San Pedro, Belize

April 21, 2012
Today was a hot day in Belize, with temperatures exceeding 34 degrees C. with little wind. Leaving Placencia by plane was quite a different experience from YVR. We were taxied to the airport 30 minutes ahead of our flight time, probably 15 minutes earlier than necessary. When we arrived, a Tropic Air attendant took our bags out of the taxi and asked where we were going. He said to just leave the bags and he would tag them and get them on board. We came into the terminal, gave my name, and they immediately knew we were traveling with the four of us. We sat down and waited until our departure time, 9AM, got called to leave, handed in a laminated card we were issued and boarded the plane. 3 minutes later we were in the air. No carryon scans, security checks, safety lectures, etc. Seatbelts also seemed to be optional and most ignored them. The plane was half full, with 7 or 8 passengers. Plod sat in the co-pilot chair.

We were told we had to transfer planes once before San Pedro. We flew to a small town north of Placencia and took on a few passengers. The entire landing, boarding and take-off took about as much time as a West Coast Express stop at a train station. We then flew on to Belize City. Where everyone got off. We thought we had to leave too but were told that the airline had changed our plans during the flight. We should have got off at the last airport, but they decided that since the pilot had to fly to San Pedro anyway, why make us change planes. We stayed on board and had an exclusive 20 minute flight to San Pedro, just the four of us and the pilot. We landed in San Pedro in less than an hour from when we left Placencia. The flight was beautiful, with great views of the coastline, palm plantations, shrimp farms, and the crystal clear water between Belize City and Ambergris Caye, the island where we are now. The water here is extremely shallow and in most places it was hard to see if the land was covered in water or not. You could see the sea grasses, channels in the sea bottom, etc. Just beautiful.

Coming from a quiet, peaceful Placencia, San Pedro was quite a change. The town was crowded, with narrow streets, no sidewalks, people dodging endless lines of taxis and golf carts, and old, colourful but often seedy looking buildings. Our cabana was towards the end of the town centre, about a 15 to 20 minute leisurely walk to Central Park, the hub. Our condo in Placencia was a mansion compared to this place. Air conditioning consisted of two fans, the place was very rustic, and we had a fridge, stove and microwave, but no toaster, dishwasher, etc. It had a bedroom separated from the kitchen and eating area by movable partitions, and a loft upstairs.

We walked to town for lunch and the heat was stifling. Even I was ready to combust, with water gushing down my face. We went to a vendor selling BBQ chicken, but there were only three ready, so Joanie and I decided to find something from the other two vendors, the Catholic church BBQ chicken fundraiser, and a fellow who regularly sells BBQ chicken. (It seemed today, outside of going to a regular restaurant, the only thing on the menu on the street was BBQ chicken). No one had any chicken ready. Everyone said it would take 15 minutes to 30 minutes before their chicken was ready so after still being empty handed after 15 minutes of baking in the park square, we gave up. It was too hot for BBQ anyway. Joanie and I found an ice cream place instead.

When we got back from "lunch" and picking up a few things, we headed across the street to take a dip in the sea. Since most of the beach here is covered in sea grass, we had to go off the end of the dock. The water was only a few feet deep and very warm. We were so hot however, that just being wet felt good. The best however was getting out afterwards and standing wet in the breeze that was blowing.

For dinner we walked back into town to a restaurant recommended to us. For openers, Plod insisted on ordering conch fritters, a local favourite. While conch reportedly tastes quite rubbery, this was minced and tasted more like crab, deep fried in batter and served with a tangy sauce. I was indifferent to it because snails are gross and crab is not high on my list either, but the others liked it. We checked out a few bars to see if they might show the Canucks game tomorrow and most said they would if we asked. We'll see where we end up.

On a positive note, there was a good breeze at night and the temperature here was expected to drop to a blustery 18 degrees, so we should be cool enough in bed. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Finding a beach where the water gets up to 5 feet deep is on our agenda.

