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After a fairly quick trip (five hours in the air with a one-hour
layover in Dallas) we arrived in Belize City.
It seemed fairly dead, except for a steady supply of panhandlers. We
were later to discover that it was, of course, March 9th (even though
it was really the 11th, Baron Bliss
Day, but is called called March 9th by everyone.) Most of the
population was out watching or participating in various boat races.
We hadn't made reservations for our first night, and the hotel we were
going to stay in the second night was booked full, so we found a
random hotel on the water. It sounded nice, but to get to it you had
to go along a narrow street, passed barred windows and trying to get
by very insistant beggers just to get to it.
Here's a shot from our room:
Inside it was nicer, though I noticed that if the clerk left the
office, even to go across the hall for 30 seconds, she locked up.
Here's us on the back deck, looking over the river that goes through the heart of the town.
There were tons of boats on the river and lots of odd birds circling. Here's a pelican that went overhead (dive for cover!)
After the hotel clerk found us a Chinese restaraunt, which seemed to
be the only open restaraunt in town. He apparantly called ahead, as
they had a greeter waiting for us. They brought out what I can only
assume where the American-priced menus, as the meal cost only slightly
more than a comparable meal here would cost. Still, it was fine, and
we met one of what the guidebook refers to as "colorful locals", a
musician who went by the handle Grandmaster. He played in a number of
festivals, and carried some of his clippings around in a scrapbook.
Neat guy.
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