What a great fall break we had visiting the Yates, or as locals call them, the “Yah-tez” family! (Belizian accent is kinda spanish). I was hoping to escape the past few months of Atlanta sweltering heat, but, nooooo, we chose to visit our long lost friends, in Belize, instead. 98% humidity and 90 degree weather greeted us as we stepped out of our tiny 6 person airplane. Air thick as blackbean soup draped across my brow, as we rolled our carry-on luggage. Yes, my husband is one for packing light…but I still stuffed my bags with essentials, like bug spray or liquid, divided up into 3 OZ bottles, sunblock, in 3 OZ tubes, granola bars, fruit roll ups, aka kids vitamin C, Kraft Mac and Cheese,  freeze dried chicken noodle soup and of course, CANDY!!!! Along with Halloween decorations, Stephanie’s important magazines (I didn’t look at the package Karina sent her…. was that an Enquirer or People?). Anyway, when TSA asked me if someone had given me anything to carry…well, frankly, I was scared…

I looked at the row of golfcarts, and I wondered how they could even tell the difference between them. Remind me to send them some green fuzzy dice to distinguish the Yatez family golfcarts.

Driving thru town reminded me of the town I grew up in, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Except, we didn’t have a beach… and we drove cars…or rode horses…or motorcycles… but pretty much the same. Little stores…the butcher, the baker, the fruteria, etc… Dirt roads, the same. Mosquitoes, the same, ferocious and hungry.

Their condo was beautiful! The one we rented, beautiful. The pool, beautiful!

The kids were so excited to see Sam, Julia and Iris! Julia was more than happy to give Bebe and Emmi a tour of the house and pool area. Sam sure could have used some boy time, but has made friends with boys in the building. Later, I found him snorkeling out in the water right outside of their building. Fancy meeting him, there…

The following day, we made it out to Hol Chan Reef, a nature preserve filled with protected fish. The girls, Julia and Sam had recently taken their PADI Bubblemakers course. So out into the ocean we all went, to scuba and snorkel with all kinds of ocean creatures. First up, I stepped on a 3 foot nurse shark… no worries, they are like puppies, wanting to know who is coming into their neighborhood. The kids were so excited, they didn’t have time to be scared. I had a turtle come sailing over my head with a couple of ramoras stuck to his tummy… reminded me of people that sit and wait for the airplanes that land in St. Marteen just meters away. I watched in awe. Schools and schools of lazy fish, just daring us to swim after them, knowing they are protected from me inviting them to dinner….on my plate!

Sunday, we went to the Yatez’s church, which reminded me of Buckhead Church. It was a video stream, of a church in New Mexico. The message was about friendship, and he asked us to write out the names of friends that we believe would do anything for you and vise versa. A  friend that helps see you thru good and bad times, and can work with you reading the Bible and talk about Gods will and word in our lives.  Of course, my hubby and Stephanie were on my list among other peoples names too. What a friend we have in Jesus, was the main idea, that he will never turn his back on you. If we follow his teaching and his words, we indeed have a great friend. Great message!

Monday, we took a boat ride out to the reef with the kids and fished and snorkled. Later, our captain cleaned the yellow fin snappers we caught, the lobsters he caught, made a fire on a nearby beach and we had a magnificent feast. Of course, the kids ate PB&J’s. Good, more for the adults!!!

Our last full day in San Pedro, we made our way to Island Academy, to see Sam do a presentation at his school, and the girls got to see what an island school looks like. Later, Stephanie, Stephen and I  got on the dive boat again and went to the outer reef and did an incredible 87 ft dive. It was truly an amazing site to seen groupers, sharks and turtles, oh my, all swimming together. Beautiful! A small malfunction with my equipment startled me a bit, but fortunately, my FRIEND and dive buddy, Stephanie, was right there to assist me. We continued the dive with no further incidents, and felt blessed to have had the chance to dive the second largest barrier reef in the world! Awesome!!!!!!!

God’s masterful handywork is so inspiring!

I am truly humbled and blessed to have spent time with friends in Belize. Thanks Yatez family!

Cheers and Salud!

This is Stephanie again…here are a few photos from our weekend:

Nancy learning valuable skills…cleaning a lobster and opening a glass bottle with a plastic one: