Don’t Stop Belizing!

Nurse sharks!

Yes, I really was that close 

Me with Jose, my fantastic guide

Nothing like a drinking game to bond with your hostel mates! 

            Hello again from Caye Caulker, little Wizards. Today is, sadly, my last full day here in Belize. The past few days here on the island have been a perfect balance of busy and relaxing. As I mentioned in my last blog post, I spent most of the day Tuesday out on a snorkeling tour. That tour was so amazing that I pretty much knew that I’d do it again before leaving Belize. However, I got really sunburned out on that first tour, particularly on my back, so I decided to take it easy on Wednesday to give my body a chance to relax and heal up a bit before getting back out under the sun.

            I spent pretty much all day Wednesday embracing “island life” here on Caye Caulker- walking around and getting a feel for the little island, going to the beach for a while, trying some local food (of course there’s plenty of great seafood here, but I’m surprised that barbecue chicken is also really popular), and reading in a hammock up on my hostel’s rooftop. At first I felt a little guilty about not spending the day in a more productive day, but then I remembered that hey, I’m on vacation- it’s okay to spend the day just relaxing. By the end of the day Wednesday I was still definitely feeling my sunburn from the day before, but I wanted to book another snorkeling tour for the next day anyway. I knew my back would be feeling sore for the next few days, and if I didn’t do another snorkeling tour out on the reef before leaving, I’d regret it. So I went down and talked to the super helpful hostel staff, who booked me on the day long tour for Thursday and took my deposit and lunch order.

            Thursday morning, after making breakfast, getting back into my swimsuit, putting on PLENTY of sunscreen, and putting on a shirt that I could just keep on all day to add a little extra sun coverage, I was picked up again a little after ten and driven down to the waterfront, where we paid our remaining balance and collected our snorkeling gear. I could immediately tell that this tour would have more people than the one I did on Tuesday. That one had only four guests including me, while the one yesterday ended up having eleven. I was super happy, though, when I learned that this tour would have Jose as our guide, who was also my guide on Tuesday. I’d told him on Tuesday that I’d probably come back and do this again before leaving, and I’d been hoping that I’d get him as a guide again since he was so great the first time.

            Of course on this tour I already knew what to expect since I’d done it only two days before, but that didn’t detract from the experience in the slightest. If anything, I think my tour yesterday might have been even better than the first one. It seemed like there were even more nurse sharks than on Tuesday’s tour; there were easily twenty of them swimming around us. Some were only about four feet long, others were up to about nine. Some of them even allowed me to touch them! It was definitely one of my all time favorite travel experiences. I brought my underwater camera with me yesterday, and I’m going to look through the pictures and videos when I get back home, so there should be another blog post with more pictures coming after I get back to the states.

            Thankfully I was much more conscious of the sun yesterday than on my first tour; I reapplied sunblock several times and left my shirt on the entire time, so I didn’t get nearly as burned as on Tuesday. We got back to the dock at around five o’clock, and, after returning my gear and getting a couple of pictures with Jose, I walked back to my hostel. I’d picked up some food from the local supermarket on Wednesday, so last night I just made dinner up on the rooftop kitchen here at Travelers Palm Hostel. By the time I’d made dinner and sat down to eat, it was dark; the sun sets really early here! We’re not too far from the equator, so it’s usually dark before seven in the evening! 

            After eating dinner I was sitting up on the rooftop when I heard some people staying here talking about playing Ring Of Fire, a drinking game I played several times with the other WSP volunteers in Gansbaai. They asked if I wanted to play a round with them, and I said sure. I spent the next couple of hours sitting up there with about ten other people from all over the world- Canada, England, Germany, Chile, Australia and more- playing Ring Of Fire, laughing, and chatting. One of the many lessons I’ve learned from traveling is that transient relationships can still be very meaningful. I only spent a couple of hours with those hostel mates, and when I leave tomorrow I’ll probably never see any of them again. But that’s okay, because for that short amount of time we made each other’s experience here in Belize a little bit better. 

