U.S. dollars are accepted as readily as the local currency in Belize, so you don’t have to be too concerned about the exchange rate there.

It is mostly recommended to carry cash with you when traveling to Belize. Carry only the allotted amount of money you need for the day and to store the rest in a safety deposit in your hotel room. If need be, there are ATM’s frequenting shopping areas and the small towns.

Traveler’s checks can take some time to cash and they are increasingly not accepted anywhere.

Also, bring a credit card for back-up. But only use if absolutely have to. While the item may be priced in USD, the credit card companies are charged in Belizean dollars. The credit card company will have to exchange that from the USD and they will charge you a fee for that exchange. If you’re concerned about money, stay away from credit cards while in Belize.

I personally am considering grouping the money into envelopes for each day that I plan on spending. That way, I can label the envelope, say, “Monday.” and just grab it out of the safe per day. I know that I will for sure have an envelope labeled “LAST DAY.” That will include the Belize Exit tax and necessary cash for any obstacles that may get in the way for catching our flight home. If we miss that flight, apparently we will be stuck in Belize until the following Saturday. Yikes!

I was assuming that I did not need traveler’s insurance for the health aspect of things because my Blue Cross Blue Shield plan covers International travel. But after picking up the Yellow Fever Prescription yesterday and finding out my health insurance didn’t cover it, I was not thrilled at all and realize I need to reconsider how reliable my health insurance would be internationally in Belize.

I also have not picked up the malaria prescription yet. Although, my pharmacy warned me that my health insurance probably would not cover that and that the malaria prescription is way pricier than the $39 I paid for the yellow fever prescription.

Maybe I should have listened to Laura and seen a doc at a travel Clinic. Maybe they would have had the prescriptions cheaper. Could be a lesson learned for future travels.

This means, travel insurance for sure. If I got hurt or Courtney got hurt in Belize, our bank accounts drain immediately and our life would suffer for years possibly paying back bills that our insurance companies probably won’t cover.

I’m not happy about forking over extra money for these prescriptions, especially when I don’t have it budgeted and can barely get by as it is. But health is more important than money, correct? I guess I’ll just have to opt out of spending extra money this labor day weekend – My brother John and fiance Jamie are getting married!

I was talking with my good friend Mark the other day. We were discussing scuba diving and snorkeling and the merits of each. I love diving but I must admit, it’s a lot of work!

All the gear that is necessary to dive must be loaded up, carried to and from the dive site, put on and taken off. Tanks weigh a ton, weights weigh a lot, add a wetsuit and you’ve got more weight and more gear to carry. Diving requires at least a Buoyancy Control Device (BCD), a regulator setup, weights, fins, and mask. Often, many more components are necessary including booties, a wetsuit, a snorkel and a computer. Compare this to snorkeling which requires a mask, and snorkel at the least; a mask, snorkel, fins and booties at most!

Imagine your next trip to Belize requiring only a small webbed bag with a couple of items instead of your massive dive bag! That would sure make packing that much easier. Lets also not forget about the easy cleanup! A snorkel the day before your flight home is no problem – neither for your body or your gear. BCs take a while to dry and must be thoroughly rinsed after saltwater dives.

So yes, snorkeling is awesome, right? Well, I’ve left out the key advantages of diving, haven’t I. There is no way one can possibly enjoy the true sites of the ocean from the surface. Coral is rarely within a foot or two of the surface and even at five or six feet down it’s not as good of a view, is it? Diving presents you with a truly intimate encounter with the ocean’s offerings. Tiny fish encounters just don’t happen without the safe proximity to the protective coral habitats. I don’t know many people who can hold their breath for three or four minutes at depth.

I’ve explored wrecks like the Dunderberg in Lake Huron at 140 ft. That’s an experience I’ll never forget, and it is just one of many I couldn’t have without diving. I’ve never been more frustrated then when my lungs failed me while swimming with Tangs in Barbados. Staying down at just 15 feet with them was only possible for only a few precious seconds before I had to surface. My pictures weren’t as good either.

