Friday the 13th, 6 Months of Living in Belize and Belizean Betty Friday

Today is Friday the 13th which is considered unlucky in Western superstition and it also marks our 6 month anniversary of living in San Pedro, Belize in Central America.  We flew to Belize on January Friday the 13th, 2012 and I am usually not superstitious, but our trip to Belize in January was definitely a Friday 13th kind of day.  I feel certain today, July Friday the 13th will not be as eventful.  You can read about our January, Friday 13th move to Belize here.


Interesting events that happened on Friday the 13th. (Information obtained from Wikipedia)

• On October 13, 1307, Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay and several Templar Knights were arrested by King Phillip of France. Most were eventually tortured to death.
• On January 13, 1939, the single worst bushfire in Australian history struck Victoria, Australia, claiming 71 lives and causing widespread damage.
• On March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese was murdered in Queens, New York. The lack of reaction by her neighbors has been called the bystander effect or "Genovese syndrome"
• On October 13, 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed in the Andes. Books and movies told of the survivors' stories.
• The renowned rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur was pronounced dead on September 13, 1996.
• On November 13, 1998, Michel Trudeau, son of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was killed in an avalanche in Kokanee Lake, British Columbia
• On August 13, 2004, Hurricane Charley slammed in to Southwest Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, the strongest hurricane to hit the United States since 1992.
• An engineering train on the Northern Line of the London Underground became uncoupled and went on a 13-minute journey southbound from Archway station, finally stopping at Warren Street tube station on the West End branch of the line on August 13, 2010. The train in front was forced to skip several stations and was diverted to the City branch of the line.^[24]
• On January 13, 2012, France, Austria, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Italy, Portugal and Spain had their credit ratings downgraded by Standard & Poor's^[25][26][27]
• On January 13, 2012, the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia sank in front of the island of Isola del Giglio, killing at least thirty-two aboard and injuring 64.^[28]
• North Korean satellite launch attempt Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 failed on April 13, 2012.
• The asteroid 99942 Apophis will make a close encounter with Earth, closer than the orbits of communication satellites, on April 13, 2029.^[29]
• On April 13, 2012 at 8:30, an earthquake hit Palermo, Sicily, Italy with a 4.3 magnitude.
• On April 13, 2012 at 4:00 PM a tornado hit Oklahoma.

Here are some Friday the 13th Belizean Betty pictures.

Betty is learning to write her name.  She is practicing her B's.

Betty started taking gymnastic classes.   Look at that smile.

Betty went to her annual 4th of July parade in Austin.

Our Friday the 13th and Getting to Belize.

Continental Cargo drop off, we arrive at 5:00am.

Well our move to Belize did not start out the way we thought it was going to.  We were supposed to have flown out of Houston, Texas Friday on the 8:58am flight to Belize.  After weeks of careful planning, we still missed our flight.  We got up at 3:00am Friday morning thinking that would be enough time to get to the Continental Cargo area and drop off the 3 pups, take the rental truck back and get back to the airport in time for our flight.  Well that just wasn't going to happen on our Friday the 13th.

Getting the dogs settled and in their crates.

After we dropped off the pups, Bill dropped me off at the airport with all of the luggage.  He had to go and drop off the rental truck.  He was going to get a cab back to the airport.  I had called the day before to see if we could drop the truck off at a different location that was supposed to be closer to the airport.  We were to just drop off the key in the drop box which was to have been in the front door.  They said you can't miss it.  Bill called and said he didn't think this was the right place, there were no Budget rental trucks and no drop box in the door.  He had put the address into our GPS.  We decided we would just leave the truck there anyway and contact Budget and tell them where the truck was.  Time was running out and he had to get back to the airport. 

I had called Bill a cab and gave them the address to pick him up to bring him to the airport.  I called and called and the cab driver never showed up.  They said they were busy and would dispatch the first available cab to get him.  I had all the luggage with me and his passport.  Some really nice men at the airport helped me with all the luggage.  It is kind of hard to push two carts of luggage by yourself.  I finally got to the check in counter at Continental.  I explained to a very nice lady that my husband was not at the airport yet and was waiting on a cab to pick him up and bring him to the airport.  She then informed me he had 4 minutes to get there and get checked in.  Well I knew that was not going to happen. 

Continental decided that the size crate that they sent us to Petsmart to get the day before for Barney was now not going to be big enough.  We had to just leave the original crate that we had purchased and purchase another larger crate at Continental.  So they were nice enough to help put it together.

