Onward Into Costa Rica's Rich Coast

A view of the ticketing hall in Airport

Jeff And Jane arriving in San Jose Costa Rica

Picking Jeff and Jane up from the airport went pretty smooth, but quite and adventure in itself.  We left early, from the hotel, to make sure we had enough time to find our unaccustomed way to the airport.  In fact, we went early enough to try out the restaurant we had seen on the way, before, which offered breakfast for $3.00.  It was a remarkably good breakfast.  It was almost like an omelet folded into a flour tortilla.  The filling in the omelet consisted of green beans and carrots.  I had never considered that particular combination, but as I said, it was very good.

We ended up at the airport parking garage about an hour early.  We went ahead and parked the car and went in to check the monitor and make sure the flight was on time.  We then went to the cafeteria and had a cup of coffee.  We managed to make it last until about ten minutes before the flight was scheduled to land.  We then made our way back outside, where the parking garage was, and found a huge crowd of people waiting in front of the only doors from which passengers were allowed to exit.  We ended up having to wait almost another hour before Jeff and Jane came through those doors.

We greeted them, went to prepay the parking fee and started on our trip to Playa del Coco, where the first time-share was located.  We had no good estimate of how long it would take and had been warned the highways could be very poor condition.  Making sure we were on the right highway, in this case Highway #1, and that we were going in the right direction, took a while, but we managed to get on the right highway and in the right direction.

It ended up taking us about six hours to get to our destination, which included about forty minutes when we stopped to have dinner.  The highway was better than we expected, but was constantly impeded by trucks and laid-back Costa Ricans who drove a consistent 60 Kilometers per hour (about 44 MPH).  Otherwise, the highway actually proved to be in pretty good condition, one lane in each direction, and was being widened for about 50 miles as we neared Liberia, one of the few larger towns in Costa Rica.  It was dark by the time we arrived in Playa del Coco.  Jeff and Jane worked together to navigate our way there and did a great job.  We didn’t have to turn around or recover from any wrong ways and we were finally in our temporary home.  Tonight would be a catch-up night for sleep for our friends, like the first night in San Jose was for us.

View from condo

The timeshare was a relatively small two bedroom, two bath condo on the ground floor, but was clean and comfortable.  It didn’t have any wireless internet, so we had to take the two hundred yard walk to the administrative offices to hook into their internet provider.  The pool was literally right outside our sliding glass doors and was very nicely landscaped with tropical vegetation.  The little strip center that had our time share’s administrative office also contained a small “mini mart,” two restaurants (one Italian and one Dutch Crepe restaurant), a travel office, and an office to plan and pay for excursions and other special trips.  The condo was almost exactly one kilometer from the main street of Playa Del Coco, which was an easy walk.  

Playa Del Coco is a typical tourist trap.  The main street was lined with so many stores that catered to tourist trinket or souvenir mindsets, there was literally hardly anything for us to do.  There were some really quality restaurants, again aimed at American or European tourists, but the prices were very high.  We decided it was better to look for the type of restaurants the locals were more likely to frequent.  While it was true many of the prices there, were also high, there were native foods offered at prices natives could afford.  We generally found meals for between $4.00 and $8.00.  Those plates were what I would consider better than what we can get in the States for a similar price.  We were "always" satisfied with the selection we were able to find at those prices.  By the way, we were warned, by the airport officials, not to drink the water from the faucets while in Costa Rica.  The Americans we met on the first morning in Costa Rica said they had always drank the water since arriving in the country, with no ill affects.  Emboldened by that, we, too, drank the water from the tap throughout our stay in the country.  We had no ill affects at all.

The next day, we set out to explore the area.  We ended up driving to a few coastal towns (to say cities would have been too much of an exageration), and found a couple that were worth spending time to look at.  We had packed a lunch and decided to eat lunch at a small town called Samara.  It was just a short main street and one road parallel to the coast line that didn't have much to offer.  We drove off the main road to a beach slightly north of the main road, parked the car, and walked to the beach.  It was about 80 degrees and 65% humidity.  We were still not used to that level of heat and humidity, so it was a little uncomfortable.  The beach, however, was unpopulated and beautiful.  We sat under some coconut trees and ate our lunch.

Our picnic under the trees

The Beach at Samara

On this particular excursion, we drove down a peninsula and saw some towns that had a pretty low living standard and encountered someone who even tried begging money off us.  We also saw areas that would have been good locations for remote living, but was a little too remote for Evelyn and me.  It was a pretty full and long day, by the time we got back to Playa del Coco and the timeshare.

It seemed no matter where we went, in Costa Rica, we found gorgeous environments and settings.

The grocery stores, here, were a huge improvement over those "supermarkets" in Belize.  They were large, fully stocked, and not air conditioned.  The heat in the stores was oppressive and stifling.  We bought food to take back to the timeshare and prepare.  Jane fixed the first meal we had there.  Life was good and very layed back in this beach area.

Tomorrow, we are headed to Lake Arenal.

Our Arrival in Costa Rica

Breakfast our first morning

Evelyn and I were absolutely exhausted.  We were dropped off at the Sacramento airport at around 9:00 p. m. Sunday evening, November 11, 2012.  Our flight didn’t leave until 12:30 a. m. on the twelfth.  This was a red eye flight and we would be landing in Houston at around 6:00 a. m. after a three and a half hour flight.  We had lost two hours by traveling two time zones.  Our flight from Houston to San Jose, Costa Rica, wouldn’t leave until nearly noon.  It is interesting that our gate was changed two times in the five or six hours we were waiting in Houston.

Finally, though, we got off the ground on a gull flight to our final destination.  It was another three plus hour flight and, as mentioned, above, we were exhausted.  We went to the rental car desk and found they had to shuttle us to a site off the airport to pick our car.  It was a Hyundai Elantra.  It took us a full two hours to finally get under way with our rental car.  We had one all lined up, only to find out the air conditioner didn’t work.  That was not acceptable in a hot and humid climate like tropical Costa Rica.  We had to start the process over, again, with a different car.  We ended up with another Hyundai Elantra, but it had air conditioning.  Their rental cars all had about 120,000 miles on them, so they were anything but new.

We had printed out directions from the airport to our first hotel, where we would relax until time to pick up our friends, Jeff and Jane, and proceed to the time share.  What we were not aware of,  and the employees at the rental car office were quick to explain was, the directions were totally inadequate.  You see, they don’t have street signs that show the name of number of the street or highway in most of Costa Rica.  It was especially difficult, they explained, because it was heavy, and I mean heavy, worker’s traffic by the time we were finished and ready to leave.  Fortunately, one of the employees was finishing up his shift and he volunteered to lead us, in his car, to the place where we would find the hotel.  The first twenty minutes was spent going less than half a mile.  There was a bridge that had collapsed the week before, and they didn’t have it repaired, yet, so traffic was nearly at a stand still. 

