The Kenny Chesney, Corona Endorsed, War Zone

(Wrote this several days ago - there is much more to come!)

So, I have officially arrived in Belize.  All I have to say is that...

It's AMAZING.

When we arrived I thought we were going to land in a jungle.  Rivers, crazy trees, animals, and dirt roads.  It was awesome.

We took a taxi (1980's Chevy Malibu station wagon) into Belize City, which was pretty much amazing.  We were driving on a two lane highway with a jungle to our right and the Carribean Sea to our left - was really just completely unbelievable.

Our very nice taxi driver dropped us off at the water taxi station, and left us a man similar to Flava Flav.  We had an hour in the waiting room, which was spent watching The Weather Channel and brushing up on Gustav facts .  We accomplished a lot more during this hour as well.  Lauren got a new boyfriend, and I purchased warm chopped mango from a street vendor who had somehow wandered into the waiting room.  Probably wasn't the smartest thing I did that day, but it was definitely delicious.

Next was the water taxi, which was a pretty exciting experience.  Essentially, there were about 50 people loaded into a giant speedboat.  It took us about an hour and a half to arrive in San Pedro, but we finally did it!  We walked off of the dock and made our way through the sandy streets with suitcases in tow.  It wasn't an easy task, and it made us sweat a WHOLE lot (it's WAY hot here), but we made our way crosstown on foot despite the dozen offers from taxi cab and golf cart drivers.

We're staying at a smart budget hotel called Ruby's, which is absolutely adorable.  We opted for a slightly more expensive room so that we could have air conditioning and an ocean front you - and it's definitely work it.  I kid you not, when you step out onto our balcony, you feel like you're in a Kenny Chesney/Corona magazine ad.  This place is beautiful.

We immediately showered, and then Lauren took a brief nap while I located the nearest internet cafe and caught up on e-mails.  When I got back, we decided to go out for an early dinner at Blue Moon.  We made friends with our server, Juan, who told us great stories about people snorting salsa like cocaine and helping 14 year old girls drink underage.  In addition to these wonderful stories, I must say that this place had GREAT mexican food and absolutely superb salsa.  It made my eyes water, but it was too good to let that stop me.  I also purchased a margarita from Juan, which was definitely the best margarita I have ever tasted in my life.

Next we took a walk down the beach.  Lauren practiced her spanish on two eight year old little boys - they were discussing a dead blowfish. They we met a guy named Wicked who was carrying a fish that he had just caught out of the ocean.  He was rushing home to fry it up - sounds delicious.

That's all of my updates for today - going swimming with stingrays and sharks tomorrow.  I will keep you all posted!