Our final day.  Today we got to experience a different side of Belize.  Our time here has been so packed full and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  This morning we broke off into smaller groups again and walked through town to eat breakfast looking for conversations where we could.  Our group ate at this little place off Back street called Boogies Belly! And it was amazing.  This was more a traditional Belizean restaurant.  They had meat pies… which are apparently big here as a lot of the people who were stopping in on their way to work were ordering these.  They also have the fryjack which was something else that Wayne (half-inch) recommended as well as a number of other locals we spoke to along the way.  It’s deep fried dough (not a sweet dough though.. that was shaped like an extra large burrito shell) it is then filled with eggs, cheese, your choice of meat, and of course, beans.  They had a whole menu of fry items.  I opted for the fryjack which I recommend.  If you are in Belize- eat a fryjack for breakfast.  One of the teen girls got a stuff jack which is all of the same items of the fryjack only they stuff it then EVERYTHING is deep fried together!  They seem to really like deep fried breakfast items here.  I now have a list of some staple Belizean foods and these deep fried items and coleslaw are on that list!

We grouped back up and stopped back at the church in San Mateo for a photo and to say our final goodbyes.  We also painted the little bathroom you can see here in the back right of the photo.  Click here to check out what it looked like before the first day we came here.

We then took a little ride packed into our two golf carts up the north end.  Here we saw a quieter subdivision of the caye with a lot of condo style homes.  There were not many people around this area especially compared to the bustling San Pedro area we have been in.  We stopped at a resort restaurant here for lunch and then hurried back to San Pedro to meet up with a boat that was waiting for us.

We were heading out on a snorkeling adventure as a group.

It was so neat to get past the sargassum and out into the blue water.  So clear and so blue!  You can see the reef in the distance.

On our way to our snorkeling area they guides through a line in and one of the men from our group got to reel in this barracuda that would be our dinner on the private island!

The photos I took underwater just don’t do it any justice.  It was BEAUTIFUL! The water was so clear and the coral so vibrant.  The fish were so interesting… its amazing to think about not only the intricacy and variety of what we saw but to consider all of the beauty in the ocean hidden deep out of sight from mans eye yet God created it and cares or it.  It’s just amazing to think about our Creator!

After what seemed like an all too short time in the water, we were back on the boat for a trip around the lagoon side to a little private island for a beach bbq. There were iguanas all over the place.  These are someones pets the guide told us as we counted 8 as we moved along.

We beached the boat a ways off the shore of this tiny island.  The water was very still as we all hopped off the sides of the boat and waded through the shin deep almost hot water to the shore.  Many of the women were taking the time to pick up shells.  A lot of the shells close to the beach, tiny ones, had tiny little crabs living in them.

It wasn’t long though before we started to notice these little translucent/white bugs that were getting on us from the water.  They were tiny and looked like a pill bug but they didn’t roll.  You would feel this sting of a bite and look down and there was this jelly like thing suctioned onto you with beady black eyes.  They hurt and you couldn’t just wave them of;f you had to give them a nice flick since they were stuck to you! This quickly had me hopping out of the water to the beach.  I am still trying to locate what these things are if you have any input let me know!

The guides cooked up the fresh caught barracuda as well as some lobster, snapper and chicken too.  We had nice hot tortillas, coleslaw, and….beans (of course) to go with it and a case of glass bottled coke and sprite.

All of the food was wonderful but no time to linger as we had to hurry back so the men could get back to Chiefs house for a men’s study that evening.  I am told their time in the word and the discussions had were very fruitful.

The only crocodile we got to see in the water on our way back!  Just a peek at his head before he went under.  Good eye Danielle!

While the men were spending time in Gods word with other men both from the community and missionaries to the area, some of the women in our group gathered for a time in Gods word and prayer.  We then began packing up as we get ready to say goodbye to Belize tomorrow.