On the veranda outside our Hotel room door.

When we finally managed to get past that congestion, the side roads we traveled were over crowded and we had trouble keeping behind our guide.  It was getting dark and Evelyn was afraid we might loose our generous benefactor.  Her fill was reinforced by the idea that if we lost him, we didn’t have a cell phone that would work, so we couldn’t even call the hotel to let them know we were lost. 

View from deck outside our room.

If you remember my blog about Belize, you will recognize that the experience was not a lot different.  This time, at least, if we didn’t loose him, we had someone who was kind enough to try to help us find our way.  After just over an hour, our kind rental car employee stopped and asked us to show him our reservation, again.  He found a phone number and called to find out where we were in relation to the hotel.  Then, after about five more minutes of following him, we actually came to the hotel.  If anyone tells you traveling on a smaller budget doesn’t have its challenges, don’t believe them; From uncomfortable hours of flying (red-eye) to rental cars with high mileage.  We could have used a taxi, but that would have cost around thirty to fifty dollars, and that would have been just one way.  Nevertheless, we were there, the Hotel Canal Grande, in Santa Ana, a suburb of San Jose.  In fact, for the small cost per night, this was one of the best hotels we have ever stayed at.

We got checked in, checked out a few channels on the TV (in Spanish) and decided, as tired as we were, eight o’clock sounded like a good time to retire for the night.  We were so tired we slept for over thirteen hours.  We couldn’t remember the last time we had slept that long; even after traveling those many times to Berlin, Germany.

View from our deck to pool

The temperature, in San Jose, was perfect.  This is the end of the rainy season, but there was a little rain and a pretty nice breeze, on our first night.  During the night, it was even windier, but not so much rain.  We woke to an absolutely gorgeous morning. 

We went to the dining area, which was outside on the veranda, under the upper patio.  That sheltered us from the still gusty winds.  We ordered coffee, but chose not to have breakfast because it was $8 per person.  We had seen the breakfast the neighboring table had and decided we might do better at a restaurant outside the motel.  I need to be honest, though.  The staff was wonderful.  The gentleman who signed us in the first evening was probably under 25, spoke passable English.  The young lady who took care of the guests, the next morning, was cheery friendly, and also spoke good English.  She was cute, but wore her hair short and kind of combed to the center in a spike ridge. 

We introduced ourselves to the Americans who were eating breakfast at the next table.  We found out they had lived in Costa Rica for about two years.  They were not residents, which means they had to leave the country every ninety days for three days in order to return and stay another ninety days.  He looked to be in his early sixties, while his wife looked to be in her early fifties.  His name was Dan and her name was Robin.  He said he taught surfing in the north eastern portion of Costa Rica, known as the state of Guanacosta.  While he taught surfing, his wife would take pictures of the event and sell them to the students over the internet.  They were in the hotel with us, because they had just returned from a visit to the San Francisco area where they were visiting their newest grandchildren.  They had been out of Costa Rica for several months and were just returning from there stay in the States.  They had landed the same evening we did and took a cab to the hotel.  They said they were going to take a taxi back to the airport to rent a car so they could drive back to their apartment in northern Costa Rica. 

I asked them if we could drive them back to the airport so we could see the way during the day.  He, Dan, said they had so much luggage, they would have to tax a van-taxi to be able to take everything with them.  However, when the taxi arrived, Dan had a talk with the driver who agreed to take the most direct route to the airport and have us follow him; so that is what we did.  We followed him to the airport, managed to get to where we would return our car at the end of the trip.  We actually remembered enough of the previous night’s trip that we were able to find our way back pretty much the way we had gone there.  We even stopped on one of the main roads, at a Quizno’s subway sandwich shop to have lunch before returning to the hotel.  Of course, even ordering a sandwich at Quizno’s turned into a small ordeal.  We finally had ordered our sandwiches, only to find out when we got them, they were not what we thought we had ordered.  Fortunately, what we got was good anyway.

Probably the most difficult thing we had to learn, besides navigating the streets with not street name signs, was how to covert the Costa Rican Colones (their form of currency) to dollars and vice versa.  It took 442 Colones to equal $1.  It is possible to purchase things using the American dollar, but if you do you have to accept the easy conversion of $1 equals 500 Colones. 

The owner and one of his Staff, Elizabeth.

Since we are traveling on a tight budget, it is important to point out the cost of food and gas is higher in Costa Rica than in California.  In fact, using the easy conversion rate, allowing one to pay in dollars, it ends up being about 20% to 45% more expensive to buy things.  San Jose has been quite an experience, all by itself.  International Living makes quite a case for Costa Rica being such an easy transition.  We are finding there are quite a lot of hurdles to deal with, when coming here, especially for the first time.  We will be picking up our friends from the same airport we landed in, soon.  I will provide more description once we are in our Destination City of Playa Del Coco, on the Pacific Coast of northern Costa Rica.

The Anticipation

The anticipation of upcoming travel can be both invigorating and debilitating.  I guess it could be something like a "short timers" attitude once one has decided to leave a job.  I find myself putting off those things I know I should be doing, simply because I know I am going to be gone for a couple weeks.  It just seems like a waste of time to start something, only to have to finish it after I get back from the trip.

Since our trip, this time, is going to be purely pleasure (although we can't help looking at real estate, no matter where we go), there is even more of a sense of anticipation.  Most of the time, when we travel, it is linked to some family obligations (like taking care of things for Evelyn's mother, in Germany) or some business venture.  We are going to be traveling with some friends, this time, and we have similar interests and seem to be very compatible personality wise. 

It is nine days until we depart.  As usual, my business gets more demanding and requires more attention the closer we get to the departure date.  I guess it is Murphy's Law the kicks in.  The less time I have to do things, the more things I have to do.  I'm not complaining, though.  God has been very good to us, in spite of the financial times we are experiencing.  All the more reason we are grateful for the opportunity to share the expenses on this trip and have the added benefit of being with Christian people of like mind.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN (Hopefully, soon)

Well, this has been a little frustrating.  I spent a few hours creating a new posting for my blog, published it and, after creating my link on Facebook, found out it no longer existed.  I can't begin to understand how or why that happened, but it means I am having to do it again, today.  Hopefully, it will work, this time.

It is for reasons, mostly outside my control, I have not been able to create a posting for two and a half months.  I am not happy about all the delays, but I am not going to cry over spilled milk and I certainly can't blame anyone else. 

