This is Glenn. We have arrived!!! As I type this, I can hear the crash of the waves outside of Jungle Jeanie's by the Sea. We arrived last night after dark – were hoping to arrive before, but…read on.

We arrived on time to Belize City, just after noon. As the plane was taxiing to the gate, there was an ominous black cloud closing fast. We were able to get off of the plane, get into immigration before the bottom fell out. Customs went quickly and we were out of the airport in about 30 minutes.

We crossed the parking lot to Crystal-Belize car rental. They did the paperwork and had standing by a beautiful red Dodge pickup. We were loading the bags when we were informed that the AC wasn't working. To their credit, they had us an equally beautiful white Dodge pickup truck in about 15 minutes.

We finally began our movement out of the airport. 

We proceeded to drive through...well...town -- Belize City? It was... um... an experience. The signs in town, where there were signs, were haphazard. We tried, but in the end, we ended up in some place that made us feel just a little bit nervous. We drove around a little more and finally Dawn got the idea to ask a nice lady how to get to Belmopan. She said "Turn around on this road. You are going the wrong way." Well, it was something like that. We got turned around and ended up on the Western highway, heading for Hopkins. We were tired, but even more, we were hungry. By the time we got to Cheers, we were ready to eat just about anything. I ended up with stewed chicken, beans and rice. Dawn had stewed pork, rice and beans. I didn't know there was a difference. There is!!! We shared with each other and found them both to be quite good. In the hour that we were there, sweet Timothy was eaten up by bugs.  Not itching though so it’s ok! For now.

Being well fed and somewhat refreshed, we continued our journey. The Western Highway is actually a decent road... at least that is my opinion now that I have driven on the Hummingbird and Southern highways. We made the right turns and ended up on the Hummingbird Highway where things got interesting.

I have been around the world. I have driven and/or ridden in Jamaica, Korea, Japan, Germany, Egypt and others that I can't think of right now. Most of my time is driving in the US. We simply aren't used to sharing the road with horses and buggies, bicycles, walkers, big trucks, pickups with 6-8 people in the back, buses... I don't know which was harder: dodging the potholes or dodging the bicyclists. Both working together resulted in much anxiety and more than a few harsh comments.

We continued down the Hummingbird highway and began riding through the mountains and the rain forests. We found out why they call them "rain forests". It began to rain. Hard. Then it stopped. Then it began again. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, it started to get dark. So there we were, in the dark, tired, in a strange country, observing "interesting" local driving habits, in the rain, trying to find Hopkins. Well, we read through the excellent directions that Jeanie gave us, or at least page 1: couldn't find page 2. The instructions took us to "Turn right onto the Southern Highway". Couldn't find page 2 with the rest of the directions. I said "I remember something about going through Silk Grass and turning left. So, sure enough, we found Silk Grass, continued a few miles and there was a (blessed) sign that said "Hopkins" and pointed to the left. So we turned.

On a side note, we have a number of comedians that have made a fortune with the "You might be a redneck if..." jokes. One of them is "You might be a redneck if the directions to your house include the phrase 'turn off of the paved road'". Well, we turned off of the paved road onto Hopkins Road (or whatever it is called). I have driven across farm fields that were not as rough as that "road".  

 There were places where the water crossing it was at least 12 inches deep. We were behind a couple on a motorcycle that blazed the trail for us, showing us exactly where NOT to go. I really started feeling sorry for them, especially when the bike stalled in over a foot of water and the young lady on the back had to get off and walk.

Well, it took us at least 25 minutes to travel the "roughly"--pun intended--6 miles from the Southern Highway to Jeanie's. We were shown to our Jungle Loft at Jungle Jeanie's by the Sea.

There are several units on stilts among the trees just 50 yards from the beach.We got the luggage from the truck, moved it into the room, and proceeded into "town" to get something to eat. We had pizza at Brother's Pizza (yes, Brother’s Pizza) and Italian Restaurant. By this time I was so tired, sore, jarred, jiggled, jostled, bumped and dumped that I was tempted to skip the meal, take 800mg of Motrin and go to bed. But we ate.

We will be in Hopkins through Sunday morning, where we will be departing for the western area of Belize, called San Ignacio. It’s 10 miles from the Guatemala border.

Ok. That is the start. More tonight or tomorrow. We have a few pictures, but nothing to upload yet. We are heading to the beach this morning and then ziplining this afternoon. That’s when we should have some more photos!