It's Finally Here!

Last July, I started talking to an Air Force Reserves recruiter. It was funny, a bunch of people all sort of suggested the military at the same time and originally I thought, "Me? I don't think so." But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. So after a bunch of paperwork, I went to MEPS in October in SLC. MEPS is where they make sure you're not a gimp so you can join the military. It's like a really big physical, complete with pee tests, reading aloud, blood tests, hearing tests, vision tests, etc. After MEPS, there was a very LONG process of getting a flight physical, interviews, more paperwork, etc. On December 7, 2009, I enlisted. I have been waiting since that day to go to boot camp.

It has arrived.

Since I'm in the Reserves, I won't get shipped off to some random city. I already know my job, where I'll be stationed, etc. I also get to keep my current job (and still get paid while I'm not there!). I'm so lucky because I'll be working with some awesome people (I already know my commanding officers and stuff) and I'm absolutely stoked for the training and the job I'll have. There's a huge need for my field, so there's a lot of room for growth (in the military and in the civilian world). I can't say what it is, only that I think it's cool and I'm so proud to be able to be a part of it.

For all those people who were interviewed by the FBI because of me-thank you. I appreciate your help. For everyone that encouraged me and stuck with me through my freak-out moments (like for the advice on that cat-chewed poop bag Amanda!), thanks for calming me down. And a special thank you to Dan and Tino for running and doing push ups with me, even when I hated you for it.

I've been worrying and stressing about this moment for so long that now that it's here, I'm just really excited. I leave for San Antonio, TX on Tuesday, April 20th.

Family, you knew it was coming...I have mailed each of you write-your-favorite-airman kits. Please write! Anyone else that wants to write, it will be posted on my FB page at some point. I would love if you wrote and I promise to try to write anyone that writes me (except Michael who plans on sending embarrassing packages that will get me into trouble with the drill instructors).

This was not a decision made easily, but it feels like the right one. Boot camp is 8 1/2 weeks long and then I'll be in technical training for at least another 6 months. So, I'll be gone for a while; so no blogging until I'm allowed to use a computer again. :)

Trying to get ahead of the game with some M-16 practice.

Cave Tubing

Also at Jaguar Paw there was a place you could cave tube (complimentary of Karen, again). I'd seen pictures of other peoples' cave tubing experience and I was really looking forward to it. It was really fun! The water was really low so it was slow, but the cave was interesting and the rest of the river was really calm and quiet. I had a blast!
First, we had lunch (can't get enough of those rice and beans!) at this really pretty place right in between the zip line and the cave tubing trail.
Once the food was situation was taken care of (which was also gratis con Karen), we grabbed our tubes and our sexy construction worker helmets and headed down the trail. Now, this was a pretty long hike because you have to get to the starting point of the river (well, where WE were starting, anyway). I was loving the hike. I probably liked the hike as much as the tubing. Who doesn't love a romp through the jungle?!? I love all the plants and things.
We also checked out some smaller caves on the way. Our guides, Sam and Carlos, showed us different rock formations and told us stories (some true...some not so true).
A true story is that the local people believe demons and things live in caves and are afraid of them. For that reason, many of the caves went unexplored until around the 70's and 80's. Carlos actually does cave search and rescue, so he was able to provide lots of information about the area and it's exploration.
Finally we got to the start and we all linked together (the cave is pitch black without your light, so it's to make sure we don't get lost).

Kenyah, Edna, Me and Karen ready to start our cave tubing adventure.

The cave is huge! It took about 20 minutes to get through and then we floated down the river for about another 20 minutes until it was over. It was a perfect day and it was so pretty out there! I loved it!

Coming out of the cave. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm lookin' rough.

Zip Lining

Zip lining is something I've always associated with Costa Rica, never Belize. But man, Belize has an awesome zip line. You basically are zippin' high through the jungle on some long cables. Luckily we got to do it for free (Edna's friend, Karen, hooked us up) at a place called Jaguar Paw. Seriously, it's so freakin' fun. If you ever get a chance to do it, DO IT! I absolutely loved it! We got to do 10 lines and it was so cool. Kenyah did it with me and she was sort of hesitant at first, but she did all 10 lines. She was all about conquering those fears (though she did say she probably wouldn't do it again).
Kenyah and I get suited up by Hector, one of our guides.One of the new platforms they were putting up-they're high! You have to climb through the forest and a whole lot of stairs to start!

Here's Kenyah going on our practice zip...to make sure we wouldn't freak out.

