BELIZE
written by Anne Elyse:
This blog is about my experience in Belize- all the entries are letters to my parents. It was so amazing!!
DAY 1
Hi my beloved mother and father!! So today was GREAT! My plane ride as a minor was fabulous, I was bumped up to premier economy, which was so great. Then I met up with Chloe and sister chapman at the airport, and we went to a Conner in San Bruno. We went to best buys to get a go-pro, Sally's to get nail polish, a Vietnamese restaurant, the mall and ended with a target that was MASSIVE! It even has an escalator for the carts!! There I got a swim suit
at 10:30ish we went to the airport to meet the rest of the chapman family who were at cayden's ball game, they sadly lost by 6 points. So we then were in the airport, and everyone was a little tired by this point, but to be honest, I was reasonably fine. The first flight, I had 1 class
, and slept most of the way. After arriving in Texas, we sprinted to our next flight cause we had about 10 minutes to run a mile across the huge Texas airport. Just like they say, everything is bigger in Texas! That flight was good cause Chloe and I had our own row to our selves, but it took about 30 minutes or longer to get of the ground. I tried to sleep most of the way and I think I did. We arrived at Belize and as we stepped out of the plain, the sun hit me hard in the face, it was really nice! We met up with the other family, the Jepsons and rented a 14 passenger van. They are really fun. They have three kids: Spencer (16), Adam(14) and Serria(8) and she is super hyper
. We got into our 15 passenger van that had to air-conditioning and broken seat belts. (As we pulled out of the airport- we almost hit a dog which didn't want to get out of the way). We drove a whole hour to get to the Belize zoo, which has an awesome backstory. Basically a women wanted some adventure in her life and studied a certain plant. To get the best first hand experience with this, she needed to go to Belize. There she joined a circus to earn some money. Then the circus gave her a monkey to look after as a pet. She had to swim back into the united states as she could not get across the border with a monkey. she then was offered a job back in Belize for a documentary or something like that. She ended up staying in Belize and started a zoo for the natural animals to protect them. She still works there today. I am telling you it was actually amazing. I saw an amazing red and orange and yellow and blue and all the colour of a rainbow parrot!! We saw the most beautiful owl, a toucan, a white tailed deer, turtles, a crocodile
and a jaguar! It was super cool. My favourite animal was the spider monkey. It would look at us, swing from branch to branch ever so gracefully with its beautiful tail, and then when it would hit the floor it walked! On only to legs! They looked like abnormal humans! Really hairy, awkwardly long arms and a tail, with a slight limp, but it was amazing. It was a little freaky though. If it was up to me, I would have watched them all day.
Then we got back in the car, that looks, sounds and feels like it is going to fall apart really soon. Because we had so much luggage, we couldn't wear seat belts, also because half of the seat belts were broken. We stopped for ice cream on the way. I got raspberry fro yo- cause that's all they actually had
. It was really good. So after the super long car ride, we made it to the house! It is pretty legit, I mean it's pink!! The outside walls and roof, all pink. It is really big and we are literally on the beach. So while the parents got groceries, we sat on the hammocks, walked as far as the beach allowed us to, played football and volleyball. It was really fun. The sand at the beach is more like millions of tiny rocks, and the entire shore is trashed with debris. When we were walking there were shoes, grills, toys and even a toilet seat, as well as a lot of plastic products. We all got settled into the home afterwards and then ate dinner at this lobster place, that didn't even sell lobster!! Anyway, I had chicken wings. Then we came home and I showered and then felt inspired to email you guys!! I love and miss you so much! Thank you for this experience that you are giving to me. I will make every penny count!! You are truly the best mom and dad ever! Tell my brothers that I love and miss them ALOT!
Then we got back in the car, that looks, sounds and feels like it is going to fall apart really soon. Because we had so much luggage, we couldn't wear seat belts, also because half of the seat belts were broken. We stopped for ice cream on the way. I got raspberry fro yo- cause that's all they actually had
Bye AWESOME family
Anne Elyse
Anne Elyse
flying to San Fransisco
Chloe and me!!!๐๐
Brother Chapman is the coolest!!
at the zoo!!
just one of the amazing animals!
just one of the amazing animals!
