The first 24 hours

We made it to Belize, safe and sound.  Despite a 2 hour delay in Irene's travels which left me to wait in the airport, everything went smoothly for our arrival in Belize.  We collected our belongings (and customs collected my bag of carrots and cherries for lunch, sad) and made our way to the local airline desk, buying two tickets to Placencia.

At about $85 each way, this secured a seat on a tiny 12-seater plane for a 30-minute flight south.  Through the windows of the plane we saw lots of puffy, cumulus clouds, lush green forests, winding rivers, and the welcoming aqua of the ocean.  The rest of our plane-mates included a pair of newlyweds on their honeymoon, and members of a high-school group here to learn about ecology.  2 of the girls spent the whole flight screaming and laughing, singing along with their headphones, and another 2 slept the whole way.  Irene and I fluctuated between being riveted by the scene unfolding below us and holding on for dear life as our tiny aircraft pitched in the wind.   By the time we landed, I was excited to get to make the return trip, while Irene was resolute that she would prefer to take the 4 hour bus ride next time.  :)

The view from our Maya Island Air plane from Belize City to Placencia

After landing and collecting our baggage, we took a taxi to our hotel, called Maya Beach Hotel, which came highly recommended, about 8 miles outside the city.  We were welcomed warmly, and brought to our lovely room, where both beds and the towels were adorned with fresh flowers.  The Queen bed looked out onto the beach through a large picture window with sliding screen.  We opened all the windows to catch the fresh breeze so that we wouldn't need to use AC, and slipped into our swimsuits and sarongs to have lunch in their lovely outdoor bistro.  After a fantastic meal of fish cakes, chorizo, fish tacos and olives, we grabbed a blender drink and made our way to the gazebo.  The rest of the afternoon was spent reading, each in our own hammock, swaying in the ocean breeze, sipping on a pina colada, and vowing that we may never be able to leave this place.  Not too shabby.

Oceanside, cool pina colada in a rocking hammock.  No better way to relax after a day of traveling.

Many beach lounging options...  hammock, chair, palm tree, gazebo,....  tough choices.

We ended up turning in early, though, since both of our nights had been disrupted by traveling.  We woke up, after enough rest for 2 days, to find that a storm had moved in the area.  In truth, I was up early enough to actually watch the storm move in.  As I sat in one of the lovely beach chairs, I saw the white wall of rain make it's way closer and closer until we were finally subsumed within a squall--blowing wind and sideways rain heavy enough to make a river through the hotel yard.  The place was transformed as a matter of minutes.  Now three hours have gone by, and the storm has all but passed completely.  I can see the sun is just starting to peak out through the clouds.  It seems that this may be the new rhythm to our days--slow mornings as tropical storms pass, saving activities for the drier afternoons.  I will let you know how that goes.