Wednesday.
The great thing (among many) has been that I haven't seen a TV since we arrived here on Saturday afternoon. It's refreshing to pull away from the news of the world once in a while and just relax.
As for sitting in front of a computer...well hey, that's what a laptop is great for, right? Mobility. It's 4:35 right now and I'm actually sitting out by the pool and ocean enjoying a glass of wine and some chips and salsa. The wind is blowing about 10 to 12 knots right now, straight off the ocean and it's a humid 80ish degrees. I'm actually sitting on a Chaise lounge in the shade of a coconut palm, so the sun isn't beating down on me. It actually reminds me of my years living in South Florida (climate and ocean anyway).
So, sitting with my laptop in front of me is just fine. It allows me to check in on my favorite cyber-world - Pelican.
Today we went out into the jungle of Belize in the mountains, which are about 10 miles inland. The group (six of us) hiked through the always amazing jungle and stopped frequently to look at and learn a little about some of the plants and animals in there. We checked out the ever-common leaf cutter ants and their amazing little trails of what appear to be walking leaves. We learned a little about the termite "homes" that are built right onto the sides of trees up off the forest floor, in some cases almost up at the canopy level. We saw some amazing butterflies, saw many, many different kinds of colorful birds, and even stumbled right up on a big tarantula resting on the little trail, just outside his hole. I took a few pictures of him while the guide took a short 10" long stick with a leaf on the end and offered it to the spider, which promptly jumped on it , apparently thinking it might be a moth or something like that. Then, the spider decided something wasn't right and dashed back into his hole, but the guide was able to lure him out with the stick and leaf again, like a fishing line. It was a pretty cool experience. My wife wouldn't come anywhere near it.
The preserve is also home to about 60 to 80 Jaguars (in fact, they are the reason for the preserve), but they are mostly nocturnal creatures, so we didn't sight any. We did hear howler monkeys a few hundred yards away, but didn't see them (this time, anyway. My wife and I have seen them up close and personal in Costa Rica and in Honduras).
Tomorrow I'll start the day with another two dives in the morning. I'm hoping to see some sea turtles and spotted Eagle rays this time. I saw one on the wall yesterday, but it was down a little deeper and was just cruising by.
Ah, paradise.
Gotta love it. (but, I'm still thinking about that roll bar that Dave B. at TRE is going to make for my black car next month and the R-comp tires I'm buying for my newly acquired "track" wheels after that. And, of course, I brought the Porsche magazines.)
My wife on the trail
A waterfall and pool that we hiked to
The tarantula
In between dives yesterday
