"What?"
"A big spider."
"Where?" (as I exited the bathroom)
"Right there, by the door. [That is, the bathroom door.]
"ACK!" (as I see it, and promptly move to the other side of the cabana)
"Can you hand me a glass?"
"Of course." (glass handed across)
[glass placed over the spider]
"Um, it's a tarantula -- hairy legs. OK, I'm done and we're leaving it there."
"OK by me."
*sigh* "No, let's get it out of here." [paper from the cabana notebook borrowed]
"Can you open the door?"
"Of course."
"Don't you want to take a picture before I get rid of it?" [glass waved in my face]
"NO! Just go." (door to the porch promptly closed behind her too)
[tarantula tossed over the rail and into the jungle trees]
"Good thing it hadn't moved or I wouldn't have been able to do that."
Needless to say, we took our bags to the lodge ourselves and left that cabana behind. Thank goodness that tarantula didn't appear until the very end!
The rest of the morning was great. We'd brought some coconuts back from Snake Cays, and Max gave us a machete lesson in opening coconuts. They take a lot of work!
Cracking the outer shell in three parts in order to get it to break and separate.
Pulling it apart. Taking the fibers apart to find the nut inside.
Sometimes the nut has a little face!
Drill a hole in the end and insert straw -- fresh coconut water! Some are sweeter than others, we found out.
Hack the nut open after drinking the water and you can eat the fruit inside. Such a great treat!
I also had the chance to chat with Pop one last time, and confirm a few birds on my list. I think I've mentioned most of them already, so the others include great-tailed grackles, hooded warblers, mangrove warblers, and American redstarts. I was having trouble ID'ing the hummingbird I'd seen, but Pop didn't like my description either. Finally he decided that I'd seen the same bird they had the day before during the Audubon Christmas bird count at the lodge, a wedge tail hummingbird that they'd never encountered there before.
Then, it was down the dirt road and back to Punta Gorda, to wait for our little flight back to Belize City.
We hung out for about an hour in the little airport. It's a trailer, really. They're very nice there.
And here comes the plane!
This time, we were up front. Yup, right behind the captain.
And that makes for pretty incredible views.
Yup, that's our shadow.
And the instrument panel over his shoulder. See, we were flying nice and straight. (top, middle)
Belize is a really beautiful country. These photos are all over the southern part, mostly Toledo District, full of jungle, rivers, and atolls and cays.
Finally, to Placencia. We picked up a lot of resort tourists here, and with a full plane, we took off for Belize City.
The big runway at Belize City. It does land the international jets. The airport has six gates.
Yup, that's as much of a pilot experience as I want to have.
I had to overnight again in Miami, and since it was an hour and a half drive home for my friend, she stayed too, in order to drive back fresh the next morning. So we headed to Miami Beach and the art deco center.
I'd like to see it in the daytime, and have some time to explore. It was dusk as we got in, so finding the hotel and having dinner were first on the list. After, I walked the strip for a little while. There were some great bands and musicians at the different restaurants, but I didn't really want to linger at any of them by myself. I don't think it's my kind of place, but it is fascinating.
And the next morning, back to DC. I left Belize of 85F and arrived in a DC awaiting a polar vortex. I ran to the store for a few things, and the cold descended -- 8F. What a difference! I didn't adapt well. But I'd had a great trip -- I'd reclaimed New Year's, met new people and had new experiences, got some great stretching and relaxation with the yoga, and filled my reserve of nature with a week in the jungle. All was good.
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