Blogs from Orange Walk, Orange Walk District, Belize, Central America Caribbean

And then it was time for our first little adventure - crossing the border to Belize! Despite all the internet research we'd done, there seemed to be no clarity around what the official rules were around paying exit and entrance fees, and whether they'd be included in the flight price or not. Being very persistent seemed to be at least worth a shot though, and indeed, with some crappy Spanish (es incluido en el precio del vuelo, estoy seguro!!) we were in the end made to sign the back of the supposed to be official receipt, and the 15 gbp fee per person was waved. Victory! No clue what we'll need to do on the way back, but we'll figure it out. We also managed to avoid the overpriced insurance scams, thanks to the information provided ... read more

Happy 2012 to all our blog readers! We were greeted into Belize in English, Spanish, Creole, Q'eqchi' and several other Mayan languages. As we got off a somewhat overcrowded ex-American yellow school bus in Orange Walk a nice gentleman with his wife and daughter ask us if we were looking for somewhere cheap to stay and offered us a ride to his friends hotel. He dropped us off and wished us happy travels. This kind of encounter has happened several times in almost every place we've been in this small nation. F.Y.I., The Hotel in Orange Walk was indeed very cheap (and clean), but 'basic' barely touches the edges when trying to describe this place... we especially will have fond memories of the sink built under the shower and we will remember our special stance so ... read more

After my brief stint in Mexico I retraced my steps south into Belize; having skipped straight across the country on the way to Caye Caulker my plan was to travel overland north-to-south taking in as many sights as possible along the way. Lamanai My first call was the town of Orange Walk in northern Belize, the town itself is not much to write home about (literally) but is situated close to the New River from where one can take a boat trip to see Lamanai, Belize's most famous Mayan ruin. I joined the other day trippers just outside town & we all piled into a 20 seater launch with our guide. The river is surrounded by forests and an impressive collection of flora and fauna abides close to the waterway, within minutes of departure we were ... read more

so it has been a while since my last update. Maybe I’m adjusting to belize time a bit easier than expected… so since New Years at Sarteneja: 02 Jan - we scored a free ride from a couple from Montreal that were heading to Belize City. They were kind enough to drop us off in Orange Walk Town. The trip in their VW was slower than the public bus, but we imagine far more comfortable and more enjoyable. Our trip to Orange Walk was the start of our ‘no longer on vacation’ time, so everything had to be looked at in terms of business potential. However, arriving in the town we immediately knew it wasn’t for us. Can’t really explain what it was - just wasn’t right. So we wandered around, took in the limited sites ... read more

Well crossing the border to Belize turned out to be a mini-adventure. We were too late to get a bus across so had to get a taxi from Chetumal in Mexico to the 'frontera'. After exiting the mexican bit, we crossed to the Belize side and got our stamps, said adios to the taxi driver and then realized that it was half nine at night, there was nobody about and we were standing outside the Belize border control with no transport to the next town (about 15km away). In the end this old guy and his friends arrived in a pick up and asked if we wanted a lift to Corozal, the next town, so the three of us hopped in the back and took the bumpy lift to the next town..fair play to them they ... read more