My interest travel really started with my first adventure in travel, back in 1970.  In our youth, most of us leap at the opportunity to experience new adventures.  I'm not sure I would ever have developed my own interest in travel had it not been for my wife.  Evelyn, having been born in Berlin, Germany, decided she wanted to visit her home town in 1969.  She took a ten week trip (it seemed a lot longer to me, at the time) by herself to visit with relatives and re-acquaint herself with her home town.  You might think that was not much of an adventure for a young woman, since she had moved to California at the age of thirteen with her parents.  Not so, my friends.  She was traveling to what was still a war torn or impacted city.  Berlin was an island city in the northeast of what was the communist enclave of East Germany. The "free" section of Berlin, which amounted to about half of the original capital city of Germany, was composed of the British sector, the French sector, and the American sector, and was completely surrounded by a twelve foot high concrete wall, not to mention the barbed wire, land mines, and the vigilant watch of the East German military.  Much of the older parts of Berlin, which had gone through the war, were still composed of bullet hole riddled buildings.

It was the following year of 1970 we both decided to move to Berlin, together.  We were there for four years, during which time we visited quite a number of places in Europe.  We managed to visit the Tirolean area of Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, and many historical sites in Germany.  That was it.  I was hooked.  Although I have mentioned some of the places we have visited, we have no where near satisfied out travel addiction.  We have, of course, had to taper off due to the financial status this economy has put us in, but we are now looking forward to an upcoming vacation to Costa Rica.  We have some friends who want us to go with them and share their time-share, as well as sharing the cost of a rental car.  We have enough points on our rewards programs with credit cards and mileage points to almost pay for the air-fare.  Like the title of this post, hopefully, we are ON THE ROAD AGAIN, and without paying an arm and a leg.

The Last Half of Our Berlin Trip

Well, it has certainly been more than a few days.  The previous blog entry was around June 13 and today's date is July 30.  It was very hectic, taking care of all the issues we were finding necessary, to plan for our next trip, which would probably be to tie up loose ends and settle the very small estate.  We area in total dark, when it comes to what will happen to Evelyn's brother, Siegfried (who is schizophrenic, 65 years old, and lives with his mother), when his mother passes on.  He has never lived alone and has never held a job.  He has lived on a small disability retirement, due to his mental illness, and has never taken his medications.

When he no longer has his mother, there, he will automatically inherit the responsibility of the apartment they live in.  Unfortunately, he doesn't receive enough to pay the rent and still have enough to live on.  Germany, however, being a democratic socialism, will certainly have some programs to help him make out.  It may require him to move into a smaller, cheaper, apartment, but that will not be easy.  He does not take change, well.  He also has a very difficult time giving up anything he considers his.  That means furniture, nick-knacks, dishes, appliances, and even the labels he soaks off of virtually every bottle he gets in his hands.  He even save every receipt he has ever had.  None of that is for practical purposes, since he can't really find anything, again.  It is because of his condition.  He just has trouble parting with all that.

Country restaurant in Mahlow, Berlin

We have managed to take my mother-in-law to a one o'clock meal (that is the normal German time for the main meal of the day), several days.  She still has a remarkable appetite, but often forgets she ate, fifteen minutes after the meal.  Her son, Siegfried, has been a truly mixed blessing for his mother.  On the one hand, it is remarkable to see how he can take this extremely frail woman under the arm and march off at a pretty good clip.  We are convinced his insistence on taking her out of the apartment almost every day has been what has kept her alive, in spite of her fragility.  On the other hand, seeing how she struggles, groans, and grimaces, while she is being hauled around by him, causes us great concern for her well being. 

Evelyn and I have also found her mother's condition to be a mixed blessing.  First, we are, of course, concerned for her health, and we find that she is in no condition for us to take her on outings.  Second. she can't remember from one day to the next that we were there to visit her.  That means we are not able to check on her in the morning, take her to her main meal of the day, and take an outing alone, and still get back in time to visit again in the early evening.  There are some things we have done, that involve Evelyn's cousins and Aunt, which get us back too late to visit in the evening again.  When we get to her mother again, the next morning, she was totally unaware we hadn't been there the evening before.

Remaining portion of Wall as monument

Some of the things we were able to do, while we were there, were things like taking a three and a half hour river cruise.  The cruise was on a part of the river that had been inaccessible while the "wall" was still up between East and West Berlin.  It was fascinating to see how things had changed after the wall came down.  The new buildings that had cropped up in the time since wall's removal were impressive and showed a huge amount of industriousness.  The Germans' ability to recover was remarkable and legend.

Me standing in front of Sanssouci Castle/Fortress

We also took a drive to the north western boundary of Berlin to the city of Potsdam.  There is a castle there that is worth seeing.  It is called Sanssouci, which means "without worries."  It is picturesque and, although it is now overcrowded with tourists, it is worth taking the time to visit.  Evelyn and I had intended to just drive by and take some pictures, but the crowds were so large, we decided to park a ways away and try to walk there.  We parked at the Potsdamer University and walked about two and a half kilometers through some gorgeous parkways and past some impressive outlying structures to get there.  One must remember to take some good walking shoes.  Although Evelyn had purchased some new sandals, which were comfortable, because they were new, they rubbed some blisters on her feet.  Of course, we hadn't planned on walking so far when we set out for the castle.

We also drove from Berlin to the city of Recke, near Osnabrueck in the southern part of the state of Saxony, in Germany.  We have some friends there, whom we met after making contact with them, over the internet, while Evelyn's father was in the hospital.  We had sought out someone who could visit her father, who had a very advanced case of cancer, and pray with him.  Although these particular friends were not able to travel there and visit him, they were able to put us in touch with someone who did.  It was a Canadian missionary whose mission was in Berlin.  He did visit my father-in-law and lead him in the prayer of salvation.  Talk about a death-bed conversion.  We are confident we will be seeing her father again, in Heaven.

We visited with our Christian friends (Dieter and Petra) for several days and were fortunate enough to be there for Petra's birthday celebration.  It coincided with a Wednesday night Bible study and prayer meeting.  It was uplifting and edifying for us both to have been there.  God is truly good.

Evelyn with her cousin's daughter at Marienburg, Hanover

We left Recke and drove to Hanover to visit Evelyn's cousin and her daughter.  We ended up spending two nights there, where we were pampered and treated like royalty.  We visited a "young" castle, there, called "Marienburg" just south of Hanover.  It was constructed around two hundred years ago, which by European standards is young indeed.  It was very well maintained and made for a very enjoyable outing.

