Rio Dulce Guatemala 6-12

The Boat ride up the river into Rio Dulce was awesome. As we got there we found they have a waterfall (Finca Paraiso) that is hot water so we decided to go and check it out. We got on the most disgusting bus I’ve ever seen in my life for a 45 minute ride to go swimming. Because the bus was leaving in 10 minutes we decided to grab a quick bite from a vendor and for about a dollar, I enjoyed a tasty little lunch. After swimming in the waterfall we were informed that there was a cave that is hidden up around the bend. For 10 dollars we hired a tour guy in the middle of the jungle to show us where this cave was. I had not planned on hiking and although it was a very poor choice trekking through extremely steep jungle in my flip flops we took off. My flip flops were making it too dangerous to walk so I was hiking bare foot to go see some cave with some guy who didn’t speak English. Half of our group had cut themselves along the way and when we got there I couldn’t believe what I saw. The river that we were swimming led right in a huge cave and came strait out of the mountain. As far as we could understand he said to swim up the river into the cave? It was shaped very narrow with high walls and as we got in the water we found that we could not touch the bottom. We put on our head lamps and started to swim in with another couple that we met. It was definitely the coolest thing I have done so far! Traveling is getting easier and more exciting by the day...... I am having a blast. On our way back from the waterfall we missed the bus and we had to hitch-hike but all was well. Tomorrow we are taking a bus for a 5 hour trip to Lanquine which is supposed to be a really fun place.

Livingston Guatemala 6-11

It’s good to be out of Belize and into a country that is WAY cheaper. My cost of traveling has now been cut in half compared to Belize. When I arrive in Livingston I was surprised to how nice this little town was that is not connected to the world by road, but only by boat. I stayed in my first Hostel there although I was traveling with Matt, Nick and myself. In the morning we are going to take a 1 hr boat ride up the Rio Dulce to the Town.

Rating the food and accommodations .....excellent!

Placencia Belize 6-10

Getting off the boat from Caye Caulker Belize, I decided to take it easy for a few days in Placencia. It is a small little town but has a great feel to it. I spent time hanging out with new friends that I met on the Raggamuffin Tour from Caye Caulker. I had my first roommate (Vrad) from Austin and surprising enough after 2 days I still have all my stuff! I guess that means he’s a good guy? Anyone looking for a quite/small town with a semi-nice beach would enjoy Placencia. In the morning I plan to head towards Rio Dulce Guatemala with a stop along the way in Livingston. Two of the guys that were on the same boat trip are going in the same direction so we are heading out together. I have been battling with a minor case of stomach issues, but I am getting by. I am just scared to be on a bus too long and not be able to use a bathroom. I took some medicine for my stomach and when I woke up my tongue was completely black. It was a mystery to me but lucky for me it went away after a day or so. So far I'm having a great time and things are going good!

Cheers,

Lucas

Sailing from Caye Caulker to Placencia, Belize

Everything in Belize is so expensive and I was thinking that my money was not going to make it very far at this rate. I decided that outside of my snorkeling trip, I would go do one fun activity that was expensive. In reading my guide book, it recommended that the sailing trip from Belize to Placencia was one of the top rated things to do and it got me to where I wanted to go. For US $275 it was a 3 day boat trip stopping along the way to fish, snorkel, and explore the islands along the way. A week ago I was asking myself if I would ever get on another sailboat, and here I go again. I decided that I had conquered sea sickness and I was not going to take any motion sickness pills. Although other people got a little sea sick, it didn't bother me.......YEAH!! Getting out on the sailboat I got to snorkel 8 times, did a little spear fishing, and met a great group of people. Everyone on the boat was very laid back and we had a great time exploring our way to Placencia. On our first night we camped out on an island that was so small I could walk around it in about a minute. On the island, Rendezvous Caye we pitched tents, had a campfire, and enjoyed the best coconut curry I've ever had. Along the way we stopped on a little island with a light house and ended up spending the evening on Tobacco Caye. This island had about 20 houses, 1 bar, and a restaurant. After snorkeling the reef for the last 3 days and being on a boat with 11 people, I was ready to get a place for the night to clean up and get some good rest. I had a blast getting to know everyone and I hope to run into a lot of you along the way, or in the future.

