A Very Depressed Pit Bull

So on our...fifth day?...in Belize, Nick and Kathleen had to leave, and we were sad.  We went to breakfast at Amore Y's Cafe and then parted ways so they could pack and take off.

Ben and I decided to really just relax this day. This head cold I had was still really killing me (and I'm STILL coughing from it, a month later).  We did a lot of reading and napping.  Ben snorkeled around in the ocean in front of our hotel, which made Manuel, the proprietor, really nervous.  He was certain that a boat would come by and chop Ben up.  He asked me at one point to go out onto the dock and yell at Ben to stay within the dock areas.

Here are some pictures of the birds that live on the island.  The first one is Kathleen's.  It's a great picture of a pelican:

Ben took these ones of various birds in flight:

We decided to head into town and eat lunch at this Cuban place we had seen.  We saw this little dude on the walk there:

Here's the inside of the Cuban place:

 We decided to eat beyond the covered area, out on the sand.  Here's Benny:

He was wearing tons and tons of sunscreen, and he re-applied it several times that day, but he still got burned.  He had one local guy come up to him and say, "You need cover up.  You get red.  You hurt."  Ben did not heed his warnings.

There was this adorable pit bull that sat by us and begged for food.  He wasn't aggressive about it at all.  He just would sit and stare at us with these big, sad eyes:

Isn't he a babe?  I never saw his tail wag or anything.  I never saw any dogs' tails wag on that island.  They seriously all need Prozac.  Ben didn't feed him much, but since it was a buffet, I went back and got a bunch of chicken and hand-fed it to him.  The Cuban food wasn't much different from Belizean food - rotisserie chicken thighs, potato salad, coleslaw, and rice and beans.

And I was okay with that.  I kept thinking back to China, where their traditional food was, like, sheep's brains and chicken stomachs.  I was so glad that traditional Belizean food was something I could stomach.

I want to show you some pictures from around the town on Key Caulker to give you a feel for it (a ton of these are from Kathleen's blog).

This is Ben's favorite building on the island.  

In front of it, you can see a sign for the outdoor cinema.  We kept forgetting to go to it.  That would have been something fun to do.

These are a bunch of backyards, all in a row:

 This is the beach, right near our hotel:

 I think this is called Front Street:

 There was a Front Street, a Middle Street, and a Back Street. :)  Pretty easy to remember.

There were, of course, gorgeous tropical flowers everywhere.  Kathleen snapped this shot of a plumeria.  It's her favorite flower.  I'd say the plumeria and lilac are tied as my favorite flower.

 Hibiscus:

 I don't know the names of the rest of these, but they were really pretty:

On Front Street, there is this dude who has a red raccoon thingey.  We started snapping pictures of it, realizing too late that the guy's sign said that there is a charge for taking pictures of his raccoon.  Sheesh.  So we gave him the dang money.

 Notice the "Go Slow" sign - Key Caulker's motto:

I had forgotten to cut and paint my toenails before we went, and I was embarrassed of them all week, so Ben said I could go get a pedicure.  My pedicurist told me a lot about her Evangelical church.  It was nice to hear about.  She said they believe in Christ, that he atoned for our sins and was resurrected on the third day, thereby giving everyone the ability to be resurrected.

"Your church's beliefs sound a lot like my church's beliefs," I said.

"What church do you go to?"

"I'm a Mormon."

"A...Moh-mon?"

"Mormon.  Have you heard of the Mormons?"

"No."

"Well, have you heard of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?  That is our official name."

"Um, no..."

"LDS?"

"Um, no..."

"Oh.  Well, we're Christians.  And we believe in all the things you believe in."

"Oh.  Well, that's good."

And then she started telling me how much she hates the Jehovah's Witnesses.  It was funny.  I should have asked her how she felt about the Rastafarians.

While I was getting my pedicure, Ben was booking our guided snorkeling trip the next day to the reef, which is one mile east of Key Caulker, and the second-largest reef in the world, second only to the Great Barrier Reef.  Just wait until you see tomorrow's post!  So many AMAZING things we saw and got to interact with.

We went to Sandro's again that night for dinner.  Best Italian food EVER.  Here I am at Sandro's:

A word about hairstyling and makeup when you are in Belize.  Well, three words:  Don't bring them.  It's too hot and humid.  If you straighten your hair, it will frizz back up within minutes.  If you put on makeup, it will melt off you within minutes.  And really, you're in the water all the time.  I, not knowing this basic tenet of visiting Belize, brought makeup and hair-doing stuff, and I didn't touch it the whole time we were there.  It's just like the basic tenet of going on a cruise:  Don't bring workout clothes.  You won't use them.  In fact, you will gain five pounds in four days.  Plan on that.

When we came home and were right at the bottom of our staircase, I almost stepped right on this guy:

Ohhhh, imagine the grossness/pinching that would have happened if I had.  *Shudder*