She's Back

23:26 nm 0 Comments

I have been a bad blogger. It's been 23 days since I landed on the land of beavers and maple syrup, and I haven't posted anything about my amazing trip. I will chalk up my lack of blog posts to laziness. There. I admit that I've been a lazy, lazy lady. I'm back with new ideas, and stories of my adventure.

Coming back from a trip is a lot harder then I thought it would be. I should've known. I try and get away from the Canadian winter every year. I always think that when I come home my life will resume as it was before. It's never been that way. The first week is always the hardest, this time it was especially hard. It's strange how I am forced to recognize how much I changed in just over a month. I try and fit what I made my life to be for 6 weeks to match what I used to know before. Which is impossible, because I am a completely different person now. In San Pedro I was accustomed to waking up early, playing the funkiest beats on my iPod and running up the coast a few miles. I'd eat breakfast with Sponge Bob Square Pants in my yellow beachfront apartment, then I'd make my way to the dive shop where I would live out my passion. When I got to Vancouver, my focus was changed to bus routes, catching up with friends, starting work at The Commodore Ballroom and watching my tan fade away. I felt this sudden rush and pressure of needing to prove to myself that I could be a successful citizen in Vancouver again. Not just a curly haired beach bum, eating coconuts while humming reggae tunes.

Yesterday was the first time I realized that I needed to slow my roll, and just appreciate the amazing adventure I created for myself. This grounding moment deserves some recognition. My new life long friend from Belize, Tianna, is visiting the city. We went for coffee to catch up. I was telling her all these elaborate plans I had to concur the world. With her beautiful bronzed glow she asked to me "What about being a dive master?". My jaw dropped, I realized that I had forgotten that I made a goal for myself and promptly executed it in 6 weeks. In Belize I was training to become a Rescue Diver. I now know how to help save a life in water and on land, how to search and recover, how to bandage wounds, help nervous or shocked divers, and how to be a beautiful mermaid (yes, that is a Rescue Diver qualification). My final goal is to be a Dive Master or an Instructor. I had such a special bond with each of my Dive Masters at Chuck and Robbie's. I have respect for each of them, they taught me patience, to constantly seek adventure and to check my regulator before every dive for plastic toy cockroaches. They are incredibly inspiring people, one day I'd like to be that Dive Master for someone.

Leaving Belize was hard, but leaving the ocean was way, way more difficult. I went into my last dive taking in every single moment of it: The pre dive briefing, clipping my gear in perfectly, taking my last roll in, sitting on the bottom looking for shells, playing with nurse sharks, and exploring every inch of Natty's Reef with every breath of compressed air that I could. After the dive, everyone was getting ready to leave. I couldn't help myself but to jump off the the side of the boat, just to feel it one more time. Once I was back on the boat, I started crying. I really wanted to stop, because my muffled sobs and puffy eyes were making the amazing dive hella awkward for the other divers, but I couldn't. It felt like a breakup. I was lucky to have the guys there, giving me hugs and telling me that I would be back soon. Although that was hard, I am elated that I have found something that I am truely passionate about. I found my place.

Now that I've had sometime to think, unwind and refocus, my plans are still the same. One day I'll be a Dive Master or Instructor, but I have some other idea's brewing in my head in the mean time. The Belizian lifestyle has taught me to live expressively and full of love, to always smile to strangers, and to walk confidently.

San Pedro, I'll be back. Keep those dolphins happy, eat lots of home baked cookies and drink a few Belikin's for me.

Beers and Marie Sharps hot sauce.

Meet Zibby: Queen of Boca Del Rio

A bad day to be a grouper

The shortie tan

My buddy Kyle. He and I would chill out on my front porch, play volley ball, look for hermit crabs, and throw coconuts at docks. He is also the first person I've met who shares the same birthday as me!