We flew into Miami a day early in order to make connections with the noon flight to Belize City on the Fifth. Miami Int. was in it's usual state of organized chaos but as soon as we boarded the A.A. flight for Central America the transformation was palpable. The passengers were all relaxed and happy, the crew was friendly and helpful, the seats …

We are off on our first adventure to the Mayan ruins Xunantunich and Cahal Pech close to the Guatamala border. It was a beautiful trip through the Mayan Mts. on the Hummingbird Highway, We drove through the winding streets of St. Ignatio, a busy town that seemed like one big farmer's market or Chicago's Maxwell Street. We stopped for lunch at a …

After a hugh continental breakfast, we loaded onto one of the dive boats and headed off into the ocean. A series of squalls had been scuddung through the coastal region so the water was a bit choppy. The first snorkle spot was a smattering of reef patches . Nice, but the visibility wasn't too good after the rain. We stopped on a private cay for …

Today was to be another snorkeling day, but we were rained out--stormy sea! We camped out in the dive shop and watched a National Geographic movie on Sharks. Good presentation--they really are our friends and we really are not in their food chain no matter how big and toothy they are.

The sun reappeared and we rode bikes into the town of …

Today we were off to Monkey River so back onto the ''semi-paved'' road and south to Independence where we met Ralph. We expected a ''River Boat'' as in ''Show Boat'', but Ralph drives a small fiberglass boat that holds eight tourists, has a small bimini and a 200 horsepower Yamaha motor. As it turned out, it was the perfect vehicle for our needs. …

What a beautiful day! Sun is shining and turquoise water is sparkling! We got to the first site just as a squall hit and it started to POUR! It seems to do that, short ocean squalls each day. Not to worry, we'll be wet anyway! This site was pretty rough, but Sam, our guide for the day, was terrific and found all kinds of sea creatures we would …

Today is cave tubing! This is an all day adventure starting at 7 a.m. Hamanasi arranged for a local driver to pick us up and then we picked up two other couples in a nearby resort. This trip took us up to Dangringa, onto the Hummingbird Highway, through the Mayan Mts., past The Blue Hole National Park to Caves Branch. Another beautiful day and we …

All packed up and ready to head for home. We said our goodbyes and headed out for Dangriga and the one room Mayan Air terminal. The great white egrets were still lounging by the airstrip and one of the locals sporting an Obama tee shirt declared that Barack was his president too. I loved it! We had plenty of time to go through security in Belize …