i just wanted to take a minute and write a little about a good friend of mine.
i made my first trip to belize with vickie in 1999. i was planning to travel in yucatan mexico and she decided to join me half way thru my trip. before we left, she met some people who had just returned from caye caulker. based on her enthusiasm about what these people had told her, vic and i decided to hop a bus and roll down to belize to check it out while we were in the area.
we met up in playa del carmen and had a great time there for a few days. we actually had TOO good of a time the night before we were going to leave and had to stay an extra day due to tequila/beer flu. as soon as we crossed the border into belize (we didn't have our papers, it was a crazed hassle) and were rolling toward belize city, we looked at each other and knew we had made the right decision.
we went straight to the water taxi stop and were too late for the departing boat. we hung out talkin to british soldiers (vic was from glasgow) and drinking our first belikins then took the last boat out to cc.
we had an amazing time on the island. we took a snorkel tour with ras creek and fed the giant eagle ray. we ate and swam and drank and smoked, threw darts at the I & I (where i could not hit the target but managed twice to throw the dart thru a small knothole in the wood so it landed in the bushes outside and we had to scrounge for it in the dark!) the night before she left, we took a sunset cruise with two guys who were only missing one last stooge: they couldn't agree on how to run that boat for two minutes straight. i had to crawl in the cubby space in the front of the boat while one guy held up a tarp so i could pee in a cup because my bladder was about to explode. (not the most comfortable sensation on a boat.) do ya realize it's almost impossible to pee in a cup crouched in a dark cubby in a rocking boat while you are simultaneously laughing your ass off? good gawd we had some fun.
vickie was my housemate for a year but the best times we had were in belize. we talked about a lot of stuff we'd never discussed before. we always wanted to go back together but a couple years later she married her sweetie and moved out of state and that sort of cuts into vacation trips with the girlfriends.
almost two years ago, vic was diagnosed with an agressive form of brain tumor. it's weird to think all the time we were enjoying life this lethal thing was creeping up inside her. she fought really hard, endured all sorts of treatment and finally succumbed on friday, may 27. she was a great friend, a fun-loving person and the only reason i ever came to belize in the first place.
i will be drinking something pink and frosty in her honor on tuesday evening and wishing her spirit well. i already miss her.
much, much love
~~~gogo