UnBelizeable family vacation Day 3: Cruising on some golf carts (121816)

Trying to figure out plans, they eventually rent some carts to explore the island and after lunch at Fido's again, we get on the carts and head north. First we go to a beach next to a resort far north of the island and hang out there for a bit (was nice not having everyone around) before heading to the secret beach.

Stopped at a random spot to enjoy the water north of the city.

Jeff being good uncle keeping lil one safe.

We are pulling away!

Cool guy with his parents.

On our way to try and find the secret beach.

Panoramic view at the secret beach. Took a while to get here.

Found the Pirate's secret beach (notice the flag).

Sun setting as we are about to leave the secret beach.

Get to the Pirate's not so secret beach on the western side of the island and it is a cool spot. Volleyball in the water, piers to sit on and have a drink, a dog who sits in the water and fishes (he lives there) and a restaurant with a small food stand next to it as well. The roads up there are horrible and after leaving the beach, the cart gets stuck momentarily in the giant pot holes. Eventually we get back to town, everyone showers, and we go to Carambas for my Mom's bday dinner. Food is delicious and it is a popular place on a sunday apparently as the restaurant was full when we got there. After our meals, we head back to the house to turn in as Jeff and I have some diving in the morning.

Great restaurant to celebrate best mother in the world.

UnBelizeable family vacation Day 2: Under the Sea (121716)

Wake up and have a bagel in the house before heading to the dive shop. Get loaded up and go to do my first dive of the day. We go down and swim around, eventually getting to 30-35 meters. On the swim we see some more sharks and a giant turtle just cruising through the water. Come back to the boat, do our surface interval and then go down to do the naturalist dive. On this one we are staying close to the coral to look at how the animals interact and get to see shrimp hanging inside coral for protection/a fish that needs cleaning, some organism that lives on the brain coral that if it senses movement it withdraws inside and slowly comes back out. Was cool how he was able to find animals tucked away inside the coral using it for what we all know is one of its purposes. We come up and get back to the dock to have lunch. I meet up with the family at the indian restaurant under the place we are staying and it is tasty, though none of them ordered the butter chicken (noobs am I right?). We then get ready and most of us head to the dock to do some snorkeling. First stop is Hol Chan where at first TAO doesnt want to get in. Eventually he gets over it and reluctantly gets in, though doesnt put his face in water for first half. We go snorkeling out and see spotted eagle rays, manta rays, schools of fish, and some starfish, among other things. We get back to the boat, TAO is emboldened, and we head to the next stop, shark ray alley. We get there, they start chumming the water, and everyone is watching the sharks come on over with tons of different fish (some have hummingbird like noses with weird colors - cool fish with my description not doing it justice) and some rays all swimming around. Guide gets some sharks and lets people pet them. Their skin is tough! Get back in the boat and head back in. Family goes back and I stay for my last dive of the Advanced certification - Night dive. Get everyone on the boat and go back out to Hol Chan. Wait for it to get dark and then into the water we go. We get in there and it is amazing how much different it is at night, like 3-4 hours after just being there. We see tons of rays gliding through the water, sharks sleeping under a rock, and octopus scurrying along the bottom trying to camouflage against the rocks, turtles hanging in a cave and on the floor of the area, giant lobsters nestled in the rocks peering out at us, schools of fish following us around, moray eels swimming along the coral hunting (much more active than earlier in the day), tons of urchins out among the rocks with starfish swimming all around, a squid chilling near the boat on the way back, a HUGE sandollar thing (not sure how it works but same design of a sanddollar but in a giant sphere (4 in big probably), and maybe some other things I cant remember. Swam through a little cave thing which was interesting to see the inside of that cropping. As we were swimming in the deep, I kept looking around, was really creepy seeing the eyes of the rays in the sand glowing at you as you shine over. Once we get back to the boat, we head in and see a few of the boats from the christmas boat parade before docking and heading home. Jeff and I then go to Hurricanes for a conch feast (everyone else had to go eat earlier as the kids were hungry) where we got conch fritters, conch ceviche (much better than last night as it was all acidy), and the conch sautee special. Ceviche and special were really good, while neither of us cared for the fritters. After that we walked around the island a bit while talking and checking out some streets we havent explored yet before heading back to the place to call it a night.

This school's walls were painted all around the premises.

Good place. A little dead but tasty food and nice views.

