My Adventures in Central America
Part 2 - Belize
Welcome to Belize, our second country on the trip!
Day 8 Playa del Carmen to Caye Caulker
This morning we had to be up super early (3.30am) to meet in
the lobby at 4am. This resulted in a whole lot of sleepy people. We found out
we had a small minivan, with the exact number of seats as people. I'm not tall,
but my knees were pressing into the back of the seat in front of me. It was so
squishy!
After a few hours we reached the Mexico-Belize border. We were allowed to use the toilet then pay our exit fee ($35USD) and continue to the Belize border. Here we had to fill in a form and then pass immigration. I was the first through and we were split in to 2 vans from here so I got a single seat with room to stretch my legs. After another 1.25hrs driving we reached Belize city. It doesn't look the nicest place, so luckily we weren't staying.
We checked in for the water taxi and waited for the next
departure. After a long 30min wait in the stinking hot humid heat (we had a
heavy downpour as we arrived), we finally boarded the boat to Caye Caulker. It
was about a 45min ride so not too far. Upon arriving, we collected our bags then
walked to our hotel. This time we are in 3 dorms (2 female, 1 male) and I'm
with the Belgian ladies, 2 British sisters and the Indian lady.
After checking in, we went straight out for a seafood lunch. Belize has lots of fresh locally caught seafood and priced well. I, along with maybe half the group, settled for a whole lobster. It was absolutely delicious. Best lobster I have ever had. It was also happy hour so I had a Lazy Lizard cocktail. The recipe is a secret, and we couldn't quite work out the flavour. It is a fluoro green colour.
After this, we went to the activity company to book the
snorkelling for Hol Chan reserve. I declined this trip as I have something else
booked for tomorrow. Something even better than snorkelling! I'm not going to
tell you yet though; you have to wait.
As we were heading back to the hostel it started raining so some
of us went into a bar/restaurant for a drink. It was happy hour also so we had
2 for 1 cocktails and buckets of beer for cheap prices. We were there for hours
and more people turned up to join us. It was lots is fun. We even got to watch
a group of young people dancing in the rain when the clouds decided to drench
the island in torrential rain.
After a while I decided to head back to the hostel as I was
exhausted from major lack of sleep. We left the air con running in our room so
it was nice and cool.
Day 9 Caye Caulker
We woke up around 7am this morning and had a lazy, slow start. Our guide recommended a place for breakfast, so a few people headed there. I went in search of something called a fryjack. It is a Belizean breakfast specialty, made of a fried dough pocket, and filled with your choice of fillings. I chose bacon, egg & cheese. It was nice, but a bit oily for me.
Then I went to the recommended cafe for a coffee. I chose a cold
brew with a splash of milk. Other people had smoothie bowls and a few had bagels
topped with a range of things. Might try them tomorrow.
Unfortunately, the coffee didn't sit well with me again
today, so I rested in my room for the next hour. Then it was time for my
activity......a scenic flight over the Great Blue Hole!
The island is so small that the airport is only a 10min walk from my hostel. I have never walked to an airport before so this was new! When I found the right building, I was greeted by an extremely cool, heavily air-conditioned room. It was so welcome after walking in the heat. Just after 11am, a small plane landed on the airstrip. I was surprised to see that people were already on the plane. It had obviously come from Belize City or San Pedro first. There were 5 of us boarding at Caye Caulker and we could choose any of the empty seats. We all had a window seat. I chose one behind the wing and strut so I would have uninterrupted views. We took off and headed east. Along the way we passed over some coral atolls, which looked like a nice place to swim.
Then we arrived at the Great Blue Hole. We did 2 circles on the left and 2 circles on the right so everyone had the opportunity to see. It was awesome! It is a spectacular sight to see. Pale blue ocean and reefs, then a very deep blue perfectly circular hole. I was able to move between 2 seats, one left and one right. I'll try and upload one of the videos. Here are some pictures, one of which is going to be blown up onto a canvas and put on the wall (last one).
Afterwards, we continued along the atoll and came across an old cargo ship that ran aground on the reef. We did a couple of passes then headed back to Caye Caulker airport.
I walked back to my hostel and chilled in the air con for an hour then decided to walk around the whole island. From the hostel is it only 15min walk to the northern part, and it is narrow enough that you could throw a ball from one side to the other. I walked up the west coast and back down the east coast. At the northern tip is The Split. In the 60's, a hurricane caused the island to be split in 2, so it is called The Split. There is a big bar called The Lazy Lizard, which has food, drinks and swimming, as well as dining tables in the sea. It was quite popular.
Nearby is a place called Sip n Dip. This is also a bar with food and tables in the sea. This one had party music too.
I walked back towards the hostel, stopping for ice cream
along the way. Then I decided to go for a swim to cool down. It was lovely in
the pool but no shade, so I took my umbrella, looking like a weirdo with an
umbrella in the pool. I didn't get burnt though so that’s a win.
