Welcome to Belize

The last 36 hours have seen us in, literally, planes (3), trains (2), and automobiles (2) . Apparently Belize is easy to get to, but it just takes a little time.

United Airlines did not help, starting us off with a delayed flight, terrible customer service at check-in, a plane that finally departed an hour after the last bar in the U.S. Departures area of YVR had closed, and a very shabby 757 is was. But we were, as Louis CK says, sitting in a chair in the sky.

The 757 was not as bad as the 737 that United put us on in Houston. I have flown in puddle jumpers in Cuba and in float planes to Northern BC, I have taken extreme discount flights between islands in South East Asia, this is the first time I have ever knowingly taken off to fly over water with piece of the wing broken off. I know it is only an aerelon trim tab, but there was hunk of that sucker broken clean off. Just missing. Gone.  

Customs and Immigration was a breeze and we were picked up by our rental car guy, who drove us through the streets of Belize City to his office, where we were first exposed to Belize hospitality. As we waited for our rental car to be prepped, Tig started asking about good restaurants as we were getting a little hungry. No owner did a couple of hot tamales come out, and we had an incredible home-made lunch in a rental car office in a dirt-road neighborhood somewhere in South Central Belize City.

Once fed and insured, we drove inland to San Ignacio, a busy little town way up the Belize River valley, a hundred kilometers into the jungle where the landscape starts to rise into the Maya Mountains.  This area is surrounded with Mayan history, and with various ruins In various states of discovery and exploitation for tourist dollars. So San Ignacio has a street or two of very tourist- oriented businesses, with t-shirts, crafts, tours and happy hours. It immediately became apparent that Belizeans are the type of people who like their music highly amplified. Tig is happy that we are staying outside of town at a site called Lower Dover ( more on that later). 

We got to town just in time to provision at the weekly Farmers Market, 

Stop at the Chinese Grocery to buy beer and rum, and other accessories, before everything closed up for the few days around Christmas. 

It being Christmas Eve, more than once while walking the streets of San 

Ignacio, we were set upon by a roving high school marching band. A line of dancers, an 8-piece horn section, a couple of glockenspiels, and about a 12-piece rhythm section. They were accompanied by Santa Claus, who looked very well tanned for a fellow who frequented the North Pole, and was apparently distributing gifts the town children. 

Thoroughly entertained, we had some Christmas Eve Happy Hour action on San Ignacio's main street and watched the world go by, then ate an incredible curry dinner at the best Sri Lankan restaurant in Belize.

Then, after 36 hours of traveling, we slept well. Tig even slept through the Celebratory Christmas fireworks -Tig sleeping through loud noise: truly a Christmas Miracle.