The Best Day Ever

It started like a normal day. I got up early, showered, ate the usual granola bar, and grabbed my bike for school.

Because I'd planned to take the doctoral student, Megan, to Caye Caulker to visit the Step-By-Step Tutoring Center during the late morning, I had reworked my daily schedule to maximize my time with each of my students. I worked on communication skills with Eliany and her mother during break, read Charlotte's Web with Brisa (Mark didn't earn it today...bummer), and practiced writing first names with my little ones (and naming the letters!). Seriously, let me brag on my awesome kiddos. My man, Rudy:

My man, Khaled, who didn't really understand what I meant when I asked for a picture holding up his name:

Last week, Khaled could not spell his name. The letters he did write, he wrote backwards. Now look at him. Way to go, Khaled!!

I was working with Zachary when Megan arrived at Isla Bonita to pick me up. This is where the crazy day really begins...

On the short bike ride from the elementary school to the water taxi dock, I didn't tie up my skirt. (I typically tie up my maxi skirts because I'm worried about them getting caught in the chains.) I thought it was such a short ride, literally right down the street, so I didn't tie it up today. And...it got caught in the chains. And Megan and I couldn't free my skirt.

Luckily, two random strangers came up and asked if we needed help. My response: "Um, sort of." Picture me glued to my bike by my skirt, one man holding up my bike, another one untangling my skirt from the chain, and Megan standing idly by. (Kidding, Megan had already tried to help.) Luckily, they got my skirt out of the gear, we said thanks, and away we went.

1. Lexi failed to tie up her skirt and paid for it.

We arrived in Caye Caulker early, so Megan and I grabbed lunch at a beach-front restaurant. Check out these fun swing seats:

After lunch, we grabbed a golf cart taxi and headed to the tutoring center. Once on the golf cart, I told the man our destination. I only knew the name of the tutoring center, not the location. He did not know where we wanted to go. Our conversation went something like this...

Me: Do you know where we're going?
Taxi driver: *silence*
Me: The Step-By-Step Tutoring Center...
Taxi driver: Tutoring Center?
Me: It's like a school.
Taxi driver: By the high school?
Me: No...I don't think so. *points Northwest* It's that direction.
Taxi driver: *thinks* ...By the lumber yard?
Me: Yes!!

We did make it to the tutoring center, and he gave us a discount because we were teachers.

2. Neither Megan, the cab driver, nor I knew where we were going.

Our visit at the tutoring center was very productive. The purpose of the visit was for Megan to talk with a student, her parent, and the teacher. The conversation between all of us was so engaging that we lost track of time. Eventually, I checked my watch and saw we had about 20 minutes until our 2:45 water taxi to San Pedro left. I told this to Megan, who informed me that it wasn't 2:45; it was 2:15.

3. We missed our return taxi to San Pedro.

No worries, we thought. We left the tutoring center soon afterward and walked back to the beach to check the time for the next water taxi. 3:45. No biggie.

3:40 rolls around, and I see the water taxi at the pier. We grabbed our bags and our tickets and boarded the taxi.

After about a half hour, I started to wonder...where were we? We should've arrived in San Pedro by then. I looked around and couldn't see the reef anymore. Not a good sign. I told Megan, "I'm, like, 80% sure we're on our way to Belize City." Megan pulled out the taxi schedule, and we examined it. There was a 3:45 to San Pedro...and a 3:30 to Belize City! So, while we had thought it was awesome the water taxi was five minutes early, it was actually another taxi that was 10 minutes late.

To confirm, Megan asked the elderly woman next to her. Sure enough, we were on a boat heading to Belize City.

4. We took a water taxi to Belize City instead of San Pedro.

A few minutes later, around 4:30pm, we reached the city. We talked to the men working for the taxi company, and they agreed to let us take the 4:30 from Belize City to Caye Caulker to San Pedro. The nice elderly woman we talked to offered to buy us tickets back to San Pedro (how sweet, right?), but we didn't need to get new tickets, anyway. After another stop in Caye Caulker, we finally made it back to San Pedro at 6:15. Here's our "we finally made it back" selfie:

We were on the water taxi so long, we got to see the sunset:

When we stepped foot back on San Pedro (I more or less tripped onto San Pedro... I stumbled over that darn maxi skirt getting off the water taxi), we decided to grab some chow before riding back to the hostel. Burgers for $5 Bz, you just can't beat that. Except...while we were waiting in line at the stand in the square, the strap of my sandal snapped.

5. I broke my shoes.

I'm now safely back at the hostel, one pair of sandals down, and I think I should go to bed before anything else goes wrong.

So, there you go. The best day ever. Ha!