The bloody alarm went off at 5:15am, so that we could be downstair's at the bus by 6am.
We are crossing the border between Mexico & Belize today & ticking off country number 16 today! Belize is a country both of us have heard lots of good thing's about & we are super excited.
On my way down with my bags, a few minutes before 6am, one of the Irish fellas in our tour group, told me that Tom is not getting out of bed. I was then asked to go upstairs & extract him from his bed by Suzie the tour guide.
On my way down with my bags, a few minutes before 6am, one of the Irish fellas in our tour group, told me that Tom is not getting out of bed. I was then asked to go upstairs & extract him from his bed by Suzie the tour guide.
Apparently he went out last night and got back not long before 5am.
Thankfully I had some luck getting him up, after an initial resistance & we didn't make the tour run too late.
It was a 5 hour trip in a mini van to the border. Most people slept or attempted to watch a very poor quality Deadpool 2 movie, obviously pirated. We turned our clocks back 1 hour when we arrived in Belize, making it 10am. The border crossing was easy, though very sweaty.
I was delighted when Suzie gave us some information about Belize!
Thankfully I had some luck getting him up, after an initial resistance & we didn't make the tour run too late.
It was a 5 hour trip in a mini van to the border. Most people slept or attempted to watch a very poor quality Deadpool 2 movie, obviously pirated. We turned our clocks back 1 hour when we arrived in Belize, making it 10am. The border crossing was easy, though very sweaty.
I was delighted when Suzie gave us some information about Belize!
The name Belize came from Belix, which is the Mayan word for muddy water.
Belize got it's independence in 1981 from the British. The population in Belize is 348,000, which is quite small, compared to Mexico's population of 127,000,000. The locals are said to be very friendly & welcoming.
We definitely felt this way as we hopped on board an old converted school bus, which would take us the 3.5 hours to Belize city, though no longer the capital due to natural disaster & it's ability to be easily flooded.
The old school bus's we would see in Belize & other countries in central America come down from Canada & America, after being sold cheap at auction, before being pimped out.
The bus ride went quickly & unremarkably. Lots of locals got off & on the bus & we were treated to a reggae remix of every hit song possible. From old rock anthems, to the latest song from Ed Sherin. Belize people love reggae & singing.
Outside the window we drove past lots of coconut & banana trees, alongside of sugar cane fields. There is a very big variety in the richness of housing, however most of the structures look very similar to the elevated houses in Queensland, Australia. Belize is frequented with flooding & hurricanes, which is why.
I didn't see a fence until we got to the city & in between the fields of farming & houses was deep patches of jungle.
Belize is well known for it's intense & huge amount of protected green land & of course it's reefs.
We've both signed up for a big day of snorkelling tomorrow, which is really exciting. People frequently see lots of fish & healthy reef, nurse sharks, turtles & manta rays. There is a marine conservation reserve for the rays & sharks, which we knew about & was always going to be a big attraction. Last time our guide was here, she was swimming with a manatee! I'm ecstatic to hear this.
Once we arrived in Belize city, the sky opened up & it bucket'd down, as we'd say back in Oz.
The rain came down in sheets & was very large droplet's, saturating everything in seconds. We all scrambled around like ants after getting off the bus at the front, running to the back of the bus to collect luggage & then running into the bus terminal shelter.
From here we took a local taxi to the ferry terminal & have a 20 minute breather/beer before getting on the ferry which will take us across to the island of Caye Caulker.
The island of Caye Caulker is stunning & feels totally removed from having any connection to Mexico. It feels & looks like an island in Jamaica.
There's lots of palm trees, grass roof's & people selling coconuts. There's no Spanish anywhere & the locals are extremely friendly. The ocean is really flat & is gorgeous colours of green & blue. The island is only a few kilometres in length & in some sections, you can stand in the middle of the street & see both sides of it & the surrounding ocean, so it's not that wide either. A very nice, small community with huge amounts of natural beauty.
Interestingly our hostel has beach views & a private jetty, but before reaching this you have to walk through a cemetery! It's a strange view.
Tom is put in a dorm room with all the 8 other guys & I'm in a girls room with 6 beds. I'm getting along really well with Hannah & Barbie, so we continue this arrangement & in addition get another girl called Dolly. The dorm room is simple, but comfortable enough.
Once we all dump our bags into our dorms we get ready to head off for dinner.
It's at this point Tom realises that the electrical items he had charging in his dorm the previous night, next to the microwave, are not in his bag. He asks me if I grabbed them when I came to wake him up & of course, I did not..... sadly it was our newly brought multi adapter wall socket, Tom's phone charger & his last spare phone cable, which was attached to the battery pack. This is going to be a huge inconvenience now in our trip & were not likely to find replacement's anytime soon.
There is an amazing selection of restaurants here & the specialty is seafood. Suzie has booked us a big table at her favourite place that does $10 lobsters. I'm sure you can guess what we ate for dinner!
