'Go Slow' in Belize

#3
Caye Caulker, Belize
We left Playa Del Carmen at 6am on Thursday and headed for Belize, an English speaking country and my first stop in Central America. It is classed as a more expensive country in Central America, roughly €0.45 equivalent to 1 Belizean Dollar (BZD), although US dollars (USD) are also widely accepted. Belize has such a range of ethnic groups including Mayan, Menonite, Creole, Chinese and Central American Spanish speaking people. The food Is an amazing mix of Latin American and Caribbean but with creole flavours. Lots of fresh fish, tortillas, rice and beans and not alot of vegetables.

From Playa Del Carmen we took a taxi to the bus station where we took an 'ADO' bus to Chetumal, near the Mexican/Belizean border. The bus took roughly five hours and was pretty comfortable with air conditioning, toilet and films (in Spanish of course). After a brief taxi we mentally and physically prepared for our next bus....the famous 'chicken bus'. These buses are common throughout Central America. They are ridiculously cheap and are mainly used for public transport however can also be a mode for transporting goods. They are old American school buses that were donated for public transport usage. They are hot, can be very crammed with limited leg space (they were made for children after all) but are definitely an authentic experience. They tend to leave whenever they are full but luckily we only had to wait about thirty minutes to depart  on a three hour journey. We were the only tourists on the bus. After about an hour we made it to the Mexican border where we had to produce our passports and pay the Mexican exit fee (25USD). We then got back on the bus and about twenty minutes later made it to the Belizean border, we produced our passports again and some bags were checked. It was relatively straight forward. I was pretty nervous about crossing my first border so was glad we had our lovely (and fluent Spanish) tour guide Bree with us. We were also entering an English speaking country, even after only two days in Mexico I was used to greeting people in Spanish. The chicken bus brought us to Belize city, it was an amazing way to see the country with reggae music blaring on the bus for the whole three hours and local vendors coming on th bus at various stops selling cold drinks, sweets and tamales.

From Belize city we got a forty minute water taxi to Caye Caulker and arrived at about 4.30pm, having lost another hour due to the time difference. Caye Caulker can only be described as paradise.....white sandy beaches, turquoise water, amazing seafood and even more amazing local people. It is also has the second largest barrier reef in the world (after Australia) and the snorkelling is amazing. There are no cars on the island, just bikes and golf carts. At just over eight kilometres long, there isn't any need for cars. You can see the sea from every direction. The motto here is 'Go Slow' and the local people definitely comply with that saying.

'The Split'

That night we went to a one of the Shacks on the beach for a BBQ, Fran who owns the place was amazing and is definitely a character. For 25 BZD (roughly 10 euro) I had BBQ jerk chicken with garlic bread and mashed potato and unlimited rum punch..a very good introduction to Caye Caulker.

Caribbean BBQ delight

We ventured  out after to the 'sports bar' (the spot to go out)...needless to say the heads were sore enough the next morning. That was cured quick with breakfast and a swim at 'The Split', the main swimming spot at the top of the island. Caye Caulker is now actually two islands since the Haiti earthquake in 1961 and now the island is split in two (hence 'the split'). You can swim across as to the  north of the island quite easily(watching the current). It is mostly marsh land and kept as a nature reserve but one of locals was telling there are about 50 families living over there still.

That night we booked onto a Sunset cruise booked with ragamuffin tours around the island which was
amazing. More reggae music and copious amounts of rum punch. We also had boat made salsa prepared freshly and nachos and met more some amazing people both travellers and locals.

Captain Shane

After  the cruise docked we went to a place on the beach called 'enjoy' where I had a whole lobster, coconut rice and vegetables for an unbelizeable €8!!! Probably the best meal of the trip so

far. We of course went back to the sports bar for more rum and dancing. The next day was spent
 swimming at the split, getting braids like big kids and cycling around the island.

First Chicken bus

Amazing BBQ'd Lobster

Next stop: San Ignacio, Belize
Food: Homemade banana bread from the local vendors, fresh BBQ'd lobster, tried a homemade 'tomale' from a
streetvendor- Corn bread with chicken and vegetables inside, all wrapped in a banana leaf. I was too fragile to enjoy it though.
Drinks: rum, rum, rum and coke, rum punch. A litre of rum is about 6USD or 12 BZD
Lesson 2: If you go running island where their motto is 'Go Slow' you will get strange looks.



San Ignacio, Belize
Our second travel day was spent navigating across Belize, close to the border of Guatemala to San
Ignacio. Which is set beside the Mopan River. We had very scarily and sweatily crammed onto a
chicken bus from Belize city which was so full we had to stand in the aisles, with three people to
every seat on the bus, our bags were stacked up against the driver or on our legs or under the bus. It
was a free for all and we were also told very illegal. When the bus left the bus station they kicked
anybody off that was standing in the aisles....we therefore just walked out of the bus terminal and waited on the side of the road where the bus came and picked us up once it had left the terminal.....safe. It was a Sunday though so like at home there are less buses on these days. After about forty minutes we managed to get seats for another three hours on the chicken bus, the further we got into Belize the more green it became and almost felt like we were in the jungle. We were staying a little bit out of San Ignacio in an eco lodge owned by a local family. They have composting toilets, limited electricity, outdoor showers, a butterfly farm and frisbee golf (random)! We were the only people staying there but there was lots of iguanas, lizards, spiders and bugs to keep us company. They have a small kitchen area where one of the daughters made us dinner. I had Belizean chicken with rice and peas, avocado and fried plantain....it was very tasty, maybe as we hadn't eaten since breakfast.

The next morning a few of us went to the local, and my first Mayan ruins, called xunantunich. It was only a short walk down to the river where a small ferry brought us across, we then walked about 2km up to the site. Entry was 10BZD. It was raining for part of the day but the humidity was ridiculous. We were told that these were smaller Mayan ruins but they were amazing. Especially as you could climb to the top of them. Up the wet, uneven steps but with the help of a small bannister.

The views were spectacular. We could see the border of Guatemala but were surrounded by jungle and mountains. As we were walking back down we saw a scorpion, holler monkeys, lots of butterfly's and iguanas. Hopefully I'll be getting over my fear of spiders at some stage. We also had encountered a tarantula outside our lodge the night before.....lord.

The next day we were up at the crack of dawn to make my third border crossing, handle a third currency and third country in one week to enter beautiful Guatemala where I'll be spending over three weeks.

Next stop: Flores, Guatemala
Food: homemade BBQ'd chicken
Drinks: a few local beers called Belkin, ginger Fanta!!
Lesson 3: Composting toilets are not as bad as they sound!

Jxxx