Yeah, that about sums up most of my time in Belize and my major plans for the country.

I have read absolutely fabulous things about the diving in Belize. The Blue Hole has been on my bucket list for quite some time and the country boasts the second largest barrier reef in the world – sounded great!

But then a series of events forced me to completely abandon these plans and eventually just bail from the country altogether.

First off, to warm up and get right out there I signed up for some local dives on my first day on Ambergris Caye. These dives go about 5-10 minutes off of the shore to the edge of the reef and are relatively cheap.

They’re also under-whelming to a huge degree.

I wasn’t too impressed actually and to further compound it, our dive instructor was NOT NICE – which is such a marked contrast to the vast majority of the friendly Belizeans I have met recently.

Well, with these two dives under my belt I decided to hang a bit before signing up for the Blue Hole dive.

Ah well, not the best idea because two days later I had a serious allergic reaction to something (absolutely no clue what) that I then battled for days – apparently I was still in contact/consuming it despite going on a strict diet of only very “safe” foods. I was forced to the emergency clinic for a shot to stop my throat from closing any further and to deal with the hives.

Fast forward three days and the throat problems and hives are still there – not going anywhere. I couldn’t dive with the throat issues and I pondered that I am just allergic to something basic in my current environment…ie. Caue Caulker, Belize.

So I’ve left.

It’s moments like that this that I am both sad and grateful that I travel solo. It would have been nice to have someone else with me when I passed out in the clinic (they couldn’t find my vein yet they tried…and tried…and tried…) and battled staying awake (I was on a LOT of Benadryl) …but now, I’m also able to just move on without forcing someone else to miss out on something.  And had I intensely planned out my travels I would not be able just pick up and move on. But I can. I have no desire to stay in Belize right now, but you know, I’ll likely be back for the Blue Hole…just not now.

So, hello Guatemala, here I come!

Related posts:

1. A Little Relaxation…Belize’s Unique Culture
2. A Little Confusion…The LP and a Confusing Belize Border Crossing
3. A Little Water…Diving with the Fishies!

And perhaps it’s this very reason why Belize caught me off guard; my expectations for the local culture have been stepped on and shattered really. They speak English in Belize for starters and the Queen herself graces the face of their coins and dollars. Though I knew all of this going in, I still had expectations that there’d be a stronger tie into what you see in the rest of Central America.

Well, that’s just not quite the case. Yet, for all that they are a British Commonwealth, there’s something else there that I only discovered once I stripped off my expectations and just took the country for what it is.

They’re incredibly friendly for starters. In fact, this may be the only developing country where locals followed me through the streets, offering advice and recommendations with no expectations for a tip.

And I feel a bit ashamed that I didn’t trust any of them at first.

After crossing the border we arrived in the transient town of Corozal after dark and had to follow our map with a flashlight to locate the guesthouse.

No less then four Belizeans tried to help out and show us to the hostel we had picked. Often in this situation a tout will bombard me with other choices, or offer to carry my luggage for a fee…or something. I feel like such a cynic, but it’s so often the case. But yet, the Belizeans seemed to have no ulterior motive and merely wanted to ensure I made it to my hostel.

Then over the next several days, once I made it to the Cayes (islands just off the coast and sitting nearly on Belize’s barrier reef), this characteristic was only intensified with the island culture mixed in. Everyone just wants to help.

One man even called me over as I was rapidly walking down the beach; he absolutely insisted that I come over to hear what he had to say.

“Slow down my friend. You’re on Belize time, what’s the hurry?”

I mean, it’s just an unreal experience. It surely helps that they all speak really great English…it means that there are less misunderstandings. I feel like sometimes when I am in a foreign country I am quick to dismiss “friendly help” if they can’t clearly communicate their purpose upfront.

But in Belize, it’s just a different experience. I haven’t encountered the traditional ethnic clothing that you’ll find in Guatemala, there’s no exotic languages widely spoken all around, but it sure is relaxing.

Related posts:

1. A Little Issue…Am I Allergic to Belize?
2. A Little Confusion…The LP and a Confusing Belize Border Crossing
3. A Little Tradition…A Unique Christmas in Australia

Why have you lead me astray? You disappointed me this past week at the Mexican/Belizean border crossing.

I love you, I nurture you, I pull you out of the depths of my bag when I’m in a pinch, and yet you disappoint at the weirdest times. You’ve got ten different hostel accommodations for some random, Podunk towns, but yet a mere paragraph about the actually fairly confusing border crossing between Mexico and Belize via Chetumal.