April 22
Another sunny day but there was a bit of a breeze, making the heat much easier to handle. It was actually quite nice in our cabana with a fan and the windows open to the sea breeze. We went shopping after breakfast and the store offered free delivery to our room, by golf cart. We explored the north island where there was supposed to be a beach area near by which had water up to 5 feet deep. We never found it, but did take a tour of some new condos which were for sale for between $280,00 and 500,000 US. Very fancy. We did find a beach in front of one of the very nice cabana complexes, Ramon's Village, just south of Central Park. The water here seemed a few degrees cooler than everywhere else, but still was only 3 feet deep. You are restricted in area by the thick sea grass growing all around. We also spotted a large sting ray that swam right under the dock we were standing on.

The plan for the evening was to go to Wet Willy's, a bar on a pier near our cabana where they said they would show the Canucks Game 5. What they failed to mention when we checked it out was that they are new and their kitchen is not yet complete. Therefore there was no food, except frozen cheese pizza. We had that as a snack as we watched the 3 periods. Joanie sat outside on the deck, playing games on her playbook. A group, consisting of the owner and family, and some high faloot'in characters from LA were there too, and one of them bought her a rum punch. Even though the game went to overtime, we left to find a place for dinner. Near the end of the pier was a beach front little pub that someone said had very good food. We went there and saw the end of the game, along with another table of Canucks fans from Vancouver Island. The place served a large variety of chicken wings and huge burgers. They were delicious. The owner came over to chat. He was from Windsor, Ont. and moved here to take over the business 4 months ago. He gave us his impressions of Belize life, good places to eat, etc. We all looked at each other and thought the same thing. He looks and talks just like my brother. He was super nice and offered to point us to reputable people if we were looking for excursions, and promised to let us sample some of the sauces he developed if we return. The waitress, was quite interesting. She was a young girl and liked to joke around a lot. She also told us she was excited about going to California to study law in the Fall. When we left, she gave Joanie a big hug like old friends.

The above is a sample of the nice people we have met here. Even walking home, a teen on a bike came by and said hello as he passed, something that doesn't happen at home.

Time to go to bed, tomorrow we snorkel at Shark Ray Alley!

April 23

This is a 5-star day for sure. After a minor inconvience of termites or some kind of bug, that was digging in the ceiling, covering me with wood chips the size of sand overnight, we set out for our snorkeling tour. We had a glass bottom boat, and only the four of us as passengers. Our guide was an old gentlemen who was not very talkative or sociable, but nevertheless was a great guide, going in the water with us, pointing out things, holding a sting ray out for us to touch, and leading my sister around on a string so she felt totally comfortable in the water. On our way to Shark Ray Alley, we saw a group of dolphins that came up the the boat and swam under it. We also saw several eagle rays, a dark version of ray that apparently can lift themselves above the water and appear to fly. Shark Ray did not disappoint. We saw many fish, including nurse sharks that swam under us and gorgeous coral reefs. The water was very warm, although cooler that near the shore. Some of the fish were huge. After about 30 minutes of snorkeling, we got back in the boat and went to Hol Chan Marine Reserve, a protected part of Belize's reef not far from Shark Ray Alley. Here we swam with sea turtles, and more beautiful coral. I have never seen so many fish in these two places, from small angels to schools of large groupers, including some three or four feet long. This was by far the best snorkeling we have ever done!!! I even felt a sting ray, which was softer and slimier than I thought. This was definitely the highlight of our trip.

When we returned to the dock, our guide went to a man in another boat, who had a hold of live fish and several conch that he was extracting the snails from as this is a local favourite food. He got a beautiful conch shell for each of us that he cleaned first. When we got back to our place, Javier, the manager who we chat with regularly, brought us each a coconut filled with coconut water. He also showed Joanie some of his art work (necklace made of black coral and a carved fish made of petrified bone). Joanie bought the necklace. He said he does his artwork in the afternoons, and was working on something special for my sister and Joanie.

Before dinner, Joanie went for a massage from a lady who had a table set up across the street.  She moved the table to the end of the dock, and Joanie had a private massage on the dock as the sun set. 
A great day. 

