hiya:)

am about to hop onto a ferry. Tino and Ulrike left for Orange Walk yesterday... we left san ignacio, Tino's mom, sister, brother in law, and two kids yesterday..

spent a few hours in belmopan and then headed to the zoooooooooo. The zoo was wild... litterally


saw animals that i didn't know existed... ulrike and i got to hold a rattle snake... she ended up licking my armpit... wierd.

Am now in Belize City.. spent the morning walking around "downtown" and will head off to Caye Calker today for some snorkeling and beach time:)

oooooooooooookkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

Lets try that again...

I'M IN BELIZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Land of the sugar cane (note picture above of sugar cane) and Marie Sharp`s hot sauce:


Landed in Orange Walk a couple of nights ago... had an interesting conversation with a homeless manHung out with Ulrike and Tino's extended family, learned to make tortillas by hand, went to a grade school and taught a class one morning... fun fun fun... talk about enthusiastic kids!!!!

Tino arrived from his Atole a few days later and then we headed out on an adventure! 1st we went to a "spa retreat" (promise that pictures will follow) went swimming and had juice...

then we went to a mayan ruin...


and landed later that evening in San Ignatio... have been hanging out... going to ruins... watching butterflys



and the interesting animals that are around... (note Ulrike feeding the toucan papaya at a local restaurant)

... tinos mom and sister have taught ulrike and i how to make corn tortillas and fry jack by hand...

have finally found a lonely planet for central america (i bought the fodders one... IT's TERRIBLE)

language here is mostly spanish, a little english, and more creole... i feel like im in New Brunswick!!!!

Mosquitos here are hungry... along with the "doctor fly"... the queen on the dollar bill here looks young and pretty... i think it's the portrait of her in 1980 before Belize became independant...

IM IN BELI

Hmmm... spent my first bus ride alone in Mexico talking to a Mexican grandmother and her 3month old granddaughter... arrived in Chetumal...


to discover yet another colonial town with yet another Carnival... stayed in a HUGE hostel... with absolutley no one in it.... headed to Mahahual the next day... the place is BEAUTIFUL!!!!



a little bizarre though... almost no restaurants... a few hotels... and all these cruise ships that come buy drop off their passengers and let them go snorkeling for the day... enjoying the warmth, the sun, and the sea:)

Ok.. back in Cancun... yesterday was windy... a little bit rainy and time for CARNIVAL...
It was fun.... little 2 year old girl drinking beer followed us around dancing with us... a little bizarre.

Cut bangs... came back to Cancun... went to see movie in spite of the cold weather.... ate all-you can eat shrimp and watched another CARNIVAL...

this one much bigger. Oscar heads back to DF tomorow... Im heading south to Chetumal to hang out a bit before heading to belize....

ciao for now

Wow... so Im back in Mexico... Cancun felt like Disneyland for Tourists... spooky...

spent the morning in the Hostel talking with a 60 year old Italian... reminded me of the gradfather in Little Miss Sunshine...

and then walked from the town centre to the Hotel Zone (14 km?)... and ate overpriced lobster.

Now we`re in Isla de las mujeres..


went to a Turtle Farm today that works on saving turtle eggs, incubating them, letting them grow for 1-2 years and then releases them...SAW TWO ALBINO TURTLES!!! very interesting... saw a very wierd looking lobster (supposedly a prehistoric one)

then went snorkeling... there are iguanas everywhere... i never know when I take a picture of one if Im about to get bit... because they stay so still... was swarmed by a large school of fish that seemed to think i had food... luckily they were not the kind with teeth:)

I like the sand a lot here... i think it may be the nicest softest sand Ive ever seen in my life... give it a 9.5.... Cancun sand scores a 5 partly because its fake

On my way to Cozumel to do some more diving and then will head down to the Belizian border... looks like I might actually make it to central america after all:)

Yikes... it's been a month already... my students have finished their final presentations and graduated... and I leave early EARLY EARLY monday morning for Cancun.

People have been asking me who I've been staying with for the last month so here's my house of happy people:

And my gang managed to squeeze in three birthdays and a housewarming all in the same night!!!

Behold the mighty chipmunk!!!!

Went for a hike today in the snow... and the ICE

FLOWERS!!! COUNT 'EM... 30!!!

Look... it's a picture of my folks.. they took me out for dinner:)

And this was the gang of "the almost alnighter eat-a-thon"

back to the snow and the cold