Belize City

For half of our trip, we stayed in Belize City with Edna's sister Molly. Belize city is an interesting place. Most of the people are very poor and live in tiny shacks. But Molly has a really nice house.
This is Molly's house.
This is her neighbor's house. Most of the houses are on stilts for hurricanes. It's kind of a trip. There are some nicer spots that are geared more towards the tourists that roll in from the cruise ships. Mostly, it's near the water.There's also a place called Old Belize, which is a spot that conserves the heritage of Belize back in the old days. There's a museum, restaurant, etc. But the cool part of it is this beach with a huge slide and grass huts and stuff. It looks so fun! It's really pretty and people throw parties and weddings and stuff there.
We ate at the restaurant and it was so good! Here's Edna and her huge pina colada. I wish we could have stayed longer, but it closed early.

Belize Zoo

Before we went to Xunantunich, we stopped off at the Belize Zoo. It was really fun! It only cost us like $.50 each (Edna managed to convince them we were Belizean). We didn't have enough time to see everything, but I knew I wanted to at least see the jaguars. They were awesome!
I was cracking up because for every animal, there were funny signs talking about them.
We rushed around trying to fit in as many animals as possible.
All the animals were in their natural habitats, so they only had animals native to Belize. I loved all the jungle! I need to live somewhere green!

Kenyah goofing around.

Edna's neice Shawn, Edna, and Kenyah

Xunantunich

My favorite part of the entire trip was our expedition to Xunantunich. Xunantunich is about 5 different structures that date back around 200 to 900 AD by the Mayans. They say that up to 1,000,000 people lived there at one point. Xunantunich means "stone woman" because in about 1892, people started claiming they saw a ghost of a woman dressed in white with fiery eyes. Xunantunich is close to the Guatemalan border and when you climb to the top of the highest pyramid "El Castillo", you can see it. It takes about 2 hours to drive from Belize City to the ruins. You go through all these little villages. They're very interesting! Finally, we got to the river. The only way to get across is by a manually operated ferry...one car at a time. It was kind of a pain in the butt, but I guess they do that to try and keep the ruins sacred still...without having too many tourists at one time.People still swim, bathe and wash their clothes in this river. The day we arrived, Belizeans got in to the ruins for free. So my friend Edna and her niece Shawn argued with the guard for a while to try to convince him that Kenyah and I were Belizeans, too. He didn't buy it, but he did give us a discount. :) There is a small hike and when you get to the top, you just aren't prepared for it. It's beautiful and it takes your breath away.
Edna, Kenyah and Shawn were not interested in climbing to the top with me, so I had to go it alone. It really wasn't that hard of a climb. You just automatically start to think of the history and the sacrifices. I automatically get swept away.

(Yes, I know my hands are shakey and the videos stink. Operator error.)

I think I was so excited to see Xunantunich because of the carvings on the sides. They are so stinkin' cool! Those were my favorite part.

At the top, I met a man from (of all places) Houston. He was there with his guide and was really nice so we took each others' pictures and I made a new friend. Once I was finished dilly-dallying around, we checked out some of the other structures and there is also a building that houses 3 stelae.
I thought the trip to Xunantunich in Cayo was utterly and completely worth it. It's a long drive, but it's really fun to check out the villages and stuff along the way. But you can just feel the history here and try to imagine what life must have been like back then. The jungle is thick, but I was sure there was some virgin that ran through there trying to escape becoming a sacrifice!

You Betta Belize It!

Last week I went to Belize with a couple of my friends. My friend Edna is Belizean and she invited Kenyah and I to go for a visit with her. It was amazing! I know what you're thinking...Belize...Belize...Where the hell is Belize? Pretty much I just knew it was in the middle...somewhere. In that long linky part between Mexico and South America. Belize is South of Mexico and East of Guatemala. Belize used to be part of Guatemala and then declared it's independence in 1981. Guatemala's pissed. Anyway...enough politics, on with the trip. This is a map of Belize so you can get an idea of where stuff is.We flew into Belize City, which is questionable. It's a metropolis by Belize standards, which-by the way-the whole country has only 310,000 people. There will be a Belize City post a little later because we drove straight through it and hopped on a ferry to head to San Pedro, an island off the coast. The ferry ride is about an hour long. Once you get there, it's white sandy beaches and not a care in the world.That picture pretty much says it all.

We headed to our hotel, Banana Beach Resort. It was nice, but as soon as we got there, my friend Kenyah and I headed straight for the beach. Wouldn't you?
We spent lots of time here...beach, cool breeze, hammock, Kindle...it was heavenly. For the record, SPF 30 isn't enough here. Apparently you need at least 55. (I learned this the hard way.)

San Pedro is a pretty small island. Not very many people can afford much gas, let alone cars (third world country, folks) so everybody there either rides bikes or golf carts. Most of the actual cars on the island are taxis. We ended up renting a golf cart. It was fun zipping through the streets. There aren't really any traffic rules; you just try not to run anyone over.Here's Kenyah and I riding our golf cart.

