Blogs from Belize District, Belize, Central America Caribbean - page 4

A midnight ride on the comfortable air conditioned Mexican ADO bus service brought us down the Yucatan Coast to Belize City. Arriving at first sunlight, we witnessed the city awaken from an antique taxi to our $15 a night guesthouse. The proprietor welcomed us with smiles and small talk, explaining the building was built 200 years ago during English colonial times. In fact Belize was noted as a perfect pirate hang out, raiding Spanish galleons heavy with gold and silver. English pirating eventually led to an English colony which makes Belize one of the few English speaking countries in a predominately Spanish neighborhood. Venturing from our guesthouse, we walked a short distance to downtown Belize, a dilapidated, worn and weathered city that seemed struggling to survive. A bit intimidated by the begging and decrepit conditions, most ... read more

Belize was a simple day for us. We took the 5 mile tender from the ship to the mainland. For those who have never cruised – this happens in areas where there either isn’t a port big enough for the ship – or there never will be a port big enough for any cruiseship because of the water/land conditions. In this case, there is a coral reef that Belize is famous for. Obviously, destroying it in the name of capitalism isn’t an option! We walked around the port for a little bit before stopping into the Wet Lizard for a drink and snack. They fundraise by letting people write on the walls with markers and the establishment was started by an Atlanta gal who moved to Belize some 15 years ago with her family/children. She ... read more

Right so, the last laugh is on me I suppose. In my last entry I left it trying to make you all feel massively jealous that I was about to go Whale Shark diving but alas it wasn't to be. We booked with this feller named Phillipe and everything appeared to be leggit. Got a nice early night for the early get up and were happily waiting at the pick up point at 7am. By the time we got to 7:30 and no one had arrived we getting a bit worried but we had his phone number and so we gave him a call to which he did answer to tell us that unfortunately we wouldn't be going to on our trip because our good man Phillipe and his partner had spent the night in prison ... read more

Ein Grund, weshalb wir nun doch noch nach Belize gereist sind, ist, dass wir uns eine noch eindrucksvollere Meeresfauna versprechen. Der zweite Grund war, einmal „richtigen“ Urwald und ihre Bewohner zu erleben. Da waren wir in der Community Bamboon Sanctuary gerade richtig. Sanctuary heißt so viel wie Schutzgebiet. Bamboon ist der Name der Ortschaft, wo sich dieser Schutz- und Schonraum für die Howler-Affen befindet. Schon nach dem Grenzübertritt zu Belize fühlt man sich in eine völlig andere Welt versetzt. Die wichtigsten Verkehrsadern wie der Northern Highway würde man in Deutschland gerade mal als untergeordnete Landstraße bezeichnen. Kein Mittelstreifen, kaum Seitenstraßen. Alles ist sehr ländlich. Selbst größere Städte wie Orange Walk Town haben nur eine Hauptstraße, an der sich zwei Banken und einige kleine Geschäfte befinden. Supermärkte der bekannten Ketten, wie in Mexiko, s... read more

Today we’re in Belize and a crew tour was offered. Jenny, Duain (the directors of the younger teen club) and I signed up to go together and we were part of a group of about 40 crew members. Belize is a tender port, so we started the day with a 20 minute ride to shore where we then boarded a smaller motor boat. That boat took us down the coast a bit to a nearby river. We spent about an hour sailing up the river searching for wildlife. There were tons of different birds in the mangroves at the sides of the river and swooping overhead. We saw some crocodiles too and our guide even pulled up close to shore by one. It was just sitting there sunning – until it suddenly leapt back into the ... read more