Nov. 23, 2008
BELIZE CITY, Belize -
Editor's Note: The Illinois State softball team is participating in an international tour in Belize from Nov. 22-30. Throughout the trip, GoRedbirds.com will provide Illinois State Athletics fans with player and coach blogs, photo galleries and fun facts about Belize. Sunday's blog comes from senior catcher Casey Gorrell.
Greetings to all of our Redbird family and friends back home in the States!
This is Casey Gorrell, and I will be the first to fill you in on the exciting things happening in our trip to BELIZE!
Our day started off dark and early this morning (Saturday, Nov. 22) when we arrived at the Bloomington airport at 4:45 a.m. As you can imagine, there was tons of excitement in the air as we waited in our red travel suits with passports in hand. We made it through security with only a few minor overweight bag problems and congregated together in the CIR Airport knowing that in just a few short hours, we would be flying across the ocean to represent Illinois State softball for the Third International Softball Tour!
However, our initial adrenaline of the morning soon wore off and we slept hard all the way to our layover stop in Georgia. Once landing in Atlanta, we encountered a few small detours within the terminals but finally found our gate and boarded Delta Flight 315 to Belize City, Belize!
The flight into Belize was truly remarkable. For the majority of us who have never traveled outside the United States, we were taken aback by the drastic difference in landscape, development and beautiful waters. We landed on the runway and stepped off the plane to greet the most beautiful weather any of us have experienced since our tournament in Miami last year. The temperature was about 70 degrees with a wonderful breeze blowing in from the ocean beside us. We entered the airport and stood in line one-by-one for immigration. Here, we showed them our passports and gave them a sheet of paper we had filled out on the plane describing the specifics of our stay in the country. From there, we then went into customs and are happy to report that none of our cleats, snacks or bat bags were confiscated during the process.
We went as group together outside to meet a man by the name of Patrick Henry, the President of the Belize Softball Federation. Mr. Henry greeted us by a warm welcome and providing a few brief details about the impressive tradition held by the National Softball Team here in Belize. Mr. Henry assured us that we would enjoy our stay in the country and even offered to turn on the lights to let us practice tonight on the field! Naturally, the exhaustion was beginning to set in as we had already been awake for close to 13 hours. However, upon hearing Mr. Henry's gracious offer to turn on the lights for us, we all agreed that the first thing we wanted to do was check out the field and practice so that we could be ready for our upcoming games this Monday.
We then were met by a bright green bus and a man by the name of William, who would be our courteous tour guide and driver for our trip. We packed in and took off to get our first glimpse at the various parts of the diverse Belize City. We had our cameras ready as we snapped shots of houses on stilts, geckos on cement blocks and long narrow mud roads. We arrived at Hotel Mopan and found that contrary to some initial reservations about the uncertainties of our stay, the small three story building is actually a very unique and picturesque hotel that epitomizes the culture of the city.
After our practice in front of a few dozen locals who watched from the stands, we loaded up again and made our way to a small marina called Old Belize. Here, we admired huge yachts and sat in a beautiful outside dining room to enjoy some much needed Belize/American food. All of the people we have met here have been unbelievably genuine and welcoming. This should certainly help us throughout the week as we are playing far from all of our families and Redbird fans that we love so much.
It is getting late and we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow (Sunday). After breakfast, we are going to head back to Old Belize to get in some Zip-lining, waterslides and lounging on the beach. Sound like a blast?? You better "Belize" it!
Try to keep warm up there in and Go You REDBIRDS!
Casey Gorrell # 7
