BELIZE: Belize City>Caye Caulker>San Ignacio

  San Ignacio, Belize
Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Next installment guys:

So, where was one? Oh yes, last couple of days in Mexico. Veracruz was the first hispanic city founded in the Americas by Cortés' men in 1518. It has a great colonial feel to it in addition to its vibrant port. No gringos around whatsoever so we were getting plenty of stares, espcially good ole' goldilocks Kirsty Warren. BTW, forgot to add that on the way to Veracruz from the capital, we saw a heavy intense snow and ice storm with overcast skies amongst baking hot weather 2 minutes later.. biiiiizarre. felt i was back home for a while. ..

After being exceedingly indecisive for once (v unlike perfectionaist me eh?), I decided on the spur of the moment to change my immediate onward travel plans with a bit of advice from co-travellers having already seen a bit of Central Am. So, I bought myself a lovely 17 hour bus ticket to the South Eastern Mexican border town of Chetumal, fronting BELIZE... So, no Guatemala then............. Well, not yet anyhoo. I had already "overstayed" my alloted time in Mexico due to immense fun and whatnot, so I thought I'd incorporate littel Caribbean Belize into my itinerary, and reduce time in "dodgy" Guatemala somewhat and unfortunately eliminate Venezuela & maybe even Southern Nicaragua. Priorities fluctuating as reports from different sources are leading me up the garden path as to where to go etc aaargh! Enough ranting...

So, Friday was the last day with mates..... enjoyed a nice "upteenth last supper" fish dish with them Thurs night and on Fri, we went to Latin America's finest Aquarium, housing turtles, toucans, sharks, otters, tropical fish etc etc. amazing... topped the experience off with a tour of the multi-national celebrity wax museum. Had a light lunch on the port front and headed to bus station to bid farewell to girls who were heading back to Mexico City (again), to go separate ways.....(Beans, look out for them at either Jersey Live or the beer fest as we hope to meet soon.)

Right, so I began my "17" hour multi stop deluxe bus to the bordering town all the way across the country. Was told maybe 14 hours but ended up as 19!!!!!!! not so bad as bus not full so slept on and off. Upon arrival, I decided to go hardcore and jump on the next chicken bus to take me all the way to Belize City on the Caribbean coast.. another 5 hours of sweaty travel.. yay.... journey was highly entertaining.. had well and truly exceeded the fatigue boundary and was listening to the mixture of english, spanish, creole and dialect being spoken by the mixed whites and rastas aboard.. cheesy reggae music pumping away.. hilarious! no problems at immigration.

Saturday 6th afternoon now... just dumped gear in my first cheap and grotty as hostel before roaming the busy narrow streets of a small belize city.... once the capital a couple of deacdes ago, but due to hurricane activity, it was transferred inland to a SMALL town.. population only half of Jersey so weird.... people very friendly though. nopt much to see so no photos.. early night indeed..

Sunday: suddenly remembered I was on my tod after many weeks of group travel. kinda strange but has its benefits. will take time to adjust i reckon though.. Here in Belize City, I boarded a funky speedboat to go out to Caye Caulker, a small paradise island the size of between Sark and Herm haha... no motorised transport, lighting feeble, but things to do abundant... this was recommended by previous travellers as a must-see so off I went. cost there is certinly higher han Mexico, so an initial shock to the system man.... wasted no time and booked myself in for a full day all inclusive snorkelling tour, several miles into the coral reef.....same one extending down from Mexico..........

saw stingrays, friendly sharks beside me, and all sorts of tropical fish and differnt corals explained. got incredibly sunburnt but enjoyed drinks on the boat back. so should have taken a cheapo underwater kodak camera like. o well. Could have seen manatees (sea-cow like) and dived the blue hole with bigger and differnt sharks omnipresent.... budget not stretching THAT far.....

Was zonked after that day so nothing much else to report.. again, early as crack of dawn Monday, I got another boat to the neighbouring island of San Pedro... 25 miles by 0.5 miles. bizarre shape. much more touristy, varied, costly, americanised/anglicised, properties for sale galore etc etc... get the feel? airport with domestic flights to the capital available so good links really. i simply sat on beach, read, recovered from 2nd or 3rd degree burns and took many photos of the streets and sights. cheap and cheerful. returned to the other isle and booked return to the capital city the following morning where I would go straight to San Ignacio in the mountainous Western part of the country near Guatemalan border.. Arrived lunchtime, painfree. Got enticed into a local family's house into a dorm room. very authentic set up for pittance so I was very grateful actually. The husband also works with a tour company who I went on an all day caving and ruin tour on Wed.

HOPE ALL HAD A NICE LIBERATION DAY (JERSEY CHANNEL ISLANDS FOLK ON TUES 9TH MAY)

This along with the snorkelling has got to be the highlight of my travels so far:

the trip consisted of an initial rough off-road drive in the middle of nowhere to these Actun Tunichil Muknal caves, then a hike along a river with 3 crossings to the entrance where we entered and hiked/swam fully clothed for safety for hours on end in semi-dark. This place is currently Belize's #1 tourist attraction and I can definitely see why. Inside, there are miles of (still not entirely mapped out) passages containing the remains of sacrificed human skulls, bones and also offerings in the form of clay and stone pots everywhere.. Ths all amidst the impressive huge stallic formations and running waters. I was with a very small group of 5 including this kinda cranky mid-aged yank woman who was panicking/complaining at times....so our guide went slowly and explained all the history and archeology in full detail.....so much so that we emerged into the dusk before heading back 4hours later. wicked day! Evening time, intermingled with locals at cafe and booked this last minute tour to Tikal, capital of the ancient Mayan empire, in GUATEMALA.... thought this would facilitate the border crossing proceedings via quicker and direct transport means but for a fair amount of extra cash though. Got to be in Panama city on 25th of this month aaaargh.