San Pedro is even starting to look more appealing.  It has three main roads, front road, along the beach, middle road, a crowded paved street, and back road, which goes through more rustic areas by the local residences.  Walking front street on the sandy road is quite pleasant, and we could see from our cruise to snorkeling that there are many nice looking resorts on the other end of town.  The people are awesome, if you ignore the guys trying to interest Plod is special brownies, and the guy who claimed he was Rastafarian but had his hair cut off in jail, where he served time for running a large grow-op, and just needs some cash from us wonderful Canadians (He though we were from England first).   Even the rustic cabana is feeling more like home, although we have to share the two knives and boil coffee water in a large pan.

April 24
We had a cooler evening and could turn our fan on to low for a comfortable sleep.  I understand we had a massive rainfall overnight, though my ear plugs successfully blocked that.  We walked into town and had johnny cakes for breakfast, along with Ruby's cinnamon bun, as recommended by the Lonely Planet.  The cakes were OK, a biscuit filled with scrambled eggs, sausage and other things like perhaps mayo.  I prefer an egg mcmuffin to tell you the truth.  The cinnamon bun was OK but nothing to rave about.  As the men and women separated for some shopping time, we looked for a place to have coffee.  Plod went to one place that said they could only make instant coffee because they ran out of water.  No worries.  I guess you carry on without water.  He also went to enquire about getting a tourist pamphlet with a small map of the town and where things are.  There was no tourist info centre.  A woman at the booth, which promoted time-shares, said she normally had pamphlets with a map in them, but she ran out, and the printing company sold their printer.  (What are the odds of this business being successful)  Things work differently here in Belize.

Today was a hang around and relax at home day, as tomorrow we arranged a full day tour, starting at 6:30AM going to some Mayan ruins and going cave-tubing.  I spent much of the afternoon reading, although I was forced inside because the cleaning lady's little girl kept playing with me.  That was OK for a little while, but then I needed to hide inside if I was to do any reading.  Kids here are treated much like the dog population, they seem to be let loose to run around with very little supervision.  We are getting a little turned off by all the dogs running around.  Not only do they poop on the beach, this morning we even saw a dog in the water, pooping on the sea grass.  Gross!

Today Javier came by and presented the women with bracelets he made for them out of seashells and beads he gets from Arizona. A very sweet gesture. 

After dinner we played what may be my last game of Phase 10.  Last week when we played I think I set an alltime record for the number of "skip" turns cards I got played on me.  This particular evening, I almost set a new record.  In one, round, I got three against me on the first three cards played, and then the round was over and I had not even drawn one card.  This continued the whole evening.  Stupid game!  To top it off, we went to bed a little early, and it was very windy outside.  My side of the bed is level with the front window, and as the flimsy curtains stood straight out in the warm wind, I could watch people pass by on the street, and perhaps they could see me in bed too.  Then came the mosquito(s).  It was a very short night.

April 25
The alarm was set for 5:30AM, though some were up by 5, and had trouble with the bathroom door, which jambs, and is right beside my bed.  Stupid early mornings!  The taxi was to pick us up at 6:10, but was standing outside already at 5:50.  He had to wait, because some morning rituals can not wait.  We got dropped off at the dock where the Express water taxi to Belize City leaves from, and were met by an employee of the tour company.  She had johnny cakes and bottles of juice for each of us, and arranged return tickets on the water taxi.  We took a 70 minute, fast but bumpy ride to Belize City where we were greeted by Rudy, our tour guide for the day.  He had three other people (Americans) with him.  He drove us through Belize City and on to the Mayan ruins at Xunantunich, near the Guatemalan border.  Belize City looked like an urban ghetto, with rickety old shops, people hanging around, machine gun toting army officers at some street corners, and just a very eerie place.  Rudy agreed that the city is not a safe place, and is out of control, with 14 people killed in the last 15 days. 

To get to Xunantunich, we drove across the width of Belize, so we got a good feel for the countryside in the northern area.  We all thoroughly enjoyed the ruins.  While this is not one of the well known sites, it was spectacular, and we learned a lot about the Mayan culture.  On the way we also passed a number of Amish people in the straight cut hair, hats and horse-drawn wagons, selling watermelons on the side of the road.

