Petersen Visit-Part 1

Surprisingly, after our trip to Italy, out-of-towners, stomach flu and school projects due after spring break I was still geared up for another round of visitors. I shouldn't make it sound as if we are always having them because we always welcome more, but I was just so surprised to have so many in a short period of time. As one of nine kids, I seldom, if ever, have had one on one time with my parents as an adult. I was lucky enough to have them for nine whole days all to my self.

The day after their arrival we took off for Rio Dulce, a river that leads to the Caribbean. We stopped in Quirigua to visit the largest stellas in the Mayan world. Our favorite thing was learning about the "and it came to past" glyph and the glyph meaning "Christ."

See the hand with the four fingers with the circle (or nail print) in the palm?

We stayed in a rustic bungalow on Lake Isabel and in the morning took a glorious hour and half ride down the river.
Next we headed to the beach. Cocoli can only be reached by boat and is just a few miles from the coast of Belize. We have been to this spot three times before but decided to try a different beach this trip. It paid off. About 100 yards off shore there was a sand bar we could all stand on. We stayed out there swimming and playing for hours. The water was a little to murky to see the bottom which made it all the more scary when we all started getting bitten/stung by something! But the weather was perfect, the beach was solitary and the company-world class. Can you see why this place makes a bid as my favorite place on earth?

After the beach we took the boat to the hot springs and did a little more swimming, eat a fresh coconut and then hiked up the mountain to do a little spelunking.

My parents in the hot springs.