Chateau Caribbean Belize City

...Well, sort of. I'll explain later. But first, what better way to start any adventure around the world than by riding MARTA to the airport. In just ten short stops from the Midtown Station you pick up such an education in life. Take hip hop music for example. Now I know to the untrained ear that it just sounds like a bunch of repetitive bump, bump, bumps punctuated by the occasional "f" word or slang for female ...

I woke at 5am with a rumble in my tum. "Hmm," I thought, "that feels like hunger". A tentative nibble at an apple and a bread roll produced no ill effects after half an hour. GAME ON! We were on the second tender across from our mooring to Belize City :) The Former British Crown Colony of British Honduras is about the size of Wales, but has a population of only 300,000 or so. It was renamed to Belize in 1973 and finally gained complete ...

... served with friend bananas as a sweet. Their big fish exports are snapper, catfish, and newly found tilapia. They also export bananas to the Chaquita company, oranges to Minute Maid, and seafood for Red Lobster and Long John Silver (which I found comical for some reason). Belize is actually below sea level and therefore many problems arise as the seasons change. When the rainy season comes the rivers overflow everywhere, rising 45 feet in some places. This covers many of the ...

... other flights we have. Where to begin? If you enjoy Mayan ruins would you be interested in flying over to two of them and landing near one of them? From the lagoon side helipad you can take a boat or an airboat to the ancient Mayan city of Lamanai, have an expertly guided tour followed by lunch in a gorgeous jungle lodge and then we fly you back to catch your ship that same day. How about getting away from the ...

From Tulum our jaunt continued, apace and comfortably, south. Getting off at the wrong bus station in Chetumal resulted in us missing the 'every 3 hour' bus by 5 minutes. However it did lead to one of the best eating experiences of the trip to date. This combination of the 6 staple ingredients, Beans, Plantain (a savoury banana) Chicken, Rice, Tortillas and Water (applied at any point for a mouth-watering for soup option!), was particularly tasty. A ...

New country, new people, new language (creole) and new prices as well unfortunately. I think Belize is the most expensive country i have been to so far, a bunk bed in a 6 bed-dorm in the capital city is 12.50US dollars per person. I was used to pay no more than 5 in the ...

... per persona for the visit. We would of done those had we not visited so many other Maya ruins and places, but in any case the price is excessive...but gringos are paying the rate (and there is no possibility of travelling without a guide) so good for local economy. Anyway, we thought Xunantunich would just be a small temple given its a 15 min bus ride on the local bus from Saint Ignacio...but boy were we wrong. Its a magnificent place. First of all ...

... of VBS and Sports Camp, on top of having an all-nighter with the local older girls (10 +). But the sleepover was really a blessing for the girls, to get out of the village and get to just be girls. We are all tired, but moral is good in the group. They are all really excited to go to church tomorrow and also go to drum lesson with an internationally famous drummer, Emmeth, who lives in the village. The ...

... children were walking or biking along the highway in their uniforms every time we passed a school. Every time we drove past a school or entered a village, we had to cross multiple speed bumps and pedestrian ramps: large speed bumps with a flat top wide enough for people to walk across. The ramps were obviously much safer for pedestrians than a crosswalk, but would be fairly annoying when trying to make decent time on a highway. Speed ...

... near the border of Mexico - things didn't improve. The place is a bit of a ghostown, and has a sort of eerie feel to it. This feeling is only magnified by the place that I am staying at, which is owned by the (albeit very friendly) slightly crazed Mexican, whose name I forget. The place's other two occupants are a creepy shy English girl from Hertforshire, and an even creepier dude from Israel. I can't quite put my finger on what freaks me out so much about the place, it ...