Trips

Our visas only allow for a stay of 30 days in Belize so we thought we'd make a couple of trips out of the country. The first was north into Mexico, just into the border city of Chetumal. It's a much more normal city by our standards, with a shopping mall, McDonalds and even a cinema! The combination of all these things brought much delight to Tana and the girls (shame both the films we saw were rubbish, but Tana insists that it's as much about the "cinema experience". She tries that at home as well).

Travelling up there ended up being a bit more complex than we expected, but several local brothers helped us out, including Reggie Trapp, who drove us over the border and came back to pick us up. Those who are in a position to help certainly go out of their way to do so.

Lunch in Livingston

Tana and I also took a boat trip south into the Guatemalan town of Livingston (some what different to its Scottish namesake) which is a mixture of Central American Spanish and Garifuna people. It's a bit more touristy than most of Belize so it's nice to just enjoy relaxing and souvenir shopping.

A Tapir - The National Animal of Belize

 Closer to home, we went to visit Belize zoo, which although small is worth a visit because it only has animals that are native here. That includes jaguar and puma, as well as tapir and several scarily large bird species.

 Between there and home is the Blue Hole National Park- not the very famous Blue Hole in the ocean but an area of natural springs and caves in the hills. More swimming and a walk to explore St. Herman's cave. What I forgot to mention is that everywhere you swim you end up being nibbled by curious little fish, which is alarming at first but quite cute when you've been reassured that there's no piranhas nearby!

From the inside of St Herman's cave