After the ruins, we went to the Nohoch Che'En Cave Branch cave tubing.  We first got a buffet lunch.  However, the afternoon was unfortunately rushed, perhaps because the ruins took longer than anticipated, or because the American couple had a plane to catch at 5:30PM.  We were asked to finish lunch in 20 minutes, and then we had 10 minutes to get changed for tubing.  We had a spoon which looked like it might be for dessert but never had time to find out.  The food was good though.  We then walked with out tubes about a mile or so to our starting point by the mouth of a cave.  We first swam in the water and jumped off of the rocks.  The tubing was awesome, with many beautiful sites, like crystal formations, a colourful waterfall, and beautiful openings to the outside world.  We had helmets with lights on them because it was very dark.  We also saw about 3 or 4 of the 80 variety of bats that inhabit Belize. 

After the tubing, we rushed to Belize City for our water taxi and the other couple's flight.  Strangely, we never had an opportunity to even browse the gift shops at either the ruins or the tubing site.  We caught our water taxi at 5:30 and when we got to San Pedro, our local taxi drivers was waiting for us.  We were home by 7:30PM, a long but great day.  Connections were so smoothly that we were impressed. 

For dinner, we returned to the place down the road owned by Matt, from Windsor, and had a delicious grilled salad (yes, the romaine lettuce is dipped in oil and grilled), and burnt chicken wings.  We did let Matt know the wings were burnt and not like what some of us had a few days ago.  It is now midnight and everyone is in bed but me.  Maybe tonight I get a good sleep.  Maybe the cockroach Joanie found in the closet last night is the last one we see.  I have not seen her swatting the air at real or imagined bugs, so that is a good sign.  Until tomorrow.

April 26
A quiet, lazy day.  Plod and I went to town to explore, and pick up groceries while the women shopped for other vain things.  We got caught in a downpour not once but twice.  It went from sunny and hot to a nice cool breeze blowing to torrential showers in minutes.  The streets had rivers running down them and we were soaked.  Golf carts also do not seem to provide a lot of protection in these conditions.  We stopped to get some coffee and ordered apple pie with it.  The waiter, who looked and acted just like Stanley on The Office, repeated our order, got us coffee and then sat down somewhere because it was not busy.  We never did see the pies.  That's how things go in Belize. 

We swam, (actually crouched), in the water off of our dock in the afternoon, but it was quite windy so standing up was cool.  After dinner we went to see the chicken drop, a big event every Thursday in San Pedro.  They have a pen with 100 squares marked off and you buy tickets for the squares.  A chicken is placed in the pen, and whoever has the square on which the chicken craps, wins $100.  It took 2 chickens and a lot of coaxing before one chicken finally found the need to relieve herself.  After one round we had seen enough.  We dropped by the grocery store, a now daily event it seems, and sometimes twice daily and the woman at the till says she loved Joanie and I.  The people here are very affectionate.  That never happens to me at the Real Canadian Superstore!

After a long night of gaming, it is now 2AM, 1AM PDT, and time for me to go to bed.  Hopefully, we will go snorkeling tomorrow afternoon.

April 27
Another sunny, hot day! This afternoon, Joanie and I arranged another snorkel outing to Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley because it was so good.  We went alone as the others decided to pass on this and go to the local casino for the evening, something that does not interest me in the least.  We were the only ones on the boat, a private outing on a speedboat which took us to the site in about a quarter of the time it took our glass bottom boat a few days ago.  We had another fantastic afternoon of snorkeling, and saw two species of stingrays, some huge fish, a few turtles, nurse sharks and the most colourful little reef fish ever. 