DAY 2
Hello from Belize!! Today was super fab! We started off by arising from a satisfying sleep. I got up at 6, probably from jet lag, and looked at some homework. Then we all got ready for church. Brother Chapman made really fabulous eggs, they had onions, jalapeรฑo and tomatoes, then scrambled eggs. soooo good!! Then we all got in the car at 7:45ish and drove to church which was 30+ minutes away. We were so excited to see the church that we drove into a ditch with mud that practically ate the car. We decided to leave it on the side of the road and walk into sacrament. The first hour of church was super great. There were about twenty people there, but is was great. After sacrament, practically an entire city attempted to help get our car unstuck. After an hour of trial and error, we finally pulled the car out with a truck, ramp and about eight people pushing from behind. All the girls stood on the side taking photo shoots and videos because we were all in dresses and the locals had taken over at this point. Let me remind you that is car is a 14 pasenger bus, that rattles and the seat belts don't work
there were some scary moments. Belize also has really random aggressive speed bumps in the road that will eventually make the bus break down. The van has officially been named the skrrrrrt-skrrrrrrt Mobile (Pronounced skirt-skirt). We then drove out to the coast, and basically chilled. We saw a mother horse and her foal. After dying of heat, we found out that there was a baptism taking place in the ocean. We all walked over to watch. We then started to drive back home and stopped at a grocery store, and picked up Mark. Mark is the Jepson's uncle and the chapman's neighbour. He is really nice. We then came home and went into our backyard aka the beach. Spencer, Colton and I went kayaking along the coast and found a giant stick of bamboo. Some local kids came along and tried to sell us things but ended up playing fรบtball instead 
it was really fun and they were all so cute and funny. I am slightly sun burnt on one shoulder and a bit on my face. We had a dinner of homemade nachos and salsa. All the kids played card games, mafia and murder in the dark. We are probably going to bed now....
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| Drive to Church |
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At the church |
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| the skrt-skrt mobile stuck in the mud. |
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| our photo shoot ;) |
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a horse and her foal. |
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The baptism in the ocean |
kayaking with spencer and colton
Love you guys more than words can say!!!
Anne Elyse
DAY 3
Greetings from the land they call Belize!! So today was so amazing and long- but so so much fun. We got up at 6:45 to get ready to go to this place which took two and a half hours to get to. On the way, we switched out the skrrrt skrrrrt mobile for a new one that is much smaller, but it still sits 15. This is a green van that we have named greengo- It had air-conditioning, (yay) a low roof and the seatbelts are broken. We arrived to the stables and WE WENT HORSE RIDDING! I rode on a huge brown horse, and his name was Justice. We rode through forests and woods with a stunning river that looked green because of the trees and then blue because of the sky. We saw howler monkeys and loads of iguanas. It was an hour ride on all our horses to go up to the Mayan Ruins, which were called something along the lines of "tuna sandwich"; no one actually could understand when our tour guide would pronounce it to us. We parked our horses and walked up the the ruins. The ruins were old stone buildings and it was like a happy version of Pompeii, but with much less buildings. The castle was super tall and we had to hike up these sketchy, slippery (with no railing) stairs to get to the top. There was a stadium and a court used to play a sport similar to basketball. They would make a 9 pound ball out of leather and have whoop in the middle of the court. If you won, you would be sacrificed to the gods, and if you died you were stilled killed. These ruins were also constantly offering sacrifices inside caves as well. After a couple hours of being eaten my bugs and touring the ruins, we returned to the horses and rode off into the sunset........ just kidding we rode back to the stables through the jungles of Belize, which is just as coolLove ya fam!!
Anne Elyse
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| horse riding through the Belize jungle! |
Crossing the river with our horses. My horse was named Justice*
chloe and me at the mayan ruins
half way to the top!
Ball court #1- the boys wanted to play until they found out they would be sacrificed if they won ;)
Ball court #1- the boys wanted to play until they found out they would be sacrificed if they won ;)
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| tarzan vines- they're not as easy as they look!๐ |
DAY 4
Hello from the other side of the world!!! Literally. So today was a chill day but still planned and full of events. So we started off the day with a delightful breakfast of eggs with tomatoes, jalapeรฑos and onions as well as juice and tortillas with cinnamon and sugar. Then we had an hour homework session and I got about half of my graded math homework done. Then we went snorkeling off the peer of our beach house. We saw stingrays and lots of cool star fishes. However I got a huge headache and I went to sit on the canoe. Chloe and and I then tanned in the sun, but I couldn't sit still any longer so I played volley ball with Adam instead. On the golf cart, we went into town and on the way stopped at a huge gift shop. At this gift shop I bought a Christmas ornament, and the employees had to go to another store to find one. It was practically the last ornament in Belize. Then we found some super cool murals and had really fun photo shoots. We even made a human pyramid. Afterward we drove down to this river. Then Chloe and I went out to the pier to paint our toe nails, while Colton was jumping into the water and spencer was attempting to fish. We had a super great homemade dinner of watermelon, spaghetti, and some other vegetables, but I had no idea what they were. For dessert, we had this really good cake that we bought yesterday called flan. It is super creamy and good. I have continued to apply sunscreen and bug spray, but I am still being eaten alive by both the sun and the bugs, even though I am applying lots. 