Following our stay with Evelyn's relatives, we once again set out for Berlin.  We had neared our return date and only had a few days remaining.  We wanted to spend as much of the remaining time with Evelyn's mother, as possible.  We are pretty certain she will not last much longer (although she has surprised us, before).  She is very tough, but everyone has their limit.  We were able to go to dinner with her three more times, before we had to leave.  We know, although she probably can't remember our visit, she had a good time visiting with us.  She has a peaceful air about her we had never seen before.  I believe it was a good visit.

Leaving Berlin, we had to get up early to make sure we could return the rental car and still catch our 7:00 a.m. flight to New Jersey.  The return trip was going to be a long one.  Whereas, on the trip to Berlin the flight from New Jersey to Berlin took eight hours, the flight back would be against the air streams and would take at least eight and one half hours.  To make matters worse, the layover in New Jersey was to take six hours.  While in the New Jersey airport, we discovered our flight to San Francisco would be delayed another three hours.  Since we had been scheduled to take a flight from San Francisco to Sacramento on the last flight out, that would mean we would miss that flight.  We went to customer service, for United Air Lines, and they were able to get us on an earlier flight to S. F.  We still had to spend the same amount of time waiting, but at least it was broken up by the flight to S. F.  We landed in Sacramento at a little after 11:00 p.m. and took a taxi to my mother's condo, where we were to spend the night.  My mother had a knee replacement, while we were in Germany, and was in no condition to pick us up at the airport.

All-in-all, our trip to Berlin, Germany, had been a very enjoyable one.  Our day-to-day stress had been relieved for a month and we were able to enjoy each other's company without too many distractions.

More on Belize, in my next post.

Our Arrival In Berlin

For those interested in the continuing saga of our Belize trip, I will resume it after we arrive home in California, again.  In the mean time, the following is the beginning of our trip to Berlin in June.

Evelyn and I walked out of the Berlin-Tegel-International Airport on May 29 at about 8:30 in the morning.  We had just completed the flight from New Jersey to Berlin, which had taken almost exactly eight hours.  That was after a two hour hold-over in the New Jersey airport, a five hour flight from San Francisco, where we had just barely enough time to make it to our connection, from our flight from Sacramento on a turbo-prop plane that held about 30 people.

Tegeler Airport S-Bahn fast food car

Our first sight was a train car, from the Berliner S-Bahn (City Train) system, that had been converted to a fast food restaurant.  We had just spent the last 24 hours traveling and were starting out our arrival in Berlin with the whole day ahead of us.  We would certainly be tired enough after spending this full day taking care of the incidentals needed for a month's stay in Berlin.  \

Evelyn's mother was going to turn ninety on the 17th of June, and we wanted to make sure we were there to celebrate it with her.  In all likelihood, it would be the last time we would see her and even more likely the last birthday we would be able to celebrate with her.

We continued on toward the escalator that would take us to the lower level where all the car rental companies were located.  We had reserved a car with Budget, which, in this case, was the same counter as Avis.  We got a black four door Peugeot, which was about the size of a Chevy Aveo, perhaps a little bigger or smaller.  A stick shift is standard for small rental cars, in Europe.

From the airport, we had about a forty minute drive to our Condo in the southernmost part of Berlin.  After Evelyn's father passed away in 1998, it became pretty apparent that we would be having to visit Berlin more regularly to help take care of issues with her mother.  Her mother had developed colon cancer, which was discovered about four months after his passing.  We actually didn't think she would be able to survive her cancer, especially because they had some problems that led to a sepsis condition in her abdomen.  She was kept in a drug induced coma for almost five months.  Evelyn went to Germany twice that year.  Once while her mother was in a coma and again later in the year after she was back out.  In 2003, we decided it was more cost effective for us to purchase a very small, studio condo (it is really more like just an efficiency unit), so we could always have something available when we went there.

half liter bottles of beer for $.59 (Euro .47)

It took only about an hour for the two of us to vacuum, clean, dust, and make the bed, and clean the shower.  There are advantages to having a small apartment.  We then took the time to drive to the nearest grocery store to pick up some things.  I have to mention this, because some of the prices were almost shockingly low.  We are astonished every year when we get to Germany.  For instance, the beer is amazingly cheap.  One-half liter bottles for $.59; 2 lbs bananas for $1.30, 2 1/2 lbs multigrain bread for $1.00, etc.  The prices are low enough to make living in Germany at least as far as food prices are concerned,  much more cost effective than in California.

There actually appear to be ways one can eat out and still stay within a pretty low budget.  There are government office buildings that have cafeterias for the employees.  We have found one can get a nice meal in those kinds of places for anywhere between $3.75 and $6.00.  Most of the department stores have restaurants which serve a wide variety of foods.  Usually, after about 4:30 in the afternoon, they will reduce the prices on the food by 50%, just to make sure the food gets sold rather than thrown out.  Again, finding a nice meal in those situations usually ends up under $5.00.  Finally, there are restaurants that specialize in certain types of foods, usually traditional German fare, and they serve excellent meals for under $6.00.  When combining such prices with the cost of a typical continental breakfast of quality, multigrain rolls and an almost infinite variety of sausage or cold cuts, the average day can cost under ten to twelve dollars per person.

Just today, Evelyn and I found a place that is really a butcher shop that doubles as a restaurant.  I had a huge "Rinder Rollade" (Beef roll), red cabbage, and potatoes with gravy (as much as even my usually large appetite could handle), for under $7.25.  Evelyn had a cabbage roll stuffed with ground beef, mashed potatoes, and gravy (almost more than she could eat) for around $6.00.  Those are prices we can't even find in California (excluding, of course, McDonalds or Burger King).

Rents are also comparably low.  A comfortable one or two bedroom apartment can be found in most areas of Berlin, for under $600 per month.  Of course, if one wants to have the luxury of driving around in a car, the $7.00 or more cost of gasoline can rob you of much of your savings.  Fortunately, we have been able to rent cars that get upwards of 40 to 45 miles per gallon.  That makes the high cost of gas a little more palatable.  We were fortunate, as well, in finding an unbelievable deal on our studio Condo, nine years ago.  Our only costs for our lodging in Berlin is our homeowner's dues, electricity, and property taxes.  For the whole year, that amounts to somewhere around $1,800.  If we were to stay longer periods of time in Berlin, that would amount to only about $150 per month.  Not bad.

As I mentioned, our main reason for the trip, this year, was to spend Evelyn's mother's 90th birthday with her.  We were shocked, on our second day in Berlin, when we went to see her mother.  She had lost so much weight, we were not even sure she would be able to walk.  She could, but not very well.  We realized we would not be able to take her around Berlin to see and do things together like we used to.  She is extremely hard of hearing (nearly deaf) and even when she could make out what we were saying, she often didn't comprehend the meaning.  We were happy she remembered both of our names, although she asked us why we never got married.  Since she was at our wedding, 35 years ago, that made it clear her mind was not what it used to be.

