Back from Belize

Heather and I spent the first week of May on Ambergris Caye in Belize. For those of you who do not know (or are GoogleMaps impaired) Belize is a relatively small country about the size of New Hampshire that used to be part of Great Britain. That's about all the history I have on it. What I care about is that it has the second largest barrier reef in the world, next to Australia! THAT catches my imagination.

If you have not been there, I recommend it strongly. They are at the far southern limit of the Caribbean, and for some reason have far less traffic than the tourist-thronged islands. While they are not overrun by tourists, though that is picking up, so go soon before it becomes Club Bahama.

Why I loved it:

• Great diving!
• Even Greater Snorkeling! (That concept blew my mind, but it is true.)
• They had wonderful weather when I was there in November and when I returned in May. 
• They are sheltered from surf by that reef I mentioned, so the shores are idyllic: white sand and lazy palm trees.
• They accept US dollars because their currency is pegged 2:1 to ours. That seemed like a little thing, but it turned out to be really great. Even street vendors will gladly accept a US dollar and give Belize change. Simple math and no currency exchange fees. (Credit cards do hit you with a mild one, so watch that.)
• Most importantly to people like me: the primary language is English (hell, yes!) so I can actually talk to people!

So, back to last week, Heather and I went to stay on Ambergris Caye, at the same place I had stayed before. That single sentence makes it sound really easy. Actually, it was a bit of a pain, but turned out to be worth it. 

The Pain

Getting people to look after our kids takes some doing. My son has some issues, which make looking after him far more challenging than taking care of a "normal" child. Given that, we didn't feel confident in asking any of his friends parents for a prolonged overnight. So we bribed my father to come stay at our house with him for a week. They get along pretty well and so long as my son is not being pressured or put in tense situations, he can control his outbursts. The promise was that I would take him on a trip to Seattle to go to Penny Arcade Expo in August. That challenge was the cheap and easy one.

We did not want to leave my father to look after both kids by himself. That is a challenge for any one. So we made arrangements with Heather's folks to take in Jazzy. That's great! But they live in New Mexico... that's... sporting. So we decided to make our travel pattern begin in San Francisco, and end the first day of travel in Albuquerque. The next morning, our daughter would stay behind and we'd fly to Belize by way of Houston. 

That required some shenanigans, getting the airline to understand that one member of our party was only going part way and then rejoining us as we came back. Seems pretty simple, phrased like that. Not so simple when talking to someone from New Delhi when my half of the conversation was mainly: "Huh? What? I'm hard of hearing, please speak more slowly." And her end of the conversation was heavily accented. Still, she was a trooper and had the best of intentions, so we soldiered through and got the reservations made."

That all seemed to be handled until United and Continental merged a month later and the planners played 52-pickup with most of the flights. That problem, while stressful, was mainly handled well by the United staff, who seemed resigned to a life of forever un-scrambling eggs. 

Okay, so the girl's vacation was handled! Our turn!

On Sunday the 29th we flew to AlbQ without incident (the girl is an amazing traveler; brought her own gum and knew when to chew it for her ears; not one iota of stress). We had Waffle House (which is the greatest food ever invented and is not anywhere near the SF peninsula!) for dinner and crashed at 9:30.  Up and out the door by 6:22 (a little after the 6:15 target) so we would have plenty of time to get through security.

SIDE NOTE: Did you know that if you have a sweet little 8 year old with you, they let you cut in line at the airport? I did not, but it's true! The three of us rolled our bags toward the loooooong line in San Francisco Airport and then got waved straight into the "Family line" with 1 other person in it. We got through security in less than 12 minutes from when we picked up our tickets!

Without benefit of our security speed-pass, who had not even awakened as we walked through security, it took the normal amount of time, but no hitches. I travel a lot for work and Heather knows how to keep things moving, so it was no problem. Everything in baggies (even my electronics; I put EVERYTHING in various clear baggies and never get delayed).

Then we were off... via Houston. Which is like saying We're going to heaven!... right after we stop in Texas. Even the plane landing was rough, as though the pilot was saying NONONONONONO.... and fighting it until the last second when gravity made him land and smacked him with runway for resisting. Understand, I do not hate Texas, but the 2 years I lived there were like payment for some unknown pile of sins  in my past. I do not want to spend more time there than I must. If you love Texas, it's yours. God bless.

Okay, so really, after 8 more hours we were leaving US air-space and on our journey. For those keeping track, it is now Monday, our second day of travel. 

We landed in Belize.

The Belize Internation Airport is one building shaped like a T. We had not checked bags, so we were out the door in 10 minutes from wheels-down. From my last trip, I was confident that getting a ride would not be hard. Sure enough, 2 steps outside of the glass doors, an array of polite men, some with signs, some with hopeful expressions, waited for us. Eye-contact, a nod, and he started opening his trunk for our bags. We told him we wanted to make the 3:30 ferry and he thought we might... then he broke at least 9 traffic, um, guidelines maybe? It was a little bit white-knuckle as we navigated the streets of Belize City. He got us there with 3 minutes to spare, accepted my US currency with a smile, and handed our bags to the Ferry's luggage guy. 

Now we were in a foreign land and about to travel to a tropical island. Literally. That thought went through my mind and I felt about as cool as a 42 year old middle manager gets to feel.

We set foot on San Pedro (the inspiration for Madonna's song "La Isla Bonita") and started to get our first taste of what being on a tropical tourist town in the off season feels like. Nothing that was printed as a schedule was actually the schedule. Things that ran hourly now ran only every two hours. So, either we were  going to wait for an hour and 40 minutes for the next water taxi or we could pay for a land taxi. We opted for the latter.

Before heading to the resort, though, I wanted to arrange our snorkeling for the week, so I walked a few piers down to Reef Adventures, who had taken such good care of me on my last trip. I was recognized and we made arrangements for a Hol-Chan/Shark-Ray Alley trip on Tuesday with a Manatee trip on Thursday. 

We paid about $20 to ride in a rather beat up car to the hotel, but really neither Heather nor I go much for appearances, so it was not a problem. Just a realization that we were not in the US anymore (because this car would NOT be allowed to live). 

We arrived at Ak'Bol Yoga Retreat at about 5 and checked in. It feels really good to travel to a whole other continent and be remembered, but at this place, I think they remember everyone. It's a small operation done in traditional island style, so the cabanas are stunning, yet rustic. Not about fancy, it's about unplugging and letting yourself relax..

That's it for now. I have to make dinner. I will update this with pics and talk about the trip some more when I get time. We are fishing and kayaking tomorrow, so it may be a little bit.