Tuesday Night at the City Inn - London

London is a bit of a change, weather-wise, from Belize!!! Cold and damp here, as usual. I arrived early Monday morning, taught Tuesday and Wednesday, and leave at 9pm Wednesday for Cyprus. I lay over in Beruit from 2am - 6am -- that should be loads of fun!!!!!!!

Sunday Morning at TRH

I made it back from Belize late Saturday night, and am at TRH to repack, pay bills, water the plants, then I'm off again!

Wednesday Noon - Back in Belize City

I made the 15 minute flight from San Pedro to Belize City today. I could get to like this type of flying - no security, no identification, no safety announcements. I left the hotel at 9:40am, walked to the airstrip, checked in, and was on the plane when it took off at 10am!!! I'm guessing the International Airport Saturday will be more complicated, since they say you must be there 3 hours in advance of your flight - Tropic Air, which I flew today, suggested you be there no MORE than 15 minutes early!

The streets of San Pedro got cleaned last night - a solid 3 hours of hard rain. Even the golf carts stayed off the road.

I'm now at the Radisson Hotel in Belize City, in a room overlooking the peer where the Aggressor Boat and others dock. The Sun Dancer II is there now.

I'll now have to unpack that suit and tie I have been carrying around for 1.5 weeks, and use it tomorrow and Friday to earn my keep.

Tuesday Afternoon at the Internet Cafe

Well, there are sharks here!!! After going all last week, 20+ dives, without seeing a single shark, I saw nurse sharks on both dives today in the Belize Marine Park. Water was pretty choppy, 3+ foot waves in a small boat feel much bigger. But everything went OK. The viz was pretty bad, no more than 20-30 feet. We also saw 4 spotted eagle rays flying in formation on the first dive, that was pretty neat.

I know, it's not much of a picture - but it's the only one I have of a shark from this whole trip!!

Tuesday Morning at the Internet Cafe in San Pedro

One more night here, in my luxury hotel room, then back to Belize City and the Radisson. It's been way too windy to dive here, especially in the small boats, and everyone says the viz is poor right now anyway. So, I may escape San Pedro without diving.

I'm thinking that TRH dogs would like it here, they could live off the streets (plenty of company for them, with dogs and people both) and when we are moving around they could learn to ride in golf carts, like this guy!!

After Wednesday - Friday nights in Belize City, I'm back to TRH for a Saturday night, then off to London, Cyprus, Bulgaria (where I am told it snowed last night), then Saudi Arabia (where it is 100+ degrees). That will be a fun trip to pack for!!!

Sunday in San Pedro, Belize

This is not a real big place! Other than the minivan taxi’s, everyone gets around in golf carts – really, golf carts! There are two main streets, each maybe ½ mile long. The island is longer, with some condos and hotels, but the city is very small.

The remaining light bulb in my room went out today, so when I checked with the front desk, they gave me the keys to two other empty rooms, to see if there were any good bulbs in them. So, now I have one good bulb, and one that works when I get it into the right position (and I left one good bulb in room #15!)

I also went to Captain Morgan’s resort, up the island about 3 miles, today. It was a hotel and timeshare place. Nice, but not real nice, so I didn’t think we should make it TRH #2.

Maybe I’ll try some diving, if the wind ever dies down to get onto one of the really small dive boats here.

Friday Night in Belize City

Well, 20+ dives later I am finished on the Belize Aggressor boat, and off tomorrow to San Pedro a small island north of Belize City. The Coral Beach Hotel, where I am staying, actually sounds a lot better than the $40USD per night would make you think. We'll see once I get there. Wednesday I am back in Belize City, then back to TRH on Saturday.

Wednesday Night in Amarillo

I made it to Amarillo, and am staying next door to the Amercan Quarter Horse Museum - AQHM. Bet you didn't even know there was one of those!!!

Well, now you know there is!!!!!!!! I went there, but didn't see any people or horses that I knew.

Monday Night, after the Salt Lick

I finally made it for some Austin BBQ - at Salt Lick BBQ. All you could eat of ribs, sausage, beef, etc, etc, etc, including pecan pie. I had tried to go to another BBQ place, Stubbs, on Sunday, but it was closed for a special party until 2pm - a church group had taken it over.

Salt Lick was probably better anyway!!

Saturday Night at the Bat Bridge

So, I went to the Friday's near the Congress Ave bridge, AKA "The Bat Bridge." http://austin.about.com/cs/bats/p/bats.htm. I had seen some of the bats before, a couple of years ago, so I know they are there. Thru November is supposed to be the prime time to see them. Well, after dinner along with several hundred, maybe thousands, of people I waited alongside the Bat Bridge to see the bats. I took this picture of the bats.

What, you can't see any bats???? Me neither.

Saturday Afternoon in Austin - Segwaying

I'm here for a seminar one week then an presentation the next week, so am in Austin for the weekend.

Today I rode a Segway around the sites of Austin. http://www.segcity.com/ It's a good way to get around! This was my second time on a Segway, the other was in Paris several years. The sites were different in Austin than in Paris!

I'm here until Tuesday, then to Amarillo for a couple of days. With all this time in Texas I'll be getting my Texan accent back if I am not careful.