Belize

Last week, I had a week off, so I headed to one of the Belizean Cayes (Keys), Caye Caulker for a few days of sun, snorkelling and gluttonous lobster eating.

I happened to be going the weekend of Lobster Fest. All you need to know about Lobster fest is that there is fresh lobster all weekend for breakfast, lunch and dinner. A lobster dinner on lobster fest weekend is 10-15 bucks. I met a Norwegian couple who were eating lobster every single day of their 5 week trip. These are good vacation goals.
Even after all the travelling I've done by myself and all the times I've been ripped off, I will still continue to get ripped off. All part of the experience. When I got to the island, I took a golf cart taxi into town (there are only 5 trucks on the mile long island) and got duped into staying at a "5-star hotel" that ended up having ant-ridden beds. Now I've stayed in some seedy places but I draw the line at ants in my bed. I did verify that they weren't bedbugs and I sprayed my whole bed with bug spray. This kept them at bay all night and then I met a girl staying at Yuma's, one of the hostels and crashed there. Nicest hostel in which I have ever stayed. Above is a picture of our porch, complete with swings and hammocks.
Seeing as I generally make an ass out of myself and least once or twice in a foreign country, snorkelling was my big chance. I did a half day trip out to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark-Ray Alley. Shark-Ray Alley is exactly what it sounds like. The boat pulls up to a shallow area and is swarmed by sting rays and nurse sharks. The guide tells everyone to just hop in. Riiiight. It took me a really long time to get in the water. The guide was like, hey American girl, get in the damn sea already. And then he held my hand, like I was 4, and I swam with the sharks and rays. The sting rays that we swam with don't have a lethal sting, it probably wouldn't feel great but it wouldn't hurt you. The nurse sharks don't give one iota that you're around. Both allow you to reach out and touch them since they're so accustomed to obnoxious tourists. Petting a stingray was akin to petting a cat; they seemed to enjoy it.

The Water Taxi

I took a water taxi back to the mainland to catch my flight instead of taking the 5 minute Tropic Air flight to the airport. I've never taken a water taxi. Shortly after we pushed off, a pretty decent storm came through. We couldn't see much - an IFR day on the Caribbean. Water was running in through the windows, everyone from outside had to pack inside. Hot, stuffy and wet - I felt like I was immigrating. It was great and more importantly, really cheap.

Down at the 'Split' you'll find the Lazy Lobster...THE place to be during the day. They even have picnic tables in the sea in case you want to cool down and drink your rum punch at the same time.
In 1961, Hurricane Hattie rolled through and split the island in two. Hence, the name "the Split" for the northern end of the island.

The most important thing to remember when visiting Caye Caulker is to slow down. They have signs posted all around and if those aren't enough to keep you in a torpid state, then the locals will surely remind you. When I was walking down the street, a local lounging on the sand looked at me and said, hey hey slow down. I was embarrassed, so I started walking like I had a small child at my side and didn't speed up until I got back to Cleveland.

Lily Flies

Weekend in Ardèche

Last weekend we stayed in Ardèche at our friend's parent's vacation house. Ardèche is the stereotypical French countryside and it's as beautiful as it's made out to be. There is abundant climbing BUT we also had abundant thunderstorms so we did what you always do on a weekend with friends - Eat ! And eat we did. Winner 2009 - Sandbox with Best View


Prepping for dessert...pitting the cherries for clafoutis aux cerises. The lovely Marina was quite the cherry pitter but soon realized that eating the cherries was a bit more interesting than just pitting them. The cherries were freshly picked by a couple who has cherry trees...yum. You'll notice her high class earrings. In France, this is what you do with cherries when you're little...you find a pair of cherries, hang them over your ear and then waltz around like you're wearing 5 carat diamonds. Just your average lavender field...

Taking a walk the easy way.
Playing in the lavender

The Wedding...

Katie finally gets hitched (c'est l'argot pour marié)!!! Et maintainent vous pouvez voir une cérémonie nuptiale americaine.Les mariés dans un bras de fer. Pas très classique héhé...mais ils sont MES amis
::La plus jolie robe de mariée::
Et nous: moi et Alicia, la plus folles filles du mariage...Avec la mariée...Et voilà...la preuve que c'est toujours le bon moment à faire l'escalade.

La Vie aux USA

Ca fait super longtemps depuis le dernier poste ! J'ai qq photos d'escalade et de ma visite avec Sandra et Pierre qui ont fait une apparition aux USA pendant qq semaines.
au-dessus: mon ami, Mike, qui a fait sa premiere voie en tete...
EMILIE, ma nouvelle partenaire d'escalade. Elle est SUPER forte !! holala...

Lily...la tout derniere arrivée d'esclade...quels jolis chaussons !! Un pt peu trop grands...mais bon
En West Virginia....
Proche de chez moi...du bloc
Pierre et David...

On avait un vol de maintenance avec un seul place dans l'avion...alors bienvenue Sandra. On a pris le jet a Michigan et l'a laisse la-bas. Apres on a pris le petit pour revenir.


C'est quoi ca???? Bah, c'est la mielleure galette de rois aux USA. Un dernier goût de France....

JETS !!!

Alors, finalement je travail. Sous...c'est le jet et mon père et moi. Remarquez les habits. Pour la première fois dans ma vie, j'ai porté un costume. Et quelle horreur, il n'était pas très comfortable !

Virginie d'Ouest

Le beau etat de Virginie d'Ouest. Ah, je l'aime. Alors, je partage des jolis photos....
Le grande roche dans le lac ou on nage...on se bronze la-bas aussi et si vous voulez, vous pouvez sautez sur le cote dedans le lac. Je sais que mes phrases sont mauvais...mais c'est que normal.
Si tu vas sur l'autre cote de la roche ici, vous pouvez grimper au-dessus l'eau...comme Chris Sharma. Mais pas si haut ;)
Un super sac a pof, d'un super ami YANNICK!!!! Son paquet etait trop grande pour ses calcons, alors il les a retire pour un voyage aux USA. Il y a une chose quand t'ecris dans une autre langue...vous pouvex dire des choses completement impropre et c'est pas si mal. Je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais c'est comme ca.

Floride

Alors, comme j'ai promis, je continue en francais. Voila, mes photos de Floride. Pas Marseille, je sais, mais pas mal quand meme. Au moins, on a du sable!!! et pas des roches qui ne sont pas tres confortable pour bronzer.... Ma petite cousine, Maria et ma grande tante, Aunt Jenny. Maria est trop cool dans son chapeau...