Drive to Central Belize and double flight planning

It's been a loooong day and I am frankly pretty knackered. Got up at 5.30 to work on the internet, then took the kayak for a little round before meeting everybody else for a hefty breakfast cooked by our wonderful host Kathy!

Allie trying her kayaking skills

Checking out of the cute Bamboleo Inn it was time to change our rented vehicle to a bigger pick up truck and get the balloon out of the aeroplane and through Belizian customs. A major challenge. But with the help of some friendly handling agents we managed to get all our bags and stuff through the scanners and customs channels.

Enjoying a delicious full Belizian breakfast with other guests

Finally hitting the roads of Belize we drive 130km to Belmopan where we stop at the little airstrip and are kindly invited to take photos and have a free coffee! We then drive to the rustic town of St. Elena and Ignazio where we check into the 3-star popular Midas Hotel.

flight planning nearly all day since 7am in the morning...

By 3.30 pm we meet Ranch farmer Abdala who very kindly shows us around his spacious land and offers various launch sites for our planned flight the next morning! The land certainly looks perfect with lots of grassland and less swamp! We also discover this old crashed Beech Queen Air that came to its end here during a 'wet'dropping exercise - meaning some drug smuggling sortie!! A local Welshman who lives at the strip told us at least 5 such stories of similar happenings!

the crashed drug smugglers Queen Air
PS: all the film clips I hoped to upload to this blog are sadly too large in file and the blog doesn't allow me the upload. Sorry!

All we need now, it less wind! Let's hope for the morning! We return to the hotel to meet up again with Flippie who has worked hard on sorting the next difficult routing to Costa Rica. It will be a big challenge for the pilot and our old Beech as we have to cross 10,000ft high terrain and many military airspace zones. Flippie spent all afternoon on the phone with friends and helpers to sort out the best and safest routing. Thank you Flippie for your hard work!

there is some great street art in town

I need a short walk and stroll to downtown quirky St Elena which is full of fascinating street art!

fabulous street art

It's time to find a cold beer and eat as none of us had lunch. We end up in a nice garden restaurant and enjoy a new type of  beer called 'Carib' together with fried fish, tortillas and fajitas. A final glass of wine sends us tired to bed. The alarm will go off at 5am and we'll hopefully go ballooning....

retrospect film clips from Cuba

Please enjoy some videos from our time in Cuba that I previously couldn't upload. The internet here is faster than home in the UK!The first one is our arrival at Kawama airport, the second us on finals to land and the last one is from our ballooning in Vinales:

We had a good night at the Bamboleo Inn and a delicious dinner shared with guest house owners Dan and Kathy. The plan today is to go back to the airport and collect the balloon and drive inland where we will meet friends of Kathy who own some farming land.

It's pretty windy here, so not sure whether any ballooning will work. But worth a try.
We are also clearly running out of time for many of the other planned countries in Central America, so will have to concentrate our minds on a few key places.

Not being able to swim in the backwaters of this area in Belize I have taken to kayaking this morning followed by an intensive re-planning session with Phil.

A panoramic view of Vinales/Cuba from a balloon

With finally some superb speedy internet I may be able to upload a few videos. Enjoy those from Cuba!

Above the Caribbean heading for Belize and Central America

Above the Caribbean heading for Belize and Central America

Sitting here in our Beech cruising with 155kt at 9000ft over the azure blue waters of the Caribbean sea it’s hard to believe this is all real!!

After more than a week on the ground in Cuba, we are finally on the move again, this time crossing around 550 miles of ocean to Belize! One of our longest sectors on the whole trip.

Looking down on those waters and scanning the horizon, there is indeed nothing else than water. No more islands, no land in sight on our GPS.

no more land - only the massive ocean for 3 hours of flying

We had an early start leaving the casa Rosa with Daniel as our personal taxi driver. Having loaded and strapped in the balloon yesterday afternoon we were soon ready after Flippie had done his checks.

Flippie refuelling the Beech

Time for final photos with our wonderful Cuban aviation friends. 

farewell to all our Cuban friends

It had been an outstanding week with overwhelming hospitality and kindness. Despite all the odds, we had managed to fly the Beech all the way from Bristol to Cuba and flew the balloon for a first time in Vinales. Experiences that will forever stay in my mind.

Iseult on her first flight

Taking off at exactly 8.30 we wave to our friends and head for Varadero International where we have to clear customs and immigration and fill the Beech with expensive Avgas.

refuelling at Varadero

very kind help by the local airport staff

A nice final touch as the controller from Havana ATC says on Havana Radar frequency “ thank you for visiting us and best wishes from your friends in the Aero Club of Cuba”.

