Today we’re going to the zoo. There is an old Bill Cosby joke that starts out that way. I can’t tell it like him. But I am sure all the animals end up roofied.
I believe this is the only zoo in Belize unless you count the entire country as a really big zoo. As a kid, we lived one block from the San Francisco Zoo. We went often, mostly because it was free I think. Difficult to avoid an outing when it’s free. We got to go to zoo night once a year, management opens after “close” so members of the zoo society can go in late and watch animals being fed. So I have grown up enjoying the zoo. Since that time I have included any local zoo in my travel plans for vacation, if one is available. The Belize zoo is near top of my list. I am looking forward to today.
We caught the water taxi on downtown San Pedro. Not first class travel. Everyone got a seat, shoulder to shoulder, and there you sit for 45 mins with no airflow. Nice. Comfortable. No. We sat there and sweat like pigs the whole time. Everyone hoping that the other guy doesn’t get seasick. If one heaves, all heave. The gal sitting next to me had her head in her hands for almost the entire ride. Lovely. No projectile vomit, thank god. We stopped for ten minutes at Caye Caulker to exchange passengers. Now we have a couple more. Goodie. 30 minutes more and we got to Belize City and freedom! from steerage. 
We got picked up by at the dock by Earl, in a E350 Ford fully AC van. I love Earl. And AC. We were treated to a nice ride thru Belize City. It’s not as disgusting as people say. I would never walk around it, just saying. We finally hit the highway and 30 minutes later, the zoo!!
Have I mentioned how much I like zoos and this one in Belize in particular. The Belize zoo is really an animal rehab facility. Most are rescued in some way or other. Though not all are released. I guess those would be the zoo part of the zoo. I have a few pictures. 
Can you see the wedding tackle on this guy? Wow. He is the Belizean national animal, the Tapir. I know why the guys picked this one back in 1981. The committee saw themselves. This animal has five legs. A tripod in back and two up front. The females all walk bow legged. An impressive sight.
This is the Fruit Loops mascot according to my idiot sister. A toucan. I can’t take my sister anywhere. And they don’t sell booze at the zoo. 
Same Pelican as at our BBQ Tuesday.
The stork has an 8′ wingspan and is bigger than Doriene. Not difficult, she is 4’11” and has a two foot arm span. The family is pretty sure she is a dwarf.
That gator is 16′ long. Yikes. 
You can see how close you can get to the animals.
We went to lunch after the zoo. Lunch is on the way to the underground river tubing. The lunch was nothing special, the usual chicken and rice. Jodee dressed up for it. 
Her next gig is playing the elephant man on broadway.
After lunch I went to zipline. Everyone else went to do cave tubing in flooded underground caverns. I had done the cave tubing back in 2013 and wanted to do something different this time. Cave tubing is fun but it’s no different four years later.
So I ziplined. Had a blast. Got as high as 120′ and went over two rivers. There were seven different lines. Some a couple minutes and some shorter. Marika had wanted to zipline last time but it did not work out. I texted her and let her know. We are going to try and go zipline up in Tahoe later. Before it snows of course.
Sorry, I fell asleep before finishing last night. I guess a day of sitting in an oven disguised as a boat and traipsing across a steamy jungle can tire you out. Steve was even more tired last night, I noticed. But he does not traipse. He prances like a My Little Pony. You go, Bronie!!!
See what we must put up with? Don’t judge, I’m sure, like Steve, we have all woken up in a foreign zoo in a pink sarong wondering whether we have been roofied. Happens all the time. Did I mention the saintliness of his lovely bride?
Our return trip back to our hotel was quite a bit more pleasant. The van ride with awesome air conditioning
We arrived in time, barely, to take the 430 water taxi back to Ambergris Caye. But the boat was so loaded seven out of eight of us said wait for the next boat. I would have had no problem sitting in steerage with 100 VERY close friends, and sweat my balls off for an hour and a half. But no one else in our group wanted that. Go figure.
After waiting for another hour and being constantly annoyed by the Bangladeshi merchants at the terminal, we got on the boat first. So we were allowed to sit in first class. Or what passes for first class. We sat on top where the captain controls the boat, outside with the wind. No steam oven. It was noisy and wet ish, and an incredible leap in comfort. I recommend it. And 1.5 hours later we were at the pier. The one we wanted. Our ride had deserted us, we were an hour late. No big, $10BZ and we had a ride for all to our hotel.
We all cleaned up as best we could, met at the pool, and argued about where to eat. Gentle argument, some were disappointed. Ended up at the Blue Water Grill on the beach in town. Too pricey for me but the portions were generous and food excellent.
Our last act, judging of the cheap tourist crap we purchased. Rules for contest were, under $5BZ and without use or merit. I disagree with the judges decision, but who doesn’t, here is the winner
That’s right, Prancer won. He is holding his winning entry, a plastic seashell with a dolphin on it and the shell holds a tea light. Hideous. His prize? He gets to keep all the crap entered. He is required to display it all in a place of honor in his home until his next vacation. Poor bastard.
We tried to go out for ice cream after dinner, yes again. But it was closed. We got out quite late. So we headed for the barn. No later night sitting around. We picked and fell asleep.