Home Away From Home

We are currently lodging at the Cocotal Inn in Ambergris Cay, Belize, and I have to say, it's a beautiful place. It is so nicely decorated and clean, and I can't say enough nice things about the people working here. The woman who owns the place is a former New Englander so she knows all about where we are coming from. I'm always fascinated by ex-pats who leave everything behind to live in a different country. It's quite a bold move and there must be an interesting story in there.

We checked in in the afternoon, so we were tired, hot and sweaty and not too motivated to do much more than wander about and get settled. We are also a little jet-lagged because there is a two hour time shift, so we basically cruised the beach a bit and got a bite to eat. It's an interesting setup here, as you might have guessed, really geared toward tourists. The inn is located right on the beach, you can see the water from our front door, and all the other beach front accommodations have a similar setup. We are lucky to have a

pool, because as I've mentioned, the high winds have made snorkeling difficult, if not impossible, so we are spending a lot of time in the pool. It's entirely possible that we won't get to do any snorkeling, but we still have two days for these winds to die down. It's sort of a luck of the draw in terms of getting good weather, because some people have mentioned coming down here and getting rained on the entire time. The woman who owns this place said they get a 4-5 month rainy season. Can you imagine that?

The people we've encountered are super-nice, especially the guys who work here, Rambo, Sam, and Calvin. They are also good sources of information about where to get local food and see interesting sites. We've interacted with the guests, as well, most of whom are older retirees and young couples, maybe on their honeymoons. Not too many families, and I can sort of see why. Other than snorkeling, this place (the island, at least) is all about living the good life: good food, fruity rum drinks, spa treatment, and sitting in the sun getting tan. Not exactly what kids are looking for.

The coast is pretty, but there aren't too many big beaches for kids to play on, and you can't really swim off the beach. Plus, the wind makes this hard. We'll keep our fingers crossed on getting some good weather, but in the meantime, we're having fun hanging out and riding our bikes along the beach as well as into town. Personally, I love just sitting and reading and taking naps, not to mention eating, but the kids get limited enjoyment out of all that.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.