Belize-Monkey River

We woke up this morning and had time to eat breakfast.  Don had the Bacon Egg Burger that I had a few days ago and I just had a bagel.  Then we had to walk to meet our guide at 745.  We met him about 10 minutes away at a dock on the lagoon side.  His name was Evaristo.

It took about an hour to reach Monkey River Town.  On the way Evar pointed out many different types of birds. He was an expert at spotting them out.  He was also an expert boater.  We raced through the mangroves at high speeds.  It was a little scary for me at first but he maneuvered the boat so freely.
-about an hour to the town monkey river.  The passages were so narrow at some times that we had to stop the boat and turn off the engine to listen if another boat was coming through on the other side.

Once we got to Monkey River Evar told us to go to Alice's Restaurant and place our order otherwise it would not be ready for later.  The village looked very small.  The restaurant looked like someone's house.  We told the lady there that we were with Evar and wanted to place our lunch order she said "okay, I have rice beans with chicken and plantain."  And so that is what we ordered haha.

Then we got back into the boat to go down Monkey River slowly to try to see some wildlife.  The first monkeys we saw were in a tree by an abandoned house.  They were kind of far but you could see them.  We saw several types of birds and their weird nests that they make.  Then we saw a big iguana up high in a tree.  How Evar spotted it, I have no idea.  The guy was good.  He pointed out a small crocodile just chilling in front of some tall grass.  It was probably about 4 feet long.

Then we got off the boat for a walk in the jungle.  We layered on the bug spray!  Almost immediately we saw a big land crab.  It was walking around a tree.  I was being careful where I stepped because who knows what is on the ground in the jungle.  Evar warned us watch out for ants because they could be crawling on you and you might not notice until it was too late.  I saw a big black spider crawl over Evar's shoe and I told him.  The spider was just sitting in some plants and I was trying to show him but he couldn't see it.  Finally he saw it and told me it was small.  It was not small!  This is when he learned I was afraid of spiders.  He told me I should be afraid of snakes instead.

Then we came upon a family of monkeys high in the trees.  They were pretty easy to spot though.  Evar said he was going to scare another tour group coming at us so he got out his machete and started banging it against a tree.  When he did this the monkeys started howling and screaming.  They were called howler monkeys.  The howling they did was so loud and so intense.  It was awesome.  I think we got some good video of this.

We saw a lot of cool plant life also.  One of the coolest parts was the bamboo.  At one point there was just bamboo towering over us.

Evar was always leading and at one point he started backing up and saying whoa whoa.   He had walked into a big spider web with a big spider!!  It was freaky. He said that this kind of spider makes a very strong web and he didn't even break it.

Then we got back on the boat and continued down the river.  We didn't really get any bites in the jungle, which was cool.  The rest of the trip we saw mostly birds.

Then we went back for lunch.  I was so hungry and the food was really good.  Then we got back on the boat to go back to Maya Beach.  But first we were going to look for manatees.  Evar knew right where to go. Right when he stopped the boat we saw a manatee pop his head up for a breath.  Another tour boat pulled up for a look at the manatees but they didn't stay long and I think they missed a lot. We stuck around and saw manatees poking their noses up for air.  It was very cool.

When we got back to our dock we saw a giant iguana.  We saw everything on the tour that was listed except for dolphin.

On our walk home we made a detour to go to the grocery store.  I got a Dr Pepper and we got some sunblock.  We walked the beach home.  Don was hoping the fins we had lost had washed up. When we got back we showered and then decided to take the bikes to Bonefish Grille.  It was about 1.5 miles away.  The bikes were good.  Riding on mine made me want to get a new bike.

The Bonefish Grille is in the Singing Sands Resort.  Right when we got there I got bit by a mosquito.  We got bit here more than we did in the jungle!  The restaurant was very dark and made you feel like you were in the jungle.  It was really cool looking.  The waiter was really nice and we had some really good drinks.  The restaurant was like an Asian Thai fusion.  I had a spicy pork sandwich and Don had a Korean beef bbq sandwich.  The food was really good and it was a really cool atmosphere.  The only problem was there were a lot of mosquitoes and bugs that were biting us.  The pool looked awesome and the resort itself looked really nice too.  I picked up a brochure for the place and found out they have glass bottom kayaks!! That would be so cool.  Then we came back and went to bed.

Belize-Kayaking

We slept a lot last night.  We finally got out of bed today around 8:30.  I know that doesn't sound very late but I swear I fell asleep at 7:45 last night!

Once out of bed we decided we were gonna kayak.  There is an island about a mile from the shore here that has good snorkeling on the other side of it.  I wasn't really sure of our kayaking abilities but we decided to go for it.  So we ate breakfast and then got ready to go out.  

Marlon gave us fins to snorkel with and life jackets.  He also put a cinder block on Don's kayak in case we wanted to anchor somewhere.  Then we both got in our kayaks and started going.  It was a lot easier than I imagined it would be.  Before we knew it we were almost half way there.  I started getting somewhat tired at this point but really wanted to keep going.  Don said "I'm waiting on you! Every time I look at you, you are not paddling!"  I told him I was waiting on him because every time I looked at him he wasn't doing anything!  So then I started paddling more.  All of the sudden I look back and Don is in the water.  The kayak had flipped!  I turned around and tried to get close to him but missed him...not really good at being precise with my direction.  Finally I got to him and I noticed there was another kayak coming towards us with a guy and a girl in it.  They asked us if we needed help and they stopped.  Don could not get his kayak to flip over.  Luckily his bag and his fins were still there strapped in.  The cinder block had fallen to the bottom though.  When Don finally got back on the kayak kept tipping up so the back was underwater and the top was upright in the air.  We thought maybe it was because of the anchor so the guy got the anchor up and we put in my kayak, but Don's kayak still wouldn't balance.  I put all of his stuff in my kayak....except his fins, we lost them.  Then Don got behind me and the guy told me to just paddle him in.  I tried paddling and couldn't get anywhere.  So the guy tied his kayak to mine and they paddled us back to where we could touch.  I tried to help by paddling also.  I wish we could buy these people a beer or something.  

