WE’RE HERE ON CAYE CAULKER!

 

 

12/19/12

 WOW, WHAT A  TRIP!

 We left our house for good on 12/17/12 to stay at a hotel in Seattle, as we had to be at the airport by 3AM on 12/18/12. Most of our kids /in-laws got to meet with us at our hotel…we miss them like mad!  All the baggage weighed in perfectly…all 6 check ons!  I can’t believe all the things we left behind,  I will not be coloring my hair-hello, gray! Left extra shampoos, soaps, sheets, lots of clothes, WOW…I did sneak in 4 extra pillows (by the end of the trip, my hubby was a little miffed…every time we had to get in a bag, we had to deal with zipping them up again…lol, not cool!

 So, we boarded just fine and on time in Seattle even though it was snowing like crazy.  And because it was so bad, they had to deice the plane, as it was the 1^st plane to be deiced this season, we were running ½ hr late…and we only had an hr layover in Dallas.  But, I’m telling you what, Dallas was awesome!  We got off the plane and was directed to the gate and terminal we needed, and got there just as they were starting to board!  That was the easiest connection ever!  The next flight went just fine as well, and finally landed in Belize City, BZ!  Wow what a place!  You got out of the plane and walked to the 1story airport, got into a customs line,  walked about 20 steps to the baggage claim, then another 20 steps to declaration tables where they go through your bags.  And there was a band playing Christmas reggae music!  The whole experience was awesome, and the people were all quick, efficient, and NICE!

Now for the taxi ride to our hotel in Belize City…WOW WHAT RIDE! What stop sign??? What side of the road do we drive??? What speed limit???  LOL! And not including tying all of our luggage all over the car and the car kept bottoming out!  Whew…so now we are at the old plantation house/turned hotel…beautiful and awesome…

The next AM we set off for the water taxi to take us to Caye Caulker!  We get to the terminal, and find out it will be a 2 ½ hr wait because they just rearranged the schedule…but it was ok…got to do a lot of people watching, and the people were awesome!  The security guard called his friend Nick on Caye Caulker to help us with our luggage, and all worked out GREAT!  Nick also has a daughter who is close to Joshuas’ age…

12/28/12

WOW, WHAT A PLACE!

Having serious internet issues!  Should have just gotten our own set-up, but were promised to be able to share with new upstairs people when they get here  on the 3^rd of Jan…So, able to get on facebook and email on occasion, and did get to facetime with 1 of our kids for a minute on Christmas…

So, anyway, it’s HOT, HOT, HOT! I always thought dog days in NC was humid..yeah, not! I’m sure I will acclimate soon…I hope.

This 1^st week, we pretty much stayed inside under the ceiling fans, explored the island on foot and golf cart, and relearned how to do several things! LOL…I haven’t hung out clothes on a line, used a gas  stove, and not having ready communication (internet or phone)!  The communication is the hardest and hopefully my phone will be working this afternoon. (NO L)

Christmas morning was good!  Santa brought Joshua a couple very small presents (as he knows we would have to eventually pack them up!), I made a good breakfast for the 3 of us, then we just chilled out by watching some Christmas shows and going for a walk/play in the water. It was really nice.  It was weird though, everyone was out, either being a tourist or working as usual! We elected not to book a trip or eat out because we didn’t want to contribute to the locals having to work! But, I guess that is the way it is here or in any touristy place.

Yesterday was really fun…and we really needed it!  We booked a boat trip with this guy named Charlie…we invited our taxi drivers daughter, Gabriella, to join us, and there was 2 women from NY City, and a local man with his Dutch girlfriend with us…we had a blast!  We all met at the boat at 10AM, Charlie was pretty flexible on what we were doing. He made several suggestions and let us pick, so we started out by going to snorkel at sting ray alley!  That was so  cool!  There were 20-30 sting rays and some nursing sharks all around us! Next we went fishing for lunch…Josh caught the 1^st fish! We caught several yellow bass, grouper, and red snapper.  Charlie then took us  to a VERY little island big enough for a 1 room house on stilts, a large sandy yard, a deep pond fed by the ocean, 2 dogs, and what was really  neat was the plank you had to walk to the out house over the ocean! Pan fried fresh caught fish on the grill…yum!  After lunch, we got back on the boat, and Charlie asked Josh if he wanted to drive the boat!  WOOHOO!  He just had a blast! We went around an island that is owned by a rich Texan…lol…it has a hotel  on it for his guests only, 18 hole golf course, and its own airport!  I guess there a lot of island like that (Leo Decaprio and Harrison Ford).  Anyway, there is a shipwreck by this island that Charlie wanted to show us…very cool!  While we were there, Charlie took Josh out to show him how to use the spear gun…and Josh got a fish!!!  And then it started raining…lol…but it was warm and didn’t last long.  Then we just went running around Caye Caulker and ended the trip about 4:30…whew…that was fun!  And it was neat that Gabriella got to go with us, because even though she is from here, she never got to go do a trip like this…it’s just for tourists usually!