Piece of Paradise

Hola! So just as a  quick side note before i begin my blog about my amazing weekend get away, I want to say how my Spanish is improving each and everyday!  Now on to more important  updating. My weekend was spent in  paradise, literally.  This weekend we took off Friday   afternoon to the city of Dangriga. This is a coastal town and the plan was to catch some waves and rays and just relax. So we got to Dangriga and got 2 hotel rooms to sleep 9 of us and it was total 90 BZE  so  45 American dollars. Basically 5 bucks a person! Bangin' deal i'd say. After settling into the hotel, we all put on our bathing suits to enjoy a swim down in the Caribbean sea! Yes by this time it was 10 o clock at night, and according to shark week on the discovery channel, night time is when sharks like to hunt. Did we care? Not a bit. So we walked down to the beach with some local church boys the missionaries introduced us to. Lets just say swimming at night in the ocean is no longer a fear of mine! I loved it, the beach was soft and not rocky. The water was warm and salty. We did handstands, chicken fights and jump competitions. Once we were all puckered out we headed back to the hotel where a whole lot of fun still awaited. First of all im not a hotel fan, ill admit it im picky when it comes to what I sleep on. And this hotel was a stretch for me. No ac, ants on the floor, sketchy sheets that were damp from lets hope the humidity… I mean what more could a girl ask for? I think you would all be proud to know I made it through the night. I slept on about a 10 inch wide 4ft long piece of the “bed”… you see I was sharing this bed with two other people. No worries it was a blast to fall asleep to funny stories and uncomfortable body positions! So the next day came and you better believe I was up the moment the sun came up. We packed our things and made a deal with a water taxi to take us to our final destination, Tobacco Caye (pronounced key). The boat ride was about thirthy minutes long and then it appeared our little piece of paradise! It was lined with palm trees, sand beaches and cabanas. Upon arriving, a lady greeted us to find us a place to stay for the night. It was a cabana on stilts above the ocean! She provided us a cabana with two beds and a hammock and 4 meals all for 25 dollars! Talk about a deal! So after that we explored our little “gilligan’s island” and rented some snorkeling gear. This island is literally 5 acres big. I could stand on one side and see the beach on the other side. There are only 18 permanent residents and they all work in the tourism industry if you can imagine that. After our little tour of the island, we jumped right in the water to go snorkeling! It was AMAZING! My favorite was the crystal clear blue water, no more like turquoise blue water that makes you love life. Fishes were swimming all around us! There was beautiful coral deep below us. The view was unforgettable. I mastered the mermaid swim and hated that I had to come up to the top for air every minute. We saw red snappers, needle fish, stingrays, and manatees!!! After snorkeling for a while I hopped out to catch some rays and take a nap. That afternoon we ate dinner and then went to the dock to hang out with some locals from another caye nearby. They were playing music and making food. The sun set was gorgeous. Perfect ending to a bright beautiful day. But the night was still young and the locals were yet to play the drums. Supposedly the drums are a part of the garifuna culture. The ritual consists of drums, maracas, and turtle shell drums. The music is very reggae. It was fun to dance to and pretend like we belong haha. The ceremony ended and I hit the bed early! I think I was exhausted from the sun! The next morning I woke up at 5 am to watch the sunrise and write in my journal. The sunrise was yet again amazing and the peaceful sounds of the waves crashing on the rocks made me feel like I was the only one on the island and that time had stopped. Here on tobacco caye they don’t keep time. They just simply live by the sunrise and sunset. What a way to live, no cares in the world, just living day to day. In america we are just in a constant rush everywhere! I was nice to be here where there is literally no rush. In a way it kinda drove me crazy not having any plan. Weird I know. As I told my friends, I think this is a nice place to play but not to live. I am too much of a busy body. So after the sunrise the group hopped on a boat to go fishing! Well Bryant was the only one to actually fish but the girls came to cheer him on and get a boat ride. While we were out there we swam and dove off the boat! Bryant caught two barracudas!! Totally an awesome morning! After that we swam at the dock with some local kids and then caught our water taxi back to dangriga. Even after the sunburns, this weekend was by far my favorite.