t-bone steak, cheese, eggs and welch's grape

my manager and i basically kicked ass on the last project we worked on, and we made a good sized profit on it (although some of that was due to an inflated budget). as a reward, our office manager offered us dinner at ruth's chris (fancy steak house) or a free day off. i would have preferred the day off, but my manager got the final say and chose the dinner. since we're both losers, it'll probably be just the two of us, but he said dates would be welcome, if we could find them (hmm ... maybe culture shock girl will call back ... how's that for a first date).

anyway, i wanted your opinion on the matter. dinner (for you and a date) at ruth's chris or a day off (of your choosing)? let me know ... i'm curious to see what everyone else thinks. for you veggies, pretend it's a nice vegetarian restaurant and not a steak house.

it's a small world ...

i got this comment on my blog a few days ago:

"hey brian! I am sure you hardly remember me, but I am one of the 5 girls you met on Caye Caulker, Sarah. I typed in "cocopele's belize" on google and got your blog! fancy that. As I read it, I was amazed to find out that I knew you and Shawn, and you even wrote about me, Brit and the two Emily's! I'm glad you made it home safe, and all I have to say is that #1 Earth is a small freakin planet, and #2 Belize is an even smaller freakin country!
Take care,
keep traveling
Sarah"

talk about random! my first thought was, 'did i say anything bad about them?' good thing i didn't ... not that i had anything bad to say that i left out. those girls were fun to chill with and made our time on caye caulker much more enjoyable. sarah (or any of the rest of you girls), if you're ever in san diego, holla at me. but yeah ... small world. and it's nice to know that people other than terence, shawn, and pooja are reading my blog.

on another random note, my mom has been bugging me for ages to clean out my room in buena park and get rid of all the old junk that's accumulating dust there. since i was in town for my boy chris' bday, i finally got around to some of it. in my cleaning, i came across this old prom picture.

notice a couple things: i have facial hair and it says "Prom 2001." those are important because servite (my hs) didn't allow facial hair, and i graduated in 2000. when i first found the picture, i vaguely remembered going to prom my freshmen year at cal, and i remember this girl's face, but i couldn't remember her name or why she would have asked me. my mom sees the picture, and says, "she's cute ... whatever happened to that girl?" uhh ... i dunno, i'm not even sure i know what her name is. after racking my brain (seriously, this came to me hours after... and later confirmed with teresa), her name is lauren f (i'll leave the rest out cause i'm not sure she would want her name out there) and that she was cousins with alina and corin. but i still have no idea why she would have asked me. we had lotsa mutual friends and we were cool with each other, but we weren't particularly good friends ... and i definitely hadn't talked to her in a year while i was at cal. who knows ... maybe she just needed a date and knew i was available and figured i was a safe bet since she knew who/how i was and that i knew a lot of her friends in the group. maybe it was because she had a crush on me (though i doubt that would have lasted a year). i actually hope it's not the latter because then i'd be like, damn ... i should have realized/known earlier. hahha. but lauren, if you ever come across this and are still single, get in touch with me. hahha ... just kidding ... or am i? hahah

the questions and the answers like iverson

my attempt at this ipod shuffle game didn't go too well. mostly because not enough people read my blog but also because the songs were difficult to guess. oh well ...

shawn got 7. terence got 1, but he needed some major help to get it. sidney got 2.

anyway, here are the answers:

1) "i never said i was perfect. i just tried to separate myself from the worthless guys of your past who broke you and made you cry."

lexicon - brokenhearted

i didn't actually expect anyone to get this one. their youth is yours album is really good and has been on rotation on my ipod a lot lately.

2) "so you wanna be hardcore with your hat to the back, talking about your gats in your raps."

notorious big - machine gun funk *dj bozo*

one biggie's first songs, despite puffy wanting him to go a little softer.

3) "just a castaway, an island lost at sea, oh. another lonely day, no one here but me, oh. more loneliness than any man can bear. rescue me before i fall into despair, oh."

police - message in a bottle *sidney*

yes, i'm a police fan. i figured sidney would get this one, since he is the one that 'lent' me this album.

4) "keep on ... keep on ... keep on ... keep on. muthafucka move back, i pursue rap with the pace of new jack."

common - dooinit *dj bozo*

good song by an awesome artist. just saw him put on a good show a few weeks ago

5) "visualizin the realism of life and actuality. fuck who's the baddest, a person's status depends on salary and my mentality is money orientated."

nas - life's a bitch

a little surprised no one got this. like i said in my hint, nas doesn't spit this verse, and i'm not sure who does. still a good flow.

