From Caye to Cayo

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November 17th 2007

Published: November 17th 2007

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El Scook Y Natalia

The mean streets of Caye Caulker 1

ello ello ello

Yesterday we left the turquoise seas and sand streets of Caye Caulker to head to inland Belize - we arrived yesterday evening in San Ignacio in the Cayo district, which with its sister town Santa Elena is the second most populated area in Belize. And its about the size of Oundle! (for those of you who don't know - my hometown, population about 5,000). Well - I exaggerate slightly, but it is not very big. There's two rivers running through and lots of activites based around them - we're off kayaking through the forest tomorrow so pretty excited about that. We came via a very brief visit to Belize City - which doesn't get very good press. It seemed ok but very hectic and a bit run down so we think moving straight on was probably the right plan.

Anyhoo, we had a cool last few days in Caye Caulker doing our PADI at Frenchies Diving (a brief plug for them for anyone planning on going to Caye Caulker - they were extremely professional, friendly and reassuring - which is pretty much what you want from people who are going to tie lead weights to you

Waiting to do our PADI exam

You'll be glad to hear we both passed with a flying 98%

and drop you in the sea to breathe out of a metal tube). We saw some amazing sealife including turtles, nurse sharks, eagle rays, moray eels, conches, arrow crabs, starfish, various kinds of coral, and fish aplenty including barracudas, parrotfish and various other stuff that I can't find pictures of on the internet so I can't tell you what they were! It was ace. Except for a couple of brief incidents on our last day diving where i got stuck at 30ft for about 10 minutes (everyone else was at 60ft) cos of congestion in my right ear. And poor Si got a bit seasick when we got back up to the surface and chucked up over the side of the boat! Apparently its fine to vomit into your regulator but luckily it didn't come to that!

Its the start of rainy season so we had some rain and wind but plenty of sunshine too. The pace of life is super slow and it only takes about a day to get into the fact you can get everywhere within a ten minute walk, but there's not really anything to do other than lounge around and take in the scenery

Si looks less nervous than me...

it was obviously overconfidence that caused him to forget the distinguishing features of a DIN valve...

anyway...I loved it! And the scenery is great - being surrounded by sea is a good start, but all the pastel painted wooden buildings, boats, and folks hanging around smiling help too.

Other things that are good about Belize - CAKE. Wherever you go there is someone selling you homemade coconut brownies, mocha rum cake, banana bread etc etc that are so good they should be illegal. There is actually a guy on Caye Caulker who calls himself 'the cake man' who cycles around with a big tray of cakes. If you're going there, look out for him, he has some seriously good produce!

Final news is that Si paid a visit to a Belizean barber who only had a razor, no scissors, so he currently has almost no hair and looks like a marine. Tomorrow I'm making him run 20 miles up a mountain carrying a 10kg pack and insisting he only address me as 'Sir! Yes Sir!'.

we're unfortunately still lacking a camera USB cable and have about 3 weeks worth of photos to upload as soon as we find some technology.

hope everyone is having fun, wherever you are!

lotsa love, Nat