Belize: February 11-February 18 2009

This is part 0 of a 4 part blog about Julie and Bradford’s trip to Belize. Posts 1 and 3 will be written by Julie, while posts 2 and 4 will be written by Bradford.

Back in October 2008 I got an email from AirfareWatchdog.com (great service, I highly recommend it) alerting me to amazing prices to Belize from Salt Lake City and a handful of other airports. I quickly looked up where Belize was, saw that it was in a tropical locale and decided to ask Julie what she thought. I emailed my family and friends and called Julie. Julie can’t pass up an adventure, so we decided to go. It was such a short sale that my unimpulsive family and friends missed out; just my Julie and me. Total cost for two round trip tickets from Salt Lake City: $420.

After buying the tickets we let the trip slip into the back of our minds, the place where we put Christmas and birthdays only to be thought upon with mild excitement and anticipation until we are startled to realize they’re almost upon us.

In the months preceding the trip Julie did a lot of research on where to stay and what to do in Belize. We made the decision early (out of necessity) to make this a very low budget trip – no renting cars, taking planes or expensive tours, but using the local bus system, eating local food, and staying in quaint (ie make-Julie-grossed-out-because-it’s-so-run-down) places, and so on. Even with this in mind, I was surprised at how relatively expensive everything was. The Belize dollar is fixed at 2 Belize for 1 USD and a meal at a roadside shack would cost between 6-8 Belize (3-4USD) in Belize City. Because of Julie’s excellent research abilities we had an OK idea of where we were going to stay: Dangriga for some jungle action, Punta Gorda for some relaxation, and San Pedro on Ambergis Caye for the beach and snorkeling.

Sooner than later we realized that we had only a week to get ready and to plan. We started buying the small things we needed and collecting things to take. I started doing research on the bus system and how our daily itinerary was going to be. I found the perfect tool for doing this: tripit.com. Our itinerary can be found here to see it in action.

The night before we were to leave (very early in the morning) I packed up my backpack, set aside the Teva Wraptors that Julie and I bought months before (these were perfect), and caught an hour or so of sleep. It was about to begin!

All Aboard

As mentioned before, Bradford and I bought season passes to Sundance and we have been going snowboarding about every Saturday. Its been a lot of fun and despite my many bruises and sore body parts, I've started to feel a lot more comfortable with the whole thing and I'm getting to enjoy it more and more.

The second time we went this season, I actually ended up in an ambulance... I really wasn't hurt, my pride was the most wounded thing about me, but it makes for a decent story at least. From what I hear (I don't really remember much about the 'before' part) I was doing really well and Bradford was behind me on the hill and then I caught a bad edge or dropped my edge or something, and it consequently made me lose my standing and I flew a few feet and landed on my back. Then Bradford came up to me and a skier who saw it happen came over and then they called the ski patrol (much to my dismay) and they felt my head and my neck and asked me questions and held up their fingers and then they strapped me to a stretcher and took me down the mountain. All the while I'm crying (yes crying) because I was embarrassed and I didn't think that all the attention and fuss was equal to the severity of my fall. They ended up putting me in an ambulance and checking my vitals and what not, with the motive of taking me to the ER for an MRI. I was afraid of passing out or something because I didn't want them to take me to the ER, which they were very intent on doing, and I figured I had a better chance of avoiding the trip if I was conscious. I eventually convinced them that I was fine to go, without the trip to the hospital, and since then I have been relatively crash free on the slopes!

This past Saturday we went up and it was really fun, the snow was pretty good, I hardly fell (except for getting off the lift- which is still a challenge...) and we remembered that I had my camera so we took some pictures while we were on the mountain.

Here they are!

This Saturday I'll try and get some more candid shots. Hopefully I remember.