tales from a far-land

In March for the kids' spring break, we decided to take an international adventure for the first time in over a eighteen months.  With the travel vouchers we had from a cancelled trip due to COVID-19, we decided to travel to Cancun, Mexico.  Our friends, the Godbeheres, allowed us to use their elite membership at the all-inclusive resort  Moon Palace Sunrise .  We cannot thank them enough for the amazing time we had as a family.  With their membership, we were able to not only visit the Sunrise Resort, but the sister property, The Grand at Moon Palace.  It had everything that we could hope for -- swimming, bowling, a waterpark, an arcade, FlowRider, golf, tennis, a top-notch spa, nightly entertainment, restaurants galore, and plenty of sunshine.  The kids really enjoyed ordering in room service and having some autonomy to roam around the resort without their parents.  Josh and I loved that we were able to have a couple of date nights and some much...

On Thursday, June 13, we departed Placencia for the last destination of our trip -- Victoria House in San Pedro on Ambergris Caye.  For this transfer between hotels, we decided to fly from Placencia to San Pedro.  It was a beautiful flight over the ocean and all of the little islands off of Belize.  The entire trip only took an hour or so.  Once in San Pedro, we taxied to Victoria House.  This resort is gorgeous!  Our room was right on the beach.  We really enjoyed sitting on the patio and viewing the ocean all day, every day.  We spent the last three days of our trip reading, relaxing, scuba diving, bike riding to nearby restaurants, and renting a golf cart from the resort to drive into town to sightsee.  Josh and I definitely fell in love with beach-living.  This will be a vacation that we will soon not forget and try to replicate well into the future. A map of Placencia to San Pedro Flying over the ocean Our little fifteen ...

On Monday, June 10, we departed from Blancaneaux Lodge and embarked on our vacation's next destination -- Chabil Mar Villas  in Placencia, Belize.  We started this next part of our adventure in a new rental vehicle after our first SUV resulted in a flat tire.  Along the way, we stopped at a Women's Cooperative in San Antonio.   This organization was created by nine women, one of whom we met, Timotea, as a way to share their traditional Mayan traditions and culture with the younger generations.  In doing so, they also created a to as a way to earn income from tourism for their village and families.  They founded a center that teaches the public how to make tortillas, pottery and other Mayan crafts.  Josh and I enjoyed learning how to make homemade corn tortillas using a grinding stone and wood fire stove.  After our cooking lesson, we enjoyed a traditional Mayan lunch.  It was so good! Our drive from Blancaneaux to Placencia San Anton...

While vacationing in Western Belize, Josh and I had the opportunity to experience two Mayan excu rsions.  The first was Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM)  or the “Cave of the Stone Sepulchre”  tour.   It was full of hiking, rock climbing, river swimming, bats, Mayan artifacts and skeleton bones.  ATM is a geological cave which was used in ancient Mayan times as a sacred/sacrificial burial grounds.  In order to get to the cave, you have walk along a dirt path for about forty-five minutes and forge through three cold rivers.  Once in the cave, you navigate through stalactites and stalagmites searching for sacred Mayan burial sites using only the light produced by the headlamps you and your group are wearing.  At the end of our search, we were rewarded with a view of the famous crystallized "Crystal Maiden" skeleton.  What a super cool experience! Sadly, I was not able to capture any footage of our actual experience as cameras are banned from t...