UNBELIZABLE - Dangriga chapter

In keeping with the Derek and Kristen traveling tradition,

here is our before "Central America Adventure" shot...

Oh wait... 

that's just me and my Mickey D's!

This years trip was a little different than the rest. 

Derek had a GIANT adventure of his own

this entire June. 

He started in New York on a day and a half layover, 

then continued on to Scotland with the guys from school, 

followed by Leeds, England for a week long conference,

where he then flew to Boston and spent a day with Carl, 

before he headed off to Belize to play with his Shrimp Farm towers.

Quite the adventure, huh? 

Well, it doesn't end there.....

This is where I come in!

I flew in to meet Carl and Der in the Atlanta Airport on our way to Belize!! 

Props to Der for his excellent travel planning skills. 

The 3 of us landed in Belize City

and caught a plane to Dangriga where the infamous shrimp farm resides. 

Oh, and I forgot to mention.....  It was a super TINY plane!! 

That is the pilot right behind us.
I kept trying to be the person to sit in the co-pilot seat... but someone always beat me to it. 

Next stop... Dangriga!

Tim and Jackie picked us up from the "airport" 

we got lunch and some Belikin's (the official beer of Belize) 

at The Pelican (the only place in town resembling a resort)

We stopped at the market to get some groceries 

and then headed to the beach mansion.

  

Pelican Beach Resort

Here it is....

the Paradise Shrimp Farm

and the Beach Mansion

Best Carl face of the trip

The remnants of  good times

This beaut! The main reason this amazing trip became a reality!

Carl and I decided to check out the grounds a little
while Der and Tim worked on the beach house tower.

Carl VS coconut. Very entertaining.

There she is... the Beach Mansion

Wow... I am so photogenic

Just checkin' out the goods

One tower down, two to go!

The Mahogany Tower

Not quite as straight as the Beach Tower

This tower was surrounded by baby Mahogany trees.
So cool. 

Sometimes the birds get a little crazy....

Scary, GIANT ants!

and...  teenie, adorable frogs

Frog on boob

Here is the big Mansion! We didn't get a chance to hang out there this time

Sometimes when Derek and Tim come down
and there is no one at the main mansion
they get to hang out there
and enjoy it's many amenities
and beverages

Shrimp farm grounds

After all the work was done

we got to play a little. 

We walked along the shore as far as we could...

Bet you can't find him...

We played with these crabs a lot... they are pretty aggressive. It's funny

We eventually hit a dead end and had to head back

Then we just hung out on the patio 
 enjoying the sound of waves crashing
and the palm trees in the wind

This was an accident... but then I decided it looked pretty cool

GIANT TOAD

The next morning we woke up with the sun...

 Sunrises in Dangriga are amazing 

and we had the perfect balcony to watch from

Breakfast in Dangriga was interesting...

Homemade tortillas with beans, eggs and basically bologna.
Strangely yummy, once or even twice... but this is what we had for breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner...
everyday!

Homemade Horchata basically made up for the redundant meals though!! Delish!

Last tower to check on...

So... apparently I was way too distracted by this strange, orange, mystery of a vine plant

to actually get a photo of the 3rd tower... 

Oops... 

But hey!... at least we get to learn about one of the raddest plants we discovered in Belize!

I am pretty sure the technical name is Cassytha

but we call it the... 

LOVE VINE

a nick name, mostly developed because of it's aphrodisiac tendencies,
on animals and humans.
Coincidentally, this vine is both an aphrodisiac as well as a parasite.
It wraps itself around a plant host 
and sucks nutrients from it. 

Extremely fascinating plant!

Although... Der's tower was also fascinating... (insert wink emoticon, followed by blank stare emoticon) 

Side affect of boredom... embarrassing selfies....

Cool flower... apparently also more interesting than the tower...
Sorry I'm not sorry Der

Meanwhile... back at the Beach House...

...we decided to cut into our extremely large MANGO...

Random... cute toilet paper...

Oh, and it stormed and flooded the house that night...
Kind of scary, but mostly fun and exciting.

On our last day, 

we decided to make Derek a very happy traveler 

and end the Dangriga trip with 

a tour of the

MARIE SHARP'S Factory! 

In case you don't know, Marie Sharp's is (according to Derek) 

the BEST hot sauce in the WORLD!

It was really neat to see the inner workings of a factory

but sadly, Marie was not there and they were only doing the carrot base that day. 

We didn't get to see anything with the actual peppers. 
Bummed Der out a little... 

only a little ...
;)

But we did get to sample all kinds of stuff!!! 
Der and I, alone, nearly cleaned out the place!! :) 

and... turns out she does JAMS too!! Yay!!
We bought the coconut, guava, and the mango.

Although we were sad to leave this beautiful town, 

we were also super excited to get on with the rest of the trip!

Dangriga was really gorgeous and super unique, 

but it was also fairly desolate and full of big, scary bugs!

Goodbye Shrimp farm....

Getting over to San Pedro was a bit of challenge.

We were stuck at the tiny airport for quite sometime 

waiting for better weather conditions

But finally,

 we made it back onto two separate tiny planes 

and over to San Pedro!...

Where we would pick up our 4th partner in crime

and get on with our Central America Journey!