Belize Adventure Begins

Our trip started early on the day after Christmas:  6:45 a.m. departure from East Montgomery Street so we might get to Dulles two hours ahead of our 10 a.m. flight to San Salvador on Avianca/TACA.  We were early, made it through security in plenty of time to have a coffee before boarding the flight.

Once everyone was aboard, the captain announced a one hour delay due to "heavy air traffic."  Forty five minutes later a family of four came on board the plane, which seemed to suggest the captain had not been exactly truthful about the reason for the delay.  We were concerned about making our tight connection (about 1 hour) in San Salvador for our flight to Belize City.

Despite arriving nearly an hour late in San Salvador and having to connect at the opposite end of the airport, our flight to Belize City was waiting for us (and about a dozen other people making the same connection). Our flight arrived in Belize at the originally scheduled time - clearly the "heavy air traffic" delays are built in to their flight schedule.

We picked up our rental at the Hertz counter and headed out for the jungle around 4:30 p.m.   Five hours later we pulled into our place in the jungle, Cotton Tree Lodge, tired after the 16 hour trip, but ready for the adventure to begin.