Where Golf Carts go to die........

  Caye Caulker, Belize
Saturday, March 3, 2007

To be honest, when it was first suggested to me that I went to Belize to do some diving, I didn't actually know where it was. I had a sneaking suspicion it was in the Caribbean and also vaguely recalled that it was a former British colony.

So, for those of you like me, who're not sure about this place, it's actually located on mainland Central America, just south of Mexico, lying on the Caribbean coast.

The blue blue waters of the Caribbean!

 

Up until 1981 it was a British colony, and it still retains strong ties with home. However, like most of this region, it had become very Americanised with the US dollar accepted as readily as the Belizean dollar. As the Belizean dollar has the Queen gracing the back of the notes, I was fairly determined to use that as much as possible! The use of the dollar is interesting. I've been to three countries in Central / South America now and in one, Ecuador, the dollar has officially replaced the local currency, here in Belize, the local currency is tied to the dollar at exactly 2-1, so you can either use the local or US currency and in Peru, the dollar's pretty much accepted everywhere. I don't know what the situation is in the rest of the continent, but I suspect it wouldn't be too different - how long will it be before the world splits into just two major currencies, the dollar and the Euro? Not too long, I suspect.

Anyway, back to Belize - I didn't actually end up staying on the mainland, as the best diving is to be found on the Belize reef system, about 30 miles offshore, so I'd booked myself onto one of the two main Caye's (islands) in the Caribbean, Caye Caulker. The smaller of the two islands, it's probably the most laid back place I've ever been in my life. The island motto "Go Slow", says it all. Nothing is done at even  walking pace - why walk when you can saunter! The place itself is very small, with a permanent population of around 1,000 people, doubled by the tourists coming in. Unlike it's big brother Caye Ambergaye, this is not the luxury end of Belize, instead its full of backpackers and many Americans looking for a cheaper alterative to the Caribbean. Certainly its tranquil, though it lacks the one thing you'd really want in a place like this, a beach! Most beach-combers find themselves sunbathing on the various jetty's that run along the coastline. I suspect if you came here looking to lie on a beach for a week, you'd wander off and find another island. There are 3 ways around the island, walking, bike or by golf cart -

Not a club in sight!

since the main street takes about 10 minutes to walk down, there didn't seem a lot of point to using anything other than my legs, but it wasn't uncommon to see American tourists of the large variety making their hundred yard drive from hotel to restaurant....... It's actually very funny to see all these carts going around - big Rasta's in their blinged up golf-carts takes some getting used to - I doubt most courses in the world have the variety of carts and colours that they do in Caye Caulker!

As for the diving, it was good, but not really a patch on the Galapagos. Again, I suspect a lot of the reputation of the place is generated by hype. Since it's probably the closest good site to the US, it gets an awful lot of divers from there - there seemed to be more dive shops than restaurants and when I got off the plane, there was a huge amount of dive gear also coming off with the luggage. One of the problems with Belize, as a dive spot, is they don't have many of the controls that other sites have.

Artistic diving pic

Although you're not meant to touch the coral, it's not unusual to see guides picking up interesting pieces and if they do this, it's a kind of green light to other divers. Reefs are dying through the world and there are very few pristine examples left - in places such as Belize the damage to the reefs is obvious. Lack of coral leads to lack of food for the fish, so those populations diminish. It's a sad situation. In terms of the fish life we did see, most of it appeared to follow the Belize way of life and was asleep, including numerous turtles and this nurse shark who seemed to think he was an ostrich!

If I can't see you....

I also took to opportunity to head inland of Belize to visit some Mayan ruins. The Mayans were one of the three great civilistaions subdued by the Spanish, along with the Aztecs to the North and my old friends the Inca's. These ruins were the one's you kind of expect to see in this part of the world. Magnificent temples growing out from the jungle.

Now that's what a call a ruined temple!

Unlike many of the Inca ruins, this place fell into ruin through the Mayans own actions. The site of Altun Ha was effectively a posh suburb of a much larger town. Unfortunately, the locals in the poorer areas rebelled against the rulers and educated classes and killed them all, along with their knowledge of how to maintian buildings...... So after a few years, Altun Ha fell into ruin, until its rediscovery a few years ago, by a British archeaologist.

On the way back I went via Miami to spend a night with my Uncle and encountered the delights of US immigration - when I'd transferred through Miami going to Belize, for some reason I officially entered the country, but didn't officially leave. Of course this confused the poor immigration officer so we had a 20 minute "discussion" about how this was possible. There was no point getting annoyed, as these guys can really make your life miserable and I think I managed to see the funny side of it, but this man's intransigence was quite astonishing. It eventually took a supervisor to point out to him that you don't always get stamped out when you're on transfer! On the way out of the country I was pulled over at security for having a lighter in my bag - they weren't too worried about the scissors in my medical pack.......

Anyway, now I'm back in Lima for the day before heading off to the Amazon tomorrow morning. From reefs to jungles - I'm seeing it all!!!