Home » Belize » Mosquito's.. erghh...

the only discomfort of this trip is the thought that any mosquito that bites you might carry malaria or dengei feaver. and i got bit a bunch today... oi... i'm gradually getting less paranoid about it. if i happen to be that one case in every few thousand, then i was probably meant to die.

Mosquito's.. erghh...

Morgan Lockhart
2006-04-29 13:53:14

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the only discomfort of this trip is the thought that any mosquito that bites you might carry malaria or dengei feaver. and i got bit a bunch today... oi... i'm gradually getting less paranoid about it. if i happen to be that one case in every few thousand, then i was probably meant to die.

the bike trip was a big success, despite the overwhelming heat. i rode a hand (that is, tugging us across with ropes) ferry across this small river (it was just big enough for a few pedestrians and two golf carts - have i mentioned they're the main vehicle here? only taxis are real cars) and then rode through these deserted stretches. every now and then you'd hit a really nice house - gentes ricos de belize - but not often. i rode first through a part that had more of the feel of a jungle - my surroundings hissed at me, different tones striking up as i moved - giggling at the "waterfront property" signs stuck in marshes (though in truth there was beach on the other side)- and then backtracked and rode along the beach path. the beach path was gorgeous. it was what you come to the tropics for. deserted stretches of white sand, palm trees bowing over multihued water, lonely stranded buildings out in the middle of the water every now and then. i got incredibly overheated though and was sure i was burning and turned back after awhile - in truth, while i burned just a bit on my face, the trip mostly bloomed freckles (huzzah!). i tell people i recommend doing what i did... at a different time of day.

today i took a very much tour, but it's ok, sometimes you have to give into that to see what you want to see. we boated an hour to find manatees, going through all the little cays along the way, and poled our way through their habitat. we saw many, some very close, which was quite amazing... though i must admit that a guy on the boat put it well when i said someone had told me this other attraction he wanted to go to was underwhelming, "yeah but it's on the list. i mean, the same could be said about the manatees... we saw the manatees, great. but it's on the list..." to have swum with them would have been amazing. we then saw seahorses, which were even more underwhelming but still interesting. we stopped briefly on the second largest cay in this area, caye caulker, and i fell in love.

amburgeise cay is beautiful but expensive and resorty. i was sure prices at caulker were us dollars at first but i was proven mistaken. it's just that everything there is about half of what it is here. there are no cars. just golf cars and bikes. they advertised live music right in the streets (we've been looking for reggae every night). the whole thing had no sense of a "city" -- just a cute little fishing village. needless to say, the crowd is much younger - the backpacking crowd. this is where we belong. instead of going to the mainland, we're probably going to go there. we're running out of money so as much as we want to go to the jungle, it's just probably not prudent, and we're getting lazy - lulled by the ocean. so we're probably going there saturday or sunday.

lastly was another snorkeling trip. so many elkhorns and fire corals, it was amazing. i generally don't like reefs as much - i prefer the marine
life - but this was awe inspiring.

i also bonded a bit with the other people. everyone was from seattle except this french woman who sat in the front looking beautiful and filming everything and saying nothing. but there were two families from seattle. i talked a lot with the mom from one - bitched about politics a bunch. there were times when they were a little american for me but, mostly, i enjoyed them much.