A lack of connectivity will keep me from posting each day we are in Belize, but let me give you  a sense of it and some background that relates to some other posts I have done. We are with a couple who chose to become ex-pats here some time back and have created at wonderful place that can be seen at http://casabrisabythesea.com

We were all in the Army together and followed the many aspects of them purchasing land, building the home and living in Belize on Ambergis Caye. Those aspects are far too numerous to explain, but telling of them would most assuredly fill a book as others have done with similar experiences. Our friends have loved the past 14 years, but like many of us as we get older, they’ve decided that it’s time to be more accessbile to family and friends and they’ve put the house up for sale.

As divers, Belize has long been on our list and since we’ve wanted to see Casa Brisa, we flew in yesterday to visit with our friends and will take a water taxi tomorrow back to Belize City where we will catch the dive boat for a one-week dive trip. Now, to say that we flew in to visit is correct. That was a direct flight from Miami of just at two hours to then catch a very small plane for the 15-minute flight to San Pedro, the main town on Ambergis Caye. Our friends’ place is actually on the “back” side of the island, meaning not on the reef side. We were greeted with hugs and one of their regular taxi drivers loaded us into the little van to go to the dock where their small boat waited, complete with groceries and Belikin beer (local and good) for the 15-minute ride to their place. I say one of their regular taxi drivers because they have no car. They have no car because their part of the island has no roads. They have two boats they use for making the quick run into town that can be as short as 8-10 minutes depending on which part of town they go into.

To say that the grounds here are lovely is an understatement. Palms, hibiscus, orchids, mangroves, and thousands of trees/plants cover the 3 acres. Despite the delays it caused in building the grounds, they were adamant that the double lot not be clear-cut as was the custom. Of course, when Cat Four Hurricane Keith roared through, he was not so considerate, but other trees have now grown back to replace those that were destroyed.

This is our first time to personally be in a house with primarily solar power and we spent part of yesterday looking at panels, the array of batteries, electrical system, and generator. Okay yes, such things appeal to our logisitcs background. It is a great system and we were most impressed from an engineering point of view.

Anyway, today will bring snorkeling and more relaxing in the beautiful Casa Brisa with dear friends. I’ll post tomorrow with those adventures.