Day 7. On the Island

Friday morning, June 14th, I woke up feeling just a bit out of sorts. Not as bad as I had the morning before. But still, not as good as I usually do! 

None-the-less, today was our last day. Today we would go to an island and relax a bit before heading home.

We again were up early and ready to go. I think this time it was leaving by 6am! Funny thing is I hear my daughter, Tanise' alarm go off so we all started getting up. One of the girls in our room, Allie, said, "Beach day! Time to get up!" (Chipper is the tone I would use to describe it.) I looked at my phone and it said 4:30! UGH! We were up an hour too early! Back to bed and a sound sleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow!

We headed to the lobby, to the bus, and then to the water taxi. As soon as we boarded the water taxi, I felt a sense of relaxation I hadn't felt all week. I love the water.....it was beautiful! Blue sky, clear water and white clouds. The wind as we surfed the water was amazingly appreciated by me after all of the heat and sweat I had experienced through the week. We were heading for a day of fun!

Snorkeling.... This was something that amazed me! I was afraid to go under and try yo breathe through that little contraption.... but as soon as I put my head under and did it, I felt relaxed. Relaxed from floating peacefully in the warm water surrounding me and relaxed from the scenery, which made me feel as though I were in an aquarium. The rhythmic sound of my breathing was soothing and I began to think it was probably similar to what my babies felt in my womb while I was pregnant...... PEACE. I felt total peace in that water.

Sting Rays! We later swam with them. It was pretty cool, although, I never got far enough under to touch one. I enjoyed watching them under my feet and attempting to go far enough under to get a feel......

Lunch at a restaurant. We still had no ice in our glasses- but it was nice to sit in a chair at a table to eat. All week we sat in pews in the church and had foam containers..... this was more of a back to normal feeling for me! Funny thing, we had 11 people from our group at this restaurant and we ALL ordered BURGERS! I guess we missed our American food, as well! 

Time to walk around the island and do some shopping. This was fun and I witnessed just how good my second Daughter, Tanise and a young woman named Allie were at haggling! I wanted to buy a Hammock Chair for our family and the man told me it was something like $100. These two got him down to $35! Nice! I appreciated the hand made items being sold there. I knew that purchasing them was giving us a nice souvenir and helping some of the locals' businesses. Thankfully, a generous person gave us a little money to do some shopping on our trip and we got hand made jewelry, a couple small carvings, bags (girls love their bags, you know.) and now the hammock seat! 

A little team meeting and recap of the week. We got to hear from 2 individuals about each person in the group. Some encouragement from our peers! How nice! After, we went for dinner (another restaurant) and this time a buffet! Fish and Chicken and Shrimp and side dishes! Cold Lime drink! YUM! Our last meal together. This week had flown by! There were a few staff members from Praying Pelican that I wanted to share something encouraging with. I appreciate them leaving home and comforts again and again to help lead groups like ours in unfamiliar things in an unfamiliar place. We spent a week, but they would be spending their summer there with group after group.

One last game of Silent Football under a canopy of black sky and a Palm leaf roof over our heads outside the hotel.

This hotel had GOOD AIR CONDITIONING! I went in as soon as we arrived and turned it to the lowest setting! It was pretty clean- no ants marching around.....a carpeted floor and solid tiles....no holes in the ceiling, no exposed wires..... we were living a more comfortable life here.... more of the life we were all used to before this week. It was amazing how much I was appreciating it!

Outside of our hotel:

Entrance to our room:

Yes, this life was more like the life a tourist leads while in Belize.... a little blinded by the life of most natives of the place. 

If I lived here, I think I would want to be a captain or ship mate on a boat and take people snorkeling all day......