Today, Patrick (my guide) and I went off to see Xunantunich, the second-largest Mayan ruin in Belize. It’s not one of the big Mayan sites–Tikal, 2.5 hours away in Guatemala, is supposedly much more impressive–but it was damn impressive nonetheless. One massive stone temple, at least 4 stories high, a large courtyard, and several partially [...]
I have turned into a crazed iguana stalker.
Iguanas, you see, live in trees. I had never realized this before, having only seen them in terrariums, and, hilariously, once in a kiddie wading pool at the International Reptile Breeders’ Association show in San Diego…there were dozens of baby iguanas skittering around the bottom of the wading [...]
This is fascinating. Sand dollars are actually very flat sea urchins (weird, eh?). The rough “hairs” are actually miniature spines (sea urchin spines), and they have little tube feet they use to walk around and keep from getting buried. The hole in the center is a very powerful mouth, and the five little “doves” that [...]
Went diving this morning. The reef is GORGEOUS–lots of coral everywhere, moray eels, bright yellow-and-blue fish that flash as they swim by, schools of tiny electric blue fish. Sea fans, purple tube-like coral, brain coral, big lobsters with wavy antennae, small coral shrimp, and eagle rays flapping by. Awesome, awesome experience. (The Similan Islands were [...]
Just a short note to say that I made it to Hopkins, a sleepy little town near Dangria, in the central coast of Belize, and am going diving tomorrow. I plan to dive for the next three days, then move on to San Ignacio in western Belize–but haven’t really decided yet. I may well decide [...]
I’ll apologize in advance if I’m a little incoherent today. After last night’s roach episode, I did eventually get to sleep, but under the circumstances slept rather less well than usual, and I’m still a bit frazzled. (I have been trying to convince myself that a roach is simply a beetle, and a two-inch beetle [...]
I arrived in Belize City at 8pm last night, well after dark, and took a taxi straight to the guesthouse. It turned out to be a ratpit, but as I was only going to be there one night, and one does not wander around Belize City after dark, I resigned myself to the wind blowing [...]
Sometimes it seems like all of Belize is burning.
As I rode the bus from Punta Gorda to Belize City, every few miles we would pass another fire. Charred stumps, withering branches, a small bush crumpling slowly into flames–and everywhere the char, seared earth and dying coconut palms. Even at night, plumes of white smoke rise [...]
I did meet with Belize’s Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries today. (He’s also the area representative for Toledo district.)
I had just about dismissed the whole thing as the made-up story of a delusional old man (he’d be neither the first nor the last such person I’ve met), but he turned up this morning with [...]
Thank you, AIDS Lifecycle, for transforming my relationship with sweat.
Once upon a time, I regarded sweat as dirty, icky, and generally to be avoided. Then I signed up for the AIDS Ride, and started training. 2,000 miles of cycling later, I finished up in LA, weary, windburned, and triumphant–and with a rock-solid understanding of sweat. [...]