Once we were on shore Don was tired and disappointed.  I was just happy we got back and we had everything...except the fins.  I was really worried about our underwater camera but it was there in the bag.  Don's kayak was so heavy!  Then we saw the plug in the back wasn't screwed in and water was coming out.  So we drained it.  We are pretty sure that this was the problem; the plug wasn't in so when we first started he had no problem but as time went on the kayak filled with water.  We drained the kayak for a good 15 minutes.  We saw a pretty big fish right at the shore.  It looked like a baby or small shark but I'm sure it wasn't.  As we were standing there the woman who we had saw the day before with her trinkets and crafts said hi.  She had a friend with her.  She asked if we were having fun we said yes but we tipped over.  She said "oh you're the one that tipped!?" Then she asked if we wanted to look again at her things to buy....I couldn't believe it haha but I told her we had no money on us.  Crazy woman.

Once the kayak was drained we needed to get back to the hotel's beach. We were pretty far from there so we decided to get back in kayak back.  We had decided that the island was out of the question now...we were tired and it was far.  The kayak back to the hotel beach was fine...so now we know the problem. So always check to make sure your kayak's plug is screwed in!!

We got back and swam for awhile then we told Marlon what happened and that we lost the fins.   He was nice about it but Don still felt bad.  Then we went out to swim more.  The water felt sooo good.  After that we dried off a bit and Don said he wanted to walk the beach back to where we came to shore and see if his fins had washed up.  I knew this was unlikely because I saw them sink.  They went pretty fast.  But we went and walked the beach.  On the way we saw some pretty big fish and Don pointed out a sting ray.  We also saw 2 crabs.  We looked along the shore and got in and snorkeled a bit but we never found the fins.  

Then we came back and swam in the pool.  After the pool we got cleaned up and decided to walk to the grocery store.  They had Dr Pepper so I got one.  Then we ate at the Green Parrot.  Don had a cheeseburger and I had shrimp and fries.  It was good but I think our restaurant is better.  We walked the beach back and decided to have the peanut brittle pie again.  Now we are relaxing in the room and getting ready for our Monkey River Tour tomorrow.

Belize-Xunantunich

So last night we freaked ourselves out reading in a Belize guidebook about bugs and diseases you could get here! Not a good way to end the night!

We woke up early for our tour of the the Mayan site Xunantunich.  We got a bagel from the restaurant here and our guide was here at 7:20.  His name was Gilbert.  There was a family of 3 in the van already which was surprising because we thought we would be the only ones on the tour.  That was okay with me though because I thought an all day tour would be a little awkward just the two of us.  

So we started the 3 hour drive to Xunantunich near San Ignacio.  We stopped at a gas station about 45 min into the trip.  We got some drinks and some breakfast sandwiches here.  I wasn't really hungry after having the bagel though.   Then we just kept driving.  

About an hour from our destination the driver pulled into a shopping center and dropped the family off.  We thought that was weird, we thought they were going with us.  So it was just 2 of us to the ruins.  

We drove through the city of San Ignacio.  It looked really different from anything we've seen so far.  It has been so rural here in Belize.  When we got to the ruins the driver explained to us that we would have to get out of the van and take the ferry across and then walk a mile to the ruins.  I thought he meant he was not coming with us....so I was a little freaked out at first!  But then I understood and we got out and waited for our turn for the ferry.  

The ferry would take each tour bus one by one over the narrow river.  It was powered by a man using a crank.  It was pretty cool to see.  People had little shops set up where they were selling their crafts.  We looked around a bit but didn't buy anything.  Then we got on the ferry.

After the ferry we drove to the parking lot and got out.  Then we hiked about a mile to Xunantunich.  The site was really cool.  We hiked to the top and got a view of Guatemala.  Going down the ruin was a little difficult for me.  I was afraid I was going to fall.  Once at the bottom we went all around the site, learning about different things.  We saw some leaf carrying ants.  It was pretty cool they had a whole little hike they were doing.  Our guide Gill showed us if you stomp around the opening of their homes the soldier ants would come out to defend it.  I was looking at it and wondering where are the ants?! All the sudden I looked at my shoe and a giant ant was on it attacking my shoelace.  They have giant pincers that will just cut things up.  So that was cool. Luckily it didn't get in my shoe.

Once we were done with the ruins we went for lunch.  I had a traditional rice and beans with stewed chicken  and Don had breakfast.  It was pretty good.  Then we started on the road again.  We stopped at a gas station for a break and Gill told us he would be picking up a family on the way back.  Once we got to the shopping mart again the same family got in.  We couldn't believe they had been shopping all day! The woman told us they were school shopping.  

Then we started on the road again so we could make our last stop at The Blue Hole National Park.  This is not to be confused with the Blue Hole that Belize is known for.  This blue hole is in the jungle and you hike to it.  The hike was only about 5 minutes though.  Once you get there it's a little lagoon that is deep blue.  It's blue because it's about 100 feet deep in spots.  It was kind of cold but once you got in you got used to it.  It was cool to see the fish swimming around us.  If you went further down you would come to the opening of Herman's Cave.  You could hike through Herman Cave to get to the blue hole, it's about 2 miles.  We didn't do that though haha.  

After we got done swimming we went back to the van for the ride home.  It rained for about 30 seconds then it was sunny again.  It was the first rain we had seen.  Gill showed us this spot that is supposedly magnetic because if you put the car in neutral it goes back up the hill.  It worked.  I wanna know why it worked...is it really magnetic?

Once we got back I was so tired.  We ate dinner.  I had a personal pizza it was good and Don had fish and chips.  Both were good. But we had an amazing dessert.  It was peanut brittle ice cream pie. Neither of us like peanut brittle but we tried it.   It was amazing!  It had caramel and vanilla ice cream with the peanut brittle.  

That was pretty much our night because when we got back to the room I was out.  

Belize-Placencia Village

We woke up today pretty early around 7 but just laid in bed kind of fell back asleep until 8ish.  Then we decided to go out and snorkel for a bit since the water was calm.