Then I headed back to my room to shower before the others
came back.
I decided to head out with the Belgians and Dutchman for
dinner, and the boys chose a restaurant with live music. I wasn't very hungry so
I had some loaded fries, while the others all had burgers.
Then we went in search of a bar. We ended up at the same bar
as last night. They decided to play some drinking games so they had to teach
me. As the number of beers being drunk increased, so did the volume level of
the games. The staff were all watching and even came to ask what the game was. I
was doing very well with my soda water, and rarely lost a game so didn't have to
drink much.
Eventually, the boys had had enough booze, so we headed back
to the hostel and went to bed. The other 3 girls in our room were already in
bed.
Day 10 Caye Caulker
We had a slow start this morning as we had no plans. I decided to go to a nearby cafe for breakfast as they had a mango pancake special that sounded good. It took nearly an hour for my food, which was such a long time, and they were terrible. Weird firm round things with no sweetness, a bit like wholemeal flour and water only. The mango was nice, but the whipped cream was that awful mock cream stuff. Such a disappointment.
Then a fair number of us decided to go to The Split as the
northern end of the island. Here is a bar/restaurant, with wooden deck chairs, umbrella
tables, ocean swimming and a jumping platform. We found some chairs by the sea
and went for a swim. The water was so warm and such a relief from the hot
weather.
The food and drinks were expensive at this place so I didn't
have anything, but we sat there watching the world go by for several hours.
Then I got bored so I headed back to my room. I had a shower
and watched some tv episodes in the air con for a bit. I went back to The Split
to watch the sunset. It was quite pretty.
Most of us had decided to go back to Swings restaurant to
have the lobster that we had on the first day. That's how good it was! I made
my way to the restaurant and met everyone else there. The lobster was so good!
They also gave us happy hour specials for drinks so I had 2 pina coladas with
my lobster. Perfect dinner to end our stay on the island.
We went ins search of the reggae bar we had been
recommended. Unfortunately it was closed, so we went back to the Enjoy Bar (3rd
night in a row!). Before that though, the Aussie guy lost a bet and had to wear
one of the girls dresses out if he fit it. So, he ended up strutting down the
street in a skin tight mini body con dress. It was hilarious! Unfortunately,
the locals did not always see the funny side. We got plenty of ‘what the
f*%&!’ and a few ‘did you lose a bet?!’ from the local men. Half way to the
bar, a local warned us that it was a very bad idea and our friend was going to
get beaten up. Some of our group escorted him back to the hostel so could
change then met us at the bar.
We played some more drinking games, more sedate this time,
and I did very well and had nearly a full soda water at the end. Then we
decided to head back and go to bed.
Day 11 Caye Caulker to San Ignacio
This morning we had another slow start, which was nice. It was very hot in our room so I didn't sleep well. I got up, packed all my crap and the headed out for breakfast. I wanted to get a bagel from the Ice & Beans Cafe as we had a long travel time ahead of us. While in the queue 2 others turned up and we sat together. I decided to have a tuna melt (bagel, tuna, mayo, mozzarella) and a peach iced tea. Then the 4 Belgians turned up so we had almost half our group. It was very good breakfast.
We headed back to the hostel, collected our things and made
our way to the water taxi for the ride back to the mainland. Unfortunately, the
boat was half an hour late, so we had to stand in the sweltering heat with
almost no airflow a d a big crowd of people. Sweat was dripping from everywhere,
it was gross.
On the boat ride back, I was sat right in front of the open side so I got a good strong breeze which was lovely. It took an hour this time as we were on the big catamaran.
Then we collected our luggage and boarded 2 vans. We
were told it was a 2.5hr drive to San Ignacio, but we were lucky and it only
took no longer than 2hrs. I watched a movie to pass the time.
San Ignacio is a small city in the western part of Belize. We
checked into our hostel, then all except 2 of us went for food. We chose a
restaurant not far from the hostel. We split across 4 tables to make it easier
for the staff. I chose a crispy chicken salad with a Dijon dressing. I needed
some healthy rabbit food and it was so good! The pizza looked and smelled
amazing, and the pastas and paninis got rave reviews as well. Definitely a good
choice!
Then we walked through the town. It isn't very big. I had a
look in the supermarket (more like a convenience store), walked through the
fruit & veg market (avocados the size of cantaloupe, more pineapples than
you can imagine!), then decided to walk to the chocolate factory.
Unfortunately, we missed their tour but I thought I might be able to buy a
chocolate bar. It was a long, hot, 10min uphill walk. They only have 1
chocolate bar for a sale. A 70% cacao bar, that is made on the premises. They
actually do workshops where you get to see and do the whole process from bean
to bar, in the traditional Mayan way. This is proper Mayan chocolate. It has to
be kept in the fridge as it doesn't have any preservatives to stop it melting
in the weather. I decided to crack it open on the walk back, and it was very
good. Not as bitter as 70% Lindt, and not overly sweet, but very rich.
