Rays touring Central America....part 2

Monday morning we were up bright and early and off to travel to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala.  This was the first time we crossed the border.  Everything went smoothly and we got to Hotel Del Norte by the afternoon.  Now my first thought about this hotel was "summer camp", then it reminded me of the house on the Swanee River (Jeri and Gresham's-maybe-I remember going when I was about 7). It had NO hot water, No a/c.  Yep, summer camp.  It was a cool hotel, had a big screened porch, looked over the ocean, and the loading docks for the banana trucks. It was HOT, so really the cold shower was nice. It rained that night, and me and JB slept good, AA did not. We ate at the hotel that night, and had the nicest little old man wait on us. They had white tablecloths and everything, just nice- old timey nice! Oh, this was the first night we experienced the power going out.  We were out under the thatched roofed porch playing Phase 10, and out went the lights in the whole town- pitch black darkness!! But no fear, Anna Ashley had her flashlight ON HER (mine was in my bag in the room- fail).  Luckily the Hotel had a generator, and after about 30-45 min it started working.  I don't know how long the city lights were out. Lots of people were on the water walk, but didn't seemed too bothered by no lights.
Note:  Back in 1993 or so, when Bo was 6yrs old, and Adam 24yrs old, they together traveled down to Honduras with Mom and Dad.  They also visited the Hotel Del Norte, so that was one reason we decided to come here.  The shipping platforms were new, and the hotel had added on a more up to date wing and pool, but we stayed in the original part.  Adam couldn't believe we didn't ride in any "stand up only" buses, with no air, with way too many people crammed on it.  But we also were not able to go over to the beach with the hammocks and huts that they went to - so it seemed even.

Shipping containers- loading/unloading 24/7

 The next morning, we packed only the necessities and took one backpack and a taxi to immigration and then to the ferry headed to Punta Gorda, Belize.  Now when I thought "ferry", I'll admit, I thought large and slow- a nice "stroll" across the ocean to Belize.  Well, it was a speed boat!! Do you remember me saying I get car sick?? Well, that goes for boats and water also!  The longer I sat there, the worse I felt, must have been nerves.  We waited for a looongg time- hour or two, maybe 3. This is where we meet Coco, now here was a character, he talked 90 to nothing.  He was from Belize and knew everybody and everybody knew him. He kept saying, just tell them Coco sent you.  Dad did some money exchanging with Coco's friend, and finally they found other travelers to talk to.  We also watched some men load a boat.  They were taking goods off a truck and carrying it 50 yards to the boat.  It would have helped to have a forklift, but dad laughed at that.  By the time it was time for us to load the boat, I was feeling better- thank you Lord!! The ride over was a lot of fun, but about an hour long, the second half of the trip most people were asleep. I was whale watching - unfortunately there were no whales.

Taxi driver Renee, he made us family and invited us to dinner! He was going to take care of us. He heard JB wanted a hat, well by georgie, Renee was going to make sure he got one.  He took us to a crowded, hot, closed in big market, he guided us thru, kept us in a straight line, made sure Dad or JB were at the end of line- watching over us girls!  We winded around that place for ever... at the end- no hat!

Coco- in the blue. The man w/ wheelbarrow only made 100+trips and 400-500lbs each. The man with the 100lb cement bag on his head, either carried it this way or 2 across his shoulder blades- and at least 100 trips. Last pic is of the worst bathroom we used.  You had to pay to use it, the woman gave you toilet paper and when you were done- YOU got a bucket, scooped some water out of a larger bucket and poured it in the toilet- this was suppose to "flush" it!!! And lucky me, I got to do it a couple of times :)  and to remind you - all toilet paper goes in the trash can- right next to toilet!!  Yep... yep... yep

just a waitin......

A little selfie - mainly to see who was behind us

1- all the goods were in front of boat, which helped weigh it down. 2-3, ridin' - love the 3rd one of Dad! 4-leaving the dock,      5-6 Ocean front housing, prime real estate!!!

Entering Belize! English speaking country, but oh so hot.  Coco told us to eat at Maria's (pic 3). We ate all our meals there.

Our hotel: Saint Charles Inn - it had A/C and TWO FANS.  Needless to say we spent a lot of time here. We also slept in until 9!! and it had black out curtains! It was wonderful.  It's the little things folks :) This is the morning we had Fried Jacks! Oh so good.

This is a picture of me and AA standing normally at the sink.  We could not see anything but the top of our heads- the mirror was hanging that high!! It took us forever to get this picture for laughing so hard.  Anna Ashley would die laughing every time she looked at it.  Which was hilarious to me.  Needless to say, we got many laughs for many days off this one photo!

This lady is carrying her 3 month old baby by her head!! That blanket that the baby is in, is tied to the bandana that she is wearing like a headband, yet it is holding her baby- using her HEAD!!  And that's the way she carries it all the time.  These people have some mighty strong necks!

I'll share a little info about ordering a Watermelon Slush in Belize- They GRIND up the watermelon SEEDS and ALL!! So when drinking it, you are constantly spitting out little bits of seeds- it REALLY takes away from the drink!!

The ride back was slightly different than the one going.  We were the only ones on the boat, and there was only 3 bags of dry milk in the front- so not near the weight and the water was choppy!!  All the above caused the SPEED boat to fly thru the air over waves.  Well, the first 10 mins, me and AA (probably more me) screamed followed by big time laughing- EACH time it hit a wave and flew thru the air!!  I kept trying to gain my composure before the next wave, but nope I repeated the same ole scream then uncontrollable laughter. Of course we were in the front, which just made it more fun :)  Finally, we either got use to it or the water settled some, and we successfully made the trip.  With no sickness either - there was no 'resting the eyes' tho- heck no- the ending to this story would have been very different- water didn't settle that much :)  Such a fun experience.