{29feb2012: unBelizeable}

Before we knew about the big news, Jason and I had planned a holiday to Belize. The timing worked out for work as right around the lunar new year projects at work slow down, but it did mean we missed Darwin's birthday (I feel awful about it and still need to get around to planning her birthday/family reunion too). But we did have a great week and a half vacation and I have the bad tan lines (and now peeling skin) to prove it!
Here are some pictures:
Such pretty clear blue water!

Our first stop after landing was the Belize Zoo. Here's a Tapir.

An Ocelot:

A Puma:

We splurged at the beginning of the trip and stayed at an eco-adventure lodge, Cave's Branch in the jungle near Belmopan. 

It was a great way to start off our trip and we got to do some fun day trips. One was cave tubing and zip lining!

The second day we went on a tour of waterfalls located in a cave under a mountain. This one was a workout hiking through the jungle to the entry of the cave, hiking through the water through the cave, and climbing up (and jumping down) waterfalls. We did have a great picnic lunch in the cave though, on a nice white table cloth too!

We stayed another night and did a side trip (not a trip booked through Caves Branch) to the biggest Mayan ruins in Belize, Caracol. This was quite a drive to get to, and most of it was on unpaved, potholed dirt roads. Rough drive, but the ruins were great.

The next day we left Caves Branch and headed to an island a little north of Belize City, Caye Caulker. Lobster season was about to come to an end, so we started our time off on the island with fresh grilled lobster!

Island life was relaxing. Lots of time spent lounging around reading, eating and drinking. 

Lots of dogs and some cats on the island. One dog in particular buddied up with Jason.

Of course we were suckers and shared our ice cream with him.

We did get out and do more than just sun ourselves. Jason went scuba diving one day, we rented a kayak and checked out the north side of the island, and on the last day before we left we spent the day on a sail boat and went snorkeling.

It was a great vacation but we were very happy to get home to Darwin!