At the last minute today we decided to head to Placencia because we heard the cold front was going to last a few more days. We had been thinking of going to Tobacco Caye but, we'd like to save that for when the weather is hotter. Also, Dave heard that there will be a ham radio contest this weekend and we thought he'd have a better chance of finding electricity for his radio in Placencia. He is hoping he will get a lot of contacts because of the contest. We caught a bus from the highway to Dangriga. The bus was really packed and Dave had to stand for a while. It kept filling up as they stopped to pick up people along the way. It was Dave's first experience at a really packed bus. After India, this was nothing to me. :-) We got off at Dangriga and headed for the bank because we were getting really short on cash. The ATM machines here have added security rooms. You have to use your ATM card to get into the rooms to use the ATM machines. It's supposed to be one person at a time. So, I let Dave go in first. He was in the room for a while and the glass was smoked, so it was hard to see what he was doing. I could kind of see that he was looking for something on the machine and it looked like he was going into a panic. As I waited I could see that his panic attack was getting worse, his hands were flying up in the air and he was bouncing up and down looking into every part of the machine. I thought maybe he didn't get his card back so I tried to get his attention. I yelled into the window, "What is wrong?" He yelled back something about no money. I had to read his lips because I really couldn't hear him. I yelled, "What did the machine say?" He looked at the receipt in his hand and then finally came out of the room. His face was beet red and he looked like he might actually cry. He was having an anxiety attack. He said, "It didn't give me any money. The receipt says I exceeded my balance." I said, that means you tried to take out more money than you have in your account. So, you need to lower the amount you are requesting. I had to assure him that everything was OK. It doesn't mean you did anything wrong and you haven't lost any money. Just go back in and ask for less money. So, after resting a few minutes, he went back into the room and finally came out with some money. I went in and got my money and finally we were ready to head back to the bus station. I decided maybe we should take care of some bank transactions online before we left to assure Dave that everything was all right. We had seen an Internet cafe not far from the bank. So we went in and I logged onto our bank account and transferred some money to his account so he could see that his account was fine. I also paid some bills while we were there since Aki had sent me a list of bills that were due and the amounts that were owed. So with all our banking problems resolved it was finally off to the bus station.
We had to wait for about 20 minutes and a bus showed up for Punta Gorda. The bus driver said that we could take this bus to Independence where we could take a water taxi to Placencia. So we got on the bus and we were off once again. Soon after we got on the bus the landscape changed to something drier and fewer vegetation with pine trees interspersed with the jungle type vegetation. These were short spindly pine trees. It didn't take long before we got to Independence and then a short wait for the Hokey Pokey water taxi. Dave had to use the restroom while we were waiting for the taxi. The gal pointed to this little outhouse on a separate mini dock just off from the main dock. He walked over to it and discovered that the toilet was just a hole into the water below. He could see the fish swimming around through the hole in the toilet. He thought it was pretty funny and took a picture.
The water taxi only took 10 minutes and we were in Placencia. We were surprised to find most of the places were full. We didn't expect that. So we had a hard time finding a place to stay. Apparently, a lot of Belizians come to Placencia for vacation so it gets full here on the weekends. We did find a place with a small room on a second floor with a balcony. Dave thought it would be a good spot to stet up his radio and he was all excited to get started. He quickly got it set up and immediately started making contacts. His first call he got someone from Croatia. He was so excited he forgot to write down his signal report and he was bouncing around the room trying to look up where the guy was from. He was like a little kid jumping up and down going from one book to another trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. I thought he was going to pee his pants he was that excited! He also got a contact from Bosnia, Western Sahara, Yugoslavia, Poland, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Hungary, Belize and France. He was a very happy boy right then. It was funny to see him go from anxiety ridden panic faces, to cranky sore feet faces, to excited little boy faces. I guess they were all little boy faces when I think of it.
We ate at a nice little Italian Restaurant Trattoria Placencia where they hand make their pasta noodles. They had a really good coffee which also made Dave happy. I keep breaking out in a rash on my chest for some reason. Pretty uncomfortable because I want to scratch at my nipples all the time. :-) I have to take benedryl to relieve the itch and then I get drowsy. I don't know what the hell is going on with that. I have more problems with allergies, it can be disheartening sometimes.
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Placencia Hotels
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