I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE

Is what Justin said to me as we were driving to the border crossing.  Then we made a deal to be nice to each other, not get angry and to enter Belize still married.  

As we drove to the Mexican customs we were excited yet a little worried, we weren't sure if we were going to have a problem bringing Anna in.  Belize has a lot of rules about bringing pets into their country.  The paperwork needs to be completed weeks in advance and there are a whole lot of other rules to follow.  We didn't do any paperwork, we decided to wing it and see what happens.

Things didn't go quite smoothly on the exit out of Mexico.  Justin was told we had to pay an exit tax of 260 pesos per person.  He didn't think that was right but the guy sounded very convincing.  Justin knew something was up when he wouldn't give a receipt for the exit tax.  The customs guy said our receipt was the stamp in our passport.   Justin then went to get the truck stamped out of the country and asked another official what the exit tax was.  This guy gave a slow shake of the head no and looked at him confused.  So, Justin headed back to the slimeball guy screaming at him from ten feet away so that everybody could hear and low and behold a wad of cash comes out the window.  Then we were done with Mexico.

Entering Belize was no problem but we still had the truck inspection to go through.  Our plan was to keep Anna hidden in her travel bag by my feet and if she was seen we would pay a fine and hope that they wouldn't want to quarantine her.  The inspection was going fine until he wanted to see the VIN number that is located on the passenger side dash area, about ten inches above a squirming black bag containing Anna.  I don't know how he didn't see her.  I literally had to keep her head from popping out of her carrier, while he was checking the VIN number.  I guess we were just lucky, the cat never got out of the bag.

We know we haven't even been here twenty four hours yet but first impressions are that Belize is going to be great.  And hey, there was no need to apologize.

THE THREE AMIGOS

Awhile back we had made plans to meet Shannon on the caribbean coast.  When we got stuck in Manzanillo we wondered if we were ever going to make it there.  So the day we drove in to Playa del Carmen we let out a sigh of relief.  We made it.  This was another huge milestone for us.

Anna likes Shannon

The moment Shannon walked out of the arrivals gate was awesome! We have been looking so forward to her visit and have been talking about her arrival for months.  After some excited hellos, we all hopped into the land rover and headed back to the condo.  We stayed up late talking and drinking Pacificos and eating pizza.

Our two weeks with Shannon went so fast.  We spent a lot of time just hanging out on the balcony of our condo, talking about everything and nothing at all.  As well we took in a lot of the sights with Shannon riding shotgun and Nadine sprawled out on the bed in the back.

Our first big outing was a cenote day.  We wanted to share our favorite new activity with her so we brought her back to some of the ones we had already experienced (the cenotes that were deep underground).  In total we visited four.  It took all day driving all around the countryside as well its always hard to get Justin out of the water.

One day we drove to Puerto Morelos.  This is a cool little town that is so much more calm and relaxed than Playa del Carmen.  Vast beaches with few people around, it was a great place to unwind and hang out on the beach.

We also took the ferry out to Isla Mujeres, a tiny little island north east of Cancun.  We checked out a turtle farm, walked around the island and sweated.

We saw the ruins of Tulum and found ourselves another cenote.

luckily we found out that cenotes are frequented by crocs and snakes at the end of the two weeks!

Above all we really loved the Crococun Zoo.  Normally we're not zoo people at all but this place was a refuge rescue center.  The animals had huge habitats and seemed to be really well taken care of.  We had our own guide for the three of us and it was very informative and interactive.

Shannon cool, calm and collected

Justin looks like a little boy

Nadine terrified

the momma and the baby

the momma later stole this carrot from her baby

they made us walk through the crocs habitat - there were no fences

In between we spent a lot of time on the infamous 5th ave, hanging out on the beach, eating at a variety of restaurants and Justins favorite - discovering a NAPA autoparts.

hanging out on our balcony

mmmm - grilled cactus and meat, not good

mojito  

adding spf 100

the crazy busy 5th ave

pina coladas

We LOVED our time with Shannon.  It was so awesome to have her here with us.  It felt like a vacation instead of the trip.  WE MISS YOU!!!!!

Anna kick'n it in the AC