Vacation in Belize

Let me just say it was a crazy, fun, tiring, overwhelming, relaxing, adventurous, inviting, challenging, breath taking, hot, refreshing, annoying (bugs), and amazing time I have ever had traveling in Guatemala.
Our trip to the port to catch our boat was air conditioned and very relaxing. I was amazed at how quick the time went by. But then we met a man on the shore who invited us to ride with him on his boat so we did. I jokingly mentioned if he had a number on the back of his boat, in case he was a terrible driver. We all laughed and he mentioned his number was on the ticket we received. Taking off we noticed it was a little rocky and the waves were coming over the boat pretty consistently. The boat was packed with luggage in the front and an old fashioned type writer (just waiting to lift off in my face). After fifteen minutes of hitting waves going 45 miles an hour we weren't laughing anymore. The waves started getting bigger and bigger. As we approached the midpoint of our ride we were climbing nine feet waves and slamming down on the water. Our bench we were holding onto broke. The screws had come out of their sockets and the next thing we know the boat is falling apart all around us. We were both so terrified we knew nothing else but to laugh our heads off as we hit. A lady right behind us shouted Son-of-------- and we both looked at each other and agreed. One little old black lady in the back was just completely drenched in salt water and sitting there dazed with her shawl on. It was an awful ride and yet we somehow survived with only bruised tail bones and achy muscles. I looked at Marika and asked if she still had her ticket to call his company. We both laughed.
We stayed with a New Yorker/Hippie named Tricia. She had owned a few jazz clubs in her younger days and now at 52 she wanted to retire on the beaches of Hopkins in central Belize. She had story after story of all the times she spent traveling and marrying men as she went on her adventures to find love. Truly, I believe she is still searching for a love that won't fade or get boring. She was one lady who needed lots of love and gave it generously. I enjoyed sitting and listening to her tell about her adventures. The longer we stayed the more stories we heard of her getting taken advantage of by everyone. It started to get a little depressing and you wanted to take her home with you in your suit case.
Marika is my friend here at Inn Ministries, who went with me on this adventure and she is always full of good times. We had plenty of interesting moments of strange characters and wild stories. I felt like we were captured by a pirate ship and meet others who had been there too. It was quite a combination of laying out, eating amazing sea food and getting caught in a conversation you wished you really weren't apart of after listening to a 15 year old talk about all the drugs his "friends at school do" while his dad ties his own shirt in knots around his body because he is completely wasted on Rum.
We enjoyed our time with the kids in the village and it was a very poor village. These beautiful people did nothing but sit in front of their homes and talk. They lived off the land and basically did drugs. Not too safe of a town after leaving it. We left Hopkins and decided to head to Livingston. I was thankful we did because the night before we left Tricia's neighbors had a fight and the woman kept yelling "Your a liar and a liar and a liar Jasper!" over and over again. I slept about five minutes that night. When we got to Livingston, we were immediately greeted by this street guy named Alejandro. He talked with us for awhile and asked us if we wanted to find a good hotel. We were like yeah thanks.... then he proceeded to tell us he needed to get his wife. We were like oh... that's cool he has a wife. He pulls up on his bike and we realize he was talking about his bike. Very nice! So needless to say we found him pretty funny and he was helping us a ton because he was dirt poor and wanted something to eat. Later we fed him but he got a little annoying and we had to tell him goodbye after showing us a dance club on the beach. It just wasn't a dance night. Once we got back to our room we noticed all these ants on my bed. I was pretty grossed out but was willing to sleep with them. After five minutes of sitting on our beds we noticed Marika had big brown bugs all over her bed post. Well that was enough for us and when they started flying we had to wake up the Hotel operator and get a different room. It was a crazy night but we laughed and laughed about our crazy times. After receiving fifty bug bites on each foot and ten on each arm we were ready to head back to the mountains of San Cristobal. The sand flies in those areas at this time of year were unbelievable. It was so terrible we had to go to a pharmacy and get some cream to stop the itching. Our road trip back was hot because we rode in a luxury bus that was not so luxurious anymore without air conditioning. We left on buses at 11:00 and arrived at 8:00 that night. What a day! I was thankful to see the beautiful Sea but I was more excited to move into my new home. Vacations are wonderful but everyday life is sometimes more relaxing. :) I am thankful for prayers because it kept us safe traveling through some of those towns.