Victoria to Belize City

On Dec 13 we left Victoria for a family vacation in Belize and Guatemala.

We left home Friday night, flying at 7:30pm to Calgary. We snoozed a little on this flight and then curled up on the airport floor with blankets for some more rest. Our next plane left Calgary at 1am for Toronto. We all slept well on this flight and arrived in Toronto at 7am. Ava and Daddy slept some more while Rachel and I explored the Toronto airport and found us some breakfast.

We left Toronto at 10am and flew to Belize City. Seeing the warm beaches of Texas, then Mexico, and then Belize out the window was very exciting. I was already very proud of our girls and how well they had done with these three flights and yucky itinerary.

We landed and got in line for customs arrival. Rachel was relieved to go to the bathroom and see a normal, clean, flushing toilet in the airport except we put the toilet paper in the waste basket instead of in the toilet itself. We received our passport entry stamps, found our luggage, and changed into some lighter clothing.

Getting a taxi at the airport was easy. There was an official taxi stand with a standard rate paid to the taxi organizer, and we were led to a car in the taxi line with a friendly driver.

We had pre-booked an Airbnb apartment for the night in a nicer part of the city. Belize City doesn't have a great reputation and our hope was to get safely into and out of the city as easily as possible.

We arrived easily enough at the apartment and our host graciously welcomed us. The apartment was the upper floor of a home and had a large kitchen, two bedrooms, one bathroom, a fenced yard and a guard dog. One bedroom had A/C but the rest of the apartment was quite warm. We found a supermarket around the corner to buy some supplies for dinner and breakfast, and then stayed put indoors. We made pasta for dinner and slept without issue, other than the heat.

The next morning we woke up, had breakfast, and made our way to the bus station. We were not sure how to use our phone to call a taxi, and we were in a small residential neighborhood, so we decided to walk. After two blocks a car pulled up and offered us a taxi ride... we weren't sure how to tell if it was a real taxi or not, but the ride sounded appealing and the man seemed friendly with a clean car.

The girls looked at us like we were crazy -- getting into a stranger's car on the side of the road -- but we explained that was how taxis worked. It turns out you can tell which cars are legitimate taxis -- all registered taxi drivers have a green license plate -- but we didn't know that yet. Anyway, this ride worked out just fine and we strode into the bus station after just a few minutes.

We asked around to figure out which bus would be going to San Ignacio and how we bought tickets. Turns out you just pay on the bus after you sit down and that the conductor will come round and collect money and has lots of change. While we waited we played cards and met a couple of locals and other travelers.

Getting on the bus was a fun adventure. The bus pulled in and then a LOT of people appeared ready to board. The front and back doors of the old school bus opened and people pushed and rushed on, trying to get a seat. We ran to the back of the bus, shoved our kids up and asked them to find a seat while we made sure our bags got on. We ended up sharing the back of the bus with other tourists from all over the place. Ava sat on Jason's lap and Rachel sat on mine. Some people were three to a seat as technically they didn't want people standing for the trip, but there were too many people to sit two to a seat and everyone jammed in to make it work.

It was a relief from the heat when we got on the faster moving highway with the windows open and a nice breeze. It was about 1.5 hours to Belmopan and then another 1.5 hours to San Ignacio. When we arrived and got out of the bus, we were very happy to stretch our legs and find some lunch.

Turns out that near the bus station there was a great cafe that served us pancakes and burgers! Perfect.