We had a briefing by the tour company for the activities we
can choose from for tomorrow at 5.30pm. The main ones are the Crystal Cave
(nope, no way, lots of narrow spaces and spelunking), ATM Cave (ooh maybe),
cave tubing (this would be good too) and cave canoeing with waterfall visit
(pass). I was so ridiculously indecisive between the ATM cave and the cave
tubing. In the end, I chose the cave tubing because several of the girls said I
haven't done an activity with the group before and it would be nice for me to
join them. Nobody else was doing the ATM Cave, everyone is either doing cave
tubing or cave canoeing. I will probably regret my choice but oh well.
Then we got into our vans and drove to a nearby village called San Antonio, to visit a women's pottery co-op. We had a presentation and demonstration, and some people got to try making a bowl on the wheel.
Then we went across the road to have dinner, which was provided by the co-op. We had a juice, similar to hibiscus juice, chicken, refried beans, tortillas, steamed veg, green stuff (a bit like spinach) and yellow plantain, followed by stewed spiced pumpkin. It was quite good.
After a quick look in the gift shop, we headed back to San
Ignacio and our hostel. Most of use went straight for the showers as we were
covered in bug spray. The air con in our room is doing an excellent job. It
runs from 7pm to 7am. I'm currently sitting in my bunk bed, writing this, in
the coolness. Tomorrow we have to be up and ready to leave by 8.30am so I best
get some sleep!
Day 12 San Ignacio
This
morning we had to be up and ready to leave by 8.30am so we could have a bit of
a sleep in. 9 of us girls were going cave tubing, 4 were going cave canoeing
and 5 chose to explore the town.
The drive to the tubing was just over 1hr and it was raining when we left. Fortunately it stopped raining on the drive. There were hardly any people there when we arrived which was great. We were only allowed to have things physically attached to us so we wore our bathers and a couple of us took GoPro cameras. We also had to have water shoes that strap on so half of use had to rent some sexy Crocs. Then we were given a helmet with headlamp, life jacket and tube.
From the carpark we began walking to the river. You actually arrive at the finish line. This means you have to walk upriver to the starting line. You also have to cross the river 3 times. One of those was waist deep and the water was refreshing, as they call it here. Cold as we call it back home. Its about a 30min walk through the jungle, which is really beautiful.
At the starting point, you get a big wow moment. It was stunning. Here it is for you:
We were allowed to swim and play in the water for as long as we wanted. You could feel the current, gentle but obvious. Then we got cold so we asked to start the tubing. The rule is 1 guide per 8 people so we had 2 guides. They tied all our tubes together in a life raft style and they connected one of their tubes to the front. We chose blue tubes because they did all the work for us. If we chose black tubes, we had to do the work to move and steer the tubes.
We decided
2 GoPro cameras should be at the front so I got a front spot. Yippee! We
floated into the cave which is quite big. One guide at the front pulling us,
one at the side talking and explaining. This cave floods so there were not many
stalagmites and stalactites. We turned out all the lights and floated in the
darkness. It was pitch black and a little creepy because we could hear the bats
squeaking around.
After a while, we came to a sinkhole, which provides light and an access point. Here we get out of the tubes and walked on the rocks for a bit. There is a massive column formation and they sparkle like crystals when they are dry. We saw another big formation, and lots of bats.
To get back
to the tubes, we went a different way. Some of us jumped off the high rocks
into the water, while the rest of us stepped in. Then we swam into a gap in the
formations into a smaller cave. It was quite fun in here, floating amongst the
stalagmites. Our guide used my GoPro to take a photo of each of us.
Then we had to swim through a really low point back out into the open. We had a short walk across rocks and back into the tubes. We continued floating for above 15mins more through the caves and then emerged into the open jungle. The jungle is really beautiful. At times, the guides stopped pulling and just let us float, and it was so silent that all you could hear was a few birds. Very peaceful.
At the
finish line we made our way back to the carpark. While we changed into dry
clothes, the guides setup our lunch. We had roast chicken, coleslaw, coconut
rice, yellow plantain, corn chips, salsa and some rum punch. It was very good.
We were starving too so very welcome.
It was a quiet, sleepy drive back to San Ignacio, and then we just chilled out at the hostel. Several people bought ingredients to make a big rum punch for everyone, so after showers, we had rum punch, good music and played big Jenga.
After a
briefing about the next few days, we got ready and headed down to the nearby
restaurant (same one as yesterday). I had a meat lovers pizza and it was
delicious.
Then it was
time to pack as tomorrow we are leaving at 5.30am. Today was our last day in
Belize. We are off to Guatemala tomorrow, the final country in the first half
of the tour.
Belize is
unBelizeable so definitely put it on your list!