Belize Arrival: Tuesday, June 2

4:40 a.m., SeaTac

The coffee shop just opened! How often are we somewhere before the coffee shop opens?

A latte, coffee, croissant, granola and yogurt – over $12. Good grief! The latte was terrible, too. I think they might have forgot the shot of espresso...

I saw the kids' picture on my phone and was holding back tears – I missed them already! Just before boarding the plane in Dallas, we took a minute to call my mom and say “hi” to our daughter. She was happy and said she was having fun.

We liked the people mover at the DFW terminal – when you walk while on it, you get to go twice as fast. We had our last bite of American food for a week - McDonald's – for lunch.

(a sign at DFW that just isn't seen up in the Pacific Northwest...)

We arrived safely in Belize and got through customs easily. Walking out of the plane was like hitting a wall of humidity. New smells, tropical bird noises... A nice but slightly pushy man helped take my suitcase across the parking lot and to Thrifty car rental. We thought we should tip, but we got busy once inside the little room/office. First big surprise: pay all $ upfront for rental ($550 US for the week). It felt uncomfortable, but they are trying to protect themselves. (By the way, you still can't use any debit cards – even VISA ones! Even paying cash, the policy is to take an imprint of a credit card in case something happens. We don't own a credit card, but Dean had a business one that worked for this purpose.) The lady clerk was very nice. The same man loaded our bags into the rental Trooper (1997) and walked away while we were getting our orientation. The gal gave us some BZ coins for the gate to get out. By trial and error, Dean discovered you start with the big coins. But the last coin would not work. We drove back for help. The luggage man ran up and said he would help in exchange for his tip – a US dollar bill. (No one wants US coins.) We got it all worked out and easily found our hotel.

Yay! Our room has A/C. We could have eaten Chinese right there, but headed to Belize City to explore. Didn't get to BTL in time to get a phone book, which Dean had hoped for, but say a bit of Belize City. The streets feel more like alleyways – narrow, often, and crowded with people and bicycles. Most of the people are black, with a wide variety of attire. There is plenty of casual dress, but as we passed by banks and such, just closing for the day, people were dressed very formally. We had read that the attire is quite casual in Belize, but all in all, we found people dressed nicer than we had anticipated.

Following a suggestion of Lan Sluder's, we ate dinner at Nerie's, serving Creole food. Dean had curry chicken, I had stewed chicken, each with rice and beans and a bottle of water. Grand total: $10 US. It was very good and filling. We each had a piece of fried plantain on our plate and enjoyed the new food. For sale in a cabinet next to our table was lotions, perfumes, etc. A bottle of Bath & Body Works lotion was $24.95 BZ! The restaurant had an interesting decor – some appeared to be Mayan art, but a couple wall hangings were from/about Scotland.

We then took a drive by the ocean and stopped at a pull out. There was a strong wind coming off the ocean that was warm – a total difference from the Washington Coast! We would have froze! Another nice thing about the Belize coast – the cayes must break all the big waves, and as a result, you don't get that coating of sea spray all over your glasses and windshield. We enjoyed the views on Princess Margaret Drive, then headed back to the Global Village Hotel.

Dean turned on the TV – they have a very international cable package: Spanish, English, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Indian. I guess it fits the hotel theme! (The owners are originally from Taiwan.)

The A/C is helping, but it's certainly not cold in the room!

By 7:40 p.m. we were exhausted, it was dark outside, and we chose to just take it easy. We watched a show on Animal Planet about Costa Rican crocodiles.

The shower was warm, had lots of water pressure, and felt great! We were not provided with washcloths, which I discovered was the norm for Belize hotels. We made do with hand towels. Oh, and no toilet paper down the toilet! And yes, we had to pay in advance for the room.

Departure Day: Monday, June 1

I'm sitting in the waiting area at Pangborn Memorial Airport. It's a beautiful, sunny Wenatchee day – nearly 90 degrees, but a nice breeze.

It was hard to say goodbye to our children. We've been away from our daughter overnight, but never our son. Mom teared up when we dropped them off and consequently so did I. Thankfully we've kept busy packing and getting here.

Dean is excited to finally get to fly out of Wenatchee and to see the valley from the air. Neither of us have flown Horizon Air before.

Because this trip is linked/caused by a possible move to Belize, I've had troubles looking forward to it or having fun. I'm praying about that and it's getting better!

I am not a fan of flying, and the first third of the flight from Wenatchee to Seattle did nothing to change my mind. Dramamine is about to become my new best friend.

Our friend Darryl picked us up at SeaTac and we succeeded in getting the Belize map (a must have since we rented an SUV!), a Bible (which we forgot), and a Father's Day gift for my dad! Then we enjoyed a scrumptious dinner at the Olive Garden that Darryl insisted that he pay for. In God's perfect timing, today marked his 90-day mark at his job. What a great way to celebrate! We had a good talk about our plans and God's perfect provision.

We checked into a modest hotel and requested a 3:30 a.m. wakeup call and shuttle to SeaTac at 4:00 a.m.

I do have a growing excitement for our trip, but apprehension about the flights and all the unknown. I need to keep focusing on the amazing adventure that God is taking us on and remember His awesome provision every step of the way. (He provided the cash for us to take this trip in some wonderful, unexpected ways!)

Introduction

When we mentioned to people that we were planning a week-long trip to Belize, the usual response was, “where's that?”, quickly followed by, “why?”

To summarize, for years my husband has been considering leaving the country, and he has a genetic predisposition for change and wanting to experience new places, at least briefly. When “No Greater Joy” magazine (www.nogreaterjoy.org) mentioned Belize, he began researching it and we began to seriously pray and consider the possibility of moving there. Our week down there was a way to check out parts of the country (and celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary).
As to our future, we are still praying and seeking God's will. This is a chance for us to think more seriously about missions work, and we're hoping our next step will be a short-term mission team experience. Will we actually move to Belize? I don't know. Being there for a week (avoiding the typical tourist spots) gave us a taste of the challenges of moving there. At the top of the list for us would be the distance from family and how in the world to make a living.

The following entries are from the journal I kept while on our trip. If you have any questions or comments, we'd love to hear from you!

deangretchen at yahoo dot com