Before getting in the water a woman approached me and asked if we were staying here.  She said she had hitch-hiked from Placencia.  Then she asked if I wanted to look at her crafts.  I told her I had no money on me now so maybe late. When we got in the water we didn't see much because it's mostly sand.  Then we saw a few fish and we were getting further out and I heard Don say "Andi come back!"  We've been snorkeling quite a bit in our lives and I've never heard him say this so I was scared...like is there a shark??  So I just started swimming back to shore fast.  In my head I was a little disappointed on the swim back like..."man if there was a shark out there and he just made us swim like this and draw all this attention to us!!"  I wanna see a shark so bad and if it's far away and you just stay calm it should be alright...but we when got closer to shore he told me he saw a big jellyfish and I was swimming right for it.  So that ended our snorkeling this morning.

Then we came back in and got cleaned up for breakfast.  Don had a dish called Belizian Fried Jacks.  It had black beans, scrambled eggs and these pastry like things.  I had a Bacon Egg Burger.  It was good.  It was just bacon and 2 eggs over easy on ciabatta bread. During breakfast we could see the woman spreading out all her jewelry and trinkets on the beach to sell.

After breakfast we talked to the hotel owner about our tours.  Now I think we are adding another snorkeling trip.  It sounds pretty awesome.  Then we decided to take the bus to Placencia Village.  While waiting for it thought....guess who caught us.  The woman selling her crafts.  She was also waiting for the bus.  But she convinced us to look at her items.  I ended up buying a bracelet for $10, because I am a sucker. The bus came around 12:15 and you get on by waving it down.  It is an old school bus painted blue and it says "Richies Bus" on it.  The is $1 per person.  It took us to the end of the peninsula.

Once we got off the bus we walked around a bit.  We looked at the beaches and then just walked around.  It was sooo hot!  We decided there wasn't really much there so we planned to take the bus back at 2:30, which is the last bus of the day on Sunday.  We decided we wanted to try a different restaurant so we tried a place called Wendy's.  It was good.  The quesadilla I had was great.  After that we walked the town some more just basically waiting for the bus.  The bus was so crowded on the way back but the driver dropped us right off at our hotel.  Can't really beat the price of $1 for a bus ride.

Once we got back I wanted to go for another swim....so we went back out to the beach and snorkeled again.  We love snorkeling.  We didn't really see anything too crazy just a few fish here and there.  The water felt so good, it's so nice and warm.  After our swim we got cleaned up again and decided to walk about a mile to a different restaurant.

On the walk there the hotel owner saw us and said she would give us a lift.  That was nice of her.  The restaurant was Mangos and it looked really cool.  The food was good.  I had nachos. Don had fried chicken. The problem was when the food came immediately we were surrounded by flies.  It was so annoying.  We just ate so fast.  I feel like all we did today was eat hahaha.  We had to walk back and it was pretty dark.  But it was a nice walk.  When we got to the hotel the whole front of the building had little lizards on it.

Now we are back and we are just getting ready for our excursion tomorrow to the ruins.

Belize-Getting There

Today we woke up around 3 am so we could make it to our 6 am flight at ohare.  We got to the airport and our flight was on time....so nothing really crazy to tell from Ohare.

We had our connection flight in Dallas/Fort Worth.  We ate breakfast at a taco bar.  It was pretty good.  Then an alarm started going off.  It was a siren with a computerized voice saying "There has been an emergency reported in the building.  Please stand by for further instruction."  No one knew what was going on and it just kept repeating over and over.  Finally a real voice came on and said the emergency was taken care of so to keep going about business.  Even though he said this the alarm continued to go on until we boarded our flight for Belize.

We sat in the aisle that had 3 seats so we were sitting next to a woman.  She had the window seat.  Eventually one of her friends came and told her they had an open seat by them so she could sit next to them. I was excited because then we would have a giant space...but when I moved over to her seat it was a little damp and kind of smelled like urine, not really sure.  Luckily I only touched the seat with my hand...and I had hand sanitizer.  So for the flight we did not use that window seat.   It was funny though because I saw her when I was exiting the plane and she said "You didn't sit in that seat did you?" and I said "no" and she was like "good because it made my pants damp".....

So then we made our way into the airport to go through customs. There was a live band playing some music.  That was a first for me at an airport.

When we made it through customs we met our driver, Abraham.  He took us to his truck.  Abraham drove us 3 hours to Placencia...we had a private ride.  It was cool. He told us things about Belize on the way.  We stopped at a grocery store to get some drinks.  It was so weird.  It was a Chinese owned grocery store in the middle of no where.

The whole ride to the hotel all I could think was this place has really nothing but jungle.  I didn't really know what to expect but it is just land with trees, very rural.  We even saw Amish! Abraham told us the Amish settled here about 50 years ago.

We finally made it to Maya Beach Hotel and got settled in.  Our room is the Hummingbird Room and we saw a hummingbird outside our window!  We walked by the beach and relaxed on the deck for awhile.  Then we had dinner at the Bistro here at the hotel.  We had Spicy Fish Empanadas for an appetizer and we both had burgers for dinner.  It was really good.

After dinner it was only like 8 but we went back to the room for bed!

Honeymoon-Greece

Monday September 19 2011

Today I woke up and ate some more catering left overs.  Then we left for Ohare around 9 am. We checked in and talked to the parents about how great the wedding was.  Our flight was on time to Montreal.  The plane was so freaken small to Montreal that our carry ons wouldn’t fit above our seats!  I made “friends” from an old couple from nearby Lake Geneva.  They were going to Rome.  When we arrived in Montreal we had a snack and used their free wi-fi.  Why does Canada have all this free stuff?!  Our flight to Athens was also on time!  It left around 3 pm and was an overnight flight.  We noticed when they were boarding basically no one was getting up to get on the plane.  The flight was freaken empty!  It was awesome.  We could lay down in the middle row and sleep.  We had a dinner, it wasn’t very good.  So then I laid down and watched the movie that was on, Unknown.  I fell asleep towards the end and woke up and the new Yogi Bear movie was on. I watched some of it but was so tired and fell asleep again and woke up to something about electronics on.  This was boring and I fell asleep again and woke up and No Strings Attached was on but it was towards the end. So I fell asleep again and was woken up by a huge bump.  I sat straight up and was kind of freaken out.  It was bumpy and I started feeling queasy.  The rest of the ride sucked and they fed us some breakfast but I couldn’t really eat.  And it was bumpy.  I was so happy to be on land in Athens.  I was also surprised to see how desert-like Athens looked near the airport.