6) "unsure what the balance held, i touched my belly overwhelmed by what i had been chosen to perform."

lauryn hill - to zion *terence*

terence got this one after some serious hand-holding. i thought judging from the content people would be able to guess the artist at least. i thought wrong.

7) "and now, the end is near, and so i face the final curtain. my friend, i'll say it clear, i'll state my case, of which i'm certain. i've lived a life that's full. i've traveled each and every highway. and more, much more than this, i did it my way."

frank sinatra - my way *sidney*

i suppose people just don't know ol blue eyes. i went easy and even had the title in the quote. thank you sidney for coming through.

8) "beatstreet, wildstyle, yo mtv raps, crack, 76, slaps, mics, and soul claps. ass crack, kangos, and baseball caps."

crown city rockers - bboy

terence came so close. i can just imagine how annoying it would have been able to hear the lines but still not get it. i love this song, which is basically a bunch of verses shouting out random things about hip hop and things he loves. these guys put on a good show ... been seeing em since the lower sproul days (i miss sproul). check out the newly released video.

9) "i'm in the eye of the storm where the pressure's on. and mc's are dressed funny like a leprechaun. i chop rappers up like chicken szechuan."

the roots - adrenaline *dj bozo*

another hot song by a great group. you must see these guys live.

10) "how many brothers fell victims to the street. rest in peace, young nigga. there's heaven for a g. be a lie if i told ya i never thought of death. my niggas, we the last ones left."

tupac - life goes on *dj bozo*

i still miss him, but hey ... life goes on.

11) "girl i'm in love with you. this ain't the honeymoon. past the infatuation phase. right in the thick of love. at times we get sick of love. it seems like we argue everyday."

john legend - ordinary people

terence, you've seen him live, right? i like this guy and his album. i particularly like this song for its stevie-wonder-like sound ... which brings us to ...

12) "oh so long for this night i prayed. that a star would guide you my way. to share with me this special day, where a ribbon's in the sky for our love."

stevie wonder - ribbon in the sky

i guess people don't really know stevie wonder either. i was lucky enough to see this guy live once. i thought this was one of his more famous songs, but i guess not. even had the title in this one too.

13) "greg nice!! greg N-I-C-E droppin em basso, ahh oui oui. rock for a fee, not for free. maybe i'll do it for charity."

gang starr ft. nice and smooth - dwyck *dj bozo*

i don't know what i would have done if no one got this one. they played this song at dynamite the other day, and everyone knows the words. gang starr ... still one of the best yet.

14) "yo, this is a lesson in friendship. the depths of a kinship. what women and men begin with, and then slip. my pen drips as i scribble my thoughts on thin strips."

jurassic 5 - thin line *dj bozo*

i love this track. unfortunately j5 didn't play it when i saw them last. i can't wait for their new album. pooja told me she figured there would be at least one j5 song out of the 15. she said she was going to go through all the j5 songs on her ipod (her brother put them on there ... she's not that cool) and find which one. too bad she didn't follow through with that plan.

15) "back when they thought pink polos would hurt the roc, before cam got the shit to pop, the doors was closed. i felt like bad boys street team; i couldn't work the locks/lox."

kanye west - touch the sky *dj bozo*

i love kanye's line to start this one with the locks/lox play on words.

so dj bozo wins but probably just because he got to the post first. you snooze, you lose. maybe i'll do this again later if i know more people are reading, and i'll make sure to go a little easier next time.

word association

stealing this idea from terence, who stole it from someone else. the basic idea: put your ipod on shuffle, write down the first couple of lines from the first 10 or so songs, let people try figuring out which one's they are (artist and song title). googling is cheating ... and if you've been paying attention to some of my past blogs, you may get some clues.

a couple disclaimers here:
- i have random shit on my ipod. i felt obligated to skip ones i figured no one would be able to get. i left one or two in with hopes of someone making me proud.

- a lot of hip hop tracks have a guy talking over the first few bars. in some cases, i skipped that talking, and in others, i didn't.

a drink to whoever gets the most.

let the games begin.

... and don't look at the comments unless you want to see answers people have already guessed.

