The kids awoke Christmas morning, to find their ‘stockings’ on their bed. I’d thought I’d heard some rustling in the middle of the night, but I didn’t want to turn on the light and scare anyone away.
We gathered for a final breakfast at the central bar area.
I’d told Jenny about the Mahogany and Teak farms we’d seen. She pointed out this central pole she’d had carved for $1000 Belize. She’d found the ‘rotted’ log in a ditch, but knew exactly what it was. Mahogany. She’s had estimates that it’s worth 5k to 6k American. I looked up Mahogany prices on the web and couldn’t get a good read on prices. Let’s say a mature tree (60 years) can bring 10k at today’s prices. The farm we saw must’ve had 10,000+ trees. Even if they lose half of those, they’re still bringing in 5 million dollars. Seriously! But unless you’re a very young man, you’re probably not going to see that harvest.
We said goodbye to our hosts on Christmas morn and drove back east to Belize city. It was a simple drive in the daylight, as we entered Belize city, I blew through a “checkpoint” that appeared to be empty, but as we drove by Kate said she’d seen people in there. I pulled aside ahead and they came out. Funny, I think they only came out because I pulled aside. They waved me along with a smile.
We had a decent map of where our Budget car rental sat in Belize City, however, soon we were questioning how much farther it could be, as the gas light had come on some 20+ km ago, and I really didn’t want to fill it up having opted into the auto-fill, only because we were returning the car on Christmas day and the Budget lady at the airport told us that gas stations would be closed. They weren’t of course. But it was a gamble I wasn’t willing to take. We found a policeman who assured us we were heading the correct direction and soon would come across Budget on the right. Sure enough, there it was. The gate was ajar, a good sign indicating someone was about to check in our car. I walked up to the office, but couldn’t find anyone. The radio was playing in the back, so I knew someone was about. He popped up in the office, and I explained my situation. He said he wasn’t supposed to be there, he had just dropped by to clean his car, having been out the night before until 4 am. He checked the books and said were were scheduled to drop our car back at the airport. Ugghh, if there was one lady who was least helpful on this trip, it turns out it was our Budget Rental lady at the airport. Nice. But not helpful. It was she who told us with certainty that Belize zoo and TEC were at mile marker 32 on the western highway (they were at 29), It was she who said gas stations would be closed on Christmas. And it was she who had put us in the books for drop off at the airport. Had no one been there, we’d have been in trouble and would’ve needed to scramble to find a way of calling Budget to arrange a drop off. But as things have on this trip, it all worked out. The man even offered to drive us down to the water taxi. Which were more difficult to find than they appeared on the map. King James received our bags at the water taxi, and just like an airplane, checked in 5 of our bags. They would go into the belly of the boat and be given back to us at the San Pedro dock. Zeke spotted this marijuana plant on the wall of a shop.
Turns out they sold some cure all derivative from marijuana. It was supposed to work as an anti-itch, so mostly for the science of it, I bought one. Kate ordered us up a quick lunch at an Indian shop. Zeke had gotten on the internet while we were waiting and was seeing all the Christmas day photos from his friends. I took a shot of him in front of the water taxi on the ocean dock and he posted it, immediately getting likes from his friends back in the cold of Wisconsin, and even from Korowit, aka JJ, our Thailand exchange student we’d hosted some years back. This was a similar shot of the entire family:
Soon they were boarding our boat, and we were off on a 1 hr 15 minute journey to San Pedro. Our first port was Caye Caulker. I’d read it was more laid back and less developed, and the shoreline held to that form. Many small mom and pop hotels. Noone whatsoever on the beach, bar a few folk at the end of long docks sunning themselves. Next stop San Pedro, which had larger, glitzier hotels and glossier beaches. We were actually catching our connecting boat in San Pedro. 
The smaller boat was actually a smoother ride the remaining 12 miles North to Tranquility Bay, seemingly floating over the waves. It was so relaxing that Maeve fell asleep in my lap.
We reached Tranquility Bay and were greeted on the dock with a complementary drink for each of us. Winfield and another man grabbed our bags and took them right to our room, while Kate and I signed in at the central office and got a quick introduction to the place. First order of business, hit the beach! We all headed down to try out the new water-skipping balls we’d gotten for Christmas. I don’t know the technology, but man they work. And are a lot of fun. I was enjoying warming up my baseball arm.
The staff had a special meal set that night, a grill out on the beach. Kate setup this beautiful Christmas day pose of the kids while we waited for our seats.
Including a bonfire that Theo and his new friend Ethan enjoyed pyro’ing away at. Carrying large coconut branches and coconuts themselves and throwing them into the fire.
Soon Theo and Ethan and Maeve were playing sword fights with the palm fronds. Then Theo and Ethan became preoccupied with opening a coconut. I was enjoying watching. Theo went to work with a butter knife to stab his coconut, while I tried to stay one step ahead of whatever injury he was about to inflict upon himself. I convinced him to give it a rest and attempt to finish the coconut in the morn. He agreed, and we headed back to the house for a quick shower and bedtime.
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