Insiders Day

The next day we took it easy schmeazy. We heard that there was a place where you could feed the tarpon, and alas, there was. It was called the Sunset Grill. Now, I have a general aversion to all places named after songs, too many bad Homecoming dances I guess. So places like, "Margaritaville," "Desperados," "Cheeseburger in Paradise," etc don't get my business (as a side note, what was it about the 70's that makes people want to name restaurants after songs? And why so heavy on Jimmy Buffet and the Eagles? I grew up in the 80's and have no desire to open a restaurant called "Hungry Like the Wolfs"). But since they also let you feed Tarpon, which Sander and I have been talking about, well they had me hooked (I think I should get bonus points here for the fishing reference).

So has we were eating down at the Sunset Grill (Ha), we did indeed, get to feed the tarpon (see the pic). Since this is a Third World country, they give you the leftover shrimp parts BEFORE you eat. So Sander's reaching into this bucket of leftover raw shrimp, happily throwing the bits and parts to the tarpon who are huge and fast and fun to watch eat, and then when he's out of shrimp to toss, like any 8 year old boy worth his salt, he promptly wipes his hands on his shirt! At which point I react like a cop in a buddy movie who's partner's about the be gunned down (slow motion jump from the chair, drinks spilling, vain attempt to reach the hands in time, screaming "noooooooooo") and like said cop in said movie, I miss. Shrimp juices all over his shirt. And he looks at me like, "what?" So off we go to the bathroom to wash up. Now if you've been paying attention to the pictures you will notice the same blue long sleeve shirt in pretty much every shot. Its because in my efforts to win "Father of the Year" I decided it was best to pack him one, and exactly one, long sleeve SPF shirt for his trip to the equator, and honestly it was the one Kelly put into his bag of stuff for me. Why would I need more than one sun protection shirt when heading to the equator, in the midst of global warming and depleating ozone? We don't have no sissy skin! Anyway, the neat thing about third world countries, they don't really have the time to sweat things like sunburns and skin cancer. When I asked someone where I could a SPF shirt, I got the same reaction I would expect if I asked where I could buy a flux capacitor. So we had to make do with the one. The one that is now smothered in raw shrimp "juice." Oh, then we got to eat. Lovely.

The next photo is of us having discovered our version of the Lost City of Gold. We love a terrible drink called Yoohoo, which, as the label says, is "chocolate flavored drink." That's right folks, not chocolate milk, not even chocolate flavored milk, but chocolate flavored "drink." Mmmmmmm, tasty. But it is! Its absolutely AWESOME! And we're huge fans. So we decide that it would be great to have some Yoohoo. So we go on a quest. A quest to find a terrible drink that you have a hard time finding in the US in a small tourist island in Belize, but hey, the Hawaiians dig Spam right? As you may have guessed, no luck. But after the fourth store, the kid working it says, "never heard of Yoohoo, but we do have another chocolate flavored drink." That's right folks, he called it a chocolate flavored drink. Sander and I were on it. A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet, and a chocolate flavored drink by any other name would still taste as chocolate flavored drinky. So we bought ourselves some "Choq." Tastes exactly the same. We figure its the same company selling it under two different names. That's us holding it. And for proof, that's Sander drinking it. And yes, that's me in the Yoohoo shirt. Take a second and soak that in. Anyway, it made it easy to ask for. Rather than trying to describe "chocolate flavored drink" Sander could just point at my shirt and I could stand there smiling widely. Yes, we're a father and son team. Some part of me thinks I hit a new low in dorkitood. Like I should be Sir Dorkalot, or Lord Dorky Dork by now.

Last photo is a quickie. Walking along we passed a little office. It was a Doctor's office, a pharmacy and a lottery center. For whatever reason, it just killed me. For fun, you can insert you own joke here.

Also that night Sander and worked on our continual word game. It goes like this. Find a word that has several meanings, or even spellings and use it repeatedly in a sentence. We don't have a name for it yet, but are some examples. "I saw a saw saw," "I knew a new gnu," and "I bear a bare bear." Those are our three. Happy to hear what anyone else can come up with. Don't worry, I'll never let Sander wear a pocket protector.

Anyway, it was nice to walk along the streets listening to local music, seeing all the food vendors, and just milling about with the locals. Fun night.

Next, at last the water...