Got up at 4:00 am to a chilly winter morning. The backyard gate was frozen shut and I panicked thinking I wouldn’t be able to get out of my yard. But with an amazing shot of adrenalin-laden muscle power I yanked that gate open, got the car out of the garage, and was able to pick up Glenn and Marilyn in decent time for the trip to the airport.
The most arduous part of the trip to Belize was getting through American customs. The rest was a breeze. The plane to Houston was tiny – with one seat along the left side and two seats on the right – but despite the size the flight was smooth and right on time. We had a leisurely hour and a half at the airport in Houston where we picked up some Thai-style lunch and then loaded onto a much larger plane to Belize. I was lucky enough to end up with three seats to myself so I could stretch out my normally cramped legs.
Belize’s international airport is small by Canadian standards but had a good duty free where we picked up some gin and wine for refreshments on the atoll. Because we had something to declare now, Glenn, Marilyn and I ended up in the short customs line and were through in no time. We met the Island Expeditions driver outside the baggage pickup and took a short ride to the hotel. I felt at home in the tropical setting passing cement block buildings and storefronts similar to those you would find in Ghana. Here, though, the dirt roads tend to be white while in Ghana they were red – the difference in soil I guess.
The Biltmore hotel was quite nice with a swimming pool and poolside bar stocked with beer. We settled right in for the afternoon “happy hour”, observing the others lounging around the pool and speculating whether they were with our group. My roommate Susan from Oregon joined us and one by one we started meeting some of the others from the Island Expeditions tour.
At supper we met Andy who gave us a run-down on what we would be doing the next day and who would not be going with us, and Luke who was new to Island Expeditions but had lots of Outward Bound experience and would be going with us. Supper was noisy due to the cement walls and the excited chatter. We are a group of 21 – all very interesting people, overwhelmingly female. There are only 5 men – and four of them were with their spouses.