Happy Birthday To Me :)

Overlooking the volcanoes and city of Antigua in Guatemala

I'm writing this the day before my 27th birthday and I finally feel like I'm happy again since my husband went back to the States. After he left Antigua, I spent five days on the Pacific coast in El Salvador and a long weekend in Leon, Nicaragua. Now I'm finally on Little Corn Island and I can say it's for sure worth the effort to get out here. 

This 1.5 square km island is on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua and required me to pull an all-nighter to reach here the day before my birthday so I can wake up tomorrow and just relax. I'm writing "journal style", that is, with an actual pencil and notebook. Beyond me the view is simply incredible (not what's pictured above, though that was beautiful too, but it's from our last weekend in Antigua together). Outside the back porch of my guesthouse in Little Corn, tropical green shrubbery grows abound with palm trees fringing the edge of the yard.

To the front of the hotel are rocking chairs facing the calm Caribbean sea. The best feature about where I'm staying (Lobster Inn, $20/night) is its spacious balcony around the property. It's very relaxing, breezy, and makes up for the expensive flight and terrifying 40 minute open-water panga ride. I was quite nervous as the waves were almost as big as those we encountered on the ferry from Honduras to Belize except this time the boat was considerably smaller.

Here in Little Corn there are no cars or roads, just pathways and nature trails. Wheelbarrows are common to carry heavy items and locals speak English with a fun Caribbean accent. After walking around and booking myself a 90 minute massage for my birthday, I promptly fell asleep for a four hour siesta before having dinner with two girls, an American and Austrian (who's celebrating her birthday today) that I recently met.

My husband left me a birthday present (I can tell it's some sort of book) all wrapped up with a t-shirt and medical tape before he left. Ahh the wrapping paper of travellers! I haven't peeked at all so far but I don't think I'll be able to hold out til tomorrow when I wake up, I might only be able to wait until the clock strikes midnight. Oh my god the mosquitos are eating me alive so it's time to go. Last thing I want is to wake up tomorrow with giant welts everywhere.

Good night world. When you read this tomorrow I'll be one year older, officially in my late twenties. How weird is that...

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Snorkelling with Sharks & Stingrays in Belize

Get ready for lots of photos! We started our day with Carlos Tours in Caye Caulker and after boating for about 30 minutes we made our first stop where, to my happy surprise, we saw turtles immediately upon turning off the motor. These animals have quickly become one of my favourites and I loved how they swam about with complete indifference to me tagging along.  

The water was shallow, clear, and visibility was incredible. After snorkelling in Honduras, which I thought was good, I was blown away by how much better the reef is in Belize. The wildlife is truly abundant and, I noted before, makes you feel very small as you realize you're just a temporary visitor in this part of the world.

The Mayan Ruins of Caracol

I can't put my finger on it, but there's something about traipsing through ancient ruins that makes me feel very small. I guess it just puts everything in perspective making me realize how many thousands of years humans have been around before me and how the species will do just fine continuing to exist long after I'm gone. It makes me feel small but part of something bigger at the same time. 

Visiting the Mayan ruins of Caracol in western Belize has been one of my favourite experiences so far in Central America. Our day started at 7am in San Ignacio in front of the PACZ tour office on Burns Avenue. My sister arrived the afternoon before and it was so nice to see her smiling face again. Everyone meet my little sister Rachelle!

Back to the ruins -- 14 of us piled into a van with our knowledgeable guide Bruce to begin our bumpy two and a half hour journey into the Chiquibul Forest Reserve. "It's going to get worse before it gets better!" Bruce warned. "Only the last 10 km before Caracol is paved road." He was an excellent driver though and navigated our van through muddy terrain that others weren't able to pass through. "Good thing we didn't rent a car," I muttered to Rachelle since that was our original plan.