We left Placencia around 9:30 and started our trek north to the Mexican border.  It was Friday morning and we cross on weekdays in case there are any issues with the dogs that need to be resolved with an office that isn’t open on weekends.  Although there were still some major potholes and muddy washed out parts of the road, the dirt road leaving Placencia wasn’t as bad as we were expecting.  It’s all of about 23 miles and it took us two hours!  As soon as we hit pavement we figured we might actually make it to the border in time!  We were only about 2 hours from the border when we passed through an inspection on a key intersection turning onto the Northern Belizean Highway.  Aaron wasn’t wearing his seatbelt and the officer told him it’s required in Belize and that he was going to issue him a ticket.  Aaron handed him his license and then walked back to the roadside “office” with the officer.