But also, you know, thank you LP, because you make me realize that sometimes you are not my travel bible like I so often joke…generally, there’s always a local standing right next to me willing to impart the information you so coyly keep to yourself. I’m learning to rely on you less and less LP, and that’s probably a good thing.

With lukewarm love,

~Shannon

My Border Crossing Debacle

The whole guidebook debate crops up on travel blogs every now and again, and I’ve always been pretty avidly in the guidebook toting category. I nearly always have one somewhere in my bags, and surprisingly often it has really provided some key information at opportune times.

But on the other hand, guidebooks also give a false sense of security as well as take out some of the adventure – and hey, this is all about the adventure and personal interactions right?

Here’s the deal, when I arrived at Chetumal, Mexico I expected the border crossing to be incredibly straightforward like the guidebook indicated. But I arrived after 4pm and there were no longer first class busses leaving the terminal for the border.

There was also no other information about what to do at that point.

Picture me now frantically flip through the Chetumal section of the Lonely Planet. Hmm. The barest mention of another bus terminal.

Just a tad perplexed, I began to look at the accommodation section of the guidebook with two other Americans who were now in the same boat as myself…and standing there with the exact same guidebook.

Fast forward a few minutes and we are now hunting down locals and taxi drivers for tips. They come up with nothing. The taxi driver (naturally) wants us to cab to the border for US $20 – instead we ask about this elusive second bus station, get a noncommittal shrug and a general point to walk “a couple kilometers in that direction.” Oh, and for the record, all of these exchanges took place in Spanish (thankfully my high school Spanish trickling back!).

We actually then had a grand mini adventure asking locals for more directions along the way. Rather than just following the instructions mapped out in the LP, we are now forced to hunt down a way to cross the border into Belize. Locals pointed up the “bus station” and when we arrive at the indicated lot there is one single lone green school bus a bit ways off.

We glance toward it, wondering where the bus station is. Then the bus starts moving out of the parking lot and our instincts kick in – the bus driver leans out, hollers “Belize” in a quick and questioning manner, and then rumbles to a stop as we jog to the doors and haul ourselves onto the last bus crossing the border for the day.

Is this the biggest adventure of my life? No. But it sure was a lot more fun when we hunkered down in the seats, high-fived each other, and then jostled with the motion of the school bus all the way to the border – some cash changed hands (Mexican exit tax) and a couple new stamps in the good ‘ole passport, and 20 minutes later we had reached our destination…without even a second glance at the LP that day.

I’m still carrying my LP, and it’s likely that I won’t go guidebook free anytime in the near future, but I actually like the freedom of figuring it out myself sometimes – much more self-empowering, and more fun to boot!

Crossing into Belize from Chetumal, Mexico

So, let me just clarify this border crossing for anyone following the same path – there are two bus stations in Chetumal, the main big bus station for ADO and first class buses and a smaller one, El Nuevo Mercado Lazaro Cardenas. The smaller one, it’s not actually a bus station per se, but rather a small market with an open lot in front that holds the chicken buses. If you arrive after 4pm into Chetumal and you are heading into Belize, you take a local chicken buses across the border – they go all the way to Belize City (stops at smaller towns along the way) and are actually cheaper.

It’s a cinch, really. It just got pretty tricky because the taxi drive was keen on selling us the taxi fare to the border or finding us a place to stay and the LP severely downplayed the second bus terminal, indicating that it wasn’t significant at all in getting across the border. It’s actually pivotal if you arrive in the late afternoon (by the way, the border crossing is actually thoroughly covered in the Belize and Mexico separate LPs, just not the Shoestring one!). Cheers!

Related posts:

1. A Little Bus Ride…Laos Border Crossing in the Cold
2. A Little Issue…Am I Allergic to Belize?
3. A Little Relaxation…Belize’s Unique Culture

The Maya ruins are a whole different ball game though; the history behind the temples and the sacrifices and religious ceremonies held at Chichén Itzá are incredibly different from temples and religious beliefs in Asian.

I hired a guide for the ruins – something that I definitely don’t always do – it’s a hard trade off. On the one hand, I love learning new things and getting all of the nitty-gritty details and then on the other side is the fact that the only time I can afford a guide is when I’m en masse touring through a place with a dozen or so other English speaking tourists.

