Don't Go Chasin' Waterfalls and the Arrival in Belize

Near death experiences are not fun. Yet I had another one, my second of the year, and just as I had decided to have a calm last few weeks before my flight back to Newark. Maybe it's a sign that I need to take a break from traveling?

I had a fun weekend though with a good group of people in Jarabacoa, a small town in Dominican Republic about 4 hours from Santo Domingo. It's known for its water sports and beautiful nature, and it didn't disappoint. The six of us stayed in this real cool resort, with a beautiful river running through the grounds, a swimming pool, restaurant, almost anything you could think of. It was super cheap though because we all split the price. We rode around town on motorcycles, taking in the amazing mountain views and scenery. It was real peaceful. We then visited one of the big waterfall attractions of the town, renown for being the setting of scenes from Jurassic Park. We walked for about twenty minutes until we reached the amazing fall, landing in a small pool of freshwater. We all quickly ran in with excitement, even though it was ice cold. It was pretty cool at first, but soon the currents became stronger and took control, pulling us in different directions. Before I knew it, I was being pulled into the waterfall, unable to do anything to stop it. Then came some of the scariest 30-45 seconds of my year away, as I was caught in the center of the waterfall, hoping the currents would push me back out immediately after pulling me in. Eventually I was able to stand again and gasp for air, but man, for a minute I really thought, what a terrible ending to the year this could be...As I caught my breath back on the beach, I watched helplessly as Kamila was screaming and Mike was fruitlessly trying to help her swim against the current and back to shore. A serene, fun hike to a cool waterfall, turned into a bout with death within minutes. Safe to say I will not go near a waterfall again anytime soon.

We celebrated life that on Halloween eve night to the fullest though. We had these AMAZING platano sandwich snacks called patacones, which were so good I'm still dreaming about them. Then we went to a club where people had some ridiculous costumes - someone was dressed like Michael Jackson, another like a trashbag. We danced to the salsa, bachata and merengue until pretty late and then retired to the hotel. The next day the rest of the group went white water rafting as I took a break from water. We had a fun Halloween night in Santo Domingo, hopping from party to party (the dancing to reggaeton at some of these places was quite crazy). I spent most of my time in conversations with people about not really achieving much in DR and elusively looking for some of the Afro-influences I know are there. Luckily, I'll be back for a day or two at the end of the week so we'll see what happens...

Now, I'm in Dangriga, Belize, a small, quiet and quaint town at the heart of Garifuna culture, the Afro-Caribbean people with roots here from over 200 years ago. They have a such an interesting culture and I'm looking forward to exploring in the days ahead. My two days in Belize City were uneventful - people in Belize are incredibly laid-back, everyone is just chillin to the nth degree. I walked around the city, which felt more like a small town, and I did visit the House of Culture to learn about Belize history. Belize in general is on a smaller scale than other countries, understandably so with only 300,000 people. Reminiscent of Panama, it is incredibly diverse, with Mayans, Europeans, Asians, Garifuna, mestizos, etc., with the major difference being that this formerly British colony sees itself as distinct form the rest of Central America. There's outright animosity at times with Guatemala, and with the rest of the countries, language (English) and culture make Beliceans feel apart from their neighbors. It definitely carries more of a Caribbean feel to the place, with Bob Marley everywhere and people speaking Creole. I actually really love it though, and I've already seen another idea of the Latin American world expressed, and it's even more diversified than I thought!