1) i never said i was perfect. i just tried to separate myself from the worthless guys of your past who broke you and made you cry.

2) so you wanna be hardcore with your hat to the back, talking about your gats in your raps. *dj bozo*

3) just a castaway, an island lost at sea, oh. another lonely day, no one here but me, oh. more loneliness than any man can bear. rescue me before i fall into despair, oh. *sidney*

4) keep on ... keep on ... keep on ... keep on. muthafucka move back, i pursue rap with the pace of new jack. *dj bozo*

5) visualizin the realism of life and actuality. fuck who's the baddest, a person's status depends on salary and my mentality is money orientated.

6) unsure what the balance held, i touched my belly overwhelmed by what i had been chosen to perform *terence*

7) and now, the end is near, and so i face the final curtain. my friend, i'll say it clear, i'll state my case, of which i'm certain. i've lived a life that's full. i've traveled each and every highway. and more, much more than this, i did it my way. *sidney*

8) beatstreet, wildstyle, yo mtv raps, crack, 76, slaps, mics, and soul claps. ass crack, kangos, and baseball caps.

9) i'm in the eye of the storm where the pressure's on. and mc's are dressed funny like a leprechaun. i chop rappers up like chicken szechuan. *dj bozo*

10) how many brothers fell victims to the street. rest in peace, young nigga. there's heaven for a g. be a lie if i told ya i never thought of death. my niggas, we the last ones left. *dj bozo*

11) girl i'm in love with you. this ain't the honeymoon. past the infatuation phase. right in the thick of love. at times we get sick of love. it seems like we argue everyday.

12) oh so long for this night i prayed. that a star would guide you my way. to share with me this special day, where a ribbon's in the sky for our love.

13) greg nice!! greg N-I-C-E droppin em basso, ahh oui oui. rock for a fee, not for free. maybe i'll do it for charity. *dj bozo*

14) yo, this is a lesson in friendship. the depths of a kinship. what women and men begin with, and then slip. my pen drips as i scribble my thoughts on thin strips. *dj bozo*

15) back when they thought pink polos would hurt the roc, before cam got the shit to pop, the doors was closed. i felt like bad boys street team; i couldn't work the locks (lox). *dj bozo*

rock shows with no rehearsal

i saw a j5 and common concert on monday. this concert was my april concert (i'm day late ... deal with it) in my quest for one a month. this show kinda crept up on me ... forgot about it for the most part till saturday night. then i started getting really excited about it. i saw common a few months ago at the HOB SD, but i hadn't seen jurassic 5 in a couple years. the last time i saw them perform was at the axis of justice concert in la where they got a short set amongst a bunch of rock performers. oddly though, j5 hasn't put out new music since before i saw them at cal at one of the spring superb concerts. i've seen both common and jurassic 5 at least three times, and both rock a good show. these two are some of my favorite artists ... i'm excited

like usual, i had planned on rolling solo to this concert. i almost convinced archana (and consequently, priyal) to come, but she passed because she thought i was going with sue ellen ... silly archana, i simply said that sueellen bought my ticket. however, i did have company. teresa's cousin dominic called me saying he had an extra ticket, not knowing i had already planned on going.

the ticket said the concert started at 8. i figured that meant doors opened at 8. the concert was at usd, which is a few minutes away from my place, so i hung around my place watching the clippers game. when i got there, it was around 815. dom, babe, and friends were parking, and i figured i'd just wait for them outside. unfortunately, when i got there, j5 was already on. forget waiting ... i decide to get in. now, i've been to a concert before at usd (maroon 5 back in the day ... okay, a year ago), and i wasn't too thrilled about the venue. the place is just not made for musical performances. also not too thrilled about the energy the usd kids would bring.

so i get to the floor of the arena, and there are a lot of people here (i should have showed up earlier, especially considering all i was doing instead was watching a measly clippers game). i look up and j5 is already rocking it ... but there were only five people on stage. no cut chemist. yes, you heard me ... j5 actually has six members, not five. there was a cute girl next to me who was getting down. i even heard her say "this is my favorite song" when 'quality control' came on. cute girl who knows j5 ... what's not to like (notice a theme). i decide to try talking to her. i asked her if she knew why cut chemist wasn't on stage. she stared back blankly. okay, maybe she doesn't know j5 as well as i would like, but hey, no one's perfect. then this guy steps up to her from behind ... my cue to back off. *sigh* oh well ... j5 continued to rock it. their new album is dropping soon, and they performed a few new tracks. the one that caught my ear had (i believe) an old prince sample. definitely feeling that one. i was still missing the quirky cut chemist though. despite his absence, jurassic 5 rocked a great show.

