Jill & Chad

Chad is a visiting lecturer at the University of Belize in Belmopan, and friend Jill decided to visit him from Colorado for his Easter break. Although he’s been here since January, he’s been working and hasn’t had a lot of time to do many of the adventures Belize has to offer, so Jill stepped up and planned a vacation for the two of them. They rented a car for the first part of their vacation, so they drove up here from Belmopan in the afternoon, and then took off to see Big Rock and Five Sisters Falls. After having a beer at Five Sisters, they came back here in plenty of time for dinner with Angie and Pat, especially since Angie and Pat were delayed at the border on their return trip from Tikal. Dinner was an event, and Jill, who has celiac-sproue disease and is a vegetarian, was delighted to be eating in Belize where it’s very easy to avoid gluten, and we all ate corn tortillas, beans, beef with recado (for the meat eaters), veggies, salsa, and coco root soup.

The next morning they followed Tom, Angie, and Pat down the road to Georgeville, where they met up with Gonzo for an ATM tour. Tom had scheduled a well-child visit for the Isuzu at the dealer after leaving Pat and Angie at the Municipal Airport, so Chad and Jill were back from ATM before Tom, and filled the time by heading up the road to Mick’s Misty Mountain bar and sampling Mick’s many rum drinks. Chuck joined us for dinner because Marjie had already left for their wedding in the US, and Chuck wasn’t flying out until Thursday.

So, the five of us had a somewhat raucous dinner with lots and lots of laughing and joking, and Jill periodically interjecting how nice it was to be able to eat the food without worrying about whether or not it had gluten. I lit up some bananas for dessert, and managed, again, not to set the house on fire.

Jill and Chad slept in the next morning before heading out to return the rental car and catch the water taxi to Caye Caulker. We got promises from Chad to keep in touch while he’s in Belize and from Jill to stay here again if she’s in Belize, and gave Chad a pile of business cards to hand out in Belmopan. We’re hoping we see both of them again!