Caye Caulker, Belize

I arrived into Belize City on Wednesday 6-4 and directly headed over to Caye Caulker which is an island just off the coast off Belize City. Getting off the plane in a developing country and knowing that I left the United States on my own was definitely a feeling I will never forget. The first few days I had very mixed feelings about what I was doing and really questioned whether or not this was for me. On my first day here I took a boat out, went snorkeling and had a blast! Met a great group of people from all over and even enjoyed a great dinner with them too! Caye Caulker seems to be a fun place, but on the other hand as I talked to everyone, I found that it's really expensive. As I read further I decided that a lot of the activities that I wanted to do I could do outside of Belize for a lot less money. After 2 days in Caye Caulker I have decided to take a highly recommended trip on a sailing adventure to Placencia.

Corpus Christi

Although we spent very little time here I just wanted to put a note in and show some pictures of the area. It looks like a fun place and the lunch we had was unbelievable. On another note I wanted to send a thanks out to Dan and Glenna for helping me along on my journey, and will always be grateful for all that you have done!

The Longest 800 Miles!!

We arrived in Florida on Monday 5-19-08 with intentions of leaving that weekend. Unfortunately we were held up a few days by some things that needed to be finished up with the boat. I spent the majority of my time in Florida relaxing and helping out with the boat repairs. As we were backing the boat up to get fuel and take off, Dan realized too late that the boat wasn’t shifting correctly. We plowed into another boat in the marina and mangled the other boat with our anchor. It was probably one of the most chaotic 15 min of my life as we tried to get a 30,000 Lbs boat out of the marina with out hitting another boat. At this point Dan decides with out reverse he was not going to attempt to stop at the fuel dock. With all this going on, and the waves were fairly large, I was seriously considering jumping off the side to swim back to shore. All I could think about is how I didn’t want to get seasick while stuck on a boat in the middle of the gulf with no fuel, and who knows what else would go wrong. To go along with all this, sailboats have a cruise control that will make the boat hold a bearing degree that you tell it to. We had spent the whole week waiting for the mechanic to fix the auto-pilot and finely decided that he was not capable of fixing it, so we left anyway. All I heard was "It’s going to really suck if you guys sail that far and not have the auto-pilot". I have to be really honest, I was extremely nervous. After 10 miles I knew I was getting sick. The other kicker was after looking at our top speed if the conditions were awesome we would make it in 7 days if we sailed through the night. For the first few days getting adjusted to the motion was definitely hard to do. On our first night out, I woke up to the boat shaking so violently I was sure we were either really damaged or going to sink. Everything inside the boat was scattered everywhere and I was being tossed around like a rag doll. When I poked my head outside and saw the waves coming at the boat were at least 10’ higher then where I was standing I almost shit my pants! Fortunately the morning came fairly quickly and the waves got a lot smaller. After throwing up a few times, I started to feel better and realized quickly that the only thing that was severely damaged was my appetite. After a few days of not eating much, things actually started to get a lot better. I got adjusted to the movement and was able to enjoy myself a lot more. When I left I said "I want to slow my life down a little", Sailing is exactly that. After 8 days of sailing it felt like we were flying when we would get up to 6 mph. There is plenty of time to just think and look at water flow by. I occupied my time reading a book, listening to my Ipod, and just relaxing! It was surprising to how many platforms we saw scattered all over the gulf. Although we saw a fair amount of really large ships, I didn’t see one smaller vessel more then 20 miles off shore. We spent very little time running the engine and although we tried to conserve water on day 6 we ran out of both fuel and water in our holding tanks. The only way left to make it was with the sails. One of the biggest disappointments was we never stopped so we could fish. I would fish, and when we would get one it was not possible to stop in time so it would just snap my 80lb test. The last few days out we really had to conserve power so enjoying the extra things like cold drinks and lights were not an option anymore. Because we were out of water we could not rinse off or wash dishes. I was definitely feeling a little on the gross side! On day 7 our toilet quit working and we had to resort to the bucket or off the edge of the boat. On day 8 we finally saw land again, and as we were trying to navigate into Corpus Christi we found ourselves stuck in the mud. At this point we were all ready to get off the boat and get back to civilized life. At almost 1K for the tow boat expenses, we were finally out and able to make it the final 15 miles to shore. We got the boat parked, had a great lunch and we headed back to Austin so that I could catch my flight on Wednesday 6-4-08. All and all, I have to say it was an experience that I will always remember and has changed my view on things. I would not be able to give you the answer if it is something I would ever do again, yet I would not trade my experience for the world.