Belize 1.5.26 - Last Morning

Last morning in Belize! I sat along the ocean for a bit to catch the sunrise before the bugs became too ad.

We talked about fitting in one more snorkel off the kayaks, but ended up laying low. Lily and I got in a beach run.

Left for the airport at 10. Once we checked in we had 30 minutes to wander the streets. Lily and I headed to a French bakery we had passed earlier in the week and it was legit! Owned by a French couple that worked the counter. Some of the better croissants we've had!

10-minute flight from San Pedro to Belize City. So beautiful!

Once we arrived we realized our bags did not and we did not have a tags. We weren't too worried - not many places for them to go and not much precious in them anyway, but after about 45 minutes, they showed up.

Sadly by conch was "conch-iscated" in security. Can you "Belize" it?!?  Hehe. Apparently I could only bring it home if I checked my bag. Racking my brain for theories, but I haven't come up with any. Oh well.

Poor Corey is having stomach issues so I am drinking my last Belikin of the trip alone. So darn good! Sorry Corey. Lily joined me for an overpriced margarita. Flight leaves in an hour for O'Hare. We have Smash Burger mapped out for the way home :)

Belize 1.4.26

Beautiful morning as usual! 

I then spent the next 3 hours on Zoom listening to the business pitches of the 2025 cohort of Innovation Scholars. So proud of these girls!

We decided to do one last visit to Harvest Cafe. Our favorite breakfast by far, and Caden really wanted to get the recipe for their iced mocha. We played Uno for the winner to be able to pick the activities for the evening, before deciding that we would just do everybody's activities since it is there last night here.

We then heard into town for gas, to check out the Artisan Market, and made one more stop at the Truck Stop to chill for a bit and watch the game.

Corey ended up winning best of 3.

Gia was the referee.

Caden and I held down the hammocks.

Can you find the iguana?

We ended the evening with a visit to El Norte. Gia drove us. Practicing up for turning 16 this year 😭

Hard to see, but these are geckos on the ceiling. Apparently 6 of them live behind the paddle. The one without the tail is named Michael and is the inspiration for the El Norte shirt.

Lily getting back to work behind the bar and getting Caden up-to-speed.

Rum punch anyone? Three shots in each one. Oye!

Gia's bartending shift started next as she whipped up some virgin pina coladas. 

Lily and her dad did a rum tasting review. Full video available on request :)

Our bar neighbors, Donny and Lisa, spun the wheel. Never spin the wheel. Next thing we knew Donny was buying all of us a shot.

After mastering the pina colada, Gia moved to opening Beliken. Her talent abounds.

Beautiful moon spotted. We all stood oceanside for a bit taking it in and trying to do it justice with a photo. 

Great last night!

Best part is seeing these three besties have so much fun together. Very grateful ❤️

Belize 1.3.26

Penultimate day! We headed out to snorkel this afternoon at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve.

After getting our bracelets from the park boat at Hol Chan, we geared up and hopped in.

The snorkeling was incredible! It felt like we were in Finding Nemo. We saw tiger fish, a moray eel, sea turtles, rainbow fish, and so many more. There was one point where we were swimming through these bright colored fish and they floated around us like being in a field with lightning bugs. Definitely highlight of the trip!

Corey and Caden with one of the sea turtles.

Lily and the two kinds of conch - the one in her left hand is Queen Conch and used for Ceviche and is on the menu at every restaurant here.

Me and Gigi :)

We then headed back to snorkel at Shark Ray Alley again. Plenty of stingrays and a few nurse sharks again. Moat stressful part was people around in putting their feet on the ocean floor. I was so worried they were getting stung by a tail of a stingray.

We headed home, took long, hit showers and then headed to Portofino for homemade pasta...and a couple bottles of wine.

Lily and "Momica"

Beautiful full moon

The new trend...toe lights.