             Today has been another pretty chill day here on the island. It’s consisted mostly of going to breakfast at a little restaurant right by the beach, doing a little more walking around this little town, picking up a few souvenirs, and some more relaxing up on the rooftop. In less than 24 hours, I’ll be on a plane back to Houston, and then another back home to San Antonio. This little vacation was exactly what I needed after the past few months, and I’m pretty sad that it’s almost over. But I think I made the most of my time here on Caye Caulker; that second snorkeling tour would have to be my favorite part of the whole thing. I definitely think I made the right choice by coming to Belize. Snorkeling in that reef was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced! See you tomorrow, San Antonio. This post’s food for thought: “The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea.”- Isak Dinesen 

You Better Belize It!

View from my tiny flight to Caye Caulker

I took this picture from the second to last row!

The view from my hostel's rooftop. Hard to complain

                      Greetings from Belize! I got in yesterday afternoon, but decided not to make a blog post since I’d just made one the day before and didn’t have too much news to report. Yesterday and today have been a whirlwind of planes, boats, and island life! Flying from San Antonio to Houston and Houston to Belize City was a breeze, as flying usually is for me. I’ve heard a lot of travelers say that their least favorite part of traveling is flying itself, and everything that comes with it (feeling rushed, going through security, delays, etc.). I actually don’t mind flying, aside from one aspect of it: one of my ultimate travel pet peeves is when I see people being rude to airport and airplane staff. Almost every time I fly, I see someone arguing with or complaining to TSA agents, gate agents, and especially flight attendants. Never fails to annoy me.

            On the flight from Houston to Belize City, I was a little anxious about making my third flight, from Belize City to Caye Caulker. I had just under an hour layover in Belize City, and since it was my first point of entry into Belize, I’d have to pick up my checked bag, go through customs, recheck my bag, pick up my boarding pass, and get to my gate in that time. Thankfully, the flight was actually a little early getting into Belize City, and I was able to snag a seat on the second row of the plane, so I was one of the first people off. Customs wasn’t very busy so that only took about ten minutes, and the Belize City airport is pretty small, so I rechecked my bag and got to my gate with time to spare. The flight from Belize City to Caye Caulker was an experience in and of itself! The plane was REALLY small- it was the smallest plane I’ve been on, not including the one I went skydiving out of. I was one of twelve passengers, the plane had five rows, wasn’t even big enough to stand up in, and the flight took all of ten minutes.

            From the Caye Caulker airport (and I use the term “airport” very lightly- it was more like a stand that we went to to pick up our bags after walking off the runway) I just walked to my hostel. This island is really small, so most people get around by bike, golf cart, or plain old walking. After getting a little turned around and asking for directions, I got to my hostel at around 5 pm Belize time. I’m in an eight bed mixed dorm here at my hostel, though I think right now it’s all girls staying in here. After putting my bags down and relaxing for a little while, I went out to get some dinner. Since the island is so small, I didn’t do any planning or researching about restaurants- I just basically walked around until I saw a place that I thought looked good. I sat up on the rooftop of the restaurant (I don’t even remember what it was called), and the meal mainly consisted of enjoying the beautiful view of the ocean, being thoroughly amused by reggae covers of pop songs, and chatting with my waitress about the island. I also got the classic “why isn’t your husband traveling with you” question that I’ve been asked in every single country I’ve visited. That question used to bother me, but I’ve gotten used to it and accepted that it’s mostly due to cultural differences that people ask that. Honestly, it sometimes amuses me when I see people’s shocked reactions to learning that I’m single.

            This morning after breakfast here at the hostel I went downstairs and spoke with the hostel staff about booking a snorkeling tour. I’d heard some of my roommates mention that they’d recently done one that was booked by the hostel and loved it. I booked the all-day tour and, along with Patricia, another one of my roommates from Chile who’d also booked a tour today, was picked up (in a golf cart) a little after ten by someone with the tour company. I think the snorkeling tour warrants a blog post all for itself- if I tried to put it in this one, it’d be ten pages long! But I’ll just say that it was one of my top five favorite travel experiences of my life, and I’m almost positive that I’ll be signing up for another one before I leave! I’m pretty sunburned, so I’ll probably take it easy tomorrow and enjoy being on island time. I’ll do another snorkeling tour either Thursday or Friday, and that’s all I really know about the remainder of my trip so far. That’s all for now, little Wizards! Another blog post will hopefully be coming in a day or two. This post’s food for thought is a quote I’ve used before, but I just have to use it again because it’s so true: “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.”- Freya Stark

See You Soon, Belize!

One of my favorite pictures from round one of South Africa. Can't wait to return to the ocean! 