We have been in Berlin for about two weeks now.  I will give an update in the next few days.

Our Trip to San Ignacio

Our Trip To San Ignacio.

Starting our drive, as we headed out of Corozal, was much different than our original trip out of Belize City.  For one thing, we were much more familiar with the road.  For another, it was before noon and we had a much better idea of what to expect and how long it might take.  We chose to drive through Orange Walk City, on this leg of the journey.  We were amazed at how many more people were in this city than in Corozal.  There were more shops, more people lining the street, more or less aimlessly, and much more color.  We didn’t stop, but we didn’t find it as intimidating as we had found it when we drove into it a mile or so, from the other direction and in twilight.

Our next major city, if you want to call it major, was Belmopan, the capitol of Belize.  It was not as big as either Orange Walk or Belize City.  At least we didn’t see anything that would suggest it was large.  Even when we were downtown, we felt like we were on the outskirts of a “normal” town.  Nevertheless, it was the Capitol of Belize.  There being nothing much to see, we continued on to San Ignacio.  We were on the road perhaps another 45 minutes when we found ourselves driving into a combination residential, commercial area.  Of course the commercial, although more upscale than in Corozal, was still pretty unimpressive.  I say that with some relief.  Evelyn and I have been in some of the biggest and most populace cities in Europe and in America.  Most are not at all very comfortable nor welcoming.  This, in contrast, was kind of laid back and comfortable.  To add to the comfort was the Jungle, which had become more green and lush, as we progressed toward San Ignacio.  We actually saw motels or signs of off the main road motels, as we drove closer to the heart of the Belizean City. 

We stopped at several that seemed to be more inviting, as we drove on, thinking if we didn’t find anything better further in town, we could always backtrack.  Finally, as we arrived at the Belize River, we found a low, primarily wooden bridge, leading to the other side of the river.  It was appropriately named the “Low Hanging Bridge.”

As we got to the other side, we started seeing the real trappings of the city of San Ignacio.  We went around a tight curve in the road and were staring straight into a produce market.  We stopped to check it out and found more different types of vegetables and fruits than I knew existed.  We didn’t purchase anything, but we knew where to go if we decided to take some fresh produce with us on our further explorations.

We continued on past several tourist oriented Mayan Ruin attractions and, driving along the Belize River, eventually came to the border of Guatemala.  We had made no plans to leave the country and hadn’t purchase whatever kind of insurance they would have required, so we turned around and headed back through San Ignacio.  We had settled on going back to a motel we had found as we were first entering the area.  The bridge returning us to the other side of the river was in the heart of the commercial/retail district and was elevated quite a ways off the river.  At first, we thought we have driven the wrong way, but sure enough we arrived back on the country road that had brought us this far.  The motel we chose was a few blocks off the main road and we had found it only because of a sign they had put on the highway.  Those few blocks were tedious.  The road was so badly pot holed, we could only inch our way to the cross street where the motel was. 

The pool area in the San Ignacio Motel

We checked into what turned out to be a rather pleasant motel, had a nice dinner which consisted of at least one portion of Nachos, which we found to be better in Belize than anywhere else we have ever had them, and more of the typical beans and rice that were so prevalent in Belize.  After getting settled into our room, we went to the pool area to enjoy the very pleasant air and temperature in some chaise lounge chairs that surrounded the pool.  We were shortly joined by some other Americans, who were extremely friendly, cordial, and turned out to be from Texas (primarily).  They were several couples who apparently made this trek every year to deliver school supplies to all the local schools.  It seems the Belizean government does not provide very well for the school children.  They have to use the same sheet of paper every day, for the school assignments, and have to erase the previous day’s lesson or assignment from the paper before continuing on.  These Americans shipped down paper, pencils, and any other school supplies they thought the teachers could use.  They spent several days driving around and making the deliveries.  It was their Christian outreach.  We were pleasantly surprised and impressed with their selflessness. 

The next morning, we had a nice breakfast and headed into town to check it out, better than the day before.  Once again, we crossed the Low Hanging Bridge and circled around into the heart of town.  We parked and walked the streets to check out all the things one could find there.  We found everyone very nice and accepting of us.  Evelyn and I are not your typical tourists.  We like to look around, but we generally don’t like to purchase a bunch of memorabilia.  We travel light (taking only carry ons and have done so for the last twenty years) and don’t like to spend unnecessary money for things we don’t need.  That is why we take a lot of pictures.  That is how we go down memory lane.

Our ferry on the way to Spanish Lookout

After spending a fair amount of time acquainting ourselves with the way of life, in San Ignacio, we decided to visit the Mennonite community that was east of San Ignacio.  There was a sign pointing to the town of Spanish Lookout, which was the name of the community, and we decided that, although it was obviously closer than the people we had asked had told us to turn off, it would be an adventure, so we turned there.  We drove on and on and the road became more and more difficult.  Finally, true to Belizean tradition, we came to a place where we were going to cross the Belize River; once again by hand cranked ferry.  This one, if anything, was smaller than the others we had experienced.

The road on the other side of the river was a very rough gravel road.  Eventually, though, it did take us to Spanish Lookout.  We knew immediately, once we were there.  The buildings were all very well built as were the streets, which were all paved and high quality.  These Mennonites were a little more liberal than the ones we had witnessed in Shipyard, and had no problem driving cars, owning businesses, and using electricity.  As we neared the main street, we noticed a restaurant that has a sign announcing it to be a “Golden Corral.”  We were floored.  Wondering if it was part of the well known chain of restaurants in America, we decided to give it a try.  The people were natives, who worked for Mennonite owners, and were very pleasant.  It was a buffet, but that was where the similarities ended.  They only had about eight items on the buffet bar.  The fare was very humble, but I have to say, it was very good.  We walked away feeling very satisfied.

More about Spanish Lookout in my next entry.

Ferry pulling onto our side of slough

 Our second day in Belize was very relaxing and educational.  The tour to Orchid Bay, with the people we had spent the tour to the Mayan temples with, was to take place, but the tour group would be going to Orchid Bay by boat.  We were far more interested in what kind of drive it would be to the community, so we elected to take the car.  Boy, was that a surprise and adventure.  The road was dirt and, because they had recently had some rain in the Corozal area, there were mud holes that we dared not get stuck in.  Many were over 100 yards in length and, rather than just driving through water, we were driving through very slippery and deep mud.  The tires on our rental car were not the best, so I made sure we didn't slow down to a point I would not be able to continue moving forward. 

