UnBelizeable (seriously my towel says that)

Heyyyyyyy party people! Sorry for my bloggy-absence, but it seems to be the theme here in Belize where the internet craps out, then works at a snail's pace, and my patience is no match for it. But, enough about that...

So last time I left this little journal I was headed to Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary for a few days of hiking and being eaten alive by bugs, both of which happened excessively. Denise and I arrived at the Wildlife HQ and were shown to our rustic cabin. We also stumbled upon one of the volunteer interns, a guy named Seth who was from Portland! Small world I tell you. So we got settled and then Seth took us on a night hike where we went down by a big river, saw tons of giant spiders, fire flies, and thankfully no snakes. The next day we embarked on a 5-ish km loop around the Reserve that twisted and turned. We saw some cool turkey-like birds and small pheasants, but no jaguars or big animals. Back to the room and we fell asleep, but woke up in enough time to float down the river for the afternoon. And we saw a jaguarundi (it's in the big cat family, probably about the size of a golden retriever) that was crossing over the river through the trees! Very cool to see one. While floating, Denise and I were discussing what we would be doing if we were "playing by the rules"-we figured we would both be getting off work instead of floating down the river, and would have been working the past 5 days instead of our lovely traveling. We both decided we enjoyed not playing by the rules, and karma instantly stepped in and it started raining buckets on us for the rest of our float. It would have been fine if we had been about to get out, but no, we had half an hour to float down the river with cold rain pelting us and howler monkeys screaming in the background, then we ran back through the mud and forest in just our bathing suits and towels. The rangers got a good laugh when we finally returned, and we had been laughing since the rain started so it ended up being a good day.
The next day we got up super early and hiked this steep trail that led down to two waterfalls! It was absolutely beautiful, and as we hiked up and then hiked down it felt like we were passing through a few different forests. In low altitude it felt like the rainforest, but as we climbed higher and higher I almost felt like I was back at the Oregon Coast with a lot of dunes and scrub. The waterfalls themselves were beautiful and we spent a fair amount of time trying to get the self-timer on Denise's camera to work so we could get a a picture together, but that failed. Then it was back to camp, pack up and we were off to Placencia!
Placencia is this small, 17 mile peninsula in Southern-ish Belize, and it has this big, long beautiful white beach with palm trees. There are tons of lots for sale, and I have never met so many retired or relocated Americans in my life, and I can't say I blame them for moving either. We got into town, settled into the hotel (I had my first hot shower of the trip-YES!) and then went out for dinner and drinks. We ran into some funny Belizean boys who said they had seen us in Dangriga and took us to the Barefoot Bar, that was overrun with older retired people. I ended up getting cornered by this kid named Bill who had zero sense of humor or social norms and just droned on and on about how great he was, Belize is, and something else but I tuned him out.Thankfully he had to go make a drug deal (classsssssy), I rescued Denise from his cousin and we escaped and went to the Tipsy Tuna, where there was a live band and not a single soul dancing. We quickly changed that, but no one bothered to join. So Denise and I hopped around yet another dance floor, then went searching for late-night food, couldn't find any, so we ate all of our snacks before hitting the hay.
The next day was spent playing in the sand on the beach, then walking through town to find souvenirs and some really delicious gelato. We ate a really yummy dinner, but didn't have the strength to go out afterwards. We did however meet a boisterous old fellow from North Carolina in our hotel hallway who talked to us about a number of things, and took to calling me "college girl" because he couldn't remember my name. He ended up being pretty entertaining and offered some advice for traveling to Guatemala and such.
Denise left pretty early on Monday, and I was left to my own devices. I did some long overdue laundry and chatted with a shop owner, who had lived in Oregon. So we traded stories for a bit, then I ran some errands and got prepared to leave the next day. Originally I was going to try go get to Guatemala from the South of Belize by boat, but it sounded like more of a challenge then I was up for, so I decided to bus it up to San Ignacio, a small jungle town in the Cayo district of Belize that sits about 8 miles from the Guatemalan border.
I've been in San Ignacio for 2 nights now, and just spent yesterday wandering around the town, going into shops, and then attempted to run in the afternoon. That was a terrible idea, but I did get to see a good part of the town that I would have otherwise not seen. Today I went horseback riding (one of my goals of the trip) and it was amazing. I was the only one on the ride (i've never felt like a bigger loser) but my guide was really nice and we rode to the Xunantunich Mayan ruins. I got to walk around the ruins, which sit atop this mountain, so the views are absolutely spectacular. I still have zero idea how the Mayans constructed what they did so many thousands of years ago, but it is definitely impressive. On our way back it started to rain, and my guide turned to me and said "ok, so can you really ride?" and I said "yes..." and then we galloped the last mile or so home, through cow fields and down dirt (mud at this point) paths. I was soaked to the bone and grinning from ear to ear when we got back. I absolutely loved it. I am of course beyond sore now, but it was well worth it.
Tomorrow I'm heading for Guatemala, crossing the border in the morning and then taking a 2 hour bus ride to Flores, this tiny town in the middle of a lake. I've looked up some Spanish phrases and gotten some Guatemalan money, so hopefully I'm set! I've also been versed about the border crossing and what not, so I feel pretty confident about doing it, but of course a little apprehensive as well. Wish me luck! I'll write again when I get safe into my hostel.

Love and miss you all..and of course, Happy St. Patricks Day!

Jen