Blogs from Belize City, Belize District, Belize, Central America Caribbean - page 7

Today in Belize, Brooks & I went on the Belize City Tour. Just stepping on the bus felt like home! Honestly, I’ve guided on buses with the EXACT upholstery pattern. I just wanted to grab that mic and start spieling. I couldn’t stop telling Brooks guiding stories that would pop into my head. But I did sit back and pay attention to our tour. Our guide was great - though not quite Keating, of course :) There is not a lot to see in Belize City in terms of big fancy buildings or historical sites. In terms of what we saw, it was more of a glimpse into where the people of the country live and work and study and play. That and our guide covered a lot of general history about the country itself, which ... read more

Happy Double O Seven to everyone... There have been many interesting events take place over the past little while and let me tell you about them. In short, French Caribbean, Christmas, New Years and A new Manager.... As I was mentioning before the Christmas season on board the Carnival Legend is very interesting. There are a lot of decorations, joy and carols through out the entire ship. However there are a lot of sad faces as well. For those crew members on board that don't have the luxury of having a lot of time off during the holiday season it can be seen in their work and seem to have a lack of bounce in their step. And rightfully so. During Christmas I got the chance to sing some carols, attend the Christmas show and work ... read more

Happy New Year everyone. Can't believe it's 2007 already. I'll be honest with you, I didn't know an awful lot about Belize before I started planning this trip. I vaguely knew it was somewhere in the Caribbean (I've learnt how to spell that now) but I had visions of it being some kind of island. So I was pleased to see that it actually forms part of central America, bordering Mexico and Guatemala. Formerly British Honduras, Belize gained independence in 1981. The population is only 250,000 and 75,000 of those live in Belize City. From getting on the bus at the Mexican border, the changes between the two countries were evident. For a start, the main language here is English although there is still a fair smattering of Spanish speakers. The comfortable buses with reclining seats ... read more

The next morning I took a beautiful bus ride to the Guatemalan border on the "jungle route." We forded rivers and nearly got stuck in the mud a few times... very fun. I stayed in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala for the night before catching a boat to Punta Gorda, Belize. The ride was a very rough one and I got totally soaked, despite the tarp pulled over all us passengers. We unloaded and made our way to the bus station, where most of us caught a 7 hour chicken bus ride to Belize City... Just can't get enough school buses!! Along the way our driver played Boy George and Shania Twain... wonderful. Once I arrived at the Seaside Guesthouse, I found that there was a fellow Virginian staying there, who immediately lifted me up in a huge ... read more

I needed to escape this horrible, putrid city of Belize City and find some peace and nature so I went to the "Baboon" Sanctuary about an hour west of town. It is actually a Black Howler Monkey nature preserve, but they are called baboons in the Creole language. While in Tikal, Guatemala I had only heard the wild howls of this animal, here I got to get up close and personal. These Black Howlers are found in northern Guatemala, Belize, and southern Mexico and are considered engandered due mostly to loss of habitat due to logging and unsustainable agriculture as well as hunting. But the local community got together and decided voluntarily to create this preserve as a 20 square-mile network of connected private lands. They benefit from the local ecotourism dollars and the howlers and ... read more