in between their set and common's, i decided to track down dominic. i soon found them upstairs ... dom, babe, quinn, rommel, one of angela's friends, her bf, and another couple. common came on and rocked it like usual. it's too bad that i saw common a few months ago because he did almost the exact same show as when i saw him with angelo. he came out with a dj, a drummer, and a guy on the keys. not much to say here because it was almost word for word the same show as before. at one point, he started singing, and dom's friend says, "com's beening hanging around mos too much." hahah ... funny shit. during one of his songs, he pulls some girl on stage. he did this last time i saw him too, but this time, he and the girl start getting freaky on stage ... not just freak, but freak DEAKY. soon after that, he asks for a usd mc to come and spit with him. when he performed at cal, my friend kevin got on and spit some rhymes with him. this time, some guy gets on, let's off some wack verses, and then common takes over and rips the guy a new one ... made me reminisce of the "bitch in you" days. i felt bad for the guy. common then did a tribute to j. dilla. his dj, dj dummy, did an awesome set scratching rob base and dj ez rock's 'it takes two.' dom, rommel, and his friend are dj's and getting into to it at this point. he spits some stuff from his upcoming album, which was a little rough but good. i can't wait for these new albums to drop. common does on encore with the dilla produced 'the light,' and i went home a happy man.

like i've sad before, it's something magical being in a crowd just feeling the music. even more, when the artist is rocking 'i used to love h.e.r.' which may be my favorite song of all time. i spent the whole common set up in the seats of the arena, and it was cool seeing the crown below move in unison to the music.

unfortunately, despite the high likelyhood of a cute catholic hip hop head, i went home alone and with no new numbers in my new phone ... always next time, i suppose. that's quite alright, i was there with the love of my life, and that's all i ever need.

... common said i used to love her, but i love her still ...

up next for my may concert:
Soul Position on 5.9
Lyrics Born on 5.27 or
Aceyalone, Ugly Duckling, and The Procussions on 5.30
... like always, i'd love company to one or all of these ... but i'm not counting on it.

loungin'

(if you haven't read this post about san ignacio, read it now)

back in belize city and once again, waiting at the water taxi station for our boat to leave. unfortunately, there was no random encounter with a group of girls this time. now we're on our way to caye caulker, which is another island, and for the most part, exactly the same as ambergris caye ... but less. less people, smaller island, less tourists, much more chill. there did seem to be a lot of belizean tourists though, and i'm not sure if that was because it was easter weekend or if belizeans regularly came here on weekends. ambergris caye had few cars; this place had none. the only transportation consisted of golf carts (once again, where's sidney when you need him ... probably at the block). most people walked from place to place. our hotel here was much more ghetto than the other places we stayed at (but cheaper). there's no real fresh water on caye caulker, aside from bottled water. water coming out of the taps is desalinated water, and you could definitely still smell/test the salt in it (we learned our lesson the first time we tried brushing our teeth). by this time, shawn and i had pretty much done all we had wanted to do in terms of tours and activities (plus we were running low on funds). we had planned our time on caye caulker to be really chill ... and that's exactly what it was. we didn't do much the first day. we swam a bit for the first time (not counting snorkeling and in the cave). actually, you don't see people swimming much in belize in general. that probably stems from the fact that belizean beaches aren't san diego/miami/hawaii type of beaches. the majority of belize is protected by a barrier reef (i believe the largest living barrier reef in the world), and because of the reef, there aren't any waves on the shore. it's really odd looking out to the horizon and seeing waves crashing off in the distance in what appears to be an arbitrary line in the water. the lack of waves allow for sea grass to grow underwater on the shore, and the grass makes swimming not very pleasant. however, caye caulker got hit hard by some hurricane in the mid90s, which split the island in two. this area is now appropriately called 'The Split.' at the split, there's a decent current running from one side to the other, getting rid of most of the sea grass. here, there was a good amount of people swimming, hanging out, and laying out on the shore. the hurricane also destroyed the dock in this area, and it was strange to see people hanging out on the remains of this broken dock. locals would dive and do flips. tourists would lay out and tan. some book or website described it best, calling it post-apocalyptic looking.