Having negotiated the mud slicks, we were then further surprised by coming to a line of cars waiting to cross a waterway by ferry.  These were not the kind of ferries an American conjures up, when thinking of vehicular transportation.  These were little more than barges with wooden decks that were propelled from one side of the water way to the other by means of a steel cable and one or two men cranking a gear and chain driven pulley that was attached to each side of the slough.  The barge had definite weight limits and could accommodate only about two to three cars at a time.

This is apparently one means of employing people.

It was interesting to see how the government provided jobs for some of their citizens, rather than to mechanize and automate everything.  I felt it would have been far more practical to build a simple bridge, but that would not have provided long term employment to anyone.

We encountered two of these ferries, on our way to Orchid Bay.  The drive was significantly longer than we had anticipated.  If one chose to purchase land and build in this community, they would have to plan on either shopping by boat or perhaps once a week by car.

Orchid Bay is a Gringo community that was a major subdivision of property with lots for sale.  They promised, eventually, to have a restaurant (and already had a meager one on site), along with a lot of other amenities that were not yet constructed.  We took the 10 Cent tour and saw homes that had already been constructed and others under construction.  Although we enjoyed the company of the members of the tour, we decided it was time to return to the town of Corozal and see what else was interesting.  We actually spent about four days in the area.  There were several subdivisions that were offering lots for sale.  None of them had a source of water, other than the cisterns that the locals used to gather rain water.  Electricity seemed to be available, but it was still a little on the primitive side.  Sewer was only available as septic systems. 

Evelyn at dusk outside motel restaurant.

We checked out some other older neighborhoods, which were mostly populated by expatriates, and found numerous houses that were for sale, but for which (in my opinion) were too expensive for what was being offered.  Even the lots (including those in Orchid Bay) were being offered at too high a price to warrant taking the plunge. 

The high point of our northern Belize visit was the introduction to the poor lifestyle the Belizeans apparently choose to live and the foods that were available at the restaurants.  I visited an open produce market, while in Corozal, and found it to be less than "clean" or desirable.  Nonetheless, I decided to try a tamale from one of the quick food huts, of which there were several.  I was a little apprehensive about the apparent filth in the hut.  I was served a tamale on a plastic, often reused, plate with a discolored fork.  I decided I might as well try it, since I had paid for it.  It turned out to be the best tamale I had ever eaten.  That goes to show one can not always judge things by appearance.

We got a chance to speak to several Expats, while looking around Corozal.  We can say, without exception, they were extremely friendly, welcoming, and encouraging.  They were happy and felt they had made an excellent choice in relocating to this area.  There was a huge lack of those things Americans have accustomed themselves to, including real supermarkets, department stores, gas stations (gas was over $5 per gallon or BZ 9.90 to 10.50 per gallon), and nice restaurants (although the restaurant at our motel was pretty nice).  On the other hand, for those who were living full time in Belize, one could drive fifteen minutes north and shop in the customs free zone or in Mexico, where they had Walmart, Home Depot, etc.  All-in-all, it was a life style one could easily adjust to.  It was less tropical, here, but it offered year around comfort.  The natives thought the 70 degree weather we were experiencing was cold.

This building housed the 3 businesses of the man with Evelyn.

Our last full day in the Corozal area, we chose to take a flight from the local municipal airport to the island of Ambergris Caye.  Although this was not a large island, it was a huge tourist attraction.  It was only about a fifteen minute flight from Corozal.  We rented a golfcart to get around the island. 

It was interesting, because the streets were very narrow and crowded,  There were many hotel/motels, lots of beach, numerous stores offering anything from ice cream to fishing tours, and some nice restaurants.  We decided to eat in a small establishment and found the food to be less expensive than that which was offered in most of the other restaurants, very tasty, and we were able to meet the owner.  He explained to us he had built the building in which the restaurant was housed.  He lived there with his wife and kids.  He also had a golf cart rental business, a charter fishing business, in the same building.  He was, in contrast to the average Belizean, very entrepreneurial.  He explained that, by doing the several businesses, he was able to earn about $5,000 per month.  That is huge for Belizean standard.  We managed to take pictures of Orchid Bay, from the air.

A view of Orchid Bay from the air.

We spent our final night in Corozal and decided we would drive to San Ignacio.  One of the unexpected drawbacks we discovered in being on the sandy coast was the abundance of Sand Fleas.  These were particularly virulent and Evelyn suffered greatly from them.  We were hoping to find the San Ignacio area to be less of a problem, in that regard.  More from the next leg of our trip, to follow.

Although our trip to Belize is not from 2012, I am hoping the story of our visit there will help others in their impending trips to Belize.  I actually have a lot of other trips to report on, but they are further back in time and I thought it would be beneficial to keep as current as possible.

Our first evening in Belize was very nice; especially after the concerns we experienced getting to Corozal.  We had a very nice and affordable light dinner, at the motel restaurant, which was outdoors and in a very comfortable and mild seventy degree weather.  While eating, we overheard a gentleman, at the bar, talking on his cell phone.  He was arranging for a tour of Mayan ruins for the following day.  We heard him mention Orchid Bay, which was a development we had read about before visiting Belize.  After he got off the phone, I took the initiative to confront him.  A short talk with him revealed he was preparing for the monthly visitors to Orchid Bay, which includes a guided tour of the ruins, a sales presentation, and an evening party at the motel we happened to be in.  We quickly found out we could accompany him on the Mayan ruins tour, for a nominal cost of $50 per person, which included a lunch.  We were to meet with him and his group around noon, the next day.

A typical "Supermarket" in Belize

We were off to a good start.  We had a very nice night's sleep and a simple but adequate breakfast and decided to drive into Corozal for the morning.  It turned out to be not much of a drive.  The motel was virtually on the city limits.  Nor did it take long to take the scenic drive through the small city.  The streets were in poor condition, the buildings were in poor condition, and the people were in poor condition.  At first, that sounds like it was not a pleasant place.  Quite the opposite was true.  The people were very friendly and the level of poverty they were living in, it turns out, is simply because they choose to live that way.  The restaurants we saw were generally small and not too attractive.  The motels (and there were a few) were run down and somewhat intimidating.  The grocery stores were graced with signs that claimed "Supermarket" status, but they were primarily oriental ownership, very small, cluttered, and dark.  Nevertheless, they seemed to meet the requirements of both, the natives and the expats who lived there.  We ran into a few expats who were very warm and inviting.  They said it took a while to get used to the living standards in Belize, but they were very content to have developed the laid-back life style that was necessary to be at home, there.

