2/5/2015

We've  almost worked out the  bugs in the Internet system and hopefully understand how to use it.

Our 92 Geo was stuffed to the gill with everything we brought to our new life  in Belize. We put it on a freighter at Fort Lauderdale which will drop it off in Belize City.

The trip down was fairly calm.  We had planned to pack Saturday am and leave by 11.  We actually left at about six pm.  Better late than never. Our gastronomic experiences varied.
We arrived late one night and were starving, so we sampled the new guacamole burger at MacDonald's.  I don't recommend it.  I took two bites and launched.

Our last night in the States, we ate at Le Tub, which is a famous burger dive on the waterfront.  It is built all most entirely from recycled Items s.  The owner was a plumber, so the the smoking porch featured recycled toilets as seats.  It's got a very creative decor.
The menu features 12 ounce. Burgers (I ate about a quarter of mine).  Delish but way too big.  GOOD FRIES.  They also had fresh seafood offerings but we went for the. Burgers that they're famous for.  A great  place to experience once!

We flew to Cancun the next day and that's where the adventure began.  On our first trip to Belize, we wanted to take the overnight ADO bus to Belize City.  I must have been wearing my neon gringo T-shirt  because the taxi drivers herded us past the buses that would have taken us to the bus station for a few bucks to a taxi that wanted $75, and told us there were no buses to the station.  We were suckers and paid the requested fare.

We were prepared for them this time, but when we tried to buy the ticket to the overnight  to   Belize City, they said it was sold out and our only option was to take a bus to Chetumal,just before the Mexican border and then transfer to another bus line.

So we bought a ticket to Chetumal.

Upon our arrival at Chetumal, we learned that the next bus to  Belize City left at seven a.m. the next day.  WE WERE SUPPOSED TO MEET OUR SHUTTLE TO SAN IGNACIO AT 7 A.M.

As in most countries, money talks.  We ended up making a convoluted arrangement with a Belizian shuttle driver that got us into Belize.  First we had to hire a Mexican cab driver to take us to the border so we could go through customs.  Only Mexican. taxis can transport you in Mexico.  We got into the Belize cab and cleared their customs.  The driver then drove us to Ladyville just outside of Belize City, for a mere $200.  We were still ahead of the game, because it would have cost $500-600 more to fly directly into Belize City.

We got a motel room in Ladyville and took the motel shuttle to the bus station the next day, where we were supposed to meet the shuttle sent by our realtor.  Six O'clock came and went.  At eight o'clock we called the realtor to let her know the shuttle was a no-show.  We ended up hiring a taxi to drive us to St. Ignacio, where we arrived at about 10 a.m.  The bright side of the deal was that she picked up the tab for the taxi due to the SNAFU.

We picked up a few necessities in town and the Ginny (the realtor) took us to the house we had rented.  Ginny had sent pictures, but they didn't really do the place justice.  The house is an 1800 square foot two bedroom abode.  It was originally a separate garage for the in house but current owners remodeled into a charming two bedroom house.  It's on five acres,which we share with our landlords.  There's an apple tree and an orange tree that we've discovered so far with many as yet unidentified plants.

Our landlords are both retired teachers; he taught science and she taught Spanish and now works with deaf individuals.  He hails from Holland and she from Columbia.  A very interesting couple who are about our age.

Because the car wasn't due to arrive, we taxied into town each day and received most of our initial education from the cabbies, who were very helpful.  There must be a dozen Chinese Chinese restaurant in San Ignacio and the neighboring city of Santa Elena, but only two serve food that's fit to eat.  The national food here is fried chicken in addition to beans and rice.  Restaurant food is fairly cheap so we've been eating out a fair bit.  Will try to get current after we work out some more internet bugs.   That's all for now!