we didn't do much that night. we actually spent a lot of time (here and at ambergris caye) on the beach at nights with my ipod and portable speakers (which were key) and just hanging out and talking. of course, it helped that we still had our bottle of 1 barrel that we picked up in san pedro. 1 barrel is belizean rum that the guy at the liquor store recommended. really good ... has a hint of chocolate to it. i brought a bottle home with me, and you can have some if you come over to my place.

the next day, once again with nothing to do, shawn and i decided to rent bikes for the day. our first quest: bike around the island. imagine our dismay when we accomplished this feat in around 30 minutes. we had fun following two young local boys in hopes that they would lead us to something exciting. i think the younger one was terrified of us. we head to the split for another swim, and this time, shawn and i swim across the split (the other side doesn't have any building or housing and is pretty much all mangroves and plants). once there, we decide to follow some dirt path into the forestation. big mistake. next thing you know, we can feel ourselves being eaten alive. we had been getting mosquito bites off and on throughout our trip, but we never actually felt them biting us. we'd simply feel the bites itching the next day. different story here, we felt them biting. we quickly decide it's time to get back in the water. as we turn around and i see shawn back, he has like five of em on him. we had to deal with those annoying mosquito bites for the next few days.

caye caulker didn't have much of a nightlife ... or at least, we didn't know about it. shawn and i found some outside patio during happy hour and grabbed some drinks. by this time, shawn and i have nothing to say to each other. any conversation that there was to be had between the two of us had already been had in the past week ... and we've been with each other 24/7 since, which means there was nothing new to talk about. a deck of cards and pasoi (sp?) came in handy. so here we are at this outdoor bar, playing cards when a group of girls walk in. i didn't really pay much attention, but one of em comes up to us and is like, "one of you is brian, right?" hey, it's maryland girl (now find out her name is brittany) with four friends (emily1, emily2, lauren, and sarah). we teach sarah and lauren how to play pasoi, which is good because i needed better competition than shawn. all of them besides lauren are studying abroad; although, apparently there is little studying involved. lauren, brittany's friend from college, teaches in honduras and is in town for the weekend. brittany wants to shoot some pool (what can i say she likes playing), and we go with them to some ghetto place with a couple tables. the girls are all pretty nice, and when they've had their fill of pool, they invite us back to their place 'to hang out and drink some rum' .... which is exactly what we did. we sat on their porch, passing around a bottle of 1 barrel, and talking about random stuff from movies to music to traveling (these girls didn't go as deep as the sd girls did). eventually, it got late and we parted ways.

the next day was our last full day in belize. shawn had a laundry list of things to bring back for friends and coworkers and we figured it was about time to do any souvenir shopping that needed to be done. i didn't buy much, though i did bring home a cuban cigar (which i was able to get home without a problem) and some spices to make belizean jerk chicken (which i think i may prepare and leave to marinade tonight and cook sometime in the next day or two ... if you ask nice enough, you can come over and experience my cooking expertise ... sorry veggies, you're outta luck). we ran into the girls again (considering the size of the island, it was inevitable) and hung out on the beach with them. i had my speakers and ipod with me and decided to play some music. now it may not be for most people, but this is a big deal for me. you have to take into consideration the crowd, atmosphere, time, etc in choosing the ideal music to play. i failed. they groaned 'more reggae' when i started playing some bob marley. i asked them what they liked to listen, to which they replied, "well what do you have?" brittany kinda groaned again when i said lotsa hip hop. she said she liked 80s stuff, and i broke out with some police (yes, i had police on my ipod). after playing some more cards with emily2 while the other girls tanned and read, shawn decided it was time for a switch in the music. he told me to play some j5. i'm thinking that's not the best idea judging from brittany's reaction to my hip hop comment. however, emily2 was like, "you got j5 ... yeah, play that." now you know me ... j5 isn't a hugely popular group, and anyone that has heard of em, and more so excited to hear their stuff, gets major brownie points in my book. so i put some j5 on. apparently one of the girls had commented on shawn's j5 shirt the day before and that's why he suggested it. brittany looks up from her book. i'm thinking, ohh no ... she's gunna complain. you can imagine my shock when she asks if i have any mos def. umm ... is this the same girl that winced at the idea of hip hop ... now i'm thinking (hoping) maybe she expected me to have the type of hip hop you hear on the radios nowadays and winced at the thought of that. i put on mos's new album, and everyone goes back to what they were doing before ... contently. after a few songs, brittany looks up again, "did i miss 'sex, love, and money'?" i like this girl. i put that song on and she's feeling it (can i take her home). we grabbed some lunch with the girls and then went our separate ways again.

