All I can say is WOW!!! We've finally made it to the SP portion of our trip! The whole country of Belize has been wonderful. The people can't be beat. Everyone here is SO wonderful! This is our first full day here, so we thought we'd drop a line to say "Hi" and to thank everyone for all of their wonderful advice and suggestions. Portofino couldn't be any more lovely. We're going to head into town here in a minute and have a bite to eat at Estel's and we can't wait! Thanks again everyone!

PS - Barb, if you're lurking out there, the ATM cave was AMAZING! We had a small mix up but Patrick handled it beautifully. We called Thursday before we left the States to confirm because we knew we wouldn't have access to a phone, but we needed to call when we arrived at Black Rock. No worries though it was all taken care of and we had an experience that we will treasure for the rest of our lives. Thanks!

enjoy paradise, fuzzy. Estels, one of my favorites.

Great! Yes, I heard of your adventures. I have been checking up on you! Enjoy!

Please if you find Tulu the snorkeling, diving, reef guide say "hello" from his Seattle people. Tell him Blake and I went to the game last Sunday as Claudia had to work and Blake was talking the whole time about setting up a group with Tulu in May.

We rented a golf cart this morning and rode from Portofino all the way South past Victoria House. It wasn't bad at all and we really enjoyed it a lot. We had so much fun shopping and eating in town. Only, down side to this whole trip is that Tulu left yesterday for Placentia and won't be back before we leave. We were so disappointed! Oh well, I guess we will have to come back another time!

Barb - I have some really funny stories to tell you about Patrick, my Hubby, the sarong and knife. Can you even imagine?!

Can't wait! I can only imagine!

fuzzy I am so jealous of you. I too sat in that chair in Portofino bar on that computer. Wish I were there now!!!

Note: if you get sunburned, don't ask the Portofino people if they have aloe vera. They don't know what it is; after an hours search over back of property we found a gaggle of it in the flower bed in front of units 1&2.

Glad you are having fun!!!

Guess who we met in town yesterday? Paisano (sp?)! Hubby tried to take a picture of him but he promptly turned around and began to scratch his butt for us. Then he took his cap and put it over his face. Afterwards he did come over to talk and laugh with us for a few minutes. We were glad to meet the legend! It rained continuously last night and well into this morning. The wind and rain were so bad we came to the conclusion that it might be some type of tropical storm. It has pretty much slowed down but the snorkeling trip we have scheduled may have to be canceled. I actually hope it is because I have a feeling visibility will be terrible.

Malibu - Thanks to you, we were aware of the aloe thing and brought our own. Thanks!

fuzzy_navel,

Just a suggestion, you might ask Paisano if you could take his picture first. He has always beeen very acccommodating to me if I ask first.
Kat

Jenn- I am so glad to hear your there. I can't wait to read your trip report and see your pictures. How long will you be on A/C? Where on the mainland did you stay or did I miss that on another thread? What was the ATM Cave? Sorry for all the questions.

~Lori

...a dollar or two softens dat Paisano.

FuzzyN

I am also interested in your trip report from the mainland. Did you stay at black rock and if so, what are your thoughts. how hard was the hike to the cave and would you recommend patrick. Hope you post a report when you get back

We met Paisano on our trip there in September - didn't know who he was the first time we met him - he wanted a ride on our golf cart and was very specific about where he wanted to go and how to get there. We thought it was sooo funny - this old guy bossing us around. Then we ran into him in town a couple of days later and he treated us like we were his best friends. We bought him a beer and later on someone told us who he was. Quite a story!

Piasano does not drink.
I think your tour guide was 'Smoky'

Piasano a Fanta Boy

Can't swear it was a beer - just assumed - told the bartender to get him "a drink." Hubby was a Fanta Boy too - lots of colors! Who's Smoky?

Whew! We just returned to Atlanta today. Kind of sad but kind of glad to be back as well. And you can definitely put us down amoung the number of those that plan to return. Next time we will spend a little more time on AC. Got to get unpacked and reorganized now. I will start putting a trip report together as soon as possible. I'll probably have to do day by day because we had so many wonderful experiences (well, they were wonderful to us ).

DrewLori and SanHam- We stayed at Black Rock Lodge on the mainland and Hotel Tikal Inn at Tikal. The ATM cave is the Actun Tunichil Muknal cave or cave of the Crystal Maiden. It has Mayan pottery and sacrificial remains left as found deep within the cave. Very cool! Please ask away with any questions and hopefully I can help you guys out as much as everyone else helped me out before we left.