Glovers Reef

First, to Jordan and Isis, we feel the same way about you two! Thanks for making the first comment on our blog (my money was on my mom!). Also, thanks for keeping it real.

Ok, so our last update came from Sittee River, just before our foray out into the ocean. We`re happy that we did the Glover`s Reef trip (it was a bit of a splurge from our low budget trip).

We snorkeled at least twice everyday. It was amazing! We saw eels, and sharks and millions of parrotfish, surgeon fish, angel fish, trigger fish (Lisa is being a fish nerd so I`m gonna cut this off - the point is there were a ton of fish). We got stalked several times by huge barracudas, and Lisa developed a severe fear of them. To be fair, they are scary.They are definitely scarier than the street dogs at night! Especially when they group up in gangs of 3 or more and look are you with those yellow eyes...We were told to chase them and they will get scared and leave you alone. Torrie and another guy on our trip, Jared, tried this. It doesn`t work. It just makes them hungrier.

Probably the most amazing fish that we saw were the eagle rays. They can be huge, like the Manta Ray, and they come swimming - flying-  out of the deep blue water on the reefs` edges. Tor`s favourite was the giant spiny lobster, that was actually close to a meter long (no exaggeration, it was bigger than most dogs). We were so excited when we saw it clambering along on the bottom. We were also sad, because we don`t think anyone will ever believe us about how big it was. It is actually king of the deep.

Needless to say, our intentions to read multiple books each went straight out the mosquito net.

We were lucky to spend the week with a great group of people. We camped and potlucked all together and ate coconuts that Tor split open like a jungle man (his words, not mine). Perhpas the most enjoyable part was the car ride out to the bus junction when we piled ten people and ten people`s luggage and then some into a minivan.

We lit glorious campfires and roasted fresh fish and other treats (we even made homemade pizza!!) over the flames.

There were definitely some downsides though...maybe downside is the wrong word. Though the family that operates Glover`s Atoll Resort were pleasant enough to us, we were uncomfortable with the way the staff were spoken to and treated. The staff were so friendly and great, but there definitely seemed to be a superiority complex from the management. It has been a bit tough for us being so young and being able to travel through a country where most of the people we meet don`t have the same opportunities as
us, and this element of Glover`s exasperated this. Nonetheless, we had lots of fun with the staff, the other guests, and the family`s daughter. The endless snorkeling, warm water, and Caribbean sunsets weren`t bad either.

Also, humongous hermit crabs roam the island unchecked, and are fun to feed, race, etc.

Yesterday, after a long day on the road, we reached San Ignacio (Cayo), which is in the mountains near the Guatemalan border. This town is definitely a change up, there are lots of non-beach activities to do, which will be a great change-up for us. We are doing some planning today, and hope to see a few Maya ruins, and maybe do some caving and hiking! Last night, we joined a few of our island mates (there were 5 of us on Glover`s that all came to San Ignacio yesterday) for our first Tawainese-Belizean meal, which was really fun.

The tentative plan is to spend 3-4 days in the mountains, and then head south again.

Until next time,

Lisa and Torr

P.S. the computer we`re using has cheap internet, but unfortunately it doesn`t allow uploads of pictures. We`re looking into the best way to dump a heap of pictures (onto facebook or photobucket or something), and we`ll let you know when we figure that out.