Belize!

After over-nighting Monday in Dorval, we got up too early and were at the airport more than three hours ahead of our flight on Tuesday morning. The otherpassengers trickled in between 1 and 2 hours before the flight which didn't win Paul any points with Reg.

American Airlines turned up on time with a Boeing 737, just ahead of a sprinkling of snow. We treated ourselves to Business Class, and so boarded first and luxuriated in the spacious seats while the plane trundled off to be deiced.

We left a little late for the three and a half hour flight to Miami. I don't know about you, but when we fly, we invariably land at Gate 1 and find that our connecting flight is at Gate 246. This time, we deplaned at Gate 8 and our flight (unbelievably) was at Gate 9. In the same terminal!

A two-hour wait ensued, then more Business Class to Cancun, arriving about 8 PM local time (one hour West of Montreal). The Cancun airport is seriously overloaded. Though clean and modern, two flights arriving at once simply swamps the ground facilities and long lines ensue for Customs, Immigration, Taxis/shuttles. It took over an hour to clear the airport and another half-hour to get ourselves on a shuttle to our downtown Cancun Best Western (one of their less salubrious efforts, by the way).

After a nice, if slow, breakfast Wednesday, we took a taxi to the ADO bus terminal (tickets had been purchased at the airport the night before while we waited for the shuttle ) to board a clean, modern, air-conditioned Mercedes bus for the 5-hour trip over good roads to Chetumal on the border with Belize. There we were collected by the Belize VIP Transfer service (in a tiny Tracker) for the short drive across the border to Corozal and our destination. Contrary to information received, one must pay an Exit Fee of $25US per person, when leaving Mexico, even if one is merely in transit

Lily and her husband Ian received us and showed us to our cottage, then brought us some take-out menus so we could order our first meal in Belize on the house! Oddly, we opted for Chinese which was delivered from around the corner in 30 minutes.  Turns out there's a Chinatown in Corozal too!  They're everywhere.

We were ready for an early evening after that.