UnBelizeable family vacation Day 1: Beginning of Advanced Scuba Cert (121616)

Woke up to birds and kids screaming. Not a good day for starting a vacation. :) Go to the beach down by Ramon's Village which was a nice area but the beach was not great as not much space, no real shade, and more of an after thought (lets put a home here, but they still need some beach access). Spend some time there before picking up stakes and heading north near the Sandbar hostel to check out that beach which was a little bit better. Jeff and I head back to get ready for our first day of dives and stop back on the back road at Hot Panadas to get some empanadas for lunch (tasty handmade, right in front of us, from a friendly guy known by his friends as Kenny G).

First beach to get in the water. Looks more like this house's back yard than a beach but whatever, into the water we go.

Ramone's cabanas on the beach.

Family that plays in the water together, stays together.

Ramone's beach entrance.

Look at that cool guy chilling on the beach.

Some beach bars out on the peers.

Jeff found himself a pup friend.

Family chilling in the sand.

View out into the water from the pier.

2nd beach location right in front of the hostel we will stay at later in the trip.

Not a bad view.

Get to the dive shop and they have a ton of dive sights right off the coast of Ambergris.

Sean took Tao parasailing while I was out starting the days of scuba.

Boat lifting them up. Reef providing a natural barrier from the waves out in the distance.

The water looks crystal clear.

Parasail parachute

Looking towards the coast.

View from above during parasailing. Beautiful island.

While he was making them we sat there and talked to him about the area, his personal life, and just getting to know the guy - cool kid. After we eat, we walk back to the place so we can collect our things and I can head to the dive place for my training. Spend some time walking between their 2 buildings (about 5 min walk between the 2) as it was not specified which one to go to. Eventually hook up with them and start the advanced open water cert class. Really chill guys running the place. After a video, we get our gear, and head out on the first dive. Get in the water, start descending, and once i get over the salt water taste, I look down and there are a few nurse sharks just swimming around. Amazing - I know why people enjoy this hobby so much. We start swimming around (me and my instructor) and the shark just follows us. I am looking around at the beautiful corals and the fluorescent and stunning fish - all while keeping an eye on the shark mind you :) (for the record it was a nurse shark and I wasnt worried but was weird that it just kept following us). we get to a clearing of the coral and the sharks starts rolling around in the sand like a dog in grass would do. Figured he was either scratching or playing. Either way was interesting to see a shark behave similarly to a dog. We keep swimming around and see a few other creatures (sea urchins here have incredibly long spikes and are white/gray). We then go up, boat picks us up, and we head back to the dock to get tanks and some fruit and have our surface interval. While on the surface, we go over orienteering and then get back on the boat to get this dive done before it gets dark. We go down, again with the sharks just swimming around, and find a open area to start the navigation. Once we get that done to satisfaction, my instructor shows me some things he was talking about on land (about how coral grows in certain ways and how sand ripples exist in similar ways) before swimming around. This time we see a few Eels (one gets really close to jeff's go pro) and more of the beautiful fish (some were this vibrant blue with a black stripe along the top back, another was a deep purple maybe with blue fluorescent spots along the back and a gold diamond near the tail, among others) and some stunning (pink?) corals. Swim by a couple schools of fish then get with instructor and start to ascend. Get on the boat and people are freezing. Go back in and get off the boat (the group took care of all the gear which was really nice of them). Walk back to the house to shower and then family gets ready and we head out to dinner. Go to Elvi's and it was really delicious (I had the coconut curry with fish which was awesome and tried the ceviche (solid but have had better - not too citrusy which I expect of ceviche), the mac and cheese (for kids mac it was good), and coconut pie (warm kinda crumbly pie with ice cream - enjoyable and different). Service was great (waiter was doing everything he could to appease the 2 terror monsters that are my nephews). We then walk around town to check on the grocery stores to get fresh fruit (they were closed) but get some water and other items then head back to the place to call it a night.

Checking out Elvi's for dinner tonight. 

Leaving the restaurant and we get a reminder that it is christmas time.

UnBelizeable family vacation Day 0: Getting to the island (121516)

Get to airport. Gang together. Get on plane. Tao confess and sits between jeff and i.jeff loses tic tac toe. Land. Stroller gets lost then found. Go to get cab. 25 for 2. 5 each additional person. Kids free. Random guys try to tell us they are a part of taxi with a sign for other people and a guy with a green license plate and a license that says he can drive a taxi but no markings on the vehicle. Go back to the person I bought a ticket from and he said all their vehicles should be marked.

Colorful sign as you disembark the plane at the airport.

Getting off the dock on the island.

Main beach in center of town. 

Found our hostel which was right above this indian restaurant. 