            Hello again little Wizards. It’s less than 24 hours until I board my flights to Belize, so time for one final blog post! This will probably be a shorter one- like I said, I have less than 24 hours until I leave and I still haven’t packed! It seems like now, at the beginning of each trip that I take, I realize how much I’ve grown and learned throughout my travels. I used to be the girl who started packing a week in advance and would pack seven outfits for a four day trip. Now, I pack the day before leaving and will probably bring three or four outfits for this five day trip. Overpacking is one of the most common beginner travel mistakes- a lot of first time travelers will go on to realize that they don’t need half of what they’re bringing!

            As I mentioned in my last blog post, I’m pretty sure this is the least planned out trip I’ve ever taken, and I’m actually really looking forward to that aspect of it! Just “winging it” can be scary if you’re not an experienced traveler, but now that I have a decent amount of solo travel experience, the idea of not having plans is super freeing. I love the idea of just showing up, walking around the island (fun fact- there are no cars on Caye Caulker), and finding the hidden gems that pretty much all destinations have if you’re willing to look for them. Based on the pictures and videos I’ve seen on Belize, I can predict that the majority of the trip will consist of snorkeling and swimming around the reef, relaxing on the beach, and eating a lot of seafood- and after months of working a lot and not having much relaxation time, that sounds like just what I need!

            I’ve looked up the weather in Belize for the time I’ll be there, and it sounds like just about perfect beach weather- sunny/partly cloudy with temperatures around 80 degrees. I’m definitely packing plenty of high SPF sunscreen since I know I’ll need it. I’ve heard that lobster is one of the main dishes I need to try in Belize, but I’d prefer to not also become a lobster while I’m there!

            It seems like my last couple of blog posts have been on the longer side, and I suppose I should start packing, so I’ll end this post here. I’ll be landing in Belize in just about 24 hours- super excited for my next ocean adventure! This post’s food for thought: “There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.”- Charles Dudley Warner

Exciting News! Next Trip Announcement

            Hello, little Wizards! I know my last post was a really sad one, and like I mentioned at the end of it, I do have another trip coming up- now it’s just a few days off- so it’s time for some happier news! I didn’t mention this here on the blog, but I switched jobs back in September- DEFINITELY the right decision- and because of that I knew that I’d have to focus more on smaller, shorter trips that didn’t involve volunteering or working in other places, but rather just exploring and the more typical style of traveling that I haven’t done a lot of. I’m not saying that I’m giving up volunteering abroad or long term traveling as a whole, it’s just not something that I’ll be able to do for a while. I also knew, of course, that my itchy feet wouldn’t let me go completely travel free for a long time, so back in early March, I booked my flights to my next destination!

            I went back and forth for a while about which country I wanted to visit next. Like I said, I knew I wouldn’t be able to go for a long time so I wanted to pick a place not too far away so it wouldn’t take too long to get there. That meant I mainly had my eye on the Caribbean or Central America. I went to both Costa Rica and Cancun last year (I didn’t blog my trip to Cancun since it was just a vacation and I wanted to disconnect for a while), and while I loved both of those places, I wanted to try somewhere different for this trip. I’ve always really loved the ocean and any destination that gives me access to it is especially appealing in my book. I’d been hearing about Belize from friends and family for a few years- a couple of my zoo friends have been on trips there, and two years ago my sister and brother in law spent their honeymoon there- and some travel Youtubers that I follow have also recently talked about trips there that they’ve loved. I was also considering some other destinations, but after looking up some pictures of Belize and learning that it has the second largest coral reef in the world, I officially made the decision to go there next. Now, two months after booking the flights, the trip is nearly here- I leave in four days!

            Usually before a trip, I’ll post a rough itinerary of what my time there will look like. With this trip, I actually have very little officially planned out, but here’s what I know so far. This upcoming Monday, May 6^th, I fly out of San Antonio a little after noon. After changing planes in Houston, I land in Belize City at 3:45 pm Belize time- they’re one hour earlier than SA time. About an hour later, I have a very small flight- it’s literally scheduled to take ten minutes- from Belize City to Caye Caulker, the island where I’ll be spending the majority of my time in Belize. I’ve booked in for the five nights of my trip at the Travellers Palm Backpackers Hostel in Caye Caulker. This will be the seventh hostel that I’ll be staying at in the nearly four years that I’ve been traveling internationally- I’ve stayed at three in South Africa, one in Peru, one in Costa Rica, and one in Amsterdam. I’ve had a lot of really interesting and memorable experiences while staying in hostels, and overall I’ve really loved my time spent in them- my two favorites would probably be Atlantic Point in Cape Town and Dutchies Hostel in Amsterdam.

