Don’t Panic if This Happens to You

They say the third time is a charm and today that was totally true. It was not the first time and I know it will not be the last nor was I the only one suffering. There are very few bank machines on Ambergris Caye and of the ones that are on the island, often more than one will be out of order at the same time. In my case, 2 in a row were not giving anyone any money.

The reason I titled this post “Don’t Panic if This Happens to You” is that most travelers that are coming from a first world country are not likely used to machines having no cash. It could present itself as a freaky situation and cause for panic.

I am used to it now though and today I had a companion. The guy in front of me who told me to try the next bank. We walked from Atlantic on Front St. to Heritage together and both got turned down again. Rather than go to Belize Bank I decided to go to Atlantic on Middle St. as they just put in a new machine. My fellow cashless companion did not know they had a machine there and was all too happy to accompany me. We both hit the jackpot and walked away smiling with cash in our pockets.

Sky is clearing

Tourists transporting luggage on the beach

Heading to the water taxi

Watch your step

Rain washed away the sand leaving a hazard of exposed pipes

On my way home I ran into my friend who decided to cart hop to finish getting home as his current ride, John was about to go a different direction. When I dropped Dick off he invited me to have a fresh coconut water and Josh was there and ready to help us get the coconuts out of the tree.

Since I do not have a coconut tree in my yard I let Dick borrow my coconut punch for now. It is a super handy device and makes it very easy to get the coconut water out by punching a straw-sized hole. Unfortunately, we did not have straws so I just tipped the coconut and sucked it back 🙂

Josh getting us coconuts

My coconut punch is a very handy device

Below are a few pictures from last night’s Belize rainy season weather chaos. Another reason not to panic is that if you are here in the rainy season it is inevitable you could end up in a “holy crap” moment. Mine was the cart being stalled out while I was trying to go get potatoes and head to dinner in town. WD40 on spark plugs to the rescue and cart started – hooray.

Next holy crap moment came when I drove around the corner to get the potatoes and ended up having to wade through a mini lagoon. Good thing they have foot wash taps outside the condos at the Phoenix Resort. My 3rd holy crap moment was driving down near Ambergris Lake Villas – the cart was rockin and rollin and not in a good way. Forget the sports bra, I could have used a roll of duct tape for how bad the roads were making me toss and turn.

The motorcycle mud pics below were someone else’ holy crap moment. As I pulled around them to get to the main road I just had to stop and take a couple of pictures.

I finally made it to town but it felt like hours versus the usual 10 – 15 minutes and my own private version of amazing race to get there 🙂

Crazy mud had this motorcycle spinning his wheels

Notice how deep the tires and the passengers foot is sunk in the mud

A trip to the corner store had me wading ankle deep