Capt Flippie Vermeulen at the controls

Heading now for Central America and to countries where neither of us has ever been will be another challenge. We will have to fully rely on ourselves and the assistance of others - whoever that might be.

and co-pilot Mr Phil

We also have no idea yet on how to achieve any ballooning. This will have to be decided as we go along. The ‘step-grandmother’ – as we started calling this long body-shape looking envelope is resting right here next to me. Underneath are the burner and fan whilst the basket is resting by the side with the two Worthingtons strapped against the back door.

being shuttled in our private bus back to the aeroplane

our personal boarding pass

All our other belongings from computer and document bags, food and drink, camera and film equipment, ballooning kit, a life raft and our two luggage bags are scattered around the main cabin.

Phil and Flippie in discussion

Today Phil and Flippie are smartly dressed in proper airline captain shirts with Flippie wearing his appropriate four stripes whilst Phil has three. And me? The on board stewardess? I am lacking everything from high-heels, to black tights and a cap. But never mind. I am charge of food and drink and our life raft!

a final farewell photo from Cuba! What a wonderful time we had!

Passing the last piece of Cuban land – the Isla de la Juventud (island of youth) – I serve our captains cheese and pate sandwiches. Sadly there is no champagne on board and we have to stick with plain water. The flight time is nearly 4 hours, so better not drink too much anyway.

We finally reach the shores of the Belize islands. I can see why many tourists come here to spend their holidays on those pristine beaches with abundant diving opportunities and luxurious cottages and hotels!

Philip S.W. Goldson International airport is a busy place! Tons of Bandeirante, King Airs, Cessna 208 Caravans and many more were buzzing in and out here. We are greeted by friendly local airport staff and Betty swallows yet more gallons of very expensive Avgas. We fully expected to be able to pay by credit card here but they only accept cash which creates a big hole in our pockets.

Flippie battling with the broken parts

But the shock is not yet over as Flippie and Phil discover a broken cowling latch! Oh no! Luckily with the help of a local engineer and Flippie’s perseverance the problem is fixed after 2 hours of hard work in the baking sunshine and 99% humidity.

waiting for things to happen. Belize was once a British colony!

Whilst Flippie is busy with fixing the aeroplane, Phil and I sort out a hire car and book a local guesthouse ‘the Bamboleo Inn’, thanks to Maryna for sourcing it!

The lovely Bamboleo Inn

We didn’t know, but there is a 2 hour time difference between Cuba and Belize making sunset now 6pm. We are hungry, tired and thirsty, so will dump the writing now and retreat to a bottle of chilled white wine with chicken pie. Luckily we are back to wifi and internet and were surprised that even the airport offered free access to this modern addiction!

Better news finally!

The morning dawned but still no positive news. With a time difference of 5-6 hours between Cuba and the UK or Europe we are constantly battling the push against office closing times and receiving messages in good time.

And internet being so dire and hard to find, it’s a struggle to get anything sorted on the email front. Flippie – bless his soul – has been queuing for an hour again to get a telephone card which allows us to be online for 60 minutes.

By 10.30 though some positive news come through: the Belizians have realized their mistake and we finally have the clearance to GO!!! Fabulous news and thanks so much to all of you who were instrumental in sorting this not quite necessary problem!!!

We are now going to prepare the aircraft, sort out flight planning and accommodation and hope to be on the move again very early tomorrow morning!

Wish us luck!

In the meantime we received publicity in form of various articles and a live report on 'Cuban International TV'. see screenshots here but sadly I cannot upload the link as internet too slow, will try when in Belize:

Inspection of Daniel’s old balloon and frustrations with Belize

A bit of a frustrating day as we are making no progress to go anywhere. The Belize aviation authorities are making a huge fuss about everything, we can’t fly directly to Guatemala as it’s too far and we don’t really want to go to Mexico if we can avoid it.

Phil attaches a sticker to the Beech kindly presented by Daniel

Flippie, his wife Vlooi and a good friend Michael at home are working like tigers all day trying to make the impossible possible whilst our Cuban friends are assisting with communications with the Belize authorities. But things are still not going the way they should. Rather depressing for now…

inflation of the old FESTO balloon

After a very delayed pick up, we finally get to Kawama airport where Daniel, the balloon master is waiting for us. We offer to inspect his old Cameron 105 envelope that the Lithuanian balloon club (Gintaras Surkus, Hello Gintaras!) donated to the Cubans many years ago. The balloon has been sitting in its bag for years and looks rather tired and porous.

Phil and Daniel inside the balloon

A cold inflation and a check of the fabric tells us with one eye that this balloon sadly will not fly anymore. All the coating has gone off the middle panels and there are numerous small holes. But the hyperlast parachute still looks in good shape and so does the tempi label. Anyway, the action makes for a good photo shoot for all the skydivers and other staff of the airport.

We then retreat back to Casa Rosa and head for the only wifi place in town: a noisy Cuban café bar 10mins walk away. Whereas Vinales was dotted with wifi hot spots, Varadero – also a major tourist hub - seems to be devoid of any such facilities. 

