Our flight from Seattle was scheduled for 6:00 am, which means that we needed to get up very early in order to get to the airport on time. Of course, I procrastinated on packing and cleaning, so was up very late. We decided to try to get some sleep when I started to vomit! I don't know if it was nerves (I tend to be a nervous traveler), a bug, lack of sleep, or the anti-malaria medication, or some combination thereof. I was really miserable. Luckily Gessner was able to get a couple of hours. The town car came to pick us up around 3:30 am and we headed over to Belltown to pick up Clane and Sky. We made it to the airport without incident. Clane and Sky were also up all night, so we were a tired, but excited group. I continued to vomit at the airport and really felt horrible. Also, I realized that I forgot my super-organized file folder with all of the information at home. I was upset, but really tried not to get too flustered.
We flew to Dallas and some of us were able to get some sleep. I was rudely awaken when the woman next to me slipped grape juice all over her white pants, and on me as well. Instead of just dealing with the wet pants, she proceeded to get out her luggage, get a change of clothes, and change in the airport bathroom, leaving me standing in the aisle waiting for her for 15 minutes. The rest of the flight was uneventful and we landed in Dallas. I was still very nauseous, but thankfully did not vomit on the plane! We only had a short layover in Dallas, so we were soon on the plane to Belize!
We arrived in Belize City at about 4:00 pm local time. We got through customs with no problems. The Belize airport seemed really small. It was also hot and had a strange smell--sort of a mix between body odor and hot dogs!
My first impression of Belize City was that it looked like the other Latin American cities I have been too. Nothing too exciting. Belize City is known for having a high crime rate, so we planned to just leave Belize City as soon as we got there. There was a shuttle waiting for us when we arrived. Angel was the driver. Bill was also with him--who appears to work at the Aguada hotel where we stayed. Bill was originally from Delaware, but had lived in Belize for about 15 years. We also took a guy named John into town with us. We were headed into San Ignacio which is in the Cayo District (Belize is divided into 6 district. San Ignacio is the capital of the Cayo district, and locals often just refer to San Ignacio as "Cayo"). The Cayo District is on the Western Border of Belize and the Guatemalan border is only about 8 miles from San Ignacio. San Ignacio was about a 2 hour ride by van from Belize City.
On the ride we asked the driver and John a lot of questions about Belize. John is a teacher at one of the community colleges. His father is Irish, his mother American, and he grew up in Mexico. He had just returned from visiting family in Philadelphia and needed a ride to San Ignacio. There is a public transportation system, so he could have taken the bus, but it would take a very long time and is generally unpleasant. The bus are very popular though and we noticed a lot of people waiting for the bus while we drove to Cayo. One thing that immediately struck me was how unrushed people seemed to be. Here when people are waiting for the bus you see them checking their watches, checking the bus schedule, looking down the street to see if the bus is coming, pacing, or otherwise looking impatient. In Belize, the people just stood waiting, not fidgeting, not pacing, just waiting. It seemed so much more calm and relaxed that in the States--a definite change of pace.
We arrived at the Aguada Hotel and got settled into our room. It was a simple "family" room with 2 bedrooms. One had a queen sized bed and the other had a queen bed and bunk beds. Both rooms had window air-conditioning units and one of the rooms had a TV and there was one small bathroom. The room was only about $65 US per night, so it was a pretty good deal. It wasn't fancy, but it did serve the purpose. One big drawback was that it didn't have hot water. Also, it was located outside of San Ignacio, in Santa Elena. That was a bit inconvenient because it took awhile to get into town for any restaurants, etc.
We were all very tired and hungry, so we decided to eat at the little restaurant at the hotel. The boys ordered T-Bone steaks, Sky got spaghetti, and I ordered "chicken pieces." The service was very slow and we didn't find the people to be particularly nice. While we were waiting, a truck filled with small kids pulled up outside. They were out there for awhile, so Clane went out to take some pictures. I can't wait to see how they came out! Also while we were waiting, Gessner found a turtle. A young girl who seemed affiliated with the hotel saw it and had Gessner take it to put it in the pond on the property.
When the food finally came--after about an hour--we immediately noticed a very foul smell coming from Gessner's plate. The meat smelled rotten. Clane's seemed okay, but when he tasted it, he said it tasted horrible. Gessner told the waitress and she took it back. A few minutes later, Bill came out and said that the steak was fine, it was just slaughter and done different than in the States--the guys didn't bite though! Gess ordered some chicken pieces, and Clane shared the food with the rest of us. So, while the meal was a bit scary, we tried to just move on and hope for better :)
During the meal we also decided what we were going to do the next day. We decided to check out a Maya ruin and then go cave canoeing.
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