Allie & Kim

Our next guests were Kim and her niece Allie. Kim is a Texan now living in Tulum, and Allie, her niece, was visiting from Texas. Kim wanted her to see some of Belize, so they took a couple of days and made the drive down the Riveria Maya and into Belize to visit us. We really enjoyed comparing notes with Kim on being expats in Mexico vs. being expats in Belize, and found that it’s not all that different – which turned out to be a good thing since they were doing tours on their own here in Belize with Kim driving, and since she’s used to Mexico, the way things are here didn’t seem too strange to her.

The first morning they were here, Tom took them on a horseback ride to Big Rock, where I met them with lunch and their car while Tom and I rode the horses home. They then drove themselves around the area for the afternoon and saw everything from a few more natural wonders to the Chinese grocery stores in San Ignacio. The next day they planned to go to Caracol, but we had told them that they needed to meet the military convoy even if the drove themselves, and Allie wasn’t too sure she wanted to go someplace where she needed military protection. The dinner conversation that night revolved around Tom and me trying to convince her that because they had the military protection they weren’t in any danger, and that the trip was safe.

Our talk worked, because the next morning they decided to go, so I packed a lunch for them and we sent them up the road. When they came back, we asked how the trip was and if the military convoy was intimidating, and couldn’t quite figure out the grins on Kim’s and Allie’s faces until they explained their day. It turned out that the soldiers seemed to think the very cute 19-year old blonde needed extra protection, so they rode with Kim and Allie and gave them a special tour of the site, complete with hand-holding to help them up the difficult steps of the Ca’ana temple. Allie was a really good sport, and not only appreciated the attention, but also appreciated the humor Tom and I found in the situation where she didn’t even want to go because of the military involvement, but then ended up having that same military involvement be one of the fun things about the trip.

They took off the next morning to head back to Tulum. With them, we not only had promises that they would look us up when they’re next in Belize, but also that we would look them up the next time we go to Tulum – and we’ll do it!