            Like I mentioned, I’ll be staying in Belize for five nights, all of them on Caye Caulker. On Saturday, May 11 shortly after noon I’ll be getting another very short flight from Caye Caulker back to Belize City, then flying out of there at 3:45. After again changing planes in Houston, I’ll arrive back home in San Antonio at 10 pm- thankfully I have the next day off work to do some recuperating!

            Other than the flights and hostel stay, I don’t have anything at all booked or officially planned out for my five days in Belize. I’ve done some online research about things to do on Caye Caulker, and written down some recommendations from my sister and brother in law. I think this will probably be a very simple trip- my guess is it’ll consist mostly of swimming in the ocean, snorkeling among sharks (yup, that’s a very popular draw there) and other reef life, and relaxing on the beach. Just based on the pictures I’ve seen on the internet, the water around Belize is some of the clearest, bluest you’ll ever see, and yes, snorkeling among the nurse sharks, rays, sea turtles, manatees, and other ocean life is one of the most popular things to do there. I’ve also gotten recommendations from people about where and what to eat in Belize and other little tips like that, but I think the majority of my time will be spent in and around the water. I’ll be bringing my underwater camera with me on this trip so hopefully I can get some nice pictures to share here in the blog. Obviously, as usual, my laptop will be coming with me and I’ll make at least two or three blog posts during my time there.

            Thinking about my plan for this upcoming trip really makes me think about how I’ve changed and progressed since I first started traveling solo a few years ago. With my first international trip, I had pretty much every detail of those nine weeks planned out- I knew where I was staying for each and every night, what I was going to be doing, how I was going to get from one place to the other, where I needed to be at what time, everything. I thought that was the way to do it. Now, nearly four years and six international trips later, it’s a very different story. I’ve learned that you don’t have to plan out every minute of your trip- and in fact, it’s often best that you don’t. Opportunities pop up all the time while traveling that you don’t foresee, and it’s nice to have the ability to say yes, which you can only do if you aren’t tied down with other plans. Over the past few years, I’ve learned a lot and grown confident enough in being a solo traveler that I find having an open schedule while traveling very freeing rather than scary.

            Well, that’s about all I have to say in this post! Hopefully I’ll make one more blog post before I actually leave for Belize. Four days and counting! This post’s food for thought: “Nostalgia in reverse, the longing for yet another strange land, grows especially strong in spring.”-Vladimir Nabokov

The Blog Post I Wish I Didn't Have To Write

Beth and me on a wine tasting on round one of South Africa

One of several visits to Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa

The evening we spent hanging out on the cliffs of De Kelders watching the sunset

This was one of my absolute favorite days in Africa

Beth and Cake- two of my favorite people I've met while traveling

June 2018, at a braai with Beth, Lizzy and some of the WSP crew

            Hey, little Wizards. I know that my blog has been dormant since I returned from my third trip to South Africa back in June, so sorry for the long silence- been busy with non-travel related life. I wish I could reawaken my blog with better news, but unfortunately this will probably- no, definitely- be the saddest blog post I’ve ever had to write. As the title says, I wish I didn’t have to make this post. But I’ve been sitting on this information for over four months now, and I’ve only talked about it with one person in that time- it’s past time to make this post. I know a lot of other people that I’ve met through volunteering at White Shark Projects already know this, but the majority of people that read this blog probably don’t, so here goes.