Orchid Bay rep, climbing in the boat

We didn't bother getting a meal, while on the go, because we knew we would be having lunch with the tour.  Arriving back at the motel in time to meet up with the guy we had spoken with the night before, we found out some of the tour group, who were flying in that day, were going to be late.  Since we knew it would be about a two hour drive for the new arrivals, the idea that the plane had not even landed yet, was not encouraging.  We ended up leaving in two minivans at 1:30, because the plane had still not landed and it was clear we couldn't wait, anymore.  The drive took us back the way we had come, except this time the vans drove us right through Orange Walk.  In broad daylight, it was far less threatening; particularly after seeing that Corozal was not much different (although perhaps smaller).  We drove several miles past Orange Walk and ended up at a dock on the "New River."  They had several pick nick tables set up with palm frond roofs and had lunch in a rough buffet fashion set up on one of the tables.  This was our first real experience with truly Belizean food.  It consisted of papayas (which tasted over ripe), rice and beans (a fairly dry version), chicken in a sauce, fried plantains, some salad, beer, soft drinks, and some kind of dessert that would take some getting used to.  All-in-all, it was good and satisfying. 

After eating our fill, we were invited to the dock to board a twin engine, canopy covered boat with bench seating all along the sides.  There were about twenty-five of us and that didn't quite fill up all the seating. 

One of the boats built by Mennonites

The driver of the boat was also the tour guide.  He was a native Belizean and a woman (also a native) who was an assistant stood near him.   The guide explained we would be traveling, for the most part, south on the New River at about twenty-five miles per hour and that the trip would, depending on the wildlife we would see along the way, take about an hour.  He was very good at being able to see and point out the wildlife, along the river, which included small crocodiles, a variety of tropical birds, bats, and termite nests.  We also stopped, briefly, at a Mennonite settlement called Shipyard.  The local Mennonite population had resettled in Belize after they became overburdened and persecuted, to some degree, in Mexico, where they had originally settled.  The had requested and received land grants from the Belizean government in return for a promise to cultivate and produce crops and meat for the Belizean population.  Many Mennonites still did and do not use cars, electricity, or any modern conveniences.  Shipyard was one of those communities.  There were no utilities and the people still traveled by horse drawn carriages.  The dichotomy was that they built ships (thus the name of the community) out of steel, which required electrical welding.  I guess making a living can provide justification for not adhering exactly to their customs or beliefs.

The trip lasted right around an hour and fifteen minutes.  We pulled into the New River Lagoon and soon pulled up to a dock that marked the beginning of the trail we would be hiking around a loop of Mayan temples.  We spend about two and a half hours walking through a jungle area that was filled with Palms, Teak, Mahogany, All Spice, and several exotic plants like Bird of Paradise, Hibiscus,  and other flowering plants.  This particular preserve was called Lamanai, which is simply a gringo distortion of "submerged Crocodile."  The temples were within easy walking distance and were all impressive.  The steps leading to the tops of these pyramids were uncomfortably high (about 16 to 18 inches tall), which our guide explained was to keep the people climbing them in a submissive posture while approaching the top.  We got to see an army of large ants moving in an indirect line through the foliage, emerging from some underbrush and disappearing into some more underbrush a hundred yards away.  They were so large and so numerous, we could hear them marching.  We saw and heard howler monkeys moving through the tree tops while making loud almost barking like noises.  They were reminiscence of the Gibbons of Southeast Asia, except their "howling" was more guttural and like barking growls. 

Our trip back to the dock was partially in near dark.  The guide made a point of letting us know he would have to go back as quickly as possible because of the difficulty of navigating in the dark.  We made it back in a little less than an hour.  Our drive back to the motel was uneventful and it took about forty minutes.  By the time we got back, had some dinner in the motel restaurant, and got back to our room, we were more than ready for a good night's sleep.  For our first full day in Belize, we felt we had done very well.  Our spontaneous and un-choreographed visit was proving to be as adventurous and exciting as we had originally expected.

One might think, after the comedy of occurrences in getting a rental car, everything else would go quite well.  We had been warned the roads in Belize might not be the greatest.  In fact, they were not bad, at all.  The main highway from Belize City to Corozal, located in the southernmost coastal area of Belize.  It was like driving on a country road in most any state in the U. S., except that it was not quite as smooth.  The speed limit was alternately posted in MPH and in KPH (kilometers per hour).  Our car had a speedometer that showed kilometers. 

We had inquired, at the car rental office, about the availability of restaurants and motels.  It was already a little after 5:00 p.m. and we were hoping to find a place to eat and a place to sleep, before we went too far.  "Oh, there are motels and restaurants all along the way," the lady had replied.  Armed with that information, we kept an eye out for the first restaurant.  It soon became apparent, there were no restaurants along the road.  Rather, there were little food stands located at distant intervals, which served up the native fare, but in driving by offered little appeal to newcomers.  Nor did we see any motels.  We managed to make it to Orange Walk, before it got dark.  As we drove into town, we saw places I would (at least from the perspective from the car) call flea bags.  Not interested in staying in a not at all attractive or inviting motel, we continued into town. 

Our first visual experience of a "city," in Belize, was not good and getting worse.  We have seen villages and towns in Mexico, which were filthy, poverty stricken, and undesirable, and that was the impression we were getting from Orange walk.  We didn't see the cardboard dwellings occupying vacant lots, but the people seemed to be homeless, or at least transients, just sitting on sidewalks, or leaning against the shops, which themselves were run down, unpainted, and had hand painted signs indicating what type of establishment was in that particular building.  It was intimidating enough that we decided to turn around and take the by-pass road around Orange Walk to head on toward Corozal. 

As mentioned, earlier, the road was their highway, but it was a simple and narrow two lane road.  It was getting darker and darker.  The people who lived there were either riding bicycles, walking, or just leading a cow or steer, along the road.  As it got darker, it got more difficult to see the people at the side of the road.  We marveled at their courage or lack of caution in putting themselves in danger of being hit by a passing car.  Since it had also become apparent there were few, if any, rules of conduct on the road (limited to aggressive speed bumps placed at various intervals along the highway to reduce the speed of the traffic), we were amazed at their lack of fear.  We were, naturally, becoming apprehensive about our prospects of finding a decent place to spend the night, much less finding a place to get a meal.  It was now dark.  We were wondering if we had been to cocky to have made this trip without having to find a place to reserve ahead of time, on line.  Just as we were thinking we would have to find a safe place to park and get some sleep in the car, we drove around a bend and saw a large sign that said "Tony's Inn at the Sea."  It came up so abruptly, I was past the road before I could stop.  I found a place to turn around and we went back.  Although the access road, to the Inn, was in poor condition, with deep pot holes, we found the driveway and pulled into the motel.  It was not only attractive, it was an answer to prayer.  We checked in, finding we were still in the "off season" and there was a special price of $60.00 per night, which would last for another two weeks.  The motel also had a nice restaurant and very good food.  Our room was large and comfortable and, although perhaps not as well appointed as we were accustomed to in America and some of the other countries we had visited, we were very comfortable in it.  We were, at long last (although the drive had only taken about two and a half hours, it seemed like an eternity), in Corozal.