It was a meal deal with 2 lobsters, 1 snapper fillet, garlic bread, coconut rice, vegetables & 2 drinks. It was amazing! During dinner we had happy hour & Suzie got us extra special deals. There is a drink on Caye Caulker called a panty rippa, which is basically fresh fruit juice & coconut rum.
It's really delicious & dangerously potent... which is not a good combination.
Despite the big dinner, we all stumbled out of the bar very happy & rowdy.
The next stop was the sports bar, followed by the Jamaican bar followed by our roof top balcony.
It sounds like a big list of places, but everything on the island shuts early & a huge chunk of the group (including me) were in bed by 1am. Tom stayed up much later with some of the Irish lads.
- Alli
Belize got it's independence in 1981 from the British. The population in Belize is 348,000, which is quite small, compared to Mexico's population of 127,000,000. The locals are said to be very friendly & welcoming.
We definitely felt this way as we hopped on board an old converted school bus, which would take us the 3.5 hours to Belize city, though no longer the capital due to natural disaster & it's ability to be easily flooded.
The old school bus's we would see in Belize & other countries in central America come down from Canada & America, after being sold cheap at auction, before being pimped out.
The bus ride went quickly & unremarkably. Lots of locals got off & on the bus & we were treated to a reggae remix of every hit song possible. From old rock anthems, to the latest song from Ed Sherin. Belize people love reggae & singing.
Outside the window we drove past lots of coconut & banana trees, alongside of sugar cane fields. There is a very big variety in the richness of housing, however most of the structures look very similar to the elevated houses in Queensland, Australia. Belize is frequented with flooding & hurricanes, which is why.
I didn't see a fence until we got to the city & in between the fields of farming & houses was deep patches of jungle.
Belize is well known for it's intense & huge amount of protected green land & of course it's reefs.
We've both signed up for a big day of snorkelling tomorrow, which is really exciting. People frequently see lots of fish & healthy reef, nurse sharks, turtles & manta rays. There is a marine conservation reserve for the rays & sharks, which we knew about & was always going to be a big attraction. Last time our guide was here, she was swimming with a manatee! I'm ecstatic to hear this.
Once we arrived in Belize city, the sky opened up & it bucket'd down, as we'd say back in Oz.
The rain came down in sheets & was very large droplet's, saturating everything in seconds. We all scrambled around like ants after getting off the bus at the front, running to the back of the bus to collect luggage & then running into the bus terminal shelter.
From here we took a local taxi to the ferry terminal & have a 20 minute breather/beer before getting on the ferry which will take us across to the island of Caye Caulker.
The ferry was a large & new boat which had 2 decks & seated approximately 200 people. While on the ferry another rain cloud appeared & followed us all the way to the island. Just as we got off the boat & walked down the jetty, it started to rain! At first just intermittently & lightly, but as we collected our bags & walked towards the hostel, it got heavier.
The island of Caye Caulker is stunning & feels totally removed from having any connection to Mexico. It feels & looks like an island in Jamaica.
There's lots of palm trees, grass roof's & people selling coconuts. There's no Spanish anywhere & the locals are extremely friendly. The ocean is really flat & is gorgeous colours of green & blue. The island is only a few kilometres in length & in some sections, you can stand in the middle of the street & see both sides of it & the surrounding ocean, so it's not that wide either. A very nice, small community with huge amounts of natural beauty.
Interestingly our hostel has beach views & a private jetty, but before reaching this you have to walk through a cemetery! It's a strange view.
Tom is put in a dorm room with all the 8 other guys & I'm in a girls room with 6 beds. I'm getting along really well with Hannah & Barbie, so we continue this arrangement & in addition get another girl called Dolly. The dorm room is simple, but comfortable enough.
Once we all dump our bags into our dorms we get ready to head off for dinner.
It's at this point Tom realises that the electrical items he had charging in his dorm the previous night, next to the microwave, are not in his bag. He asks me if I grabbed them when I came to wake him up & of course, I did not..... sadly it was our newly brought multi adapter wall socket, Tom's phone charger & his last spare phone cable, which was attached to the battery pack. This is going to be a huge inconvenience now in our trip & were not likely to find replacement's anytime soon.
There is an amazing selection of restaurants here & the specialty is seafood. Suzie has booked us a big table at her favourite place that does $10 lobsters. I'm sure you can guess what we ate for dinner!
It was a meal deal with 2 lobsters, 1 snapper fillet, garlic bread, coconut rice, vegetables & 2 drinks. It was amazing! During dinner we had happy hour & Suzie got us extra special deals. There is a drink on Caye Caulker called a panty rippa, which is basically fresh fruit juice & coconut rum.
It's really delicious & dangerously potent... which is not a good combination.
Despite the big dinner, we all stumbled out of the bar very happy & rowdy.
The next stop was the sports bar, followed by the Jamaican bar followed by our roof top balcony.
It sounds like a big list of places, but everything on the island shuts early & a huge chunk of the group (including me) were in bed by 1am. Tom stayed up much later with some of the Irish lads.
- Alli
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