We were on our own for dinner and went to Fidos, where we enjoyed the best fish and chips ever.  Over dinner I told Joanie that with only a few nights left before we return to rainy and cool Vancouver, I did not want to spend every night inside playing games, as we have been doing.  We had coffee outside, but I don't know what caused me to abandon my stubborn desire to enjoy the warm night air, my butt on the hard wooden chairs or the constant wind in my face.  Every day starts with a nice gentle breeze to provide relief from the hot sun, then transitions into a stronger breeze each afternoon, and it becomes downright windy by evening.  By 9:30PM I retreated to a softer couch inside and began this blog.  We have yet to hear from the gambling duo.

We are rapidly learning the Belizian way of life.  People are friendly, they offer all sorts of things, but the common saying is it is on Belizian time, which means if you are an hour late you are still on time.  I heard it said that Belizians like to please, and therefore if you ask them something, they will agree, even though they have no intention of doing it but they don't want to make you unhappy.  They also do not volunteer information.  If you do not ask the right questions, you do not get the info you need, even if they know you are interested.  A case in point is Javier.  Two days ago we were talking about his art skills and the carving he does.  (We heard later that he does not carve at all, his father does, and he makes jewelry.)  Plod saw a carving of a stingray and said he was interested in something like that if Javier had one a little smaller.  He said he could carve one for Plod and have it ready in a few days.  He also agreed to bring in a smaller version of a turtle carving he had in the office.  I have yet to see it, and when he was asked today how the stingray carving was going, he replied that he is not doing one, because there is no time before we leave.  He said there are lots of stingray carvings available in town and they could buy one there.  This is the Belizian way.

Joanie and I are booked for a manatee watch tour for Sunday, but we do not know if it will happen.  The tour company needs at least 6 or 8 people signed up before they will go out.  Here's hoping that happens. 

It is now 10PM, circulation has returned to my butt, so I am going back outside.

Nope, I only lasted 15 minutes.  Gamblers arrived home. In true local fashion, the boat taking them to the casino left an hour later than they were told.  Casino apparently is quite nice, but holds maybe 30 people.  It is by a fancy resort however, where the palm lined beach is manicured.

April 28
A lazy day sitting in the sun, or shade in my case, and a dip off our dock.  Arranging excursions has been a frustrating experience.  There are many tour companies offering all sorts of tours, from snorkeling, to catamaran sailing, etc., but we have been trying to arrange a manatee watch tour, a full day outing involving going to a caye where manatees frequent, a walk at Caye Caulker, and snorkeling in an area in front of Caye Caulker.  It looks like it is not going to happen because the all the tour companies want parties of 6 or more before they will go out, and there seems to be few people doing tours right now.  Other alternatives have met the same problem so far, so, as has been our experience here before, there is often a lot offered but not always delivered. 

Javier told us there was a evangelical gathering at the soccer field at 7PM where they have music, etc.  We thought we would go check it out.  The field is a little behind the "downtown", in a run down area, and is surrounded by fences and barred gates that lock.  It was a 15 minute walk.  We got there to find only a local soccer game going on.  When we told Javier about that later that evening, he responded, "Well, you got to see a soccer game." 

We decided to go to town at 12AM.  Yes Wade, that is AM, not PM!  We hear that San Pedro is a real party town, but that things do not really start until midnight, and go on until about 5AM.  We have found that things are rather slow, with restaurants always half empty and bars empty, so we thought we should at least see how things change late at night.  We found there were people hanging around Central Park, the few bars we could see were busier but still not hopping, and there were vendors making burritos, hot dogs, burgers, etc. in the square.  They do that until after the two night clubs close.  Overall, not that exciting, so we went home.

April 29
Today is sunny, with highs to reach 33degrees C.  Oh, wait, that has been the conditions for the past 19 days.  So far our Dream House has been OK but I would not necessarily recommend it to anyone.  We have only had 5 cockroaches in 8 days, and two places covered in wood chips from termites.  We are getting used to sharing the two butter knives we have for four people, the big pan we boil water in for coffee, which can take some time, and the grungy old pots and pans that you could not give away at a garage sale because the teflon is scraped off and at least one handle is broken.  Only two of our doors have handles missing for what appears to be some time now, and I'm sure in the next few years they will do something about the bathroom door which scrapes on the floor at one point, making it impossible to quietly go to the washroom in the middle of the night.  Its amazing how even this can begin to feel like home, although I would not trade it with our real home.  I am also happy to report that while our old gas stove ran out of gas in the middle of making breakfast today, we are now able to fire up the old beaten aluminum pan for coffee again!

