Arrival

After a full day of airport security lines, connecting flights, baggage claim, customs officers and helpful taxi drivers, willing to transport the many bags we brought all the way from The Land of Snow, we arrived in Belize, safe and sound. Palm trees, sunny skies, brightly colored houses, and smiling faces welcomed us with open arms. Belize is undoubtedly one of the friendliest countries in the world.

We settled into the Chateau Caribbean, a one hundred year old former statesman's residence in Belize City, late Saturday afternoon and spent some time wandering around the hotel neighborhood on Saturday evening. After months of Minnesota winter, the balmy sea air was such a treat!




The Cathedral Church of St. John the Baptist welcomed us at their service Sunday morning, led by The Rt. Rev. Philip Wright, Bishop of Belize. We were delighted to see a few familiar faces at the cathedral, and even more delighted to see that we were familiar faces to some church members there too.

Later Sunday morning we headed for Lamanai, an ancient Mayan ruin site. The one hour boat ride on the New River can be summed up in three words: birds, birds, birds!



The ruins were beautiful and provided us with quite a workout:




We took a water taxi out to San Pedro late Sunday afternoon, excited to get back to the island and to Holy Cross. The highlight (so far) of our trip was when we were walking from the water taxi to our hotel. Three children walking along the beach called out to us, "Hey! Are you going to Holy Cross?" Yes, we said, "We remember you!" they said to us. We've been smiling ever since.