shawn and i knew we wouldn't have time to go to easter mass tomorrow, which meant we had to go to easter vigil mass tonight. longest mass EVER! and seeing that it started at 9pm, we were getting antsy midway through. we managed to sit through the whole thing. we had seen a bunch of flyers for easter parties tonight, but shawn wants to head back to the room for a bit first. while he's changing, i decide to take a peek into the bar downstairs. the girls are all in there. after shawn's ready, we head down there and grab some drinks (we killed the bottle of 1 barrel in the room before). all five of the girls were there. there were also a group of the british army (belize used to be a british colony and although it's completely autonomous now, the british army still does jungle training exercises in the country) there too. enter peter (more like pee taaah). this was one big dude. he kept trying to tell us jokes, but we couldn't understand a word the guy was saying because of his accent. it was comedy. this guy was a character ... and that was with barely being able to understand what he could say. at one point someone asked where emily2 was ... "up against the back wall dancing with one of the british guys." hahah. we hung out with the rest of the girls and drank, danced, chatted. at the end of the night, emily2 was nowhere to be found. i offered to walk emily1 home. she was staying with emily2 but didn't have a key to the place. of course, when we get to the place, emily2 isn't there. we hang out on the porch steps for awhile talking. eventually emily2 shows up the british guy, and obviously not happy about the fact that we there. she came up, handed us the keys, then walked back down to the guy. they walked off a bit and started making out (they probably should have walked farther). not wanting to interrupt anything, i hung out with emily1 some more. sooner or later, emily2 came back in, mumbled something about something being ironic, empathically stated she needed to take a shower, and proceeded to do so. i said bye to emily1 and made my way home.

... and that pretty much ended our trip. my journey back was uneventful. shawn and i ended up being on different flights back because he couldn't get on my flight for some reason (even though it was only half full when we took off). shawn's return was more exciting. he has a knack for being interrogated by customs (... and it probably doesn't help that he started kinda mouthing back). by this time, he's glad he didn't buy a cuban too. eventually they let him go on his way. i got into lax around 1030, by the time i got my baggage, waited for my parents to show up, and got back to bp, it was 1130. i had work the next morning and didn't want to deal with traffic then, so i headed back to sd that night. here i am at midnight, thinking which of my friends will be awake ... and sadly, the only ones i could think of that would be awake at this time were jay and sueellen. and just my luck, neither pick up.



home again =)

all in all, the trip was great. like i said before, i would recommend to belize to anyone. in the words of shawn, "it's funny how we had a plan for what we wanted to do in each area, but we really didn't plan for that plan ... but still everything went as planned." my lonely planet book was a huge help (terence swears by these things ... and now i know why). great time all around ... from the jungle hikes to boat tours to mayan ruins to snorkeling to meeting fun random people.

where to next? ecuador?

welcome to the jungle

(if you haven't read this post about ambergris caye, read it now)

now we're on our way to san ignacio. from talking with other people, the vast majority of tourists didn't stray far from ambergris caye. after seeing san ignacio and experiencing what it had to offer, i don't think people who only stayed on ambergris caye got a good picture of what belize is like. san ignacio was very different from ambergris. much more diversity (we saw groups of local asian and indians), much different atmosphere, and definitely not as touristy. we had to take a two and a half hour bus ride to get to san ignacio from belize city. the ride was like riding a bus in india, except the BO probably wasn't as bad. i ended up sleeping most of the way. actually, we technically weren't staying in san ignacio. we were staying in a little town called santa elena just outside of san ignacio. when we got into san ignacio, we decided to take care of booking some tours before heading to our hotel.

we post up on a city bench in some park-like area and were trying to figure out where to go when this guy approaches us. he introduces himself as jerry, and he looks like he's high or drunk or both. he tells us he works for a tour guide company and asked if we wanted to book a tour. from research in my lonely planet book, i had a good idea of which tour operators we wanted to use, and we told the guy we weren't interested. he then shows us this jade pendant he has and asks if we want to buy any (even claimed to make them himself). we say no again and move on our way. we eventually find one of the places we were looking for and book that tour. we still have one other tour to book and decide to give the place jerry was talking about a try (lonely planet said it was reputable enough). we run into him again and talk to him a bit before book that one. then we headed to our hotel.

