Two more days until it's Belize. I can't hardly belize it! It's unbeliezable.

Ok, I'll stop.

I did get and take the scary anti-malarial meds -- Chloroquine, which comes in big, white tablets the size of a freakin' Sweet-tart, and are uncoated and taste terrible. I took the first one Friday (you take one a week) and I haven't slept well since. It may well be coincidence, but it may also be general pre-trip anxiety. (I actually got out of my warm bed last night and went to my files to make sure my passport was where I saw it last [it was].)

What should I be nervous about? Oh, just this:

"Visitors should exercise caution and good judgment when visiting Belize. Crime can be a serious problem. [...] Road accidents are common (see Traffic Safety and Road Conditions) and traffic fatalities have included Americans. [...] Medical care is limited and emergency response services such as ambulances or paramedics may be either unavailable or limited in capability or equipment.
Boats serving the public, especially water taxis, often do not carry sufficient safety equipment, may carry an excess number of passengers and may sail in inclement weather."

It goes on.

And then there's the botfly problem.

We have 30% Deet spray and will use it liberally, but I am still terrified of getting a botfly. I think if I got one I would just never stop vomiting.

So, why are we visiting a place that wants to kill us? Belize has toucans and howler monkeys, and rivers running through big caves containing with the bones of dead Mayans, and crazy tall temple ruins you can climb. It also has a very big, long reef and lots of neato fish (including sharks and rays) to swim around with. Oh, and did I mention that this week they've had high temps in the lower 80s, and lows in the 70s? It is guaranteed that I will not have to chip the ice off of my car for a full 7 days.

Plus, this will be challenging for me, and I want to see if I can do it. Do it, and enjoy it. Which is what I am expecting, but who knows? I may freak out at all the non-first-world-ness of it and spend the whole time playing Word Warp on my iPhone in the hotel room. But I don't think I will.