I made a vow that I would try to “go native” in our eating while we are down here.  I’m already wondering just HOW hungry these kids will have to be to eat food that doesn’t taste the same as at home.  Our papaya experience did not go well…

You should have heard the crying in agony when I made them eat this.  I’ve never been a fan myself, but it was delicious tossed in lime juice.  The kids did not think so.

So we are trying to buy some of the things we need for day to day living.

Yep, that’s the price.  Now, it is in Belizean dollars which are exactly double the US dollar.  That means this box of Cascade pods costs a mere $46 dollars!  Clearly I packed the wrong things in my suitcase.  Before you think “oh the pods are expensive, you should just get the powder.” I did look for it and, due to the humidity, that is like buying a brick that you have to chip off a chunk of every time you want to wash dishes. No thanks.  Mostly I’m just thankful we have a dishwasher!

On the other hand, my children had stone crab claws for lunch.  At $15 it’s a pricey lunch, to be sure, but, hey, STONE CRAB CLAWS!  Those are at least $10 a claw in the US.

And fresh pineapple smoothies…

Today we did some island exploring.  While we were out, we ran into some road construction.

This is the road we will take to school every day.  We went a little further and there was a wreck on the side of the road.

The cops were sooo busy handling the traffic that no one was manning the station.

Our love to all from the traffic jam capital of Belize!

Well, the day finally arrived.  Up at the crack of dawn to put final items in the suitcase (err suitcases) and off to the airport.  Already thinking of my newfound career as a blogger, I asked the cab driver to wait to put the suitcases in the car so that I could take a picture of the kids in front of all of them.  I snapped the picture and ran back inside to do a couple of last minute things while he loaded up the bags.  I come out, lock the door, and hop in the front seat with my purse in my lap and look expectantly at the driver…thinking “Well, let’s get going.”

He says ” Where’s the little girl?”

I look into the back seat and there are Sam and Julia, but no Iris.  Apparently, she had gone back inside to do some last minute things herself.  Now, how ’bout that as a way to start off your trip by yourself overseas with 3 kids?

For those of you wondering, no, Moses did not come with us.  He just photo bombed the picture.

We made it with almost no issues…here are just a few hiccups:

• On the way to the airport, Iris asked me if Whit was going to get a new wife while we were in Belize!
• We brought one extra suitcase that Whit was supposed to bring when he came (he’s coming next week)
• The wheel fell off one of our EIGHT bags as soon as we unloaded it from the cab
• Iris spilled her whole coke in my lap on the plane…argh
• Three of our EIGHT bags were searched by customs (lots of fun looking at crayons, notebook paper, pens and pencils)
• One of our EIGHT bags didn’t make it to San Pedro…MINE!  Fear not, all of the crayons, notebook paper, pens and pencils made it.
• At immigration in Belize City I was asked for the notarized letter from my husband stating it was OK for me to take the children out of the country.  Gulp.  “Um, I don’t have that. We could call him?”  Fortunately, that doesn’t seem to be a hard and fast rule.  Whew.  Now, don’t y’all wonder why they wouldn’t ask that BEFORE we left the country?
  

  

  

  

Friends and family, I’ve had a lot of folks ask if I will be doing some sort of blog or travelog of our time in Belize.  I have hesitated because I don’t want the pressure of having to be insightful, funny, or erudite, but I guess I will give it a go.  I’ll try to be brief, and honest, but this is as close to journaling as I’ll ever get, so get ready for more detail than you’d probably like.  Next post from Belize!