really quiet)! Finally it was clear the taxis weren’t going to let us by so we had no choice but to get our stuff and get into the taxis. Our taxi was really beat up. The driver had to pull two wires out of the dash and put them together to get the car to start. Once we got in the driver was actually very nice to us. He said “sorry for the turmoil”. I guess it is all part of a big fight the buses and taxi drivers are having. Anyways, we are safely in Guatemala on the island of Flores. We are right on the water next to a delicious ice cream place and all is good. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. What a crazy day yesterday! Just after breakfast we met a couple from Michigan that had a rental car. They were going exploring for the day and invited us to tag along; so off we headed on an unplanned adventure. We didn’t get back until 9:30 in the evening. We saw chocolate farms, a place that harvests tropical plants for medicine, a fishing village, a national park, fabulous scenery and the Belize Zoo. I think you would have liked the Belize Zoo.
The animals are all from Belize and here they do have names and stories. Sylvia was the rescued jaguar. She got in trouble for hunting dogs and would have been shot if the zoo hadn’t saved her. She looked happy in her habitat. They also have a Harpy Eagle breeding program. They are considered one of the largest eagles. They can grow up to 104 cm tall. This male was about 76 cm tall. I’m not sure what he is eating. I thought it might be a rat but I think it is actually a baby opossum —apparently that is one of their favourite foods. We have a long bus ride to Guatemala tomorrow. In the meantime we are enjoying paradise. You are always in my prayers. Love Mom. We left the modern and hectic city of Cancún, Mexico for the country of Belize. There are actually more people in the city of Cancún than the whole country of Belize. And guess what?—the official language here is English.
We travelled to El Salvador by Jet and then hopped on a smaller twin engine turbo prop plane for Belize. The ATR72 was my first time flying in a turbo prop plane. Our seats were right over the wing so we could watch the propellers turning. Also, it doesn’t fly as high so you can see a lot more than clouds as you travel. Which do you think you would like better—the Jet or the ATR72? I’m excited to learn more about Belize. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. There are about 6000 sink holes or cenotes in the Yucatan peninsula. Nothing wakes you up after a long bus ride like jumping into one of these subterranean pools. The Saama Cenote had stairs down to the spot where you jumped in so you only had to jump about four metres. The water is cool and clean but you can’t see the bottom because it is so deep. You can see the rocks on all sides around you going very high up. I got three jumps in and loved it! They make everyone wear a life jacket to be safe. Do you think you would want to try it? You are always in my prayers. Love Mom. |
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Ray & Diane HomewoodSharing the Blessing of Travel Archives
April 2020
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