The Flight Down

Getting exited we're finally on our way

We've been reading articles from this paper online all semester it was cool to see the Amandala in person

Touchdown at the Belize airport

Cloudy day

One of the first places we saw on our way to San Ignacio

Guerra's Bus! The fancy bus line according to a person we talked to on our way to ProWorld

Soccer Field

View out the bus window headed from the airport to San Ignacio

Colorful Police Station

On January 3^rd I couldn’t have been more excited for this trip. I left at 9:30 to drive to Albany since the weather was very snowy. When getting to ACPHS the gates were closed to the lot we were supposed to be in so we parked in the Holland suites lot. About half way to JFK airport I realized I should probably notify Public Safety of the parking situation so I called and they had no idea we even had a trip. I’m glad I called so we wouldn’t get ticketed. So about 3:30am we arrived at JFK and distributed supplies and checked in and headed to our gate. I started to look around at everyone’s bags and I had two small bags that could have been considered carry on while everyone else had suitcases bigger than me. I started to wonder if I packed enough! There was a Starbucks at the gate so of course I got my last Starbucks for 2 weeks before boarding. It was a sad moment. The trip to Atlanta went real quick but the plane was so loud. During our layover I got a quick wrap and then we boarded quickly. The trip to Belize City was long and we were all eager to land. We got out on the tar mac and walked into the airport. All I could think about was how nice and warm the air was but extremely humid. Customs was so quick we basically just showed our passport and walked right in, no bag checks or anything. Since it was a new experience we tried taking pictures but got yelled at and had to delete them. That was a great start! First day and we are already getting yelled at. We all had our luggage except Rita she was not so lucky but it only took a day and a half to arrive. I remember the bus ride to San Ignacio from Belize City was so long. Most of us hadn’t slept yet but the bus was bouncy and we were too excited to see how different everything was to sleep. On our bus trip what stood out was that Coca Cola monopolized the soda sales in the country. Every store had coca cola signs and the backboards to basketball hoops even had Sprite logos on them. Belikin Beer was another huge name on almost every store. Later we found out Coca Cola was the only soda allowed in Belize and all the sodas were in glass bottles no plastic. There were no stoplights just giant speed bumps every so often. There were police checkpoints along the main roads to San Ignacio. I’m not sure what their purpose was but it was interesting nonetheless. All the houses along the way looked like huts on top of stilts. Belize sits slightly below sea level so that was in case it flooded. There were horses and pigs and chickens and dogs just roaming the side of the roads not like you would see in the States where everything was domesticated and caged up.  There was one building that was a Belize jail. I felt like anyone of them could have just escaped if they were clever enough.  Anyway we finally arrived in San Ignacio and it was so different it was not as rural and the houses were a little wealthier looking. Pro World looked like the house of a drug cartel since it was so elaborate compared to most of the other places. There was so much tile work and it was at least 4 stories high with Lincolns and other nice cars parked in the driveway.  By this time I was exhausted. It was pouring and I had been up for almost 40 hours straight. Our host mom picked us up in two trips. Unfortunately her car was stolen not to long ago but it ran out of gas and so the thief’s just took the radio and roughed it up a bit and she was able to recover it.