the hotel was nice, the staff was really friendly ... but if we had to do it again, we would have stayed in san ignacio itself. not only was where we were staying not in san ignacio, it wasn't even really walkable, which meant every time we went back and forth, we had to grab a taxi. so after settling into our room and just hanging out a bit, we head back to san ignacio for some dinner. there's actually a good amount of tourists here, but they were all european ... very very few americans. since it's a monday and we don't really know what to do, we end up hanging out the majority of the night on a patio of one of the restaurants on the main street. we sat and people watched ... and drank some beliken, of course. jerry came by again and chatted with us for a bit. he even tried to sell us some weed. some other local came by. he said he was a tour guide and there was this meeting they had to go to tonight. he made the meeting seem really boring and said he had to grab a few drinks before the meeting to make it bearable. jerry came by again, and this time said he had half a joint he saved for us. we declined again, and he was more than happy to smoke it himself then wander off again. shawn and i tracked down a pool table (one of the crappiest tables ever with no 9 ball and chalk everywhere) in the restaurant across the street and played a couple rounds there before moving back to the patio, where a now very drunk/high jerry was dancing in the middle of the street and would every once in awhile yell, "buck buck buck!" while shooting with his hand in the air. very amusing. it was also funny how quickly he would nonchalantly duck behind a pillar whenever the police drove by.

ACTUN TUNICHIL MUKNAL (ATM):

this day was probably my favorite of the whole trip. we got picked up from our hotel around 9am by this afro-mayan guy named patrick. patrick was our tour guide for the day. this guy was awesome. funny, extremely knowledgeable, and light-hearted in general. there was a couple from wyoming that owned a dog sledding business, honeymooners from vancouver, and a girl from san francisco (whose brother goes to cal) in our group. patrick referred to the girl from san francisco as 'san francisco' for the rest of the day. we had a two hour drive to get to know each other. sf told us how she fell in love with this local soccer player on the bus over to san ignacio and had plans to meet him later in san pedro. patrick actually knew the guy and teased her nonstop.

once we got the to where we were going. we hiked for a couple hours through the jungle. we were wet the entire day from wading waist deep through rivers to cross them. patrick, an apprentice to the shaman in his village, would point out all kinds of plants and would tell us how to use them to cure different ailments. very fascinating. we even stopped to swim in one of the rivers, which was nicely cool and refreshing. at the end of our hike through the jungle, we reached the opening of a cave (ATM) that had a river running out of it. the next few hours consisted of us exploring the cave. we even had to don helmets with lights attached to them. to get into the cave, we had to swim a few feet to the other side. once again, we were constantly in water, whether be to our ankles, knees, waists, or even swimming. it was incredible seeing large stalactites, stalagmites, and calcium formations. we had to maneuver through some tight crevices between rocks at many points. eventually we got to a point where we had to climb two large boulders. now we were in the dry half of the cave. patrick's demeanor immediately changed. you could tell he treated this place with a sense of reverence. there were remains of mayan life all over the place. there were pots (broken and whole), some tools, and other stuff. there was this stalagmite that had been carved in such a way that when someone held a torch in front of it, it cast a shadow of a man walking on the opposite cave wall. a little farther into the cave, patrick pointed out evidence of human sacrifices. at the end of the cave, there was an almost entirely visible full skeleton. pretty creepy when you think about what was happening at this very spot ages ago. then we did the whole thing in reverse. more of the same, except for the large tree limb that almost fell on the wyoming lady.

