Day 1: Traveling to Belize...

Well, we are here, safe and sound. The travel was quite interesting, and almost nothing went according to plan. However, with everyone's positive attitude and adventurous spirit, we made it down in pretty much one piece. Here is how it all went down...

March 12th, Thursday night...bitterly cold. The entire group met 30 minutes early for our megabus reservations. We were going to take the bus from Milwaukee down to Chicago to O'Hare. A few minutes after we all meet, I realize that the reservations have been made for the wrong day - Friday, not Thursday night. Of course, I got upset because whoever made these reservations did something really stupid. And of course, I was the one who was really stupid. I reserved our tickets for the next day, leaving the 7 of us in a icy cold predicament. We talked with the bus drivers (playing the "nursing mission trip" card on several occasions) and they allowed us to switch our reservations to that night. There was plenty of room on the bus, and we all fit quite nicely.

Of course, that's not the end of the story. Gabe came to see me off, and while the cold wind threatened to dampen the moood, I was doing quite well saying my goodbyes. Until I suddenly realized right as we were boarding that I needed to take off my coat and leave it with Gabe (seeing how I would not need a pea coat in Belize). I took my seat on the upper deck of the bus and waved through the window at Gabe as we pulled away. That is when he pulled out his phone to call me and my stomach dropped...I had left my cell phone in my coat pocket - which Gabe was currently holding. My face must have been a give away because he hung up the phone and looked rather longingly at me as we turned the corner.

Thankfully, my friend Amanda let me use her phone when ever I wanted to call him, so that turned out to be okay. However...when the bus slowed to stop in Chicago and started letting us off...we realized that we were not being let off at O'Hare, but rather somewhere in the middle of downtown. Well, that was a very depressing moment. Midnight, freezing cold, stuck somewhere in downtown Chicago. We made our way to the "L" and after figuring out how to get tickets, how to get our suitcases down the escalator, and almost leaving two people behind as the doors closed and the "L" almost took off...and then realizing we were on the wrong one after we all got ON the "L" and then getting off and waiting in the cold for a long time before realizing that there are HEAT LAMPS for this very occasion just a few steps down...and then getting on the RIGHT "L" and sitting there listening to the interesting variety of people getting on and off, rapping and swearing, and waiting 30 minutes for OUR stop...we finally made it a little after 1:00 AM.

We played a game of Skip-Bo and a game of Bananagrams and then tried to sleep on the hard, cold airport floor. At 3:45 AM we checked our baggage, and at 5:35 AM we were finally in the air on our way to Houston, and then Belize City.

Right at this moment I have been awake (with only little naps here and there) for almost 48 hours. Needless to say, I am a little sleep-deprived.

The airport in Belize City was interesting because it's all outdoors except for the ticket area and some shops inside. Because of the high risk of contamination, we are advised to only drink bottled drinks. The exchange rate for Belize money to US dollars is 2 to 1, so something that costs $2 Belize is actually only $1 US. We took a small plane from Belize City to Punta Gorda. A SMALL plane...like it fits 10-12 people and shakes tremendously with each gust of wind and makes you feel like if you move the wrong way the whole thing could flip over. I sat there thinking, you know, a plane is really just a big funny-shaped thing floating in air...and one of this size does not make me feel very safe. The pilot is insane - he lands this thing on a short strip of road that appears out of nowhere. You seriously are getting closer and closer to the ground (or in one case the ocean) and you're like "umm...so where's the land? where are we going to come down??" and then all of the sudden there is a runway just smack dab in the middle of nowhere.

Our driver, Andy, is a fun guy. He is the one who drove us from where we landed in Punta Gorda to the Abby House (which my mother I believe has posted on her blog). One thing I have learned today is that Belizeans drive very fast and rather precariously with not much attention paid to children, animals, divided lanes or bikers. I also learned that I can tolerate fish when I am trying to be polite. I also learned that I am not very good at doing native Guarifina (?) dancing. I also learned that fresh pineapple is delicious. I am excited because tomorrow we are going to the markey where we can buy fresh fruits and veggies. I plan on buying some pineapple for sure.

The internet down here is a little touchy...it only works when it wants to. Soo..I can't make any pormises that I will be keeping everyone up to date every day. However, I will try to post as much as possible - it helps me keep everything fresh in my mind. And maybe it will help me write my journals for school as well... I will also try to post at least a few pictures up here too so you can see what it looks like down here! Thank you all for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers!