After all the advance planning and tricky logistics we arrived on time in Ambergris Caye (pronounced "key"), Belize.  The complicated airport transport to SFO (which will save us considerable time coming back by leaving a car near the airport) went without a hitch.  Although the new cabbie forgot to turn on the meter, we got to the airport with plenty of time for our flight a little after midnight.  Check in at the airport was a bit slow on TACA, but we had our seats in business class (more like a cross country biz. class than transcontinental, but nice in any case).  

The day was three flights that were successively shorter and on smaller planes.  I've now been to another country solely for its airport after connecting in El Salvador (which my friends assured me was long since past its Civil War).  After connecting to Belize City, we took the small prop (~20 seater) to the Caye.

The hotel is right next to the airport so we walked over to check in.  With only one room ready, we dropped off our bags and browsed the town.  A little while later we checked in to the hotel and had lunch there.  I looked forward to my Coca-Cola in a glass bottle only to find that it didn't taste like the coke I'm used to.  I'll have to try one more to be sure that this first one wasn't just a dud.

Finishing lunch, we browsed around the island trying to stay awake. By around 3pm, I returned to the room, showered to get the sand off and took a nap until about 5.  We then departed for dinner and were able to get good food and, more importantly, sample the local Belikin beer.  Belikin is mild with no after taste.  And I needed a couple to cool the mouth from the good, yet spicy, jerk chicken.

Doing a quick internet check to find out about snorkel options, we then just wandered a bit.  L' had her third good idea today- buying water at the local store (2 gallons for US$3 instead of US$1 for a 16oz bottle at the hotel).  This followed her other good ideas of walking out of the way of oncoming traffic and avoiding walking in the sand before returning to the room.  

Finally ready to crash for the night, I swatted a mosquito that just had dinner, leaving a nice bloody mark on the wall.  We later noticed other splattered bugs around the room.  Welcome to the tropics.  Tomorrow the real adventures begin.