But I’m so thankful that I sucked it up and tottered around the grounds with my tour group learning about theories and history surrounding Chichén Itzá. As the tour guide explained the ritual sacrifices that took place at the various temples at Chichén Itzá, I had to really take a step back from my Christian upbringing.

I remember the hullabaloo surrounding the animal sacrifices in South Africa in preparation for the World Cup – and it’s kind of like that for me. It’s a completely foreign concept and I have to actively work not to place judgments on their religion based on my own upbringing and Western ideals.

The coolest part of the whole compound in my opinion was the ball court. Just north of the iconic pyramid temple of Chichén Itzá is a huge Mesoamerican ball court. The game was incredibly difficult to play and could last days and weeks according to archeologists. Although the information is mostly gleaned from the reliefs carved into the stone, in short, the popular theory is that the captain of the winning team was then decapitated upon his win as an honor to the gods.

The various temples are also all built to align perfectly with the solstices and movement of the sun along with strategic echo chambers that bounce sound off of the buildings and can then send the sound traveling around the complex – one of those things you just have to witness to really understand.

So, despite my feeling of being cattle shlepped from place to place around the grounds, I loved my guide and his fantastic introduction into Maya culture and beliefs!

Related posts:

1. A Little Movie History…They Can’t Take Our FREEDOM!
2. A Little Bridge…Temples, Kids, and a Green Guitar
3. A Little Culture…Katmandu Temples and Stupas

But I also love Los Angeles.

And I feel like backpacker or passing travelers can easily come to LA and see all of the bad. But! with the eye of a local (I lived in the city for exactly and precisely two years to the day), it can be an incredibly fun city with awesome spots that aren’t in any guidebook.

So in defense of Los Angeles, and because I truly recognize it’s a hard city to love as a tourist (and this is partly referencing scathing words by another travel blog recently), I’d like to outline my perfect day in Los Angeles…and yes, it probably requires hiring a car to get it all done…or better yet, Couchsurf in the city and your host just might show you around! :-)

Spend a Day in Los Angeles…Shannon Style

So, here it is my friend, my perfect day in LA. Now that I no longer live in the city, these handful of spots are the “must-visits” every time I return. This will take you from breakfast until dinner and all of the snacks and fun you need in between…and if you visit just one of these places, make it lunch at Aroma…it’s truly my favorite LA restaurant.

Breakfast at an LA Institution, The Griddle Café

Start the day out right with a jaunt into West Hollywood for pancakes at The Griddle Café…the line can be absolutely ridiculous (just skip this recommendation if you’re visiting on a weekend…you’ll perish of hunger before you’ll be seated). On a weekday though, the experience is worth the small wait – they’re known for their enormous pancakes but the French Toast is also worth a try…this place makes my list of top ten breakfasting experiences.

A Trendy LA Lunch at Aroma Café

Located in Studio City (in the Valley) the Aroma Coffee & Tea Company was walking distance from my house while I lived in LA and has some of the best food in the city. It’s healthy, it’s quirky and even the fact it’s unbelievably trendy can’t take erode my love for this café.

Even during the very busy lunch rush you can usually snag one of the mismatched tables; then order up the Goat Cheese + Walnut Salad (my personal favorite – the dressing is killer and the herb encrusted goat cheese is generous and comes out pleasantly warm and candied walnuts hide underneath the layers of spinach), and either people watch (always fun in LA) or read a book.

Hike Runyon Canyon for a Look at the Hollywood Sign

Hopefully you’ve let your food settle and thoroughly relaxed at Aroma for a couple of hours because now it’s time for some exercise…LA style. Runyon Canyon is located right at the base of the Hollywood Hills and walking distance from the main touristy sites on Hollywood Boulevard – the Canyon has two main hikes (don’t go left at the start unless you want to partake in what my friend Jenn and I dubbed the Suicide Trail…it’s a bit hard) the path straight and then to the right is enough to get your blood pumping and also offers three awesome views:

• A fantastic vantage point for the the Hollywood sign and all of the mansions in the Hollywood hills.
• Clear views over Downtown LA, Hollywood, and straight out to the Pacific unless it’s a smoggy day.
• Full opportunity to people-watch and hunt down some of those “plastic fantastic” people I previously mentioned…as well as the opportunity to see that LA really does have normal people too…they’re up there sweating and puffing just like you. :-)

Oh, and there’s never a dull moment in Los Angeles; in February 2010 the Hollywood sign was hijacked in an effort to stop the current plans to develop houses on the hill around the famous sign:

Then, over the subsequent days after the hijacking it morphed. I caught site of this last month:

I can’t promise you’ll get quite so entertaining version of the Hollywood sign to look at, but you will get some great pictures.