that night, after grabbing some dinner, we were wandering around san ignacio looking for something to do when a random local guy started talking to us. we asked him what there was to do around here on a tuesday night. he was like, "here, i'll show you." ludwig aka charles first took us to some bar, and there was no one in there. after talking to a couple people, charles came back and was like, "let's go somewhere else. no one's here." then he took us to cocopele's. we never would have found this place on our own. it was a small place with a single pool table but a decent crowd. as soon as we get in, charles starts talking to some girl. actually, let me first tell you a bit about charles. charles is the type of guy who talks a lot of game, but obviously has none (i at least accept the fact that i have none). on the entire walk to cocopele's, he was telling us how he was going to take home some girl tonight and this and that. he even said that shawn and i could easily pass for belizeans and was worried we were going to take his girls. so yeah ... he starts talking to this girl. we find out that she's from maryland studying abroad in belzie. upon hearing that this girl is from maryland, charles starts cracking up. he says his gf is from maryland. she asked what part of maryland, and he answers, "uhh ... west maryland ... you know ... maryland." uh huh, riiiight ... you have don't have a gf. charles then starts talking to maryland girl's (didn't quite catch her name) rather large friend hannah. shawn and i shot some pool and ran the table for a few games. we met another american guy named dominic from virginia doing peace corp work in belize. charles comes back, tells us he just got weeded downstairs, and is now making even less sense than he was before, which was very funny (though not too fun shooting pool when he's on your team). he's amazed by the fact that shawn and i drank gin and tonics. he even seemed a little nervous about drinking one when i bought one for him (he went back to belikens after that). maryland girl and hannah leave, we chat with dominic a bit more, charles is now trying to hit on two rather hot locals, and we decide to call it a night.

CAVES BRANCH RIVER:

the next day was much more chill and less strenuous than the hiking/climbing/swimming of the day before. after another long van ride, we reach the caves branch river. each of us (the two of us, a couple, and our guide) are handed a large inner tube, and we start through the jungle. there were many more people here than there were at ATM. apparently this area was a hotspot for daytrippers coming off the cruise ships. our guide decides to take us further upstream than all the other groups. 20 minutes into our hike through the jungle, it starts POURING! it seriously starts coming down hard. shawn and i are like, "cool ... true rain forest experience." (inexplicably, the pictures we took with the waterproof camera in the jungle while it was pouring are nowhere to be found. no prints, not in the negatives. no idea what happened there). 10 minutes before we reach the point of the river where our hike ended, the rain stops and clouds disappear. talk about great timing. now that our hike was done, we hop in the river on our inner tubes and float back. talk about relaxing. the river went through a few caves, and it was pretty tight floating in almost complete darkness and quiet. really relaxing ... till we got to where the cruise boat people jump in. now the river is completely filled with people on inner tubes. little kids are screaming and splashing. so much for the serene cave experience. we decide to get out of the river, grab some sun, hang out, and wait for the crowds to subside. while we were hanging out, we find out that some guy lost his passport in the river. why would you bring your passport with you?!? to make it better, they were searching for it in the area of the river where the current was the fastest. it doesn't take a genius to realize it won't still be there. while out of the river, shawn had a great time trying to figure out what shape rock sounded the best when he threw it into the inlet nearby (*plop* vs *thwiiiip*). we get back in the river and float down some more. somehow, our guide finds the passport at the bottom of the river inside of one of the caves. of course, he didn't mention he also found a $20. after we got out of the caves, we floated for another hour or so under sunny skies.

that night, we tracked down an indian restaurant that some cabby recommended (that cabby was awesome ... really nice old guy that basically gave us the life story of him and his family). my chicken tikka masala wasn't what i was expecting, but shawn loved his food. the staff at our hotel told us there was a big soccer match in town, and we decided to check it out ... and we're definitely glad we did. not so much because of the game, but because there was some creole guy in the audience sitting next to us who took it upon himself to add play by play commentary to the game. this guy was comedy ... constantly complaining about the 'fuckin refs fixing the game,' going nuts when his team took a shot on goal, and we even got to hear a "gooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!!!!!." and all of this is in creole, which is basically english, just faster and jumbled together. good times ... especially since the home team won. then we went back to cocopele's (dominic said he's there every night for the most part). once again, shot some pool, drank some beers, talked to some locals (one of which was helping patrick on our tour of ATM and was convinced we were professional pool players in cali ... uhh, we're not that good).

that was it for our time in san ignacio. the next morning we headed back to the bus stop for our long trek back to belize city. in the commotion to get a seat on the bus, i ended up sitting down next to charles. we talk for a bit, and i decide to ask him which girl he took home that night. he smiles big, "the big one ... she was gooooood." in my head, i'm thinking, "she left before us, there's no way he took her home. she also didn't seem like the type that would do that." i decided to be nice and not call him on it. when i asked why he was heading to belize city, he said he had to check on his visa. when i asked where he was going, "maryland ... to visit my girl." hahha ... maybe he wasn't lying about that one.