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Tata for now to the best family!!!!
Anne Elyse
Our favourite mural on the side of a bike shop.
running towards Belize....
these were paintings in the gift shop. they were painted by an artist with polio so he could not use his arms nor legs. he would hold the paint brush in his mouth and move his head and paint these masterpieces.
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| this was a cat that lived in the gift shop- he decided to take a nap in the souvenirs ๐ |
DAY 5
Hello to the greatest family of all time! Today was super fun. Chloe, Adam, Spencer and I woke up at 5:30am to watch the sun rise. We walked out to the peer, which has some chairs a hammock and a table. It was super cool. While waiting, we saw a stingray jump out of the water, a bunch of needle fish that would also jump out of the water, a jellyfish and lots and lots of fish schools. After the sun had risen it was about 6:40ish so we grabbed some fishing polls and attempted fishing, but we didn't really catch anything. The dock we fished on was infested with bird poop, and not all of us has shoes... 
After, we all came in because we were being eaten alive by bugs, and we worked on a puzzle that has a bunch of Disney dolls on it. Chloe and I went back to bed after that cause no one else was really up. We then had a breakfast of French toast, I may or may not have had 7 pieces. Then I got to face time the COOLEST PEOPLE EVER!! That was so great, I love seeing my favourite people. We then drove in greengo for a little over 30 minutes to go to the Mayflower Bocawina National Forest. We arrived at around 12:00, so we hiked up to a waterfall that took about 10 minutes. The water fall was really neat. After returning we had lunch, still at the national forest. It was quite good. We then put on gear to to zip lining 
!! It was so fun. We went on 9 different lines through the Belizean jungle. They were all really fast, and there were a lot so it was super fun. We were super high up in trees and then you would just zoom over the whole jungle. It was super hot and humid but so so amazing. We went to the grocery store, but then had to go back to the resort to pick up sister Jepson's phone. We then stopped at 3 other grocery stores. During the time of our driving today we listen to the AMAZING play Alexander Hamilton!! Most of the songs are rap battles, but even mom would like it... IT IS SOOOOO AWESOME. it is my new hobby to listen to this musical 
The beautiful sunrise from the pier
The sun rise and the pier that was infested with bird poop- we may have forgotten shoes๐ฌ
This is where we hiked to before zip-lining
zip-linning through the jungle of Belize!
Love you guys!!!!!
Anne Elyse
DAY 6
Hฤลลรธ frรธm bรซลรฎลพฤ!!!! Today was fab, Chloe and I may or may not have over slept so we more or less had 15 minutes to get ready and eat, etc. We went to this pace called beaches and dreams. They piled us onto a boat and crossed the waves to a private island. The waves were super choppy and I think my back broke in 7 different parts because we would slam down so hard on the water. We named the boat, "The Bruiser Cruiser".When we got to the shore, we all put on our snorkel gear and started to swim. The Corel, sea plants, fish, everything was super cool. All the plants looked like brown brains. There were purple sea plants that swayed with the current. All the fish were different sizes and colours. Snorkelling is another world. Once you put your head up out of the water, you're in another world. After our snorkel session, we went to the boat to eat watermelon and pineapple. We then drove in the boat to a smaller private island. This one had chairs and hammocks. We then had lunch after napping in the hammocks- which is quite relaxing. Lunch was salad, really good BBQ wings, and amazing rice. Brother and sister Jepson, spencer, sierra and I went to snorkel, and everyone else stayed at the Island. I saw an octopus 
, two squid๐ฆ, huge angle fish 
and hermit crabs . They were super cool. I also saw school so fish that had millions of tiny fish within them. Our snorkels had stoppers, so we could go under water to get a better look at things. I found loads of sea urchin things. Spencer found a GINORMOUS sand dollar, but it broke a little while after carrying it. Then we cleaned off the awesome sea shells that we found and headed home. (Snorkelling is AWESOME!!) we then chilled at the house and worked on the puzzle. My dinner consisted of chips and salsa, watermelon 
, and spaghetti 
. Spencer and Brother Jepson convinced me to go night snorkelling, even though I was terrified. It was really scary, but really cool. You just hold a flashlight in front of you and look around. The first group was brother Jepson, serria, and me. We saw fish and a sting ray. The next group was bro. Jepson, spencer and Colton, they caught a lobster that we cooked and was surprisingly good if you dip it in butter enough ;)
this little fish was following us around and dances for us- it was so cute!
