Welcome to Belize

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What a day! Waking up in not one, but two strange beds in the same 24 hour period is new. Our last few days were hectic, getting the apartment cleaned out for inspection and making sure we didn't leave anything undone before the plane took us away. Yesterday, Saturday, was a bit of a respite since we spent the day with Eya's parents after spending the night. We got through the last of our goodbyes and drove to the airport for the mandatory safety groping so the terrorists don't win, then got on a plane or three. Airports are a blur, always uncomfortable, slower than you wish and more rushed than you wish at the same time.

5PM Pacific through 9 AM Belize local time were waiting in line, failing to fall asleep, and the unexpected pleasure of watching Heat on the flight between San Francisco and Huston. Then, with the sun shining bright overhead and my shirt covered in the nervous sweat caused by bumpy flights and overcrowded sardine cans, a very nice man stamped our passport and said "Welcome to Belize!"

So far Belize city has been a mixed experience. Our hostel is about 100 feet from the seawall, the black ocean stares me down when I head out to the deck. Earlier today I saw a Pelican dive after a fish not 100 yards from where I'm sleeping. The view is only slightly spoiled by a pile of garbage on top of what appears to be concrete crushings piled without explanation at the end of the street leading to the sea. The city is crumbling splender, with colonial style buildings falling to disrepair. Posh new shops are under construction that rival the high end retail of the US, just will roll-down steel shutters on every window and a tasteful iron cage around the external AC unit.

Prices so far are like a cheap U.S. city would have been 5 years ago, 5 bucks each for a burger and a soda split between us. Hostel rooms for 40 per night for private, but $1 for a bottle of soda or $3 for a breakfast of cold cereal and toast.

Tomorrow will be a weekday, so I hope to see a bit more of the city when it's open. Today being Sunday, almost everything was closed except for a single Hamburger joint/bakery combination that got very crowded around their 3PM closing time. I assume there's a discount at the end of the day so inventory won't go stale.

We plan to take a water taxi to Key Caulker (sp?) in the morning and spend the day on the little island, soaking up some beach weather and working on the first sunburn of the trip! It may rain, and if that happens we will likely skip the water taxi and head to San Ignacio, on the Guatemalan border.

I'm having philosophical thoughts about breadth versus density of experiences. I hope to look back over these journals and remember the pieces that have slipped away since writing. Our Taxi driver's name was Mark, a friendly black man with a thick Creole accent who told us about the local sites. There is both a zoo and a Rum Heritage Museum that was may need to skip on if transportation proves too pricey. I've been eating a lot today since we've been up so long. There is another Mark, this one white, staying at the hostel, who spent a few weeks selling food dehydrators for the Excalibur company when his sales deal fell through with the manufacturer. His girlfriend is named, not Valencia but something with a similar sound and 4 syllables. Our hostel manager used to politik locally until she decided to avoid the noose of promises and compromise to her party. Now she checks into her own hostel as a guest to see what visitors have to say about it. She loves Cuba and reommended it as the best place to visit in the Caribbean, I must follow her advice. There is random garbage in the streets, I saw a man turn back from his path to pick up a brown paper bag, which I assumed he wanted to check for leftovers. Dogs wander around sporadically, some with full teats swinging as they trot through the streets and avoid the bicycles (ubiquitous) and cars (who treat roadsigns like "Stop" and lane lines as suggestions). The people in the room next to us (white Mark and his mysteriously-named girlfriend) are watching football. People in the courtyard were smoking ganja when we got back from exploring the neighborhood, I believe Mitch was as well. Mitch opened the door for us into the hostel and gave us our room key.

I'm not sure what of this is interesting. My braind is rebooting from a much needed long nap after the last two-days travel and exploration. I'll have more to say tomorrow!

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Comments

[Isabel]

We've been wondering....
all day how you were getting on. So glad to hear, I enjoyed reading the post. All the details! Every single one! R wants to know if there is any possibility of posting your GPS co-ordinates so we can check where you are on Google Earth.

[Dan da Man]

Getting On
We've been using hotel and restaurant WiFi. Signals can be weak but it works if you're patient. GPS is a great idea, I'll start doing that!