Head back home after the hike for a shower (or stop off first at all of the touristy attractions in LA on nearby Hollywood Boulevard). Relax before heading out for dinner and drinks out in the city.

Feast on LA’s Best Indian Food at Electric Karma

It’s tasty and the closest you’ll come to feeling like you’re dining in India… Electric Karma has a great ambiance and opt for dining on the covered back patio at the low tables with cushy pillows. As for food ideas – their palak paneer (one of my favorite Indian dishes) is incredible and the garlic naan is spot on.

Head over to Venice Beach or the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica

Both Venice Beach and Santa Monica make a fun date night if you’re a couple. Stroll the along the boardwalk on Venice Beach and you’ll pass the very full paddle courts, games of volleyball and tons of street artists…don’t forget to dodge the roller-bladers though!

Santa Monica would be the more kid-friendly option. The Santa Monica pier is walking distance from the promenade…or you can hunt down any of the spots bars and nearby clubs for dancing and drinking.

Once you’ve digested all of your amazing Indian food, you CANNOT leave the Third Street Promenade without a visit to Pinkberry. They have this delicious frozen yogurt chain all over LA in case you’re all “foodied out” at this point…but make sure you don’t miss it.

Wrapping up the Day

At this point, the more party-tastic might be looking for the current hot-spot club in LA…and honestly, they can change monthly so it’s best you Google it…but you could easily entertain yourself for the whole evening in Venice or Santa Monica if you’re not seeking out the “scene” in LA.

So that’s it! That’s my perfect day. I’ll be honest though, there’s no regard for budget here, just my favorite spots so doing all of them in one actual day could be pricey.

Oh, and cheers and thanks to my LA friends who cart me around to these spots now when I come to visit…would cry if I had to skip dinner at Aroma.

Photo thanks to jleighb and rlerdof.

Related posts:

1. A Little Challenge…What Do You Love in New York City?
2. A Little Yummy…Favorite Foodie-Finds from Round the World: India
3. A Little Search…The Whimsy of Degas

“Lady, you buy our bracelets or who knows what will happen to your bicycles…”

At that point, I think my jaw dropped.

The Backstory

Laura and I rented bikes for a day of exploring the Angkor temples closet to Siem Reap – and after a pretty harried bike ride down a dusty and trafficky road we were grateful to chain up our bikes to a nearby tree with some pretty pathetically thin chains.

As we bent over our bikes several of the children selling information books and bracelets surrounded us and proffered their goods. We good-naturedly tried to joke around with the kids and steer the conversation elsewhere from the buying of yet more bracelets…it didn’t work.

At that point we very firmly (but still smiling) declined buying any of the bracelets, books, necklaces, and handmade knickknacks. We had just finished chaining up the bikes and were ready to head into Angkor Wat when the oldest of the girls sized up the situation and looked me straight in the eye when she hit with that line:

“Lady, you buy our bracelets or who knows what will happen to your bicycles…”

Then, at my shocked and incredulous look she quickly back-stepped a bit:

“Oh no lady, we won’t do anything to your bikes…but if you buy bracelets then we will watch them for you…otherwise who knows what will happen to them…”

The Internal Debate

Laura and I were both pretty taken aback by the situation but quickly recalculated and with a brief glance agreed that one of us would buy the $2 worth of bracelets now and the other one would pick out something when we came back for our bikes.

All of the kids were grinning widely at our sudden about-face and eagerly proffered their colorful basketfuls of bracelets so that we could adorn our arms with several of the light brown bamboo woven circles.

What’s the Solution?

So here’s the conundrum…what would you have done in this same situation? As a traveler I hear all of these opinions:

• Don’t give to beggars, give to local support organizations…
• Don’t buy from street children because they should be in school and you only encourage them to sell goods to tourists…
• Donating to kids on the streets contributes to their exploitation and abuse in countries like India, so don’t give your spare change…

And all of this is well in good in theory. But what about in practice? I caved in this situation and bought goods from the kids – in fact, I bought boatloads of bracelets from the little ones all throughout my time in Southeast Asia…it’s really hard to say no – and in a few cases I bought the bracelets from my niece, but other times purely out of guilt.