            Way back in May 2015, I began my first trip to Africa, which would be truly life changing. Not only did I have countless amazing, unforgettable experiences and learn so much, but I met people that would turn into lifelong friends despite the many different backgrounds that we all came from. Two of the best and most important people that I met on that trip were Lizzy and Beth- if you’ve kept up with my blog for a while, you’ll probably recognize those names. Lizzy and Beth were two best friends from Wales who spent two weeks volunteering at White Shark Projects with me- that summer was my first time volunteering with the project, their second time. Even though I only spent two weeks with them that summer, in that time we grew very close and by the time the two weeks were over, they felt like some of my best friends. I have a lot of memories with Lizzy and Beth from that first summer together- some of my favorites include snorkeling among the kelp in Hermanus when I caught the shyshark with my bare hands, playing very intense games of flunkyball in the backyard, and sitting in a circle in the candlelit main room of the volunteer house during power outages playing and singing along to American Idiot. When the two weeks were up and Lizzy and Beth headed back home, we exchanged contact information and promised to keep in touch and to come back and volunteer at WSP together again- and in March of 2017, we made that happen. It was so wonderful to see Lizzy, Beth, and our other friend Cake again, and in a lot of ways that trip was even better than the first because not only did we get to work with the sharks again, but we were reunited with each other. Even though we hadn’t seen each other in a year and a half, from the moment we were reunited at the volunteer house in Gansbaai, it was as if no time at all had passed- we just picked up right where we left off. Again, just like in 2015, even though Lizzy and Beth were only able to stay for two weeks, the fact that we were all living in a house together and spending almost every minute together brought us even closer as friends. I already considered Lizzy and Beth some of my best friends, and that second trip just cemented that. By the end of our second time volunteering together, it was just an unspoken agreement among the four of us that we would return to volunteer together again- and sure enough, this past summer, we did just that. In June of 2018, Lizzy, Beth, Cake and I were reunited in Cape Town on our first full day back in South Africa, and we spent another wonderful two weeks together. I’ve documented all of these trips in previous blog posts, so I won’t go into too much detail about them in the interest of not making this post too long. By the end of Lizzy and Beth’s two weeks at WSP in June of last year, we’d only spent a total of six weeks together over about the last three years, but it felt like much longer since we always kept in touch when we weren’t together and, like I said, when we were volunteering together we were around each other almost every minute. When Lizzy and Beth left in 2018, I gave each of them a big hug and said, “I’ll see you next time.” I didn’t say goodbye since I knew that with them it wasn’t goodbye, it was just see you next time. I never would’ve guessed that it was the last time I’d ever see Lizzy or Beth. Sadly, I was wrong.

            I don’t want to go into details about exactly what happened, but on December first, near her home in the UK, Beth was involved in an accident and was killed. She was 28.

            Beth wasn’t super active on social media and no one posted about the event for a while, so I didn’t even know about the accident until a couple of weeks after it happened. When I first found out, I felt like I was in shock for several days. I found myself reading the news articles again and again, hoping that I’d just read it wrong or that it was all a mistake and the next time I’d get on Facebook I’d see a post from her explaining that it was all wrong.

            Even though, like I said earlier, I only spent a combined total of about six weeks with Beth in the three years or so that I knew her, she really felt like one of my best friends. When I last saw her in Cape Town when I went with Jerome, Jess, and Loryn into the city and had lunch with her and Lizzy before they flew out that evening, I felt totally certain that I’d see her again- I didn’t even consider the possibility that that really was “goodbye”.

            Beth was one of the most unique and selfless people I’ve ever met. At home in the UK, she worked for the Welch Refugee Council, an organization that works to help asylum seekers and refugees in Wales. One memory of Beth that I’ll always hold onto happened on the first full day of our most recent trip to South Africa, as the four of us were walking around Cape Town. As we were walking around the city, a child that was probably homeless came up to us asking if we could spare any money. People asking for money on the street is a pretty common thing in Cape Town, but the fact that this was a child made us stop and pay a bit more attention. Beth was the main one that stepped up in this situation- instead of giving the child money, she took her hand and led her into a little convenience store on the corner of the street. She told the girl to grab a basket and pick out any food and items that she needed, and the girl spent at least twenty minutes leading Beth around the store picking items off the shelves. When this little shopping spree was done, Beth paid for everything, handed the bags to the girl, then patted her on the back, told her to take care, and said goodbye. That’s just the way she was.

            That’s really all I wanted to say in this blog post. I do have another trip coming up pretty soon- in about two weeks- so I hope to update the blog again soon with much happier news. But it took a long time for me to feel okay about writing this post, and I didn’t want to update the blog with anything else before sharing this sad news. Beth, our friendship was one for the books and was absolutely life changing, but it ended way too soon. This post’s food for thought: “Everyone leaves footprints in your memory, but the ones that leave footprints in your heart are the ones you will truly remember.”- Nicholas Sperling