me snorkeling ๐
Xoxo,
Anne Elyse
Anne Elyse
DAY 7
¡Hรตลรข dรซ Bฤลรฎลผฤ! (The translation to that is Hello from Belize for those non-Spanish speakers). Today, was sadly our last day
. All the girls woke up and Seria's blow up mattress was flat to the floor, so she jumped into Chloe's bed, and about 2 minutes later, Sister Jepson walked in with the pumps to the sport balls 
that we needed to blow up for the school we were donating supply to. After pumping everything up and a breakfast of pancakes and juice I faced timed the COOLEST PEOPLE EVER!! (my family). We then drove to the school in greengo. We arrived and gave all the children the equipment. Today was a half day, so they were all able to play outside with us. It was super amazing. As soon as I walked in a girl my age came up to me, put her arm around me and asked if I wanted to play fรบtbol with them. After a few minutes of playing I look over to to the kids just dying over Chloe's hair. They were playing with it and trying to braid it. Chloe and I then played with these 5 year old girls who were super cute. One was super aggressive. She would tackle anyone in a 5 foot radius, but she was really cute and played pass with me. There were 85 kids at the school. We also donated school supplies. We went to a ice cream shop called Mimi's which was super good. I had sea salted Carmel. We then went to a gift shop, where I got a few things. we then went to dinner, but they kept running out of the food that we wanted. They ran out of nachos, three types of Fanta, and it took forever for our food to arrive. However, my dish was really good. I had a make-it-yourself fajita. It was delicious. Afterwards, we drove down the road, and Cayden was like, "hold up, where's Adam?" We may have left him at the restaurant 
oops. after driving back to pick him up, we then went back to our beach house and changed for the the bioluminescence river tour. It was really cool, the fish would leave green glowing trails in the water, sometimes they would jump too. it so so cool. The lake was infested with crocodiles, (aka crocodillards), but luckily, everyone kept both hands and feet attached to their bodies๐ The sky was breathtaking. It looked like someone had taken a black table top and sprinkled salt on it. It was truly beautiful.
at the school- all the kids were so cute
the restaurant that ran out of everything and where we left Adam & the delicious ice-cream store.
Belize's beautiful sunsets. The bioluminescence tour
Love you lots!!!!
Anne Elyse
The Flight Home:
We flew from Belize to Texas and had a lay over there. We were all pretty hungry so we ordered food from all different places. I got my MEXICAN FOOD!!! (which we can't get here in England). I had nachos with steak and guacamole. YUMMY!! we then flew to California and drove back to the Chapman's house, as I didn't leave until the following evening. We arrived at the Chapman's house, all dying to use the bathroom, only to find that we were locked out. Brother Chapman and Cayden stopped at In-and-Out, where i received a milk shake๐. after maybe 20-30 minutes we got a key form a neighbor and got in. Since the next day was Sunday, Chloe and I a had an emergency Target trip at 10:00pm (another thing we don't have in England). I got 3 boxes of (sugar) cereal, 2 packets of gum and Listerine mints. We also stopped at Save Mart, where I got to push around the customer in training cart ;). After arriving back home, we crashed in the guest room.
The following morning I took way to long to wake up, so we were running little late. I ended up throwing something of Chloe's on, and doing my hair in the car. Church was fabulous, after sacrament I went to Sunday school with Chloe and Spencer but half way through... drum roll please!.... Aunt Darlyn came to see me!!! She went home then drove all the way back.
Aunt Dar, me and Uncle Ben. The coolest people ever!!
Belize was such a fun and amazing experience. I enjoyed every minute of it and I am so grateful for the Chapman family for offering this amazing experience. It was beyond RAD! ๐๐
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