It’s just, I don’t know where the middle-ground is…I do have the money to donate to the occasional beggar, and certainly to give a bit of money here and there to the kids. In some cases, I would whip out a spare banana from my purse to those kids begging for food…and about 60 percent of the time they accepted it gratefully; then there’s the 40 percent who just wanted the cash and walked away from the food – it’s those situations that make it all so discouraging and confusing at times.

As far as the kids who basically brokered a soft-core bribe at Angkor Wat for the bikes…yeah, I paid them, which likely means they’ll do it to other tourists too. And while I don’t regret the decision per se, I’m still pretty conflicted about how to deal with these situations on my travels.

Any thoughts?

Related posts:

1. A Little Bridge…Temples, Kids, and a Green Guitar
2. A Little Exploring…Say Wat? Cambodia’s Angkor Wat
3. A Little Water…Cruising the Lake District

Like a dog onto the scent I darted a quick look around the room, scanning the paintings and then moving my eyes to the small white attribution plaques under each painting. I’d been searching the met for about 45 minutes already for the section of the museum holding a large collection of Edgar Degas’ works (yes, I should have just asked…don’t ask me why I didn’t).

At this point my search seemed ridiculous, I had already explored the Met for about four hours and it was on my way out that I spotted a postcard in the gift shop of one of my favorite Degas paintings – I really love Degas and had no idea the Met had some of his artwork in their collection so I unbundled myself from my jackets and scarves and headed back into the labyrinth in a long and drawn out search for his artwork.

And then I spied a large sculpture in the middle of the adjoining room.

Suddenly I was surrounded by a roomful of Degas paintings on every wall – and that’s when the contentment set in.

I don’t fancy myself a connoisseur of fine art, but there is just something that I really, really like about his dancer drawings. There’s a whimsy to them and a grace that draws me into the ballet studios where his dancers practice – I can almost hear the music as they go through their paces.

So, although I was nearing a hungered exhaustion, I stood and stared, thought, pondered, dreamed, wandered, and then pondered some more.

And I concluded that I like his artwork even more now that I’ve seen a larger representation of his work.

I spent the entire hour long metro ride home appreciating the unexpected lift in spirits that seeing his artwork left me with :-)

Other highlights from The Met:

Related posts:

1. A Little Tip…Visiting Museums in Amsterdam
2. A Little Misunderstood…Fall in Love (or at Least Like) with Los Angeles

Current Vegetarian Mexican Food Situation

As for the current moment, I’ve been in Mexico for four days now and concluded that I’m going to be eating the same basic handful of foods for the next three months. I knew that Central and South America were heavily meat eating cultures…but somehow I wasn’t anticipating the amount of fried foods, mushrooms, and cheese that I would consume! Add that to the basic beans and rice and you have a pretty clear picture of my current diet.

On a very big up side, it’s all been incredibly tasty! And the deserts are excellent; I’ve fallen for the churros here – the churros, and the charming young girl selling the churros who knows that my Spanish is still rusty and yet still can’t manage to slow down enough for us to clearly communicate beyond the basic transaction and some of my bumbling attempts to make conversation. As for the churros, I know that I have access to them in the states, but only now have I fully discovered the joy of ending each day with a bag full of hot and cinnamon-y fried goodness.

The backpacker side of Cancun is distinctly different than the resort areas, the hostels are right in the middle of a mostly Mexican neighborhood so all of the food is cheap and plentiful – about two dollars buys a complete meal of the most mind-blowingly awesome quesadillas – unlike in the States, these messy tacos and quesadillas are filled to the brim and then loaded up with sour cream, cheese, and a wide range of salsas, onions, and pico.

My first foodie lesson? Ask about the salsas before I dive in and slather it all over my food. Although I’m pretty proud of my tolerance for spicy foods, the colorful green and red salsas can be incredibly deceiving. The red salsa at one vendor was solo un poco picante (only a bit spicy) similar looking salsa elsewhere had my forehead perspiring while my lips went a bit numb on the inside and my nose started dripping.

Fun times.

And Now, the Promised Haiku

I’ve been off the road for a good four months now and was gladdened to know that some things never change…no matter what country I’m in, I continually discover the joys of the cold shower.

Ode to the Cold Shower

Spray drizzling weakly
Fleeting, I dash in and out
Wet kisses tingle.

Photo thanks to Scaredy_Kat and Daquella Manera

Related posts:

1. A Little Yummy…Favorite Foodie-Finds from Round the World: India
2. A Little Yummy…Favorite Foodie-Finds from Round the World: India
3. A Little Misunderstood…Fall in Love (or at Least Like) with Los Angeles