A couple of things I will always associate with San Pedro are white beaches, golf carts, and stray dogs. There are stray dogs everywhere.After two days of laying on the beach, it was time for some action. The hotel was trying to put together some festivities for the guests. This is how we met our buddy, Rudy. Rudy is a jack-of-all-trades hotel employee. We first met him when he put together a game of volleyball. We ended up playing with some investment bankers from New Jersey. They were really nice and it was a ton of fun! Once Rudy realized we were down, he invited us the next day to color eggs with the kids.That's my homie Rudy teaching the kids to dye eggs. By the way...none of these kids are Belizean. They're from the UK! We met one kid's mom who had actually won some money on a game show in the UK and so she was there visiting with her sister. It's fun to see where people came from and where they're going. I always meet interesting people when I travel.
So, after we colored eggs, Kenyah and I helped hide some eggs filled with candy. The kids loved it. It was nice to celebrate a holiday in another country. You get to see different ways they do things and celebrate. Later on in the day, there was an Easter procession. It's like a Jesus parade. Everyone either wears black or white and they walk through the town streets. From what I understand, it is public way of showing devotion to Christ by commemorating his walk through the streets with the crucifix. It's a Catholic tradition that seems to be more prominent in Spain.So that was my Belizean Easter.
I should take a moment to talk about the food situation. The food is BOMB. They've got Mexican influences, so you know they can make a mean quesadilla. This man I met on the plane suggested that we try a place called Elvi's on San Pedro. I'm so glad we took his advice 'cause it was killer. There is a staple that goes with EVERY meal and that is rice and beans. Not to be confused with beans and rice (as I was at first). Rice and beans are mixed and beans and rice are separate. It seemed so obvious to all the Belizeans, but I didn't get it at first. So, rules for when you travel to Belize: 1. Go to Elvi's. 2. Eat rice and beans...NOT beans and rice. And 3. Coke is cheaper than water, so go for the good stuff. That's right-you heard it here first!
Edna's sister Mollie, Kandice, Reese, Stino, Suzette, Kenyah and Edna all eating at a restaurant on the beach. By the way...a cool fact out our buddy Stino here, is that he is in charge of the US Peace Corps in Belize. He's a really interesting guy!
Having a Coke and a smile. Coke in a glass bottle-I love it!

I'm a firm believer in ice cream. Ice cream is something that should be enjoyed everywhere you go. We enjoyed ice cream a little too often on this vacation.We also ate at this hotel called Ramon's Village and they had some mean food, too. It's a pretty neat hotel, grass huts, lots of jungle, etc. Here we are checking things out at Ramon's.
So, on Easter we ended up going snorkeling at the Hol Chan Reef and Shark Ray Alley. It was so awesome! Belize has the second biggest reef barrier in the world (after Australia's Great Barrier Reef). They are also famous for the Blue Hole which is a big...well, hole in the ocean.
For the record, Kenyah does not know how to swim. At all. But she really conquered her fears and jumped in! The guide helped her get acclimated to the water and then took her around so she could experience everything. She did so awesome! At Hol Chan, we saw tons of fish and coral. There were some cool sea turtles, sting rays, and even eels! It was straight up Little Mermaid style!After Hol Chan we went to Shark Ray Alley, where we got to swim and pet the sharks and sting rays. It was so neat! I didn't get to pet any sharks, but I did get to pet a sting ray and feed some fish. It was so fun! And cheap-it was like $35 US.

OK, so let's talk about prices while we're on the subject. You'd think things would be cheap in
Belize. WRONG. Things are really expensive because most things are imported. We went to a grocery store and a package of lunch meat was like $9 US! That's crazy! The stuff that is produced locally is very cheap, though. That's why the Coke is cheaper...they make it there. We stopped on the side of the road for some fruit (on the way to Xunantunich...that's another post though) and we bought a couple of coconut waters for like $.50 and pineapple for $.50! I was thinking I scored the goods!

Speaking of locally produced goods, we met this Mayan Indian lady that was weaving purses and rugs and things that she sold. She was so interesting...we HAD to buy something from her!
After snorkeling, we headed down so Kenyah could go parasailing. I did it before in Mexico and I'm also too cheap, so she had to go by herself! She did great on that too! This trip she did a lot of fear conquering!
While she was parasailing, I was flapping my pie hole to the owner of the parasailing business, Brad. He is Canadian and he just decided he was going to move to Belize. So he sold his house in Canada and moved to San Pedro and bought his business and that's that. I loved talking to him because it's like an outsider's view looking in and what life is like there.
Waiting for Kenyah to parasail.
A local boy I met also while waiting for Kenyah to parasail. :)

On Monday, we left San Pedro for the mainland. I loved San Pedro, but I was really excited for our upcoming adventures!
Waiting for the ferry back to Belize City.