It was incredible to see the cascadas, rios, y selva de Chiapas, but that was only the beginning of my 11 day adventure. As my friend returned to Merida I took an overnight bus to reunite with Tenille, a girl from my Chicago university. Together we left the border town of Chetumal, Mexico, and took a van labeled "tourist" to San Pedro Island, Belize via Belize City. We intended to go through Corozal, but a friendly salt and peppered hair woman from Belize let us know that we missed that town long ago. This allowed us to see more of the country as we shared crackers and stories with the woman . We arrived in Belize City and took the 1 and 1/2 hour ferry to the island. It was a dramatic change from the jungle where there were trees as far as one could see to a flat horizon of clear blue Caribbean water. 

Here is a geographical reference for those who, like my mother, do not know where Belize is or that it is even a country. Belize lies below Mexico and to the east of Guatemala. This gives it a huge variety of culture as the national language of Belize is English, but several languages from Creole to Spanish are spoken throughout the country. The islands I went to are up north right under the peninsula dropping down from Mexico.