The Wanderings of busman7

Back in Canada 9 days now & feels like I am putting time in purgatory until the next adventure!

The trip back was fairly smooth, caught the 07:30 water taxi back to Belize City then a cab for the 1/2 hr ride to the airport for the exorbitant price of $25.00 US. then another 1/2 hr wait for the check-in personnel to finish a meeting, could have caught the 08:30 taxi, oh well check-in was smooth then pay the $35.00 US departure tax, why do they bother having their own money when they want everything in US? guess bills with the Queens picture aren’t worth much anywhere.

Good flight, about 95% full, with AA as always, regular flight so lots of legroom, don’t know how I ever stood those cattle-car charters, free pop & juice $6.00 for beer yikes!! Do to good ole “homeland security” upon landing in Miami had to collect luggage even though it was checked through but don’t have to take it through customs just take it a couple hundred ft & give it back to AA DUH!! Found the Spanish influence again in Miami as 95% of staff at airport were from that community so one last taste.

Then Immigration, now on the travel forums there is always questions about a Canadian entering the US with a Cuban stamp on your passport & all kinds of speculation & uninformed answers. Now I landed in Miami  6 months after leaving Ft Lauderdale with stamps for Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama a couple each for Belize, Guatemala + one for Cuba, Immigration man went straight to the Cuba one & wanted to know if I had cigars or anything when I answered no he asked me to confirm nothing not even coffee, he then put his Homeland Security stamp right beside the Cuban on & wished me a good trip home, NO problem at all!

A 4 hr layover in Miami then another good flight the rest of the way on a full plane, again free pop & juice, snacks & wraps for sale $6 for chip & cheese or $10 for an unappetizing wrap, then marathon walk to Immigration at Pearson where no problems for a change & was even asked how the trip was & where I got my fancy colored carry on, don’t know how he slipped through the screening process for that job LOL. Then after 3 changes as to which carousel the luggage was coming on got it & through customs unchecked & out into the cold to await my ride who had parked off property to save parking fees.

Evidently 6 months in Latin America is enough to make to make one suffer culture shock as for me Canada is lacking so much that has become important that my 4+ months here will be an endurance test rather a time to enjoy as I am home sick for Antigua already, even if the rainy season is starting.

As mentioned in a previous post my packing list was 99% on & everything worked as advertised & expected. The 1% basically was a couple too many pair of socks for the tropics but won’t change as will be in cooler climate at the start of RTW, plug adapters were never used in CA & forgot my shake flash light however happened on a pen with a light in the top while in Antigua in Nov, it was really handy & lasted the rest of the trip with battery just about finished when I lost it on the ocean trip on the river boat. Only things different for RTW will be replace pen lite, purchase a collapsible walking stick for times like the 4 hr jungle hike at Tikal & take the pure wool hoody light jacket I bought in the Indigenous craft section of the Antigua market just before I left.

To sum up trip was successful beyond my wildest dreams, still have much to see in CA but will return to reside in Guatemala so plenty of time to explore more. Also learned my travel style is hostel & guest house so can plan & budget RTW with more accuracy.

Any questions I will be happy to answer just ask on blog or pm on bootsnall or ask on facebook hey I’m not hard to find & stay tuned for trivia throughout the summer & shall post my proposed RTW itinerary shortly.

Thanks for the interest

busman7 aka Dave en Espsñol David as Dave is hard for Spanish speakers to pronounce

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 2nd, 2009 at 20:28 and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.