Well what can I say about Caye Caulker! The first thing you see when arriving on the island is a sign saying "Welcome to Caye Caulker, Go Slow". Never has a sign been so true!
This is the Caribbean and English is the main language here, which came as a bit of surprise considering the location of the country, between Mexico and Guatemala. The island itself only has about 1300 inhabitants and can be walked from one end to the other in about 15 Min's so it's nice and compact.
As Belize used to be a British Colony, there is still a little bit of British influence, not least in the money which reflects the Queen's face on it....ah well you cant have everything!
When we arrived it was about 30 degrees and for the 1st time we had trouble getting a Hostel. Everywhere we checked on the North of the Island was booked up and they few places that did have somewhere couldn't accommodate the 4 of us...Eoin, myself, Shane from Dublin, who we met on the way to Guatemala and Chris from London who we'd met earlier in San Cristobal. So carrying nearly 70kilos on our backs for the best part of half an hour in the very hot sun, wasn't really helping us. We eventually came across a cool hostel close to the beach called Bellas. It's a massive house with free Kayaks so we were sold on it straight away.
We were located in a great spot only a minute from the beach and a 5 minute walk from the swimming beach, complete with diving board. So not being shy, we all went up for a dive. Now there was locals there doing all types of fancy dives with flips, spins with perfect entry. However that all changed once we got there. We tried doing flips but didn't have enough height and so we did of the best back flops the island has seen. We still have the marks to prove it! It's not a good sign when the last you can hear before hitting the water is people saying 'ooooh ouch" That night we went to a table quiz, ended up coming third and got a free round of drinks so it wasn't all bad!
The next day was Valentines Day and we'd planned heading to a local bar to avail of their drink specials, namely a drink called a Panty Rippah which only cost $3.50 (just over a euro). However, we hadn't planned on the only ATM machine on the island breaking down and leaving us the grand total of $20 between us for dinner and drink for the night. We opted for just having dinner and heading back to the hostel where we had the most depressing night of the trip so far. Being an English speaking country,there's lots of US television, so we ended up watching The Break Up with 4 other blokes and going to bed at 11pm......shockingly bad performance!
Having made a successful trip to the ATM the next morning we decided to go snorkeling that day. So at 2pm we set off into the Pacific Ocean to see the wonders of the what lay beneath. I had a slow start at it, mainly as my snorkel was broke and kept letting in water, which wasn't much use! So I had to head back to the boat until the others returned. I did get out to swim with Sting Ray, which Eoin thought was Manta Rays until we got back on the boat and then nearly s*it himself when he realised what he just did. The memory of Steve Irwin was still very much in mind! We had another hour or so of snorkeling and headed back to the hostel and got ready for Friday Night.
We ended up in a bar called The Oceanside and had a great laugh with practically everyone from the hostel and the locals. We also had our 1st taste of Guinness since leaving. And no...it doesn't travel! Still it was a great night and everyone left with smiles on their faces.
The next day, Saturday, was a pretty chilled affair and we said goodbye to Shane who was coming to the end of his 8 months on the road and was heading off to NYC for a few days before heading home. So it was back to a traveling party of just Eoin & myself for the 1st time on over 3 weeks, which we both admitted, felt a little weird again.
We had decided to stay one more night and leave on the 12pm boat from the island, back to the mainland and from there, head south in Belize to a town called Punta Gorda, and from there another boat, back in Guatemala and then another 2 buses that would bring us into Honduras, where we would need to get another boat out to the island of Utila, a part of the Bay Islands, where we´re going to attempt to get our Scuba Diving license! We knew it was gonna be a long trip so we set off at a bit of a snails pace!
We got to Belize no problem and got the bus there to a town called Dalarenge on a comfy enough bus. On the 2nd bus from their to Punta Gorda, we decided (rather stupidly) to give up our seats to two older ladies and instead of us being happy with our good deed, we got laughed at by the rest of the bus! Apparently it´s just not something that´s done there. The Belizean people are very friendly and always singing and laughing, so it made matters worse when the 2 women we gave our seats to were the 2 most sour faced old dears in the country...they didn`t even say thanks! So we ended up standing for 3 and a half of the 4 hour trip, however, we did have a great laugh with some of the locals who appreciated the gesture. Including one guy called Salchicha (Spanish for "sausage") who he claimed was married to 6 women...it`s all in the name I suppose.
After finding a place to stay for the night, we literally just put our stuff down and went to bed. The next day we got the 9am boat to Guatemala and got on the 1st of our buses. The people at the port were getting a bit annoying cos we had to change currency and one of them kept poking me with his calculator, and another nearly threw our bags into the back of a random taxi. We were close to losing our cool but kept it together before getting a cab to immigration, to enter Guatemala, before being brought to the border to immigration again, to leave, Guatemala and the another immigration to enter Honduras! So needless to say our passports are getting a nice little collection of stamps!
The first bus brought us to a town called San Pedro Sula in Honduras and from there, we connected with the bus going to La Ceiba, which is where we are now. The reason being, the bus got a flat tyre on a motorway and delayed us from getting the boat across to Utila. We should be getting the boat today and can begin the diving course!
We`ve done lots of bus trips and overnight trips so far and everytime we do one, it seems to be longer and harder than the last one! Still I suppose it`s all adding to the adventure and giving me something to write about!
Hopefully by the time I write again we`ll be on the way to getting our diving license and thinking about our next port of call, Panama, where we hope to settle for a few weeks before our flight to Sao Paolo.
Talk to you all soon,
James
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