Belize
So here I am in San Ignacio, the last stop in Belize before heading
into Guatumaula. I figured I might as well give you all an overview of
my time and a heads up of what I'll be doing.
We left Tulum, Mexico for Corozal, Belize after only being in Mexico
for four nights. Just crossing the border felt good as we entered
Belize, and we were not let down as we walked down the streets and
were greeted by every person we passed. Radom strangers coming up and
talking to us just to say hello was suddenly not uncommon or strange.
The people were just friendly.
Two nights in Corozal were rather uneventful, just hung out and saw
some of the lowkey local ruins, and ate some of the national cusuine,
which is meat and more meat, making things hard for my vegitarian
companion Jewel. We did meet an older couple (60something) who have
been traveling for the last 10 years. They're retired and have enough
income where they can live indefinately on the road. It sounded like a
great way to live out the end section of life. I hope I'm still that
mobile in 40some years.
From Corozal we went further into the country to the city of Orange
Walk. On the surface it seemed like a rather dull stop that we made
mainly for the close by ruins of Lamanai. We were quite surprised when
within a couple hours of arriving we found ourselves in the middle of
a campaign rally.A parade of propaganda and people supporting the
party went down main street, music blaring, and horns honking. We had
a couple locals come up to us and inform us of the political situation
in the country. Supposedly they have had the same government party
ruling for the last 10 years. From what we heard and read (from
various campaign signs.) the government monopolzed many of the
government resources and kept the profits for the wealthy. It was
quite an experience.
We took a tour of the ruins of Lamanai which was rather impressive.
The tour we took to get there was a 2 hour boat ride up the "New
River" to the site, which included stopping for every iguana the
capatain found so many of the tourists could take 20 or so pictures of
a lizard that will look like not much more then a leaf. We did stop
for some more interesting things, such as rare birds, crocodiles and
the local rum distillery. Once we got to the ruins we had a quick
picnic lunch and then a guided tour of the ruin site. One pyramid you
could climb to the top of which was at about 112ft and provided a
breathtaking panorama of the surronding jungle and river scenery. The
boat ride back was quicker and involved less iguanas to our relief.
After a second night in Orange Walk (much more peachful without the
rally) we headed out to Caye Chaulker via Belize City. The Belize City
portion was simple, get off the bus and catch a water taxi to the
island. Infact Belize city seemed like it could quite possibly be the
least exiting part of the country. It was dirty and nothing pretty.
Needless to say we have no regrets for passing it over.
We thought Caye Chaulker was going to be a nice little escape from
traveling for a few days, but we were mistaken once we arrived. It
isn't a horrible place to be, infact if you can afford the various
dive trips and cave tours it would be a very nice place to relax in
the sun, but for the budget traveler, they Caye's lack of a sandy
beaches, or cheap entertainment, meant wandering around the islands
many generic stores and reading on a dock.
Two nights of Caye Chaulker and we were off to more affordable climes.
We took a boat back to Belieze city (through a small tempest) and
headed south to Dangriga for one night (where we found out the results
of the election) and then off to a much smaller Island called Tabacco
Caye.
Tabacco Caye is a tiny island that you could probably walk around in
about 5 minutes. The big attraction there is that you can snorkel a
coral reef right off the shore, saving you from paying about 40USD a
person for a boat to take you out to any other reef. It was a pretty
neat place, laidback for sure. Being such a small island there were no
restauants or super markets, all your meals were included in the price
of you logding. A rather spiffy setup besides from the fact that you
are stuck with the same cook for your entire stay.
On Wednesday I head to Guatamual and the ruins of Tikal. Of course no
plans beyond that. I hope all of you are doing well.
=Logan, Belize
into Guatumaula. I figured I might as well give you all an overview of
my time and a heads up of what I'll be doing.
We left Tulum, Mexico for Corozal, Belize after only being in Mexico
for four nights. Just crossing the border felt good as we entered
Belize, and we were not let down as we walked down the streets and
were greeted by every person we passed. Radom strangers coming up and
talking to us just to say hello was suddenly not uncommon or strange.
The people were just friendly.
Two nights in Corozal were rather uneventful, just hung out and saw
some of the lowkey local ruins, and ate some of the national cusuine,
which is meat and more meat, making things hard for my vegitarian
companion Jewel. We did meet an older couple (60something) who have
been traveling for the last 10 years. They're retired and have enough
income where they can live indefinately on the road. It sounded like a
great way to live out the end section of life. I hope I'm still that
mobile in 40some years.
From Corozal we went further into the country to the city of Orange
Walk. On the surface it seemed like a rather dull stop that we made
mainly for the close by ruins of Lamanai. We were quite surprised when
within a couple hours of arriving we found ourselves in the middle of
a campaign rally.A parade of propaganda and people supporting the
party went down main street, music blaring, and horns honking. We had
a couple locals come up to us and inform us of the political situation
in the country. Supposedly they have had the same government party
ruling for the last 10 years. From what we heard and read (from
various campaign signs.) the government monopolzed many of the
government resources and kept the profits for the wealthy. It was
quite an experience.
We took a tour of the ruins of Lamanai which was rather impressive.
The tour we took to get there was a 2 hour boat ride up the "New
River" to the site, which included stopping for every iguana the
capatain found so many of the tourists could take 20 or so pictures of
a lizard that will look like not much more then a leaf. We did stop
for some more interesting things, such as rare birds, crocodiles and
the local rum distillery. Once we got to the ruins we had a quick
picnic lunch and then a guided tour of the ruin site. One pyramid you
could climb to the top of which was at about 112ft and provided a
breathtaking panorama of the surronding jungle and river scenery. The
boat ride back was quicker and involved less iguanas to our relief.
After a second night in Orange Walk (much more peachful without the
rally) we headed out to Caye Chaulker via Belize City. The Belize City
portion was simple, get off the bus and catch a water taxi to the
island. Infact Belize city seemed like it could quite possibly be the
least exiting part of the country. It was dirty and nothing pretty.
Needless to say we have no regrets for passing it over.
We thought Caye Chaulker was going to be a nice little escape from
traveling for a few days, but we were mistaken once we arrived. It
isn't a horrible place to be, infact if you can afford the various
dive trips and cave tours it would be a very nice place to relax in
the sun, but for the budget traveler, they Caye's lack of a sandy
beaches, or cheap entertainment, meant wandering around the islands
many generic stores and reading on a dock.
Two nights of Caye Chaulker and we were off to more affordable climes.
We took a boat back to Belieze city (through a small tempest) and
headed south to Dangriga for one night (where we found out the results
of the election) and then off to a much smaller Island called Tabacco
Caye.
Tabacco Caye is a tiny island that you could probably walk around in
about 5 minutes. The big attraction there is that you can snorkel a
coral reef right off the shore, saving you from paying about 40USD a
person for a boat to take you out to any other reef. It was a pretty
neat place, laidback for sure. Being such a small island there were no
restauants or super markets, all your meals were included in the price
of you logding. A rather spiffy setup besides from the fact that you
are stuck with the same cook for your entire stay.
On Wednesday I head to Guatamual and the ruins of Tikal. Of course no
plans beyond that. I hope all of you are doing well.
=Logan, Belize
posted by kabuku6 at
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