Tuesday September 20 2011

We arrived at the Athens airport at 1020 am.  We found our tour guide with the Gate 1 sign and she gave us instructions about our next flight to Santorini.  Our flight to Santorini wasn’t until 3 pm so we had a lot of time.   It was so boring.  I was also getting so cranky.  I was tired of traveling and I wanted a shower.  We got a sandwich and shared it and waited until we could go to the gate. 

We finally went to our gate around 2 and our flight was delayed by a half hour.  It was horrible.  I was so tired.  We were sleeping in the chairs.  We used the internet.  They had free internet for one hour in the airport.  So not as good as Canada….but hey at least you got some free time.   We finally got on the plane and we sat on the plane without moving for a long while.  When we took off we both fell asleep.  We arrived in Santorini around 445 pm. 

We took a bus to our hotel and got our travel documents for Santorini.  It had a map and a list of excursions we could do and other things we could do on our own.  We decided on of the excursions we wanted to do was snorkeling.  Once we got checked in we showered. The shower felt so good after all the traveling.  Then we left the hotel to find food.  We saw a little field with 2 goats and an old woman just sitting there.  The walk to the beach and main street from our hotel was about 5 minutes. The beach was black rock and pebbles instead of sand.  I think this is because Santorini is a volcano.  We walked around trying to find a place to eat and there were so many choices.  We decided on a place that had a bunch of cats hanging around at it.  The cats were cute.  Our first meal in Greece was a mixed grill for two that included potatoes, pork on a stick, meatballs, sausage, chicken and lamb.  It was soooo good. We walked around more after dinner to pick up some water since we can only drink bottled water.  On the walk back to the hotel we took a different way and ended up getting lost.  We had to ask another hotel how to get to ours.  Luckily we were not too far away and we made it back.  Tired and went to bed.

Wednesday September 21 2011

I slept really good last night, probably from all the traveling.  I woke up at 350 am and thought it should be 7 am already.  I tried falling back asleep, but I don’t know how well that went.  Later I woke up to all kinds of birds and a rooster.  I opened the balcony doors to find a cat wandering below our room and the sun rising over the sea.  We decided to eat at an English bar for breakfast instead of the complimentary breakfast.  It was good. Then we came back for a meeting with costa, one of the tour guides.  After the meeting we took at taxi to the port for the volcano cruise.  We walked up the volcano; it was very cool but tiring.  On the way down I rolled my ankle, it was bad but kept going.  It will probably hurt tomorrow.

After the volcano we got back on the boat and went over to the hot springs.  The hot springs are not very hot just warmer water created by the amounts of sulfur in the water from the volcano.  The boat anchored and we had to do about a 5 minute swim to get to the hot springs.  When I got back in the boat there were a lot of waves and I started to feel sick.  It was bad.

We stopped at the island of Therassia and I was feeling pretty bad.  I got a coke at the first restaurant we were shuffled into.  After looking at the menu and seeing some of the other restaurants we left to go to a different one.  The coke made me feel better.  We ate at the last restaurant on the waterfront.  It had a cat and we saw an octopus in the water.

Once we got back on the boat to go to Oia, we sat in the top back.  I had a fear I was going to get sick so I balled up a plastic bag in my fist.  I didn’t get sick luckily and it wasn’t that bad of ride.  We got off at Oia, the famous part of Santorini with all the white buildings, it was awesome and beautiful.  It was probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.  The only way to get to the city from the port is to walk up the stairs or take a donkey.  We decided to take a donkey.  It was crazy!  When I got on the donkey I thought it would be a nice leisurely ride and I could take pictures, NO!  When I first got on the donkey charged up the stairs.  It was very fast and rough, but awesome.  I had to hang on tight.  My donkey would go between two other donkeys or get up close to the wall; I scraped my leg on the wall.  Once we got to the top we took a lot of pictures.  We walked around the city and looked for a restaurant to watch the sunset.  The sunsets in Santorini are very famous.  We found a restaurant and we saw people staying at our hotel.  We watched the sunset, had some drinks and had some food.  The sunset was very pretty, except clouds were on the horizon so we didn’t get the full effect. 

After dinner I got cold.  We walked around a little bit more then decided to take a cab to the capital city of Fira.  We split a cab with another couple who was staying in Fira.  They were from Minnesota.  When we got to Fira I bought a sweatshirt.  We also stopped at an internet café to check in with our parents.  From Fira we took the bus home to Kamari.  We were both falling asleep and I was just lucky enough to hear the bus driver say Kamari.  I shot up and said “we’re here!”

Thursday September 22 2011

I slept good last night.  We slept with the balcony open and apparently it started thundering and storming so Don got up and shut it.  I never heard any of this happen.  We got up around 730 am so we could go on our snorkeling trip.  First we went to breakfast at the hotel.  It was not so good but it was free.  I was getting a little worried because it was very cool outside and it looked like rain.  I couldn’t imagine getting in the water but we went for it anyway.  A person from the dive shop came and picked us up around 9 am.  On the way she asked us if we wanted to try diving instead of snorkeling.  I’ve always wanted to do diving but I have never done it so the thought of doing it today made me a little scared.  After thinking a little bit we decided just to do it. 

It was 85 euros a piece.  I was feeling really nervous but excited also.  When we got to the dive shop we filled out the paperwork, paid and got our wetsuits, boots, and flippers.  Then we got in a van and drove to the port.  The port was a lot smaller than the main one on Santorini.  The boat was a small speedboat and it was freaking rough.  I was bouncing up and down.   We got out to the first dive spot and the experienced divers went out.  We stayed on the boat with our instructor.  He gave us a brief talk about diving.  I couldn’t really focus on it because the boat was rocking and I was feeling very seasick and nervous.  Finally we got up and Don got in first.  We went to the back of the boat and put weights on our waist, our flippers on, mask on and then the instructor helped us put the tank on.  Once the tank was on he hoisted us up and we stepped off the boat.