Our subdued mood only cheers up over a couple of strong Mojitos and some delicious fresh fried fish at a local restaurant. The conversation tonight revolves around steam trains and mentalities of different cultures. A good distraction from current problems and frustrations....

Flippie and Phil in discussion

The drama with Belize continues for the rest of the day until late at night.

at least dogs don't seem to have any worries...

So let me tell you a bit about shopping here in Cuba:

Being the only female in our small team, I try and feed the ‘boys’ with food as most days when we travel, we don’t get time to have lunches. Still hoping that we might get away to ‘somewhere’ by early tomorrow, I set off with my rucksack trying to find a supermarket here on the strip of Varadero.

street scene in Varadero

Asking around, I am finally pointed to the one and only shop. As I try and enter the store, I am waved away. Eh? Ok, I finally understand: personal bags are not allowed. I must pay 1 cuc and drop it at a luggage deposit counter.

I am now hunting for food. But the shelves are pretty empty. You can buy all sorts of spirits, good wine and dozens of different types of rum and vodka, but there is no bread, nothing to put on bread, no vegetables, no fruit, no butter, no milk. In fact we found that the whole country doesn’t have milk or butter.

empty bread shop

So not much has changed since we discovered that shortage in 2007 when we had to stay at an all-inclusive club at the Bay of Pigs. Breakfast buffet opened at 7am. We turned up at ten past 7 only to find that the buffet was empty. Looking around the tables we saw piles of yellow little balls and bread stacked up 50 inches high. The little yellow things turned out to be butter!!  Butter was clearly something rare and desirable – and it obviously still is like fresh milk.

The only stuff you find that resembles the taste of milk is mixed up milk powder.

Looking into the massive deep freeze I stare into an empty abyss. The only two things you might occasionally find in those freezers are large packs of frozen meat or ice cream!

sunset over Varadero

Having failed to buy anything except some water and a piece of cheese, I now have to find the paneria to get bread. Bread only comes in fluffy white burgers or sliced soggy toast. I start dreaming of German bakeries and return to our base with my selected few shopping goodies. Experiences like this, make you appreciate the stacks of foods that we find in our supermarkets and how truly spoilt we are for choice.

Third and fourth flight in Vinales, long drive back to Varadero, meeting again with Flippie and planning ; Easter Sunday the 1st of April

Easter morning in Vinales and we got two more flights in! 

First Phil took Daniel for his first ever flight. As they took off they flew straight down the main road of Vinales. 

Everybody was amazed to see this odd thing in the sky and many took photographs and stopped on the roads.

 As the heading was towards the hills and forest and no-man’s land I only cruised at about 300ft above ground trying as hard as I could to find a wind that would bring us closer to a road.

With lots of patience (and some luck) indeed the surface swung round and we finally landed after another 30mins just by one of the large tobacco farms. The owner – a very good friend of Jorge and one of the most influential tobacco farmers - came out to greet us and two young gauchos helped us to carry the balloon out.

After refuelling and packing the balloon, we celebrated our wonderful flights with Spanish Brut and a hearty breakfast at Iseult and Jorge’s beautiful house.

Getting everybody moving took some time, but we eventually got on the road back towards Varadero. Kindly two guys from the parachuting club had come all the way to pick us up. 

The drive drags but eventually we arrived at the Kawama skydiving centre at 5pm and off-load the balloon and check that Betty is still there. She had a new mate on the tarmac in the form of an old AN2.

Just as we were admiring this sturdy old plane, we had to admire something else: the most stunning looking two young female captains stepping out of the terminal followed by the group of skydivers. The girls with their high-heels, dark glasses and tight-fitting clothes looked anything other than AN2 pilots!! As they climbed into the aeroplane, the high-heels were swapped for flat slippers and in no time they got airborne.

It was time to check back into Rosa’s B&B where Flippie had been waiting. John had now flown back to Seattle to spend Easter with his son, wife and grand-children. After a refreshing dip in the sea Phil, Flippie and myself retreated for dinner and a bottle of wine.

The news from Flippie regarding the next destinations wasn’t great. Despite endless preparatory work by Flippie and his wife Maryna who had researched and requested flight permissions for Belize and Guatemala (and all the other countries), there was still utter silence and no answers. Maybe this was due to the Easter holidays, maybe due to slow internet.

Whatever the reason, it meant that we won’t leave tomorrow. Oh well, there is lots to catch up with – like writing this and sorting photos, washing our laundry, checking the aircraft, packing the balloon and getting our head round the next countries.

Internet sadly is still a massive problem. Despite Varadero being such a tourist hub, there is only one pub in town where one can tap into some free wifi, but only with a valid telephone card which is hard to find and buy. 

Just to briefly add now what's happening today Monday the 2nd of April:

We are still struggling to get any answers out of Belize and they are making all sorts of complications for us with licences and medicals ...it's VERY frustrating and we don't know what to do next. Everybody being on Easter holidays of course doesn't help our problems!! Keep fingers crossed!