Bounce to Belize

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I had planned on flying down to Caracas for a quick visit but the trip fell through due to my travel partner no longer being able to go. Caracas is an expensive city and it would have cost me at least $400 for 24 hours there which was twice what I wanted to spend.



So.......I went to Belize instead!



A co-worker of mine named Jim came along. We caught a 7am Delta 737 to Atlanta. I had seat 10A at the window. It was a routine flight of about an hour. Our connection was a Delta Connection CRJ900 to Belize City and I was seated in business class seat 1A. We flew south over Florida and then turned west at about the Ft Myers area.

The flight took us over the Florida Keys and over the coast of Cuba and finally on into Belize City. The meal was a chicken wrap with fruit and was pretty good.



We arrived into BZE airport at about 11:30 and cleared in a matter of minutes. We exchanged money and grabbed a taxi to the water front. We were hoping to catch a noon water taxi to Caye Caulker but knew it would be close. The driver said he doubted we would make it. The next one was not until 1:30 so we would just have to hang out until then. The driver ended up making it to the pier with about 5 minutes to spare and we paid, jumped out, and ran to the ticket office. It felt like we were on the Amazing Race! We purchased a ticket for $10 and were off. The water taxi is far from comfortable and I don't think I could have handled anymore than the 45 minutes it took to get there. It does go fast and it is mostly smooth but they pack you in like sardines. At about 12:45, we arrived in Caye Caulker. We did not have a hotel reserved but had a few in mind that we were going to look at. When we stepped off the boat, there was someone who would show us a room on the beach for a low price so we checked it out and ended up getting it. It was $50 for the night and was decent. It was called the Tropical Paradise and we had a great view of the sea. It had air conditioning, which was a good thing, because it was like a sauna in there. We cranked the AC to high and went out to snorkel in "The Split". This is an area of the island which was split by a hurricane and seemed to have the best beach area around.



It was wonderful in the water and we saw tons of marine life, including rays. We met a couple from Oregon and it turned out they were going to be on the same flight with us back to Atlanta. At the bottom of the split, there is a sunken sea wall that you have to be careful of to not get sliced open on the metal but it had lots of fish around it.



After an hour or so of snorkeling, we visited the Lazy Lizard Bar which is right on the edge of The Split. We were having a great time and talking with a couple from Surrey and also with a few locals. We were also consuming many Belikin Beers.

After a few hours, it got weird. We started having drug pushers and prostitutes come around and they were really pushy. The pusher was talking to Jim while the prostitute was talking to me. She told me that she wanted to take us back to her house and, well, you know.... I told Jim that we needed to leave right now! He had the same idea so we split real fast! She was following us so we ran and finally ditched her. We got back to our room and then went out to eat at a little Cuban place on the beach. I am sad to say it was not very good. We walked around Caye Caulker for a few hours before turning in for the night.

The next morning, I was up at 5am and I got ready and went out and walked around while Jim stayed sleeping.

Once he was ready, we toured around a bit before catching an 8:30 water taxi back to Belize City. The couple from Oregon were on with us and so we decide we would all share a taxi to the airport. Once again, it was not a comfortable ride but we made the 45 minute trek and arrived at 9:15.

We went out and got the taxi and were at BZE airport by 10am. Our flight was at noon, so we just walked around the not so exciting BZE airport. We cleared for business class again and I was back in seat 1A. The meal was the same as the flight over, which was fine with me. It was another routine flight and we landed in Atlanta at 5:20pm. Our connection to Indy was at 6:57 so we had lots of time. The flight was tight for stand by travel and I did not think we would get on. When it came down to the final minutes, were were 6 and 7 on the list with only 3 seats open. One thing I learned though is that you never leave the gate until the plane itself is gone. Good thing too because there was a late flight in which some passengers would not make this Indy connection and guess who got those seats? I was on and back in seat 33D. It was a quick one hour flight back home and I was in my house by 9pm.

I really liked Belize and would go back. Jim did not care for it after the the incidents that happened at the bar.

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