Caye Caulker Round 2

Wow... What a spectacular weekend. Since it was the 4th of July and Kristina's birthday we took Friday off to head to Caye Caulker! We arrived to the beautiful island at 11:30 checked into our "great" hotel, according to Jeff, put our suits on and went to grab some grub! The place we went to was delicious it just took FOREVER to get! One thing I will not miss is the slow service. Two of our nachos were ready and we pretty much asked him to bring us our food before it got too cold. We then headed down to the split where we were told is a beach and bar but it really was just a bunch of people laying on the concrete and wood docks and swimming. We joined the party in the water and met some very attractive Australians. They were taking 2-6 months off just traveling around Mexico and Central America. We have met so many people like this who just buy a one way ticket somewhere and travel til they run out of money and then go home! It's nuts! Around 5 the rest of the gang showed up and we meandered around a bit and then got some dinner. This dinner was one of the funniest ones we have had as a group! I had a couple blonde moments and case of the giggles, Jessie accidentally threw some of her money in the ocean and had to run out there to get it, immediately after my hair got stuck on a nail and I was stuck. Everything about the dinner was just entertaining.   
                                               
We shopped around a bit and then put our party clothes on! We were told that "I and I Bar" was the place to be for dancing. When we got there no one was dancing, just chillin at the bars. Since we don't drink, it was up to us to get the party started! We started doing our thing and being out of control and the people began to join in. There was a pole in the middle and we had so fun trying to do tricks and acrobats on it. We were getting strange looks for doing that but it was entertaining. We had some weirdos that tried to dance with us, one old dude busted in our circle and was doing weird moves but we cheered him on to make him feel good. We then started a limbo, and seriously just danced like no one was watching! We tried to leave an impression when we were leaving an wanted Kyle to do the horizontal body board off the pole, then I would grab his legs and spin him around and then we would leave. Well as soon as I grabbed his legs it didn't work and his top half started sliding down to the floor and I dropped his legs. It was hilarious and definitely not the great exit we were hoping for. But it provided a good laugh. That was probably one of the best dancing experience I have had and am so grateful the friends I'm with are all goofy and not afraid to let loose. After that we went out onto the dock and looked at stars and talked for about an hour! It was so peaceful! Saturday we headed out to do some snorkeling! First stop was out to see the manatees! If you don't know what those are, it's a big mammal that moves VERY slow. We jumped in and saw one right away and then another one was swimming towards it and they KISSED! It was the most precious thing! They continued to stay close to each other and interact. It was way neat. Next spot we went too was hol chan barrier reef which I believe is the second largest reef in the world. We saw turtles, stingrays, trumpet fish, mean looking fish, and lots of other pretty fish! The sea turtles were my favorite though. They are the chilliest and funniest little creatures. I feel like if I had a spirit animal it would be a sea turtle. It's lifestyle just seems most fitting and close to mine. We ate our lunch they provided then our next spot was where the nurse sharks are! This was different than the blue hole ones because they were much closer to us! Since it wasn't that deep. So this one was scarier for me but I still didn't feel threatened. We saw a bunch of stingrays at this place as well that were active and swimming around. Now those freaked me out! Then out of no where a Big mama stingray came swimming through and it was 2 or 3 times the size of the regular ones. As scary as they are, they were still beautiful! Our next stop was a spot with more reef. We were able to be more on our own here and we saw more color and reef. Kyle wanted to go back to the manatee spot so we went there and some went to find them again and Laura Jessie and I decided to just free swim and I attempted my old synchronize swimming moves! After that it was time to head back and they provided chips and salsa and "jungle juice." Well jungle juice is juice with rum in it, and Kyle passes them all down to us and doesn't take one for himself. We ask what's in it and our tour guide told us rum. All of our faces were like oh crap. What do we do with this? My first reaction was dump it over board. I didn't even think of doing it when they weren't looking, but I don't think he saw me. Then one by one when he wasn't looking the others slowly dumped there juice overboard too. It was so funny to see this chain affect and everyone trying to be all sneaky. The guide kept pushing us to have more but we ensured him that we had enough the first round. Oh goodness it was just the icing on the cake for the day.       
We got back to the beach and everyone was burnt and luckily I got burnt last time and this go around my skin was used to it and I just got tan! Holla! We got cleaned up and then 4 of us wanted to get our hair wrapped by this adorable young couple from Argentina. There story is sweet. They both just finished their studies and the girl graduated from med school and her boyfriend graduated in agricultural and engineering stuff. She starts her residencies and specialties in January so starting in April they went to Mexico and are traveling their way back to Argentina and don't have to be there til about December. They sell Jewlery, food, and do hair wraps to make money on their journey to help with the travel expenses and then when they can they camp in their tent, stay in hostels, or with people for Cheap. Isn't that so awesome?! I love that they are educated an just using this free period to travel but not be careless and waste money and are using their skills to work their way back! Very fascinating. 
 We then got dinner at Rose's grill and how they work is they don't have a menu it's just whatever they catch from the sea that day is what you can eat. You go to the grill and pick the fish or lobster that you want and they grill it for ya to eat! I picked a snapper and I didn't realize they would bring it out Whole with the bones and everything. That was quite the experience picking out all the bones, but it sure was a fresh good fish! They only way I like it!

 
We then got some milkshakes and played games and called it a night. Sunday Anne and I went out the chairs in front of our hotel and relaxed and played with the slingshots she bought! It kept us entertained for a while! We checked out of the hotel and the. Hung out around the board walk got smoothies and soaked up our last couple hours of the island sun. It was such a fantastic weekend and was a nice way to treat ourselves before our week long art camp out in the middle of no where pine ridge! I seriously cannot get enough of this place. It's sad to think I only have a week left. It is scary thinking about going back home and having to settle back down and do real life things again. This relaxed schedule and volunteering has been the most rewarding thing. I wish money wasnt an issue and I could just volunteer at different places all over all day, even back at home. But such is life and I just need to make it more of a goal to be more engaged in community service projects back home because that's where I find myself most happiest!