Bill was calling me about stressed to the max.  He told me to just get on the plane without him.  However due to 911, I could not leave his luggage or his passport with anyone.  So I could not get on the plane without him.  I explained to the nice lady that my 3 dogs had been dropped off at 5:00am this morning to the cargo area and that one of us had to be on the plane with them.  She then made three phone calls to the Cargo area.  That didn't even show they had our dogs.  I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown right there in the Houston airport.  Then the nice lady asked me were they two cats.  I said NO they are three large Siberian Huskies.  Everyone there in the cargo area knows these dogs.  Finally they found them.   She informs the cargo area of the situation and they were going to pull the dogs off the plane and put us all on the 1:30pm flight.  She gives me the confirmation number and says we are all good to go on the 1:30 flight. 

Next I call Bill, told him to not worry everything was covered and we would be on the later flight.  He then decided to just take the rental truck back to the original place we were to drop off the truck.  The next thing I know, Bill calls me back and said Continental just called and tells us that our 3 huskies are on their way to BELIZE!!!, they couldn't get the dogs off the plane in time.  I couldn't "Belize It", my dogs were going to get to Belize before we were. 

When we arrived at the airport at 4:00pm, we could hear Alina making enough noise that could be heard over the entire airport.  We knew they had made it.  Finally when we got through immigration, there they were, 3 very large crates sitting out in the middle of the baggage area.  They had everyone's attention of course.  Sorry no photos,  they told me I couldn't take any photos in the airport. 

From that point on it was smooth sailing.  A very nice Belizean gentleman named George was there to greet us.  He had been taking care of the pups until we got there.  Three guys helped load up luggage and the 3 dogs.  We breezed through customs and then it was on to the Quarantine department to have all of our documents checked on the dogs.  After we paid our permit fees for the dogs, we were then told we had to pay custom duties for the cost of shipping the dogs.  This was because they flew in the cargo area.  It had cost $2500 dollars to fly the dogs to Belize including the crates.  We finally worked out a suitable amount that we would have to pay in custom duties for the shipping of the dogs and we were finally on our way again.

Next we were greeted by Brittany over at Tropic Ferry.  A water taxi service that was going to take us to the island of Ambergris Caye.  They drove us to Vista Del Mar marina and we got on the boat and headed to the island. 

Getting on the boat at Vista Del Mar Marina.

Still smiling after being up since 3:00am.

The dogs loved the boat ride and so did we.  The weather was great and they served rum punch drinks that were very tasty.  We were the first to get off the boat.  They dropped us off at the Yacht Club pier and there was the next person that was to pick us up.  Aby, our cab driver was there waiting to help with the luggage and the dogs and get us to our new home.  WHEW!!!  We had finally arrived. 

Alina, one of the guys on the boat said "she acts like she is a person", we said "yes, we know".

Rum punch guy, he was responsible for keeping our glasses full of rum punch.  He did a great job.

Our boat driver, by the time we arrived to the island it was dark.  How do they see to drive that boat in the dark?

Our driver doesn't have to wear shoes with his job.

Our Belizean style house.

Lucky Friday the 13th-Moving to Belize

The day has finally come and we are moving and retiring to Belize today. Our bags have been packed and repacked. We are all checked in online with the airline, we have paid our extra bag fees ($80.00 for 2 extra checked bags) and will be flying with Continental Airlines because of the dogs. They will fly in the cargo area of the plane and it will be their first time to fly.The flight from Houston, Texas to Belize City is only 2 hours and 29 minutes, so it will be a short flight. 
 
Bill grows hot chili peppers, so we had to have permits from BAHA to be able to bring his seeds into Belize. He had to send an email to BAHA with a list of all the seeds he will be bringing. BAHA then issued us a permit. The seeds will have to be checked once we arrive by an inspector and of course we have to pay a fee and then he can bring in his pepper seeds.
 

Permit for pepper seeds.

We obtained our permits from BAHA to bring the dogs into Belize several weeks ago. We also had to have a vet certification from our vet within 14 days of entering the country with them.  You have to have specific international dog crates for shipping pets internationally. 

International Dog Crate

Certificate of Health

Certificate of Vaccination

Vet certifications

BAHA pet permits

Booking our flights, I had to make sure that we could book flights and get the dogs on the same flight with us. It will cost $7.00 per pound including the dog crates to fly each one to Belize. We had to purchase international dog crates and they are very expensive. It will cost us more to get the dogs to Belize than ourselves. We also needed to arrive in Belize on a week day and before 4:00pm to be able to have the dogs vet checked by a BAHA and get them into the country. Bill had the the people on the phone in Cargo reserving their place in the cargo area and I was on my laptop at the same time ready to book our flights. We were good to go and I booked our flights. As soon as I hit the purchase button I realized oh great we will be flying on Friday the 13th. I thought to myself, but this Friday the 13th will be a lucky day for us. I mean retiring to such a beautiful place, I consider myself very lucky.