Belize -- Day One

Well...  I arrived in Belize City and made it through immigration and customs in about 10 minutes and then wandered over to the domestic terminal (it turns out that it is in the same building, just a different room and you have to go through security only to be put into the same departure lounge with the international flights).  I was able to get an earlier flight and got an upgrade – from a 7 passenger to a 9 passenger plane!

It was about a 20 minute flight to the San Pedro airport (more like an air strip).  I sat behind the pilot and took this photo over his shoulder as we landed.  The airstrip is in between houses and commercial buildings and we nearly took out somebody’s laundry on a clothesline with the tip of the wing (I’m not kidding… missed it by about a foot).  You get a luggage receipt when you get your ticket and then identify your bag when they bring it to the terminal (an open air building with a shed roof).

Maya Air "Terminal"

It is soooo good to smell the ocean breeze again.  It makes me miss living in Key West.

I can’t quite get out of banker mode… the first building I noticed next to the airport was ScotiaBank (where I later opened an account).

I shared a cab with two other couples and $5 BZ later I was at my hotel.  The Banana Beach is a mid-priced property on the Caribbean side of the island with 66 rooms; a few of them long-term condo rentals.  It has two pools – one small and one medium sized – and a smallish, man-made beach.  There is a decent restaurant on site (I had a conch ceviche that was out of this world) and an activities desk/store that also rents golf carts.

After checking in, I was unpacking when I got a phone call asking me to come back to the front desk; it seems the Sapphire Beach Resort neglected to pay for any of the guests who agreed to do a tour of their property in return for three nights free at Banana Beach.  I later heard all kinds of rumors (who knows if they are true) about the owner being in jail in Florida (check out Ambergris Daily and Update).  I found a mug shot of a woman by the same name on the internet and noticed that the arrest warrant was issued through the US Marshalls – not a good sign.  Someone also told me that the project is in receivership.  So I paid for the hotel at the rate they offered to Sapphire Beach and promptly sent an email to my “host” suggesting that I was no longer interested in their services.  I received a seemingly genuine response saying that it was all a mistake.  Regardless, the experience left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I now needed to get some beer and other necessities.  I was at the street entrance looking up and down the road in hopes of spying a small store when a voice behind me asked in a distinctive Canadian accent if he could help.  I turned around and met Mike – a ReMax agent who lives at the hotel.  After getting directions to the store two blocks away, I also relayed the short version of my story and we agreed to discuss my real estate needs over dinner.

I went for a walk towards town, passed the store and went a bit further to get my bearings.  I immediately noticed that practically everything in San Pedro is either under construction, for sale or both.  There are tons of buildings that have the first floor finished and rebar sticking through the roof in anticipation of adding a second floor.  It looks as though many construction dreams come to an end at the first floor.  No building can be more than four floors in SP, so it has a nice feel to it and does not look like Cancun.  No one tried to sell me beads, trinkets, sunglasses or asked for money.

I decided the best way to cover a lot of ground quickly would be to rent a golf cart so I did an about face, stopped by the store for a couple of Belikins and made arrangements at the activities desk to rent a golf cart (you can't rent an actual car on the island).  More on this later.