Saturday, February 17, 2007

The Trip is the Destination

The trip to Ambergris Caye (Lat=18.00, Long=-87.91.98) from Denver, Colorado is almost a destination in itself. It took three airplanes, a golf cart, and our passports to get from Colorado to our hotel.

The last plane (shown in the picture) was ancient indeed, but it whisked us from the International Airport right to the Ambergris Caye island without mishap.

The airport on the island hearkens back to the days when not everyone wanted to blow airplanes out of the sky, and where traveling is a real adventure to a place very different from home. The minute we got off of the plane, the baggage was put in a large pile, and the baggage handlers came over to get our baggage claim tags. Everything was very noisy with lots of baggage handlers and passengers all scrabbeling for their luggage. We pointed out our bags, and the handler gave them to us. Before we got even a few paces, someone from a hotel said "Come along," and walked off with several of our bags. I followed him into the hotel right across the street. He was hurt, hurt I say, when I told him we were staying in a different hotel. The whole airport experience was so fascinating.

When it was time to go back home, we had to check out of our hotel at noon, but our plane didn't leave until 2:00 pm, so we got to the airport a couple of hours early. The airport baggage chap told us to just pile our luggage against the building and go have lunch, he said he would watch them. (He did, too. They were still there, safe and sound when we got back.)

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