The first time I was in the water with all this gear on it was very awkward and I felt panicked.  I felt like I couldn’t control my body very well because it kept pushing my body up.  We went underwater for a little bit just to see what it was like.  Then Don went with one instructor and I went with the other one, Costca.   He was very easy to work with.  We followed the chain from the boat anchor down.  My ears hurt a little from the pressure but not that much.  The first dive was awesome.  We saw a few fish and saw the drop off.  It was pretty amazing. 

When we got back on the boat we had some water and a little croissant thing.  I couldn’t really eat.  I didn’t feel that sick anymore but I just couldn’t eat.  So we boated to the next dive spot.  It was by the island of Therassia, where we ate the day before.  When I first got in the water I felt a little better about it.  I felt I could control my body a little easier.  Then we started to go down.  This time I didn’t go with Costca; I went with the other instructor.  We started to go down and my ears hurt bad.  It was really giving my problems.  So we would go back up a little, but I felt like he wouldn’t listen to me.  It was really hurting and he told me maybe I was focusing on trying to regulate them too much.  This was probably true.  They started to feel a little better, in my mind I was like maybe they are just feeling better because they have burst!  We went down and I saw a black sponge and a few fish.  Then my goggles started giving me problems.  At first I tried to ignore it but then they came off.  I started panicking.  My instructor brought me up and I was done.  That was okay because it was the end of the dive anyway.

I want to try diving again but with gear that fits me well and lessons.  The first dive was amazing, second one not so much but I want to do it again.  When we got back to the dive shop we took pictures with the crew and exchanged some names for Facebook.  It was a really cool experience.  Costca gave us a ride back to the hotel. 

Once we got back we showered and got ready for dinner.  It was early but we didn’t have lunch.  We had some pizza, it was really good!  We watched some dogs while at the restaurant.  One of them was really territorial and wouldn’t let one of other ones into its area.  But one of the other ones was okay to go in its area.  It was entertaining.  After dinner we went down to the beach and laid for a little bit.  It got chilly so we walked back.  Then it rained a little.  The rest of the night we just chilled, packed, and got ready to leave for Mykonos in the morning.

September 23 2011

We woke up this morning and had breakfast at the hotel.  We made sure we were all packed then we waited for the bus to come to take us to the port.  The bus came and went to several different hotels and drove us to the port.  The drive was crazy because the port is at the bottom of the island so we had to drive down a cliff.  We had a snack of Greek fries and a coke before getting on the ferry.  The ferry to Mykonos would be about 3 hours.  We left around 1230 and Don and I were separated.  We were in the same row but there was a giant space between us.  I made friends with a couple I sat with, Michelle and Stephen.  They were from NY.  They were traveling with some friends.   They were pretty cool.  The first half hour of the ferry was fine but then the waves got huge and the boat was just rocking.  It felt like sometimes the ferry would flip over.  One of the workers started passing out extra puke bags.  Tons of people were puking and the waves were just constant.  I was feeling horribly sick, but I wasn’t alone Michelle was also.  We didn’t puke but it was completely horrible. 

When we finally got off around 4 our tour guide took us to the bus to take us to our hotel.  Then he told us he would be at our hotel around 450 to talk to us.  When we got to our hotel there were only stairs leading up to it.  We were with a bunch of old people so they were not very happy about this.  We got to our room; it was room 42.  The hotel was very nice.  We walked around the hotel grounds and it was very pretty.  Better than the one in Santorini. 

We met with the tour guide to talk about Mykonos.  Then we went to walk around Mykonos City.  We decided to upgrade our 5 hour ferry ride to Athens to a flight.  I just couldn’t do the ferry again.  Plus the flight would leave at 11, and the ferry wouldn’t leave until 2 pm and take 5 hours, so we would have a little more time in Athens.  Don liked the idea of the flight also.  So now we have a 40 minute flight to Athens so hopefully all goes well. 

We had dinner at a place on the water and watched the sunset.  The sunset was absolutely beautiful.  Then we just walked around and took a lot of pictures.  Mykonos is very pretty.  I was still feeling dizzy all night from the boat.  We came back to the hotel around 9.  We got some water and watched a little TV, since the TV in our last hotel didn’t work. 

September 24 2011

Our alarm didn’t go off this morning.  We wanted it set for 7 am, because we wanted to go to the bank and get more euros.  Then we had a 9 am pick up for a car rental.   Maybe the reason the alarm failed to go off was because there were power outages all over the island.  So we had no power and also no shower.  The power luckily came back on soon and I was able to take a shower, while Don went to the bank.

He came back with no euros though because the front desk failed to tell us banks are not open on Saturday. So after breakfast we walked to a place to get some euros.  Then we got a call at 9 am from the car rental place.  The guy was out front and ready to take us to get our car.  We rented a smartcar.  It was kind of purple and Don drove it first. 

We wanted the car so we could go beach hopping. We went to Psarou Beach first.  There were people every where as Don tried to park the car on a hill.  It was challenging because the hill was so steep and the car had such a weird brake/accelerator system.  Finally we walked down to the beach and the beach had a bunch of nice chairs and tables.  The beachfront had a bunch of restaurants on it also.  Even though it was busy, it was pretty quiet.  We had to have lunch from the restaurant to sit at the chairs or pay 10 euros for 2 people.  We figured we would just have lunch since we needed to eat.  We ordered a cheeseburger and pizza.  The pizza was very good.

When we first got in the water it was cold, but then it felt good.  The water was so clear and the salt in it made it sparkle.  Don wanted to snorkel so we got our snorkels, good thing because it was awesome.  On the side there were rocks with tons of fish and sea life.  Fish were surrounding us.  It was so cool.  I think it was my favorite beach of the day. 

Next we drove to Kalafatis Beach.  It was much quieter; people were mostly sleeping.  There were a few restaurants on the side but we didn’t go there.  We wanted to snorkel.  There were big rocks with tons of sea life.  I think this was Don’s favorite beach.  It was fun to just ride the waves and see the fish doing the same. 

Next we went to Kalo Livadi.  We thought we would snorkel again but the beach was sandy with no sea life really.   We saw a few fish following us around but mostly it was a beach to have a good time. We mostly just laid out and tried to get dry.  The sun felt so good.

