Last week I had a rather momentous birthday, and it was really important to me that I celebrate it in the place I love most in the world, Belize. Although I have spent quite a bit of my traveling life venturing far off the beaten path, sometimes it’s nice to just RELAX in a place that’s beautiful, comfortable, and easy to travel.

I had been thinking it would be nice to have a small camera and a waterproof case so I can join couples on hikes and dives at destination weddings and capture some shots for which my usual equipment wouldn’t allow. So, rather than dragging my usual photo gear along, I chose to try out a Canon G12 compact camera, with which I was pretty impressed. (And the underwater case was really fun.)

The holiday began by spending five nights on Caye Caulker, which is a tiny little tropical paradise, where time never seems to move.

Santa visited on Christmas Day.

Sea kayaking on Christmas.

Mangroves on the uninhabited side of the island.

This is an area of the island called “The Split”. There’s a bar at the end where you can sip drinks while fish swim around your feet, or you can do some decent snorkeling along this wall.

After Caye Caulker, it was time to head inland for a few days to visit the San Ignatio area.

The Parrot’s Nest Lodge-one of the coolest places I’ve ever stayed.

An afternoon in a hammock in the jungle.

Parrot’s Nest Cabin

From San Ignatio, it’s easy to set up a day trip into Guatemala to visit Tikal, and the wonderful owner at the Parrot’s Nest arranged the whole trip for several of the guests, who were all just really genuinely nice people.

If I remember correctly, this crocodile’s name was Paola.

Tikal.

Hey, look! It’s me, climbing a ruin in the pouring rain without falling off the side! It was raining so hard I couldn’t keep my eyes open for the picture.

Leafcutter ants

These wild turkeys are reportedly seen almost nowhere other than Tikal.

This is the part where I climbed a pyramid and held onto the side for dear life while trying to take a photo.

Back to the Parrot’s Nest to relax for a day before heading back to the island.

Back to Caye Caulker for New Year’s Eve.

Snorkling in Ho Chan Marine Reserve and Shark and Sting Ray Alley near the island.

Sharks!

New Year’s Day on Caye Caullker

Now someone needs to get married in Belize so I can go shoot it. Or maybe I should move there and start my own destination wedding company. Hmmmm…