Since this Blogging thing is all new to me, and since we are not continuously traveling, I will, from time-to-time, create a "flash-back" to recap some of the details of our recent travels.  Today, I have chosen to recap some of the things we experienced in Belize.

As I mentioned, this trip was a completely independent trip.  That means we did not have a tour guide or an itemized agenda that was created either by us or for us.  Once we landed in Belize City, we were on our own.  Evelyn had reserved a rental car with a budget type rental company, the idea being we would get a better price by having the reservation.  In the real world, we found it to be a little more restrictive than we expected.  We walked into the cubical (this office was barely 100 square feet in size) and proceeded to confirm our reservation.  We don't like traveling with too many credit cards, because losing them creates  more work to cancel.  In this case, we had chosen two cards to take with us and both of them were Visa cards.  The advantage of paying with our Visa card was that the supplemental insurance is covered by the card provider.  The nice lady was filling out the necessary paperwork and got to the part where she wanted us to pay for the insurance.  I informed her of the automatic insurance coverage provided by the card.  She promptly informed us of their company's policy of not accepting that as the insurance coverage, unless we were to use a Master Card (I am convinced they would have told us the opposite, if we had said we only had a Master Card).  The additional cost for the insurance would have been significant, for the twelve days we were there, so I told the lady we would like to consider it for a few minutes and left the office. 

This is the car we got from Avis.  Not great, but adequate.

Now this office was only one of many, including Hertz, Avis, Budget, Enterprise, and several others.  We decided to try Avis, walked into the office (again a tiny space), and told them what we were interested in doing.  The lady in this office was very accommodating.  Not only did she agree to accept the insurance from the automatic credit card coverage, but she gave us a slightly better price than what the "inexpensive" company was going to give us. 

Evelyn getting our of car for small ferry ride.  More on this later.

The other thing we found out we had to watch out for was the principle of poverty.  There was a large, very dark skinned, gentleman, who was overly anxious to try to carry our luggage for us.  Now I wasn't borne, yesterday.  First of all, Evelyn is an expert packer for traveling.  We travel only with carry-ons, even if we spend a month, somewhere.  That means we don't need a porter to carry a huge pile of luggage.  Secondly, we know when someone is looking for a tip and, while I don't have a problem with providing a gratuity for service, I am not going to let the "service provider" dictate the value of that service.  Belize has a currency that is 50% of the US Dollar.  The inhabitants buy their wares and needs based on that Belizian currency.  If you give them a tip of $1.00 U.S., you are giving them two Belizian Dollars. 

This gentleman was intimidating to my wife, which I don't like, at all.  I drew him outside the building on the pretense of looking at the car we would be getting (this was with the original company we had booked with).  He threw the bags into the back of the car he was suggesting we would be getting.  I offered him a $2 tip, which I thought was generous, considering we only had two carry-on bags.  He got real close, to talk to me confidentially, and said "I get $5.00 for this."  I could tell he was trying to make sure no one else heard that, so I did not respond the way he expected.  I pulled the bags back out of the car, walked back to the office (he followed, but did not enter the office with me, again).  I asked the lady in the office if the man, outside, worked for her.  She said he did not.  Not only did I not feel obligated to give him a tip, but I no longer felt the need to let him provide a service.  One truly has to be aware of what is taking place.  Poverty increases the ideas and systems by which one gets taken advantage of, but you don't have to give in to those kinds of manipulations.  More on this adventure to follow.

Traveling in a recessionary world

Although my wife and I have been world travelers since our early years together, traveling in our current economy is more of a challenge.  I, personally, know a lot of people who thought they would retire and travel to all the places they had dreamed of when they were younger.  The current recession (read depression) has depleted far too many retirement funds and those people are not able to travel, now.  Many are doing well, just to keep their house out of foreclosure.  Although we, too, lost a lot of money in the stock market, the real estate market, and other investments, we haven't given up on our dream of continuing to travel in retirement.

It is true, we now have to find more affordable ways of traveling, what we have discovered, over the past few years is, we can still find deals and, if we are willing to be adventurous, creative, and independent, we can still experience the good traveling retirement life.  For instance, my wife found a cruise, in March of 2010, which was very affordable.  We booked a Carnival Cruise from Long Beach California to Puerto Vallarta, then Mazatlan, then Cabo San Lucas.  It cost just over $400 per person (double occupancy) for seven days.  Sure we had to drive from our home in Grass Valley, California, to Long Beach and back, but that only added a little under $75 and we booked two excursions while in the ports of call, which set us back a total of about $180.  For slightly over a thousand dollars, we were wined and dined with a luxury and leisure that is not easily found in other ways.  

The same year, in November, She booked flights from Sacramento to Belize City, Belize.  She was able to find flights for under $500 each and, because it was two weeks before the high season, there, we were able to rent a car (with some negotiating at the rental office at the airport) for about $600 for the full twelve days we stayed there.  Hotels were reasonable (again, because it was right before the high season), food was affordable, the sights were splendid (we saw several Mayan ruins) and because the whole country is small, we were able to experience Belize from Corozal to San Ignacio, to Placencia.  From Arid Caribbean coastal weather to Rain Forests, poverty stricken communities to four star hotels.  With food, lodging and travel, we managed to spend less than two thousand dollars for the full twelve day trip.  That encouraged us, greatly. 

My wife climbing the tallest pyramid

My wife and I in front of a Mayan Pyramid

A view from our table at a four star hotel

After a break of a full year, in which our daughter and two of our grand children moved into our area and we dedicated ourselves to helping them get settled in, we are again planning on doing some traveling.  My wife was born in Berlin, Germany, and her mother,brother, and other relatives still live there.  We are planning on traveling there this June (2012) for my mother-in-law's 90th birthday.  Since Berlin has so much to offer, from 1200 year old buildings and artifacts to modern/contemporary buildings; from lazy boat, sight seeing, cruises on one of the many rivers there, to dining in many diverse and international restaurants, we are looking forward to finding the best and most inexpensive ways of experiencing all the riches Berlin and the surrounding communities have to offer.