After this beach I tried driving the car.  The car was very rough shifting, probably because it had the option to be a manual and it was also very hilly.  Going uphill felt like you were just going to fall back down it.  But after awhile the driving was okay.  I did fine.  Don was the navigator.  We decided to stop at one more beach, Lia.  It was surrounded by rocks, kind of like a mountain.  We saw some people hiking.  There were hardly any people at this beach.  We just walked around, but didn’t get in the water.   We took some pictures with some random dog.  It was very quiet there.  There was a restaurant that seemed kind of weird but relaxing. 

Then we took the car back to the rental place. My first time driving in a foreign country was not too bad.  Driving in Greece was crazy though!  There were bike, atvs, people and other cars all on these tiny winding hilly streets.  After we returned the cars we got a ride back to the hotel and took showers.  Then we went out and had some gyros at a little place not far from the hotel. 

After eating we did some more exploring.  We found a little desert café place.  We had a chocolate cake thing with ice cream.  It was probably the best desert I’ve ever had.  The people running the place were so nice also.  We got back to the hotel pretty early, but we were tired.   

September 25 2011

Today we woke up around 730 and got ready.  We had breakfast at the hotel.  The bus came and picked us up at 9 for the Delos tour.  From the hotel we went to the port and we had to walk all the way to the other side to get on the boat.  We talked to a few people we had seen before like Michelle and Steve.  We also made friends with an old couple that had been at our hotel. They were from North Carolina.

On the boat to Delos we talked to a woman about getting seasick and traveling.  Delos is an island that has ancient ruins from about 5000 bc. There was running water and toilets, even a sewage system.  It’s an active archaeological site and it was pretty cool.  The water surrounding the island was pretty, so blue.  The tour was guided and lasted about an hour and a half.  It was very informative.  We saw the remains of an old house and a huge house with marble.  There was also a theater and the birthplace of Apollo.

After the tour we had a snack at the café and then headed back to the boat.  The boat brought us back at 130.  It made us so tired.   We got back and ate at a little restaurant and then walked back to the hotel.  We followed the coastline so we could see the windmills.  When we got back to the hotel we jumped in the pool and laid out.  We slept, relaxed and read. 

September 26 2011

We woke up around 8 today and got packed to go to Athens.  While I was packing and Don was in the shower I heard a strange noise. The little orange cat had gotten through our patio door and was hanging out in the hotel room.  I loved this cat!  He was so cute. We played with the cat for a little while and then went to breakfast. 

The bus picked us up around 10 to go to the airport for our flight to Athens.  The flight was very short, maybe 30 minutes.  It was totally worth upgrading to the flight instead of doing the 5 hour ferry ride.

When we arrived in Athens our guide found us and took us to a bus.  On the 45 minute bus ride to the hotel she went over things.  We checked in and looked around the hotel and then decided to venture down to the plaza.  We were told to take a taxi since the public transportation was on strike, but Don thought we could walk it.  He was right; it was no more of a walk from our apartment in Lakeview to Downtown.  We went to a restaurant close to the hotel because I was starving.  It was pretty good.  Then we walked and saw some sites.  But we mainly saw shops.  We had a beer at one of the restaurants and then walked back to the hotel.  It was a good walk.  But really Athens is just a city. It is unique though with all of its ruins. 

We got back to the hotel and had dinner on the rooftop.  I wanted to eat outside but it was so windy so we moved indoors.  It was really cool because the Acropolis was lit up so after dinner we took a few pictures of it while having a drink

September 27 2011

Today we woke up at 645 so we could be ready to be picked up at 8 for our Athens sightseeing excursion.  The bus drove us by many of the sites and then we got out at the new acropolis museum-woke up at 645 so we could be ready to be picked up at 8 for our Athens sightseeing excursion.  We had a guided tour through the museum and then we were free to roam for awhile until we walked up to the acropolis. 

The walk to the acropolis was pretty amazing. The sights were so beautiful and a little scary because the marble was slick!  We took a lot of pictures.  And then came down for lunch in the plaka.  The plaka was the first place where we had people begging us for money.  Mostly children begging.   At the restaurant where we ate children would come up to you and play music for money, but the restaurant staff kept kicking them out.  It was sad.  The meal that I had here though was one of my favorites in Greece, stewed meatballs and rice.

We had the rest of the day to do whatever so we decided to take the tram and go to the coast.  It was hard for us to figure out how to pay for the tram but I guess we did it right!  We rode to the end but there wasn’t really anything there so we got back on and got off at a marina.  The marina was beautiful and had a nice little mall.  We left the marina and walked the coast for a bit.  We saw people fishing, swimming and snorkeling.  It made me want to snorkel!  Then we took the train back to the plaka right in front of the parliament building.  There was a protest happening here and it was cool to see.  There were tons of police and riot police.   Luckily it wasn’t violent. 

Then we walked back to the hotel and started packing.  Around 830 we saw a sign saying there would be a strike for cabs and all public transportation the next day.  We were a little worried this would interfere with our ride to the airport.  Luckily there was a Gate 1 representative at the front desk and she told us not to worry they would send a private bus to pick us up. 

We went to a little place and got some gyros and beer to bring back to the hotel for our last night in Greece.  It was the best gyro I’ve ever had; even though I’ve only had a few…it was amazing!  It was hard to believe our honeymoon was ending, it was amazing.  I never dreamed I would go to Greece for my honeymoon.  It was the best experience.   After eating we went to sleep to await our 230 wake up call to go to the airport.

Wedding Week

Best Week Ever

Saturday September 10 2011

Today was one week before the wedding.  I was starting to feel a little nervous about the wedding, but more nervous about everyone from out of town getting here on time and safely.  We were getting ready to pick up Don’s dad, Danny, from Ohare when I noticed a crazy rash on Don’s arm.  He said it was really itchy.  It looked horrible, but I didn’t think too much of it. 

So we went out to the suburbs by Ohare to do some last minute shopping for the wedding and to buy Lina a new litter box.  I was so excited to put Lina’s litterbox in the closet instead of in the bathroom….and she liked it too I think.

