An early very Happy Easter to you all!
As we said we would last time, we went on a trip to Belize to renew our visas for the second and final time. We decided to have a try at doing it backpacker-style; taking a series of buses and boats with nothing much booked but a good idea about where we would go and how to get there. It turned out to be a fantastic time. First, we spent a weekend on the north coast of Honduras with our friend Catherine and her church youth group. They were all really lovely and it was good to experience a different style of church (Brethren). It was a little strange though when we shared communion and it was cake and port! Catherine was surprised too which means it isn’t normal in Honduras either… On the Monday we travelled by boat to Belize and to a village called Placencia which was beautiful. When we arrived everything began to feel so Caribbean, the locals all spoke Creole (an upside down, back to front version of English) with Caribbean accents, and the location was beautiful. Placencia is a peninsula, a small strip of land separated from the mainland by a lagoon, there was only one road running the length of the village and a footpath with all the hotels off it. We stayed there for 3 days along with Catherine and her friend Simone from Switzerland, who also needed to renew her visa. Belize is home to the second largest barrier reef in the world and so naturally we went snorkelling: a boat took us out to one of the Cayes on the barrier reef and we snorkelled around the island. Jo had never been snorkelling before and isn’t a very confident swimmer, so this was a challenge to her but with the aid of a life jacket she was fine. We had lunch on the island and then carried on snorkelling. Later in the day we were taken to a fishing boat that was cleaning its catch – because of this there were Nurse Sharks, Stingrays and huge turtles that were swimming round the boat, cleaning up the scraps. Jo decided not to go in and took some photos instead, though Matt did and it was amazing to swim with these incredible creatures.
We continued our journey by travelling up to Belize City where we spent the night and then went over by bus to the North of Guatemala – to the ancient Mayan city of Tikal. We climbed the Mayan pyramids and felt just like Indiana Jones, well sort of...
Now some other news and happenings:
In a weeks time Jo’s mum Miriam is going to arrive in Guatemala City to spend a week with us, visiting the areas of El Castillo, and we’re very excited about that.
We’re also going on Guatemala’s main university’s Christian Union weekend away soon, which should be good fun.
Isaak’s plaster cast has been taken off much quicker than we thought it would be and he’s now having therapy to build back strength in his joints.
Love Jo and Matt
P.s. Matt has a job interview when we arrive home, it’s very exciting but the job would be in Cumbria.
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