Thursday, October 30, 2008

The visa run

Obtaining residency here is not necessarily hard, just annoying. After spend $60 to have my birth certificate sent to Honduras then to only learn that I need to spend another $20 and pay for the birth certificates round trip to get it apostatized (think of it as a certification the the original certificate is in fact real) along with my marriage certificate and my background check, I have decided to put my residency application on the back burner. The only problem with not having residency is that I only at the max (including the extension) get 120 days in the country, about four months. This time around the timing was right that it was better for me to not get the extension as november is a busy month and just to leave the country now(last week)... so off to Belize!

The trip was initally to last M-F but then you must remember I live in Honduras and when do things go as planed? Esposo and I originally planned to leave here Sunday and be in San Pedro Sula if not at the port where the boat took off... and it only takes off on Monday and only comes back on Friday. But Esposo's mom needed to go shopping in San Pedro Sula and needed someone to go with her so I was conned into it. Esposo was to take a bus to San Pedro Sula and be there Sunday afternoon, then he and I would drive over to the port park the car then drive all the way back home. Esposo's mom and his uncle who was also with us were going to take the bus back home. But it rained. And by rained it rained a lot to the point where the rivers broke over the bridges and cars could not go by. So Esposo did not come on Sunday and the bridges were not going to be passable on Monday either so Esposo decided to fly from Tegucigalpa to San Pedro Sula Monday morning. Luckily the weather was too bad for the boat to go on Monday, then on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday. But the roads were decent so Esposo's mom and uncle took the car back home. By this point (Wednesday) my visa was expired and I don't like to be in a country when my visa is expired. So we found that there was a way that we could get through Belize through Guatemala (Guatemala has a treaty with Honduras, so going there I am on the same Visa as Honduras) So with this in our heads Esposo and I were off. First by car, then walking, then motorcycle, then walking, then another motorcycle, then by bus, some more walking, and finally by boat. The boat ride was most memorable as there was only one other person. An older lady that was extremely calm, almost sleeping, and as Esposo and I were having our spines compressed as the small boat was slammed out of the water from the waves and the engine shut off then returned to the water with a huge slam. I thought to my self if this old lady is calm, as I am sure she was taken this boat ride many times, maybe this ride isn’t to bad. Then Esposo turned around then realized she wasn’t necessarily calm- she was praying.

So Belize overall was very, very, very calm. I was told that it is currently the slow season so I am unsure how touristy it is during tourist season. The food was tasty, everyone was so relaxed and also helpful. We went to the beach were the sand was obliviously made of sea shells that have been grinded in the ocean. Making the beach very beautiful and because it was the low season it seemed as though we had the beach to ourselves In Belize the national language is English but very Caribbean English which made it hard for me to understand what they were saying sometimes, and Esposo tended to resort to Spanish at times with was much, much easier to understand. So while we ended up having only about one whole day and two half days Belize and my visa run were very exciting and my residency application is becoming more important. .