So we went to Ohare and failed to check the status of his dad’s flight.  So we spent a couple of hours waiting for him because it was delayed.  We passed the time by talking about the 9/11 ten year anniversary, which was a little awkward being in an airport.  As we were at the airport the rash on Don’s arm was getting worse. 

Once we picked up Danny we drove him by Wrigley Field and then we just came back to the apartment to chill.

Sunday September 11 2011

Don’s dad slept in until about 10 am, I think he was jetlagged.  Don and I watched some of the 9/11 memorial on tv.  It was so sad.   Once Danny woke up we walked to the lake to show him where the tennis courts were.  The weather was so nice and he enjoyed seeing the lake.  On the walk home we ate at the Grove Restaurant on Diversey.  Then we got in the car and drove to Men’s Wearhouse to make sure all Don’s and Danny’s measurements were correct.  After that we went and saw the movie Contagion.

Monday September 12 2011

Today I woke up and had to go to work.  On the way to work I stopped by Panera and sat outside to eat a bagel.  While we were both at work Danny walked around the neighborhood and shopped.

Tuesday September 13 2011

Today was our last day of work before the wedding and honeymoon.  I finished packing everything up for the wedding weekend.  Don made a good dinner of chicken.  We are excited.

Wednesday September 14 2011

Today we woke up and went to pick up Miguel at Ohare.  We stopped by a party store to get some last minute things for the reception.  Then we ate at a diner.   Then we came back to the apartment to pick up Don’s dad.  We went to Men’s Wearhouse again to pick up Miguel’s tux.  Then we found an indoor tennis court for Miguel and Danny to play at.  Don’s dad loves tennis and was very excited to play with Miguel because he’s a tennis instructor in Long Island.  While we watched them play tennis I felt nervous and upset about the weather. The weather had turned so cold and rainy and gross.  Later in the evening, Don, Miguel and I went to Dukes of Perth for some drinks and we played some Zombie Flux and a game called Fingers.  Afterwards we came home and watched Deadliest Warrior: Zombies vs. Vampires.  It was disappointing but entertaining enough.  We were all pretty tired.

Thursday September 15 2011

This morning I woke up eary, got Lina packed up and headed to Paxton.  It was absolutely freezing out for September….my worries about the wedding weather have increased.  Don stayed behind in Chicago to pick up more of his groomsmen.  I arrived in Paxton about 9:30 am.  My mom and I worked on packing things up for the reception and organizing as much as we could.  Around 1130 my dad came home and we all went up to the pool hall for lunch.  The special was chicken fried steak so I was happy.  After lunch my mom and went to Wal-mart to pick up some last minute things.  Then I spent the afternoon sending emails and replying to wedding vendors. 

Around 5 pm we went back to the pool hall to have dinner with Doug Tucker.  The special was wings and 50 cent drafts.  We ended up going through 2 pitchers of bud light.  Then we came home to do some more drinking.  My mom wanted to do my nails so I let her.  Then Marty and Diane came over to look over the stuff we needed to bring for the wedding.  Kathryn also came over and we all just had fun talking. 

Friday September 16 2011

Last night I slept horribly.  Couldn’t get to sleep and woke up a lot.  Then my parents woke up at 6 am!  I tried to get back to sleep but couldn’t really and got up around 730.  We went to breakfast at Country Gardens and talked to our favorite waitress Lisa about the wedding.  After breakfast we went out to Timber Creek Bed and Breakfast to see the people who were already there.  We saw Judy and Steve and Don’s mom Estelle and her two friends Agnes and Connie.  My mom was kind of upset because the reception tent was not being set up yet.  So we went back home to start packing up stuff in the cars.  I brought all my stuff to Timber Creek and checked into our room.   Then I helped my mom put bows on all the light posts on the drive way.  Then my parents left to go get more stuff and Steve and I sat on the patio and hung out with the 3 little kittens that live at the b&b.  Judy and Sam had went to Bloomington to pick up Michael and Teresa. 

The tent was finally set up around noon or 1 and Marty, Kathryn, my dad and mom started putting up decorations.  Don arrived in a huge rental car with Lorina, Khris, Miguel, and Ethan. We all get checked into their rooms.  I was starving and needed to make some phone calls so Lorina and I went to town and stopped by Hardee’s.  Later around 3 Mary and I went to IGA to pick up Don’s grooms cake and 3 gallons of orange juice for the reception.  (I wonder how much of this OJ was actually used during the reception for mixed drinks…) We got back to the b&b and got ready for the rehearsal.  Jamie, Kat, and Kelsey arrived shortly.  The rehearsal was at 430.  My mom seemed like a nervous wreck.  It was all starting to set in.  The weather was very chilly and cloudy and I was so nervous it wasn’t going to be better by tomorrow. 

At around 530 we drove to Gibson City for dinner at Bayern Stube.  When we got there all the trees were tp’d around the restaurant.  That was kinda cool.  I had some German beer and a fantastic meal of schnitzel.  I then tried a little bit of other people’s deserts.  We had a lot of laughs and fun.  After the rehearsal dinner we thought it would be a good idea to hang out somewhere for awhile since it was only like 830.  We hung out at my parent’s garage.  A lot of people came.  I picked up some budlight…there was a ton of beer there.  Everyone was just talking and chilling.  Even my mom was out there.  She said she couldn’t do anymore decorating til the morning.  It was a nice time.

 

I drove back to the b&b with Mary and Kat.  Then my sister showed up.  We decided we wanted to use the Jacuzzi.  So we got down to our bras and undies and got in.  It felt good.  Somehow we all four managed to get in. at once.  Mary and Kat later went to Mary’s room and my sister and I started to get to sleep.  We stayed up talking for a long while though so I didn’t sleep good again.

Saturday September 17 2011

Just start off by saying our wedding day was completely perfect.  I woke up around 8 with a bit of a headache.  I went downstairs with Mary, Kat, and Kelsey for breakfast.  Connie had made delicious breakfast enchiladas.  I tried to drink coffee.  I’ve never made coffee for myself I just order it…and even that is not often.  So I just drank it black, it was okay.  Then I took some aleve.  Most everyone was there eating with us even the guys. 

