The excitement of seeing land through the airplane window had me feel like a child on Christmas soon we will arrive in Belize. We will be landing soon. Raymond grabs my phone to take some pictures through the window. The ocean looks beautiful, but we are not here for the beach stuff. We are here to see the Western Jungle area and the Northern Coast.
Once The airplane landed and we were advised to leave the airplane we were out of our seats bags on our shoulders and out the airplane door. I couldn’t wait to see where we had landed. The heat just hits you as you walk down the outdoor steps to enter the Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport. At first the air seemed thick. The Humidity instantly hits you. The one thing I remember the most when we set foot on land was the smell in the air. It smelled like spices and fresh plants. It made my mouth water even when I was not hungry. My body felt relaxed and I had this feeling of ease, as if we belonged already.
We didn’t have much time to gain our bearings and we were directed into the airport to go through immigration and customs. Immigration was a quick process and customs even quicker. Keep in mind we did not have checked luggage, we brought backpacks something very new for me. We flew in on a Wednesday and I would say we were no more than a half hour in the airport. That includes a quick look through duty free and a quick washroom break. ( We had read that from the airport to San Ignacio there were very few public rest stops). With a “2 hour drive” ahead of us and not much of an idea on how true the rest stop details were I was not leaving the airport without going.
We chose the option to rent a vehicle while there to get around. Afterall we were splitting our time between San Ignacio (West) and Corozal (North). We rented through budget car rentals and we were given an SUV. Raymond chose to get the added insurance which cut our time at the rental agency by quite a bit. We did not have to go around documenting what was already wrong with the vehicle. We were given a map and warned about speed bumps on the way. The people at the car rental agency were really friendly and willing to help in any way. So far our experience with people was pretty good.
With No real idea where we were heading we jumped in the car and started our drive to San Ignacio. Once off the airport parking lot I started to get a little nervous. That nervousness soon left and I started to relax. We got on the Western Highway and set out to find our first stop. The landscape on our drive was beautiful. I was already in awe of this country.
One thing we noticed if you are using google maps be prepared for roundabouts that are not on the map. They have done some updating of the roadways and it looks like it has not been updated yet on maps. Also Names of streets don’t really exist. I laughed at this one thinking that isn’t true however you very rarely see a street sign with a street name. Don’t let this deter you though once you get there and explore like we did it’s pretty easy to navigate.
It didn’t take us exactly 2 hours to get to our airbnb. We met our hosts and they gave us some details on supermarkets and things to do as well as informed us there were restaurants all over our area. After they left we started to settle in. Our home for the next 3 days was really nice. Plenty of windows and natural light. Very clean and organized. The architecture on the inside was beautiful. When you open the windows the air flow is lovely. There was a deck in front of the house and one on the back. It would have been nice if there had been chairs to relax in on the back deck like was on the front but we still enjoyed staying at Cajoma Villa.
Now to search for food.