This morning was a very stressful time for us.  We had important decisions to make.  After voting on whether to take a taxi across the toll bridge to the north island and visit a beach by the casino, or taking the water taxi to Caye Caulker for a walk and possibly swim, Javier gave us additional info which caused us to reconsider our options.  We had to cancel our Caye Caulker decision and re-vote.  The north beach option won, until we started considering the cost of the taxi (they charge per person and it would be $40 Bz for an 8 km trip one way,plus a toll which makes the Golden Ears Bridge look like a steal. I suggested a new option, walking south past Ramon Village, a nice resort just past the centre of town, and explore a new area at a leisurely pace, maybe swimming at Ramon where there is less sea grass.  After some time, someone else suggested meandering south and that option won out.  We all agreed that meandering was far more appealing than walking.  We also had to decide on something to do for our last day tomorrow, since all the excursions we were interested were falling through.  We finally settled on getting a small catamaran operated by a friend of Javier, who would take us to a snorkeling location north of here, Mexico Rock, and then if we find some good conches, he would prepare conch cerviche, raw chopped up snail in a lime sauce.  I am disappointed that we need to settle for a trip less than what we planned, and the conch eating idea brings visions of Fear Factor.

We meandered after lunch, which was pulled pork on bread with beans and cole slaw, which was being sold just down the street by a group raising funds to help homeless people.  At Ramons, we found at the end of their pier that there was a large, roped off area where there were tropical fish and the water was over 6.5 feet deep.  It was wonderful and we wish we discovered this a week ago.  We also visited the famous Canuck Bar, a divey place set up under the porch of a house.  The clientele looked like retired Hells Angels from Maple Ridge.  Just past here, Plod was approached by a Rastafarian looking dude who asked how many pounds he wanted.  Plod gets asked at least once a day, and sometimes more often, if he wants to by weed.  And yet, some locals keep telling us Belize has no drug problem.

We arrived back home just in time for our daily ritual, happy hour, with our home made rum punch.  Later, we walked back to town and ate at tables in the alley of a little hopping restaurant called Warumba, where they make popusas.  These are a Belizian specialty and are like cornmeal pancakes stuffed with your choice of things, like spinach, cheese, chicken, cheese and bean, etc.  They cost only $2.50 Bz each, $1.25US.  We ordered a couple each, and then ordered a few more.  It took over 2 hours because they supposedly were so busy, with some huge takeout orders.  Nevertheless a good time and a great price.

April 30
A sad day today.  Our last day in Belize.  Javier came by in the morning with the completed turtle carving he made for us.  It turned out great. 

After lunch we took our catamaran outing with Ernest and Mario.  They were super nice guys.  Unfortunately it was not the manatee trip I had hoped for but of course, that trip does not allow you to swim with the manatee, only see them from a boat if you are lucky.  Nevertheless I hoped for a wonderful trip.  We spent some time sailing along the Ambergris Caye coast north until we reached Mexico Rocks.  Joanie had a permanent grin on her face because she loved the sailing.  We snorkeled there for 30-45 minutes (who knows, we also were enjoying rum punch), and saw many reef fish, smaller than the ones at Hol Chan.  Mario swam with us and found a conch (pronounced Konk), which he took and used to prepare fresh conch cerviche.  There are those who might find this hard to believe but I actually tried this concoction which looked a bit like a watery salsa used for dipping corn chips in.  I had a fair amount in fact.  The conch did have a chewy texture but it was cut up quite fine.  We then sailed back and stopped at another section of the reef, (the reef is 185 miles long and is second only to the Great Barrier Reef in size), not far from our cabana.  We jumped into the warm water.  After a few minutes of snorkeling, I turned and saw this large grey object coming towards me.  As it approached and turned, I realized it was a manatee.  Not just a manatee but a mom and baby.  They passed right under Joanie who suddenly looked down to see this huge animal beneath her.  It was absolutely awesome to see them and we were told it was also very rare to see them here.  I guess Belize wanted to give me a parting gift.  We all agreed that this was just a fantastic afternoon.

