Today is the start of my return home.

Woke up to a 15 minute rain shower. First real rain since I've been in Belize. I was mostly packed already so it was a leisurely morning. I said good- bye to the people at the resort and to the beach too! I'll miss it especially since I know it will be cold and snowy in Calgary.

I went at about 9:30 to the Placencia airport for my 10:00 flight to Belize City. It was a small plane with 10 passengers after we picked up some along the way. We stopped in 4 places along the way. All short flights. It was nice to see the shoreline and the reef as well as mountains and forest from the air along the way.

At the Belize municipal airport, I met Jorge and David his son. I had a few hours to spare so I booked a tour with them.

First they drove me through the streets of Belize City. It's just a small city of 75,000 people. Largely a run down city but there were a few nice places to see such as the Anglican cathedral built in 1812, a small lighthouse, etc. There is an area in town that is gated and fenced which is meant for tourists. We didn't go in there. . . it's basically where the cruise ships take their passengers. Right now, there aren't many cruise ships that arrive in Belize since there is a dispute between the government and cruise lines over the per head docking fee. The difference is $1 right now which is keeping lots more tourist dollars out of the country. Oh well.

After the city tour, we drove out to the Belize Zoo for a tour. It's not a big zoo, but quite a few interesting animals I hadn't seen before such as the national animal, a tapir or mountain cow to the locals. There are a few cats like the jaguar and cougar, and a few different birds. Unfortunately, they don't even have a toucan right now since it died.

We still had some time to spare so Jorge took me a slightly longer way back to the Belize International airport through a couple small towns.

I'm writing this now as I wait for the plane. I was a couple hours early, which is good.

I leave Belize with mixed feelings. I enjoyed it here and would have been comfortable staying longer in a relaxing place like Placencia. But I'll also be glad to be home, snow and cold and all.

That's it for now until my next adventure!