My hair stylist, Heather, showed up at 9 am and we got work on the hair right away.  Kat first, then Mary, Kelsey, and last me.  Kat did most everyone’s makeup, including mine.  She did a fantastic job.  Then the photographers showed up around 1130 so they could look around for the places to take shots.  Dad ordered a ton of cheeseburgers and fries from Just Hamburgers.  I think most people liked it. 

Around noon I started getting my hair done and then my makeup to follow.  Around 130ish mom started helping me get into my dress.  And at 2 pm we started pictures with everyone.  I wanted to do most pictures before the ceremony.  Pictures seemed to take forever…and I can’t wait to see them. Hopefully they all turned out good.  People were already starting to arrive when we were finishing up pictures.  We all hung out in the tent where people couldn’t see us to wait to start walking for the ceremony.  I didn’t feel really nervous but I just wanted it to be over already.  A lot of our closer family and friends walked into the tent and saw me before the ceremony.  Then we all lined up and started the ceremony.  The bridesmaids and groomsmen walked down to a piano version of Hands Down. I started to get a bit more nervous there standing with my dad.  He started talking about the weather, which by the way was perfect.  It was completely perfect, it had not been nice the days before but today was around 70s and completely sunny.  When I walked down the aisle I wasn’t nearly as nervous as I thought I would be.  I walked down to the song Only Hope by Switchfoot. The ceremony seemed pretty short.  It went so good.  Mr Jones did drop Don’s ring on the ground but that was funny.  Before we knew it we were walking back down the aisle married.  Then we released each row to say hello to people.  When we walked out everyone showered us with bubbles.  Then we did a few more pictures with family members.  The ceremony was beautiful and perfect, everything I imagined and hoped for. 

We did our grand entrance to a Beastie Boys song, I don’t think it was the one we requested but it was fine.  I think it was the one about a party…can’t remember the name.  Then we started dinner and signed our marriage license.  While we were signing a vase broke but Steve took care of it.  Our usher Steve was the absolute best, anything we needed he was on it.  I received several compliments about the wedding music and the dinner music.  That was nice because I picked it all out.  Then we listened to the amazing toasts from everyone on Don’s half.  Kelsey was the only who did a toast out of my girls, and she started bawling.  The speeches were so good. 

After the toasts we had our first dance.  It was Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls.  Steve later told us that right before our first dance he was just standing there looking around and happened to see Rusty, the DJ, looking a little panicked.  They happened to lock eyes and Steve could tell something was wrong so he went over there.  Rusty couldn’t find our first dance song anywhere, and Steve asked what it was and Rusty told him.  Steve said “Hold on, be right back, I got it.”  Steve came back with a cd that had Iris on it and our first dance was played from this cd.  We had no idea.  Steve is the best! 

Next Don did his dance with his mom to Mama by Boyz II Men.  Everyone was impressed with their dance moves.  While all these dances were going on Marty and Vicki had been working on the raffle to dance with the bride.  Uncle Donnie won…so I had a dance with him and we got a few extra bucks without doing the dollar dance.

The reception was awesome, people were constantly dancing.  There were a few songs that stuck in my mind.  During the Kesha song Blow, Khris had arranged to have confetti shot everywhere.  It was so cool.   He was proud of himself.  During Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, it became like a mini mosh pit.  I fell down twice and Khris tried to do some crazy flip off Don’s back.  In the process Don got a busted lip and a huge scratch on his arm.  My dad got down on the dance floor during Bad To The Bone.  He was pretty drunk at this point.  It was funny.  The best song though was “Soco Amaretto Lime” by Brand New.  Most of our friends know this song and they formed a circle around us and everyone was signing it.  I was basically screaming it.  It was such a cool moment.  It was amazing.  Everyone was there in that moment. 

Mary and I had to do a shot with my dad since that has become kind of a tradition.  I didn’t really feel like doing a shot so we just had a beer and found someone to take our picture.  My dad saw our beers were full and his was almost empty so he finished it.  We thought he was going up to the bar to get a new one but he just turned around to his table and picked up a new one.  He had a small cluster of beers for himself hahaha. 

I was talking to the DJ at one point and Andy Bennett came up and said “hey play some Eminem, I like 10 mile”.  I thought this was hilarious.  Sure enough some Eminem was played.  

At some point in the night my dad was really drunk.  He just had his head on the table and my mom was also drunk leaning against him.  My dad started puking outside the tent.  He told someone “I’m gonna be ditch driving”, we all knew though he would not be driving.  During this time there was a dinner roll fight.  Rolls were flying. 

Doug Tucker, Diane, Vicki and Marty then decided they should get my parent’s home.  They put my dad in the front of my parent’s suv with a trash bag tied to his shirt.  Diane put my mom in the back and when she was trying to put the seatbelt on her she said “that feels good”.  My dad puked on the way home and by the time they were home he had puke all over his shirt.  Marty helped my mom get her dress off and they got them put to bed.  Crazy night…best wedding ever. 

Sunday September 18 2011

Woke up and went to breakfast around 8.  Then we packed our stuff and said bye to Khris and Ethan.  It was sad seeing everyone go.  I didn’t want the wedding weekend to be over!  My mom, Doug and her friends were in the tent cleaning and packing things up.  I went over to my parent’s house and saw my dad, he was looking really rough.  He had been puking all night.  I asked him if he remembered telling Doug that they can watch the game together today and drink beer.  He said “yeah I remember that but that’s not happening.” Then my mom, Doug, Marty, Doug E., Vicki, Diane, and Jeff came over and we all ate some leftover food from the reception.  It was so good!  Doug asked if I could take him back to Bloomington on the way home.  I said sure I could just take 55 up.  The ride over to Bloomington with Doug was good.  We talked a lot about the wedding.  Then a lot more about all the stuff going on with my family like my grandparent’s divorce and the money.  It was crazy, but good to talk to someone about it.

After I dropped Doug off I took 55 up to Chicago and it was the worst traffic!  It felt like it took 6 hours to get home.  I was so tired; I had to keep opening the windows even though it was rainy and crappy.  When I got home Don was almost back and he was going to drop off the rental car.   Then we made sure we were all packed for our honeymoon!  And we opened the few gifts that we had.  Most of the gifts we left at my parent’s house.