Day 3 – 2 November

We spent the first half of the day with Sharon whom we had hired as a Belize relocation consultant. She answered a lot of questions about living in Belize and issues that make it different from living in the USA. We learned a lot and enjoyed a delicious lunch at a local restaurant, Hode’s. Stacy is a fan of the bathroom directions.

  • Breakfast at Martha's Guesthouse
  • Martha's Guesthouse

Next, we met with Josh, a realtor from Ceiba Realty. He discussed various properties with us and indicated them on Google Earth. He had an amazing memory. He suggested we look at 2 or 3 properties this evening and then several more the next day. We made it to two places before it was too dark to see. We had dinner at a Sri Lankan restaurant.

  • The gate to a property
  • There was a cabin on this land
  • Houses tend to be raised in Belize

Day 4 – 3 November

We met up with Josh and began to visit the third of the properties close to San Ignacio. The plan was to then take two vehicles and explore properties further east because we were travelling to Hopkins and Josh was headed up to Mexico. As we were driving on a gravel road to see this property, the vehicle got out of control and we stopped our “controlled slide” down the hill by hitting a rock embankment. Four of the five of us had seat belts on, but Josh (the true Belizean) did not, since we weren’t on the highway. Josh’s head struck the windshield and needed first aid. A truck came by and pulled us out of the ditch with some chains. The vehicle leaked fluid all over the road, but was still drivable. We called Budget Car Rental and they sent a new vehicle for us. But, since Belize City is about 1.5 hrs away, we had some time to kill.

  • The car after the crash
  • Josh (right) holding his head (it was a red bandana to start with)
  • Pulling the car out of the ditch
  • Where Josh's head hit the windshield
  • Note that the airbag did NOT deploy

We drove the vehicle to a gas station in San Ignacio and had lunch with Josh. He mentioned how this was the second interesting Saturday in a row for him. (A long story involving license plate shortage and a Belizean jail.)

Josh suggested that when the new vehicle arrives we could visit some of those properties we had planned to visit because he was still going to Mexico but had some time yet. This was extraordinarily generous of him because it was a Saturday, and he’d already been through a lot for us.

We investigated a local property and then we went to a property that was about 9 miles off the Hummingbird Highway. Josh mentioned the property was accessed by crossing the Dry Creek. Well, there were 7 river/creek crossings. This was the end of the rainy season in Belize, so the road was quite muddy. At one point, we decided to park the car and continue on foot because the road was so muddy. The property was very remote, but full of jungle. After we returned to the car, David attempted a K-turn and the truck slid off the road and into the muddy ditch. We only got ourselves stuck further while trying to push the vehicle, so Josh ran off down the road to find someone with a tractor.

  • As we drive through the not so Dry Creek
  • A water hazard on the road
  • A water hazard on the road
  • A water hazard on the road
  • This is where we left the truck and walked on
  • Stacy
  • A stream by the road
  • David
    • Our truck stuck in the mud
    • Our truck stuck in the mud
    • Our truck stuck in the mud
    • The signs of transportation that would not get stuck in the mud!

      We remained with the vehicle and waited. Then, we heard engine noise from the other direction. Soon a motorcycle approached. However, the driver spoke Spanish and our Spanish is terrible. We pointed to some pictures and he communicated that a truck was coming. After a while we heard another engine noise and soon a truck appeared with MANY passengers. Several of them spoke English and a young man hopped into our truck while about 12 of us pushed and then the truck was on hard ground again. We were very thankful. And, the guy also turned the truck around for us also, so we could leave now and hope we found Josh.  (What David found so amazing about this is that the family that stopped to help us was surprised when we helped push!  They were helping us get our truck out of a muddy ditch and assumed that we would watch them work.  This is illustrative of our time in Belize.  People help each other and are VERY nice.)

      • Where our truck was
      • Dan, "cleaning" his feet
      • That is the family that helped us out. They had been cleaning their truck off in the Dry Creek.

      We started crossing the rivers/creeks and eventually met up with Josh who was with two young boys on a tractor. He had talked them into taking Dad’s tractor to rescue us. Anyway, they went on their way, and we returned Josh to his car, which he’d parked at Kropf’s bakery. We explained that this last place was too remote for our tastes but that properties #1 and #3 were sort of what we were looking for. He headed to Mexico, despite our urging him to see a doctor about the head injury. We headed to Hopkins on the Hummingbird Highway, arrived there in the evening and had pizza on the beach.

      • Moonrise
      • The Hopkins beach scene by moonlight (taken from our cabana)