I liked the magic system in this book, and the way that the glass magician can use mirrors to teleport. The end of the book with the ability to change medium, and how she decides not really to share it is a strange spot. The bad guys were a little too evil for my liking, but I understand the series is meant as a bit lighter fair than the books I’m used to.
I read the first two books in the series and I liked them. The magic system was a little too expansive, and ill defined. The story line was really nice, with all the different moving parts coming together. Some of the talents made for very interesting scenes. I thought the main character was a little overpowered in many situations, as well as petulant to almost any authority figure. This was especially annoying when he kept saying how loyal and respectful he was since he was raised by the monks. I look forward to the continuation of the series.
The flights back were mostly uneventful. I was tempted to take the voucher in Atlanta and spend a night with the family, but I was very ready to get back. Steph’s parents picked us up from the airport, and we got back to our places without any issues. The kitties were super happy to see me, and I cleaned up the house a little before going to sleep. They woke me up a number of times during the night to get pets, and Archer has kept doing to a smaller degree. They have also be super cuddly and wanting to be with me all the time. I really enjoy them.
The night dive was my favorite dive in Belize. We went to the protected area Hol Chan, and saw a lot of things. There were a ton of rays, an eel, a massive hermit crab in a conch shell, an octopus, and a lot of fish following us for food. The red snapper was eating other fish that we shined our lights on. There were a bunch of fish following us that were interested in the worms congregating around the lights. I stayed behind and played with the group of smaller fish by trying to stay really still and watch them eat the worms. I got one worm in my ear, and it wriggled around for about 15 seconds before leaving, it felt really strange.
We took a day trip to the Lighthouse reefs, which includes the Blue Hole. We did one dive in the Blue hole and two dives on the reefs nearby. There was a nice break for lunch at one of the nearby islands, which was a habitat for the red footed boobies. The video below is a summary of the three dives, about 2 hours, taken down to about 6 minutes. The dives on the lighthouse reef were nicer than the dives close to San Pedro, with more fish, and more interesting formations.
The island for lunch with the red footed boobies had a few giant iguanas, frigate birds, and massive hermit crabs. The hermit crabs weren’t as big as the one we saw on the night dive, but still about the size of a baseball.
We had a great time diving near San Pedro. Steph did a total of 7 dives around the reefs there for day dives that are compiled into the video below. We picked out all the good parts, so from the 7 45 minute dives we have about 10 minutes of video. I didn’t do all the dives because I had headaches for one, and ear issues for another.
We took a night in Belize city and had dinner at the Best Western there since everything was closed on Sundays. The food wasn’t that great but the little bed and breakfast we stayed at, D’Nest Inn, was really nice. The furniture was old but decent, and the patio next to the river was nice. We played with all the catfish that were in the river. Supposedly there were manatees living in the river, but they didn’t come by while we were there. We caught a flight to San Pedro out of the international airport, and the pilot had to stop by the Belize City Municipal Airport, which was the shortest flight I’ve ever been on.
The island of Ambergris Caye was nice, and the City of San Pedro was cute. I was surprised that there wasn’t more of a city center, but that made for many more places that you could find restaurants. The nicest place we found was a breakfast and lunch place called Mesa Cafe. It was run by an adorable Australian couple, and we had a great time chatting with them and eating their delicious food. The Mesa Cafe was also one of the few places that we found with a decent vegetarian selection.
We were staying at the resort called Ramon’s Village. The place was very nice, and they upgraded us to one of the nicest rooms. We had a wonderful time at the resort, and the breakfasts were delicious. There was a delicious pastry called fry jacks, which we had with most breakfasts, and I enjoyed opening them up and stuffing them with the omelettes. We didn’t spend much time on the beach, as I was avoiding getting burned at all costs, but we did spend a good bit of time in the shaded beach chairs. We also got a couples massage, which worked great for me, but they didn’t go deep enough for Steph.
Out of all the adventures at Caves Branch this one was the most lack-luster. The hike was pretty tough, with it being steep and muddy. We made decent time, with only a few stops, and got to the rim of the sink hole. I was the first one to get strapped in, and I got a good 5-10 minutes to look down into the hole from half hanging off the edge before they had Steph ready to go. It was a great view of a fascinating cave system. I wish we had time to go through the caves a bit more, although we were a little caved out at this point. Steph and I were followed by two couples and a group of two guys that were on the hike with us. A large group of people were behind them, but luckily we were in a separate group and could hike out without waiting. The lunch was the typical tortillas, veggies, cheese, and meat. The other women were concerned about doing the drop, but everyone enjoyed it when they were done. The first video is Steph and I doing it, with the other videos being the other people in our group and some interesting things we saw at the bottom of the sink hole.
Steph and I did a day trip to Tikal, getting up at 5:30. The night before we had been allowed to stay in one of the nicer rooms. The main thing I liked about it was the standard outlets for power. The rooms were surprisingly nice, as they could easily sleep 6 people, and had balconies viewing the river.
We had a long drive to Tikal, in Guatamala, with a pass through the border checkpoint and switching cars. The two people we went with weren’t particularly pleasant, and we were glad that they left us mostly alone. I got the feeling that Edgar, the guide, didn’t care for them either. The man of the couple was a know it all who kept trying to tell Edgar about Mayan ruins and what things meant. Edgar was a good sport about it, but handled it by being quite. I would much rather have listened to Edgar giving the tour than the other guy, and we did get some great stories from Edgar when the other couple was off exploring on their own. I was amazed at the temples, but the most amazing construction was the man-made mesa that the entire complex sat on, with water reservoirs in between the mesas. We got a good number of pictures of the wildlife as well and it was amazing to see the temples, housing, and construction. I would have liked more time at Tikal just to wander around and explore everything, since the complex was so expansive we had time to just walk through everything before having to leave.
The wildlife around Tikal was amazing, and we got to see toucans, spider monkeys, howler monkeys, a red breasted falcon, turkeys, humming birds, the ‘royal rat’, and a quadimundi.
The food on the way there and back was decent, with the hot chocolate being amazing for breakfast. I really enjoyed the trip, despite the other couple there.