The place was huge. had ~6 different bed rooms with showers and what not, and this huge main area. The main area was not A/C but rooms were.

After we checked in, we went and got some basic supplies from Rock's down the street until we could find a grocery store later in the week.

The guys were being pushy so i thought better of it. Get the official guy to get us the taxis we paid for and then we are off. Road was under construction and had some nice houses closer to the airport. As we get into town, start seeing the normal city decay one becomes accustomed to with these larger cities. Get stuck in traffic but then wind up at the san pedro express water taxi place where the guys greet us, check our bags in for us, and we go get the tickets. We got there just in time for the 130 taxi so we get in line and board when it is time. Go below to where people sit and they cram us in like sardines ( people sitting in the middle with no cushions and no AC anywhere so it got hot and sweaty quickly.). I was in the back of the boat so the airflow was minimal but enough to survive. Ferry took 1-1.5 hours with the stop at Caulker. We get there, they check our tickets as they hand out luggage, then we walk to find the place we got off AirBNB. Eventually we find it and we are staying above an indian restaurant. The father greets us, gets us signed in and then takes us upstairs to get our rooms (he has 6 rooms in the place, 1 has no AC, my room has 2 beds and an incomplete shower but it works so all is good). We set our stuff down then go to find something to eat as we havent eaten since breakfast and it is approaching 4pm. Go to the place right in front of the pier where we arrived, ordered some drinks and food. after the second round of drinks, our waiter informs us the cook left so we have no food coming. WTF right? We settle up and then walk up the beach and go into Fido's which had a great patio and tasty food. After that we walk back to the place to call it a night as everyone was drained from the day of travel and knew we had a few days to do things.

One of the many decorations in the Fido's bar.

View from the dock of Fido's. Not too bad.

Viva Colombia Day 10/Overview - La vuelta home (8/7/16)

Woke up around 4am and catch the cab I had them call as I got downstairs. Get to the airport with no issues (either on the way or through security as there were many people doing customs and security so just flew through). Walk around the airport a little bit around the gate area and then grab a quick bite and chill at the gate until its time for the flight. Quick flight back to Houston, get through customs in ~10mins (great day for travel).

Overview of Colombia:

Viva Colombia!

Viva Columbia indeed! This trip was an abbreviated trip compared to what I would like to do but you gotta pick and choose. I did not plan any time to go into the Amazon, which I sorely want to do at some point down the line as the wildlife must be incredible. On the flip side, I also did not plan any time on the coast, which I have heard is a disservice as the coastal cities and the beaches are amazingly beautiful. I planned this trip to be thorough with its intentions (mountainous regions, new/old city with some nature exploration as well) and I believe we had a great time. All 3 cities were different and could have been more thoroughly explored given the time. Just in the 2 regions of Bogota we stayed, there were vast differences with both having big charms for their own reasons. So much beautiful scenery in the few places we went that I definitely will be back to explore different regions and climates to experience what those areas have to offer.

La Candelaria in Bogota.

Some amazing street art in Bogota.

Hostel view from Manizales.

Majid's Waterfall.

Hummingbird at rest on a coffee finca outside of Manizales.

Cute fate dog statue in Medellin.

Cool paintings at the Escobar mansion ruins.

Beautiful streets of Guatape.

El Penol. Enough said.

As beautiful as the cities and countryside were, the people were equally amazing. I didnt have a single issue, regardless of whether I was out late at night walking around (groups/being a tall dude probably didnt hurt) or walking aimlessly around the cities in the middle of the day. The hostel people were awesome resources, as they are in most other cities I have been to, and great people to just chat with as well. I was not around back during the fighting, but I am so happy that the majority of that is in the past and the country is safe again for tourism cause just in the small amount of places I went, I can already appreciate how much this country has to offer.

Gang cruising through the alleys of Bogota looking for a hang out. 

Good group of peeps we met in Manizales (Wes was working but hes cool too I guess)

Our Medellin group chilling at the lake enjoying the beautiful weather after a game of paintball. Man down! Man down! (actually a woman but yeah she look dead)

Best part of the trip, sharing all this with the person I have known the longest outside of my family. Eric, glad we got to travel a bit together and hopefully this wont be the last time we are on the road together. Till next time!

Eric and I refueling during our bike ride.

Eric and I enjoying the view after a grueling hike.

Cool village square as we wait for our jeeps. Eric is ready to go!

Eric and I about to go kill Escobar (we died instead)

Eric and I with a lovely sight from on top of El Penol. 

Eric conquering the hike. Celebration is warranted.