After happy hour, we had the office call the Hidden Treasure, a restaurant at the south end of the island that provides free suttle service.  We were picked up and driven to the restaurant.  It was recommended to us but we did not know what to expect.  It was not only beautiful, but fancy.  Not only did it have white table clothes, everyone had a full compliment of cutlery that weighed more than half an ounce, and we were greeted with a cool cloth for cleaning our hands and cooling our faces.  It was very fancy by Belizean standards and the food was excellent.  Joanie had a snapper in rice which was cooked in a banana leaf.  I enjoyed a curried chicken dish. 

We can reflect back on many things that fell short of expectations, like our Dream House cabin with the less than dream house kitchen, or the busyness and rundown nature of much of San Pedro, other than the fancy beachfront resort, but in the end, the place grows on you and we will miss it.  20 days of solid sunny weather and temperatures in the low to mid 30's is hard to beat.  Not looking forward to Vancouver's rainy cool weather one bit!

May 1
Final entry. :(  A sunny hot day, but quite clammy.  Strangely enough, while things are very laid back in Belize, and you are told that being late is just a way of life, the taxis always come early.  We arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 9:30AM to bring us to the water taxi.  The cab was there 10 minutes early.  We arrived at the dock and were immediately greeted by staff from the water taxi who took our suitcases from the taxi, put them on a cart and tagged them.  We never lifted a finger.  Our express water taxi left at 10AM for Belize City, a trip of about 1 and a quarter hours.  The boat was not fancy, with one open area inside and seats all around.  Our Canadian bar owner friend Matt was also on board.  When we arrived in Belize City, we again greeted by someone who asked if we needed a taxi, and immediately waived in a taxi driver.  Between about three people they got us in the cab and transported our bags from the water taxi to the taxi.  I'm afraid none of these people seemed to realize that this was our last day, we were down to our last Belize dollars, and had no desire to get more, because they are not easy to exchange anywhere.  Therefore, no tips all around.  I felt bad but I guess we will never see any of them again.  We were told by Javier, who seems to do very little traveling outside his little corner of the world, that taxis to the airport, a 30 minute drive, were about $20Bz,.  In fact, the cost was $10US per person, 4 x as much.  We passed through the city, and saw several outposts along the way, with soldiers holding machine guns at the ready.  I learned the political history of the country from our driver, a very interesting man.  When we arrived at the airport, I realized that the cash I had left, plus Plod's cash, was not going to cut it.  I asked if he took VISA.  He said yes.  After we unloaded and he shook every one's hand and thanked us for visiting his country, I gave him my VISA card.  He looked at it strangely for a minute until I confirmed that he did not take VISA after all.  He waited while I found an ATM.

Because the water taxi only goes every 90 minutes, we arrived early at the airport, three and a half hours early.  They were not checking bags yet, but an airport official said we could store our luggage behind a counter.  When we returned to retrieve them, he saw us coming and brought the luggage out.  We took them and quickly went to the check-in counter.  I could not look in the man's face, but could feel him looking at us in bewilderment that there was no tip for him.  He never said a word though.  I had just enough money to buy a chocolate bar for on the plane.

From here, the trip home was uneventful.  We left Belize at about 4PM and arrived in Houston, Texas a few hours later.  We had to go through a line-up at immigration, then to the baggage pick-up area (our bags went on to Vancouver so did not need to be retrieved), line up to go through customs, then go through another line-up for security departure, then go to United to have our duty-free items repackaged and sent on, and finally through security again to get to our gate.  A long, cumbersome process that allowed only for a very rushed meal before our flight departed at 9PM.  We arrived in Vancouver at midnight, and whisked through customs and security in no time at all.  I pulled into our driveway at 1:45AM, a long day.