What are you going to do in ______?

It was nearly three years ago that I wrote the first "What are you going to do in _____?" post and since the first question I usually get when I tell people where I'm spending my summer is "why?!" I figured I'd give a little bit of an explanation. 

Mostly I just want to take things slow and have a nice summer. As I briefly mentioned in one of my recent posts, spending some time on the beach is definitely on the to-do list - I've been working my butt off for the past year, so down time with some sun and a book is something I'm highly looking forward to.

I can't lay on a beach for three months, but while I'm there I might as well get in some snorkeling and diving, yeah? The last time I went diving it was in the Great Barrier Reef and I got to see this handsome fella:

Belize has its own reef, too, and I believe it's the biggest one in the Americas. Perhaps the most well-known feature is the Blue Hole:

(This actually kind of scares the bejesus outta me. source)

But...I'm not actually all that positive that I'll make it there (see above caption). That, plus it can be pretty expensive. Also, I've read that the best views of the Blue Hole are from the sky and since it's a collapsed volcano, visibility isn't all that great. But now I sound like I'm making excuses and really there's just damn good snorkeling and diving in plenty of places, not just Belize.

Then there are the Mayan ruins. These can be found throughout Mexico and Central and South America, but the area I'm most looking forward to is Tikal in Guatemala. I loved the wats in Cambodia so much I spent three days there taking shots like this one:

But take a look at a Mayan version - also surrounded by jungle - and tell me it doesn't look just a little bit awesome:

(source)

Then there's all the cities to explore. I am a city girl, after all. :-) There are a few that are particularly interesting to me. Antigua, Guatemala with its cobblestoned streets and Spanish flair, and Granada, Nicaragua with its colonial architecture (and more Spanish flair).

(by Pedro Szekely)

(Granada. source)

So...there's all of that. The next time you wonder what I'm up to or why I'm spending the summer in Central America, you'll know. :-)