Arrival and the first impressions

We were up nearly all night preparing for our departure at 4 a.m. The cats were much disturbed by the packing and general movement at this time of night. Eventually we felt that we had as much as we could carry including much stuff that we would leave behind in Belize. I am sure that we would find that we have left something behind but there has to be an ending to the packing and that came as the Carmel driver called us to tell us he was here. So we got into the car and made very quick progress to La Guardia. We soon were checked in and made our way to the gate for our Southwest flight to Houston for onward to Belize. Southwest has a strange boarding system based on letters and numbers and after inquiring what our numbers meant, I found that we would be boarding after the baggage! So on payment of a fee, I moved us up to one of the first to board which meant that we had more overhead bin room and a better choice of seats as the seating is open and not assigned. The flight was uneventful and we landed on time in Houston. 

After we landed we got some confusing messages about the flight to Belize which was scheduled to leave at 11.40 a.m. but now was delayed to 1.05 p.m. Then almost as quickly, the flight time reverted to the original scheduled time of 11.40 a.m. During the wait we went to a Greek/Mexican restaurant in the terminal where we had a huge plate of nachos covered in Cheesewiz. Our introduction to Texan food!!

Boarding our onward flight went well and the flight was easy and on time arriving at Belize City. After a bit of a long wait for Immigration and then Customs we came to the arrival hall and soon met up with Scott Mader who would coordinate our journey to Copper Bank. He told us many of the others had already arrived and were ensconced in a bar on the second floor of the terminal. We met three people who were on out flight and chatted to them until the the few remaining participants arrived on slightly later flights.

Soon a rather old ‘school-bus’ type bus arrived and our luggage was loaded on to it. The final person arrived and we took off on the rattle trap of a bus for our ‘2 hour’ drive to Copper Bank. On the way out of the airport we passed an old VTOL jet which was presumably a relic of the old British days.

After leaving the outskirts of Belize City, we drove through the countryside which was mostly scrubby and uncultivated with occasional rather grand fenced in homes which appear sporadically beside the road. There were occasional buses bringing children home from school and some roadside food stands.

After about an hour and a half, we stopped at the small town of Orange Walk so that Scott could buy some building materials. This gave us the chance for a stretch and some rest from the bus. There were also toilet facilities and places to get water or drinks.

Our onward journey was on much less well paved roads which made the poor bus rattle even more and our bones rattle with it. The countryside became more agricultural with large fields of sugar cane and the occasional sugar refinery belching smoke.

The journey to Copper Bank took, eventually, three hours and we arrived at about 6.30 p.m. as it was getting dark. The hotel had laid on cold drinks and some food for us and we had a short talk from Marcin about the project in general. We also managed to introduce ourselves to a few of our fellow participants.

Eventually, Scott showed us to our rooms and we were able to have a shower and unpack a bit before collapsing into bed.

Our accommodation is a thatched bungalow with stone walls and fairly basic amenities, a ceiling fan but no air conditioning and a cold shower. It is adequate but not luxurious.

We soon fell asleep.