Joyce arrived in Corozal via Mexico on November 20th. We were waiting for her at the Mirador Hotel. It really is a striking looking building. Once we got her luggage put away, we headed off to Cactus Plaza for dinner. As usual, it was very yummy. After dinner we walked along the beach to the local beach bar where we had met some local people earlier in the day.
Bob on the street and Joyce is in front of the hotel as we head off to the bus depot. We decided to make a straight through run for it from Corozal to Maya Beach so it was an early morning departure. We took the bus as far as Dangriga where our friend picked us up and drove us to Maya Beach.
Here we see Joyce on the beach soaking up the ambiance and one barrel.
Mostly Joyce was here to get in some much needed relaxation so we spent a lot of time on the beach working on our tans and heading up the beach. We did a number of trips to Placencia Village and did lots of shopping.
A very strange thing happened while Joyce was here. There seems to have been many hatches of dragonflies. For two days straight, it was all we could see. They were everywhere.
Here you can see that the sky was thick with the dragonflies.
They would sit for a long time, very still on lines, trees, railings and yes, even on books being read.
We found it interesting, to say the least.
We did some swimming, snorkelling and kayaking off our beach and everyone had a great time. Joyce met most of the friends we have made here in Maya Beach and we were frequent visitors at the Maya Breeze Inn beach bar.
Even just walking along the beach, we saw starfish, jellyfish, and numerous small fish that were striped and colourful. We saw a manatee and some dolphins swim by one day.
We have so many different kinds of birds here, that we can't keep track of all of them. One day, we found this guy in the tree outside the kitchen door. If anyone knows what kind it is, please leave a comment and let us know.
One day we walked up the beach to the Maya Breeze and found it to be under seige from pirates who are usually found up by Plantation. We are forming our own pirate group to retaliate and plant our own flag. We will be the Maya Beach Pirates. Name to be announced shortly.
Of course, no trip is complete without a birthday party, this time it was mine. We went to Caye Caulker and visited again with our friends Luciana and Michael. We had dinner at Habeneros that night and everyone does indeed look pretty happy. We also visited our friend Tim and Bones (aka Sheva) who are getting along splendidly. Sheva and Shamus are quite the pair to watch. We saw our friend Laura as well, and of course, Amanda.
While we were on Caye Caulker, we did the snorkelling trip and I think Joyce was impressed. She says her most thrilling moments were swimming with the rays.
We spent a four days on Caye Caulker then came back to Maya Beach for more relaxation. But first, before relaxing, we had to go cave tubing. That was an awesome experience, although we found that we did more climbing and walking than actual tubing. Our guide was very knowledgeable and helped us alot. If you go caving or tubing, make sure you wear clothes that you don't care if they are ruined. Ours were not ripped, but they were stained from the clay on the rocks that we climbed inside the cave.
We also go an opportunity to go to a local chili cook off at the Pickled Parrot in the village. That was pretty cool, we had a live group play and they were great. Next year we are going to put in an entry to try and win. Again, fun was had by all, both contestants and spectators.
Then it was time to send Joyce home to Canada where we understand it was -10 Celsius and snow.
