Belize

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A short flight from Dallas and we arrived in Belize City. American Airlines not quite as comfortable, nor as generous with food as Qantas, but it did provide us with entertainment in the form of an inflight shopping magazine where you could purchase, and no joke, a 2-story home for your cat, including an upstairs patio to enjoy the view, or a slide for your dog, so that he can slide into your backyard swimming pool with fun....brilliant stuff!

Staying long enough in the city just to get our anti-malaria pills (at 20% of the price at home), we hit Caye Caulker, an island off the east coast. Go Slow was the order of the trip, with no traffic on the island - golf buggies being the only form of transportation - and nothing much to do aside from swim, snorkel or dive. We took a snorkelling trip, which to be honest, after diving in Thailand and Malaysia, was very disappointing. The coral is discoloured and dead, the fish unvaried and the visibility poor, so although we did get to see some green moray eels, huge stingrays and nurse sharks, we decided against following it up with diving after a lot of poor feedback from people who had dived in the area.

It has to be said that the people here in Belize are definately the most friendly, and genuinely nice, laid back populace that we have ever met to date. Whenever there was a problem, there was at least 5 people ready to pitch in, and give advice. Looking back on the USA portion of our travel, I would have to say it caused the most grief in trying to organise transport, get from A to B, and general unfriendliness of the people didnt help, which ensured that it was the least fun part of our travels to date.... even the hard sell in SE Asia, and the horrible bus journeys in Vietnam didn·t compare to the sufferings we had in navigating airports, sorting out shuttles and dealing with hotel and hostel staff, so it was a pleasure getting lost in Belize!

Unfortunately the weather was not so good, so after enjoying some good seafood on the island, we hit inland to San Ignacio. After visiting some of the local Maya ruins, and possibly the best fried chicken in the world, we travelled to Tikal in Guatamala to see the vast Maya site there.

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Photos

Red Snapper Dinner
Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker Kitchen
...I hope you like seafood!

Comments

[Daithi]

That picture: "No shoes, no shirt.." is absolutely golden. The amount of places in the USA that won't serve you if you're not wearing a shirt... unbelievable. I think I might detour to Belize sometime. Great writing as always, was thinking ye had been kidnapped!