Saturday 05FEB. Betsy woke up at 2am and I an hour later in order to catch a 6am plane to Houston and then on to Belize. The flight went well, and the only real abuse was in customs in Belize. It was actually the worst we have ever been treated in going through customs, and even Bangladesh and re-entry into the US were never so bad, with them insisting on looking through our bags and then charging us customs on “suspicious” items, as well as taking away several blocks of cheese that we had with us. We ultimately met Dennis and Jonny and drove in darkness to their home.
Sunday 06FEB. Day of rest, Dennis gave us a tour of the “colony”. It is impressive to see somebody surviving without public electricity or water. There was a relative drought, and so we had to be careful about water usage.
Monday 07FEB. Today, we rode into Belmopan, which is the capital of Belize, in order for Jonny to renew his visa. We then toured San Ignacio, which is the largest town close to Dennis and Dottie’s house.
Tuesday 08FEB. It rained, and so plans were changed. Betsy went visiting with Dottie to various neighbors and I stayed home. Betsy and I later had coffee with the Schiemann’s, a Geman couple living on Dennis’ land.
Wednesday 09FEB. Dottie toom us to 5 Sisters rezort and waterfall. It was south of Dennis and Dottie’s home and on the way to Caracol. The waterfalls demanded a short hike. Afterward, we went to Blancaneux resort, owned by Francis Ford Coppola, and had lunch. This was a truly impressive resort… One that Betsy and I wouldn’t mind returning to someday.
Thursday 10FEB. Today, Dennis drove us to Spanish Lookout, an area of Belize owned by the Mennonites and in appearance like Iowa, though with palm trees. The Mennonites, in trying to escape the world, brought the world with them. Dennis needed to stop at a few hardware stores. Ralf Schiemann was with us, and was able to give me instruction in the German language. I enjoyed him.
Friday 11FEB. This day was a leisurely trip back home, with our plane leaving Belize City at 12:30 and arrival back in Seattle at 8 pm.
So, what did we accomplish? These are NOT in order of importance or significance!
1. We were able to get the slide scanner working for Dottie.
2. We had a wonderful time with Jonny.
3. We had a wonderful time with Dennis and Dottie.
4. We learned a lot about Belize culture and land.
5. We had multiple lectures from Dennis regarding “what’s going on” in the world, as well as theology/history lectures on the virtues of British Israelism.
6. Betsy and I had a nice break together.
7. We explored the possibility of buying land in Belize.
8. We got to meet many wonderful Belizeans, both immigrants as well as native Mayans.
We appreciate all that Dennis and Dotie did to make our trip a comfortable success, and recommend considering making Belize a possible vacation destination. When we return, we’d like to explore more of Belize, perhaps staying on the coast for several days to do some scuba diving, and definitely try to see Corazol, the large Mayan temple at the end the road Dennis and Dottie live on, and much farther south.
