North to Corozal: Wednesday, June 3

We slept pretty well...heard lots of bird noises...the A/C kept the room very cool! GVH provides free continental breakfast: sandwich of toast and peppered egg plus coffee or OJ. I was impressed with the coffee, it was far better than the icky latte from the business at SeaTac that I won't name!

It was already warm and humid, of course, but there was a nice breeze. We only saw one small ant in our room. The hotel has at least three dogs tied up that serve as the early warning system, I guess. The windows are barred and the hotel grounds are fenced and gated. Being owned by Taiwanese, everything from the garbage cans, to the toilets, to the Winnie the Pooh fan in the lobby, is – you guessed it – made in China!

We saw a sign for Praying Pelican Ministries and asked the hotel staff. I had seen their website, and was curious about a sign being posted in the hotel. They facilitate missions trips to around 50 villages, picking an appropriate one for the team's abilities. We had a nice talk with Rachel, who was staying at GVH, getting ready for hosting the next team.
We got gas at a full-service Shell station. Dean requested $60 worth, and got $60 BZ – about ¼ tank. Oh well! We also purchased two 1 L bottles of water and a pack of fig bars, all for less than $4 US. Change was given in $BZ, which came in handy later!

We headed north towards Corozal. There were lots of burn spots on the roadside, some still burning, but it's a sweet smell. I think that's how they deal with any unwanted brush or garbage – just burn it! There was even some fires burning near the road and right under power lines! We also saw what we thought was a sugar cane factory producing a very vinegar-like smell.

There were lots of run-down houses. Some seem abandoned, but it's hard to tell. Many, many houses have a table or stand in front for selling things...I'd say nearly eveyone has something they are trying to sell! Dogs were everywhere. They had pretty good signs and our map is very helpful (thanks again, Darryl!). We figured as long as we stayed on the paved highway, we would be good! (Most all side roads are dirt, even busy ones.) The highway is a rather narrow, 2-lane road in decent shape – we did 50 mph, except through towns. We crossed a toll bridge, and thankfully had exact change: $0.75 BZ.

At one point, we saw some action on the road ahead of us. It turned out to be some cowboys herding cattle across the highway!

Here is a picture of one of the beautiful trees with bright orange blossoms that we saw many times in our travels. This one also sports some scary looking hives!

We made it to Corozal around 11:30 a.m., about a 2 hour drive. It is not as crazy as Belize City. Schools had just gotten out for lunch and little kids in uniforms are everywhere, walking. We found Patti's Bistro and stopped for lunch. A guy with a guitar came up and played a couple songs. Dean gave him $1 US and said he didn't know how much was appropriate. The guy asked for another dollar. Lunch was fajitas and OJ for me, fish 'n' chips and lime juice for Dean. With tip: $29 BZ. The juice was light and sweet!

I think this is a Belizean lawnmower.

Many people save the rainwater.

Next we went to a little park on the bay. The breeze was strong, but cooler. We though we were doing so good in the heat until I remembered it was just past morning! A young man came up with a bag of limes and a bucket of cut mango, trying to sell us some. He really wanted (and needed) a new bag to hold his limes. He talked us out of $1.25 BZ, and we took two limes.

I had a bit of a “what are we doing here?” feeling. I wanted to relax and have fun, but found myself concerned about the possibility of living in Belize and trying to be on the lookout for any connections God has lined up. I reminded myself to relax more!

We walked around town a bit. There are lots of Chinese/Taiwanese-owned shops and groceries, many with similar items. The shopkeepers didn't seem particularly friendly. It was very hot inside the stores!

Before dinner, we went up to the roof of our hotel, the Mirador. It's very nice, with a roof over part of it for shade, chairs, two hammocks, great views, and a nice breeze. We relaxed and talked for awhile.

We had dinner at the Romantic Chinese diner attached to the Mirador. It was delicious! Dean had the Curry Special (chicken, beef, seafood, veggies) with rice and a Coke; I had Pork Fried Rice and Coke. You can request a glass bottle or a plastic one – the glass bottles are less expensive to order, at this restaurant, at least. Grand total: $27.75 BZ. Great food and large portions.

When we were out walking earlier, we saw a Nazarene church with services that night, but when we made a point to return that evening, we saw no indication that anything was going on. That was very disappointing, as we wanted to see what the service would have been like! We hadn't met many people yet, either.

There were tiny, little, ant-like critters all over most surfaces in our room. There were a bunch crawling on the surface of the bedspread, but they didn't seem to be on the sheets so much. The last of our fig bars fell victim to the bugs.

We took doses of silver water most every morning and night to help us stay healthy. So far, so good!