What Mark and I concluded during our talk is that diving is a necessity to truly enjoy life below the surface. But for environments 20 feet and shallower, snorkeling is pretty great. Diving might get you right up close to the action, but the convenience of grabbing just a couple of items and hopping in the water makes it pretty compelling. I want to do lots of snorkeling and a little bit of all day diving in Belize next month. I think that is about the perfect combination of watery exploration for a few days of vacation.

I’m trying to figure out some way to mount my new POV camera that is very different from the traditional approach. Rather than mount it to my helmet, I want to try to mount it to a peripheral piece which would actually point the camera towards the wearer.

Check out Liz’s post on zip lining that features an alternative point of view setup. I think this would be particularly cool to set up for the zip lining and maybe use in the future for skiing or other cool adventures.

Liz and I went to a couple of different hardware/crafts stores looking for the right pieces. I kept imagining this nice swiveling piece that I could use to attach the camera and set the desired angle. We didn’t find exactly what we were looking for, unfortunately. This piece that I am imagining doesn’t seem to be available off the shelf. I’m trying to see this contraption as a product of some other pieces I found, but the end product isn’t coming together. I’m super excited that I might be able to create this kit and then produce a video blog post on how I did it. If I fail, that’s not going to happen, though.

The biggest challenges I am facing are:

weight – the whole kit can’t weigh too much.

mounting – I’ve got zip ties, tape, glue, and a few nuts and bolts. But getting these mounting resources to work right is proving tougher than expected.

Angle and camera point of view: Just mounting the camera to soomething is challenge enough, but I’ve also got to somehow get the camera to point at the wearer.

So, I need a rod, a mount and some kind of an adjustment device. I have the mount – it came with the camera. I have a rod that should be the right length; though I fear it is too heavy. I just don’t know how to get the rod connected to my helmet/body/etc. I’m working on it though. Part of the solution is offered by V.I.O. They make a few pieces that might help me, but they are expensive. The mount kit is US$69.95 for a bunch of pieces of molded plastic and some velcro! No way am I paying that kind of price. Sure, there are pieces I really want, for that price, I’ll machine my own parts.

Speaking of which, I’ve got a headband mount that allows me to wear the POV without a helmet! I had an old headlamp that worked very poorly. Liz and I found new headlamps at Home Depot for US$4.00. They have LED lights and only use AAA batteries, of which I have tons. I removed the light from the band, removed some plastic flanges and, with zip ties, was able to attach the mounting bracket.

We’re going to play tour guide for our Xunantunich experience. Part of the planning for this adventure involves being highly informed about Xunantunich and surrounding areas. Thanks to the internet and today’s technological advances, I don’t even have to leave my desk to find out this information. Sites like Virtual Tourist make it easy for me!

Honestly, who needs to pay an adventure trip/package $110 USD for two people for this tour? No one! Be a little bit adventurous and do it yourself!

We are renting a car that is strictly allowed on paved roads only. We’re not exactly sure how close we can get to Xunantunich with the car before needing to park it and start the hike towards the ruins, but we can use TripAdvisor Forums to help us figure that out. There are locals and other Belize experts like BelizeQueen who are very helpful and dedicate their time solely for the love and joy of Belize to help out others amateurs like Courtney and me.

If we can’t get close enough to Xunantunich with the car (which I would assume we can if there is a bus that goes near there) then we will follow these easy directions:

Local bus from San Ignacio, ask to be let off at Xunantunich. From there take the free, hand-cranked ferry across the Mopan River then walk 2kms uphill to the ruins.

Yes, you read right. A HAND-CRANKED ferry across the Mopan River. I’m sure this will prove to break a sweat for us in the Belize heat. But it will be an experience! Fellow travelers say to keep an eye out for some cool iguana’s in the trees.

Hours Xunantunich is open are from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. but it is recommended to go in the earlier hours of the day to beat the heat. Xunantunich lies in an open field with no shade. I’ve read in some places that you don’t need to pay anything but I’ve also read that the admission is $5 USD. For a safe bet, I will count on the $5 USD.

By going on a self-guided tour of Xunantunich we will save ourselves $100 USD. Wow! Budget, people, Budget! Look for ways to save. Just be very informed about the area so you don’t miss out on anything. Even know all the history so you can imagine the area as it was back in 200 AD- 900 AD.