An Easy Day and a Good Move

Today has been an easy day. Instead of taking another bone jarring bus trip into the rain forest to visit Altun Ha, William Saturno suggested that we stay in San Ignacio and do two seminars with his slides in relative comfort. His suggestion was happily taken up by the group and so we stayed in town today. Our first lecture was held in a cramped room at the Midas Hotel where we have been staying since our arrival in San Ignacio. After lunch and a nap break, our second lecture was at another hotel across town, The San Ignacio Hotel.

Of course, to the casual eye it might appear that there is no difference between these two hotels. But I am here to tell you that there is. First, let me explain about the Midas Hotel. It is down a dirt road, and appears to be somewhat of a work in progress. As you can see from the photo, there is a nice pool area with tourists basting, er I mean tanning, in the sun. But there are also some problems with the Hotel Midas. Take, for instance, the 4 inch long scorpion that my roommate and I found crawling up the side of the wall INSIDE our room. After trapping it in my handy dandy traveling french press coffee cup, my roommate cut off its tail (yes) and then flung it outside. Neither of us could muster up the violence to kill it. De-tailing it seemed punishment enough. After expressing our displeasure to the insect gods, and making sure to remind them that by keeping the scorpion's tail we were claiming dominance over all insects, we promptly turned out the lights and attempted sleep. Attempted is the relevant word here. Would you, Dear Reader, be able to sleep after removing a four inch scorpion from your room? And lest you think there is any hyperbole going on here, check out the picture of the scorpion in the coffee cup. Keep in mind this was taken after the tail was cut off. So, perhaps you can imagine my delight when we went to the San Ignacio Hotel for our second seminar this afternoon and I discovered . . . luxury and comfort. Air conditioning and a bug free environment. I knew right then that I was not going to spend another night at the Hotel Scorpion Midas.

After some arrangements and a hasty suitcase pack, I arrived at the San Ignacio and have been safely ensconced here. The shower is lovely, the AC is strong and the wait staff even brought me a complimentary fruit drink to start my stay off on the right foot. I am now in Belize Heaven! I will work on some photos tomorrow.

All in all, today was an easy day and a good move.