They're baaaack!

The sand flies, that is.  My legs are, again,covered with quarter-sized red welts.  The itching is, as before, driving me crazy.  I'm super-dosing on Benadryl and mixing it with other topical ointments in ways that every package insert warns against.  I've even resorted to putting vinegar on them (thanks Google search engine).  The vinegar stings like hell & makes me hungry for dill-pickle chips, but doesn't really help the itching.  I can get an hour or so of relief, and then I'm back to where I started.  My suggestion for the military would be to put terrorists in a room full of sand flies, and tie their hands behind their backs.  It would not take long before they would be singing like a canary just to get an arm free to scratch.   Who knows what they might give up for some Calamine lotion?  

A typical street in San Pedro

Ok, enough of that & on with the day's events.  We were up early this morning (see above for reason) so jumped on the water taxi to San Pedro, which is the main city on Ambergris Caye.  We were over to that island in February of last year, and didn't love it.  Being believers of second chances, we decided to give it one more shot with an unfortunately similar outcome.  Though hugely popular with tourists, San Pedro is just not for us.  

Now, don't let me lead you to believe that San Pedro is not beautiful.  It certainly is.  The beaches are much nicer than the ones on Caye Caulker, and luxurious resorts are aplenty.  The issue we have with San Pedro is that it is a city.  Busy, noisy, hectic.  It just doesn't feel like a holiday to us.  We poked around in a few shops but the only thing we purchased were three avocados.   The gift shops owners do not like us - we typically only purchase about $20 worth of items any time we travel.  After an hour, we were sweaty (it's another scorcher today) and ready to go back to Caye Caulker.  We had an hour to kill before the next water taxi, so we had a snack on the beach.  

Upon returning to Caye Caulker, we ran back to the house to get suited up for a swim.  I cannot describe to you how wonderful the water felt in this heat.  As an added bonus, the salt water stops my bites from itching.  I wonder if I could invent some sort of tights that would hold sea water on my legs, and still allow me to be mobile?  I'll have to think on that one...

We tried a new place for dinner - Bambooze.  It's a little restaurant on the beach and gets a lot of positive reviews.  The food was good, though not the best we've had on the island.  I had a fish sandwich in a nice mango sauce.  Andrew had a shrimp quesedilla.  We had a lovely view and the breeze blowing off the ocean felt wonderful.  The owners dog, Chico, kept us company throughout the meal - he was a goofy little guy and kept rolling around in the sand.  

Chico

The view from our table.

Andrew's Bailey's Coloda.  It's a cocktail and dessert in one!  

Now we're back at the house for the night.  We are scheduled to do a night dive tomorrow night, so keep your fingers crossed that the weather cooperates!   Oh, and while you're at it, keep your fingers crossed that I find a cure to my itching, if you would be so kind!