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Published: August 28th 2010
¨Welcome to Belize,¨ as I received the stamp in my passport at the border town coming from Guatemala. English....my brain instantly began to relax!! I had been in Guatemala for the last 2 months and even though I was loving learning and practicing Spanish, the weeks break that Lisa and I intended to have in Belize would also be a mental break of being on guard to translate everything that is said to me.
Lisa and I had been travelling in Guatemala for the last 2 weeks and after tossing up options either to hike through the jungle to the El Mirador Mayan ruins in the northern part of Guatemala or spend some time on the Cayes and have some Caribbean sun, we were both happy to be crossing the border (even more for Lisa whose Spanish is limited). Marcus, an Australian guy we met in Tikal, had however decided to do the former and split from us in Tikal to travel north for 5 days of mosquito infested hiking through the jungle. Was I envious? Mmmmm...no. Marcus being a Mayan Ruins enthusiast had to tick this one off his list I felt, whilst Lisa and I were happy with
what Tikal had to offer and didn´t feel we had to prove to each other just how hardcore we were for a 5 day jungle hike....we had jumped that hurdle in Nepal.
Expecting the usual hum of minibuses and people selling everything from deep fried platinos to fried chicken over the border we however encountered a different scene. Everyone was chilling out. A line of taxis greeted us and not seeming to fussed to drum up business we were bundled into a cab to San Ignacio, around 30 minutes away, where we would spend our first night. The green rolling countryside continued over the border but the adobe houses were replaced by big wooden houses built off the ground with a grand verandah which seemed more of an American flavour than anything. Giant billboards lined the highway promoting a health issue that must be prevalent in this country: Aids. Signs promoting the use of safe sex lined the highway: better to address the issue than sweep it under the carpet I suppose.
San Ignacio was smaller than we thought. I don´t know what we were expecting but it was pretty low key. It is a good base to
explore some of the Mayan sights and waterfalls around the region but we were just here to kill a day before heading to the Cayes tomorrow. We had only decided around 11am in the morning to cross the border instead of going to El Remate for the day so we thought this as a good starting point. By the way, Queen Elizabeth looks really good on the Belizean Currency, a good photo from her youth that I think should be used even on Australian Dollars. If you didn´t notice, I´m a bit of a fan of Liz!!
Surprisingly we ate South Indian food for our first night in Belize. I was keen to sample some of the local cuisine but after a local started talking up how good this South Indian joint was down the road Lisa and I couldn´t resist it. It had been about 6 months since I left India and I still craved the food. I disgraced myself in all matters relating to Western manners at the table, but eating with my hands just felt natural!!
Caye Caulker So, onto the Cayes. An easy journey to Belize City was followed by a short ferry
across to Caye Caulker. Our taxi driver from the bus terminal to the ferry was a nice guy: relaxed, easy going and up for a chat. We listened to him talking with another Belizean, trying to understand the intermittent English with Kriol. Lisa understood more than I did, remembering colleagues in London chatting at lunch time in a similar tongue.
Our first impression was WOW. It was beautiful. Just the colour of the water and the beach shacks lining the shore impressed us both. We had decided to find a nicer place to stay and live it up a bit after our two weeks of roughing it through Guatemala. And we were lucky. We checked a few places until we found IT: Balcony room, hammock, fridge, fan and nice comfy beds. Perfect. And that really set the tone for the next few days. We walked down to the Split occasionally: Where there is a channel flowing through 2 islands and a good spot for swimming and having a few quiet drinks at Lazy Lizards. We ate really well. The Belize cooking was amazing and with the amount of Lobster and other seafood around it was hard to have a
bad meal. An older lady was cooking out of her cart on the street which we found to be the best. Amazing food.
We found a sailing trip leaving on the 4th day that was heading down to Placencia through the islands: it sounded amazing but expensive: $300US including everything. With 4 months of my trip to go I was reluctant to part with such an amount of money but after weighing up the options we knew it was going to be worth it. So we didn´t really take advantage of some of the diving and snorkelling opportunites because we had committed to the trip: which we would regret later on down the track.
Caye Caulker - Rendezvous Caye - Tobacco Caye - Placencia The sailing trip was described as: Island hopping, snorkelling, fishing, unlimited rum punch and amazing food. With that description maybe you would picture lying on the deck under the blazing hot sun, listening to reggae beats whilst sailing through the blue waters of the caribbean. Well, the start of Day 1 presented us with a big storm that lashed the boat and made the first few hours of sailing interesting. The group consisted
of Lisa and myself, 4 American girls travelling together, a solo American girl and an older American couple. Basically it was Team America except for Lisa and myself. We all hit it off straight from the start after ¨bonding¨ underneath the deck waiting for the rain to depart.
The snorkelling on the first day was good, despite the sea being a bit rough. We had a slight glitch enroute: we hit some shallow water and lost the rudder!! Well, Leon jumped in and managed to get it back on board no troubles at all. We caught a few barracuda and a spanish mackeral enroute to Rendezvous Caye which Jermain said was going to make an awesome dinner for the first night. After the delicious lunch we had we didn´t doubt him for a second.
Rendezvous Caye (look at the island on the travelblog heading page...thats it!!): Pulling into it was really cool. We were all looking at each other going ¨Is this it? Are we really staying here tonight?¨ I was excited. I cannot remember how many photos I have seen of these small islands surrounded by crystal blue water in the middle of nowhere. Now we would
be staying on one. It honestly felt like Survivor: I just needed to find some lanterns!! There was a small shed on the island and a ¨ranger¨ so to speak stayed there and looked after the small bit of land (you could walk around it in 2 minutes). He also had a dog there to keep him company.
The ranger was already passing a doobie to our captain as soon as we made dock: you could say he had a pretty chilled life out there on the island. He was doing 2-3 week stints and he also worked in construction on the mainland; this was his escape I suppose. We put up the tents and a tarp to protect us from the wind and the rain forecasted for the evening. Jermaine started filleting the fish on the dock, much to the delight of a few birds feasting on the offcuts. Everyone was having a good time: the rum punch was flowing; ceviche was being served for an afternoon snack and the reggae beats were still pumping out. It was a nice time to forget about everything and just soak it all in.
Jermaine is an amazing cook: the
barracuda and spanish mackeral he cooked up on the BBQ were amazing. He was telling us about growing up in a family of 13 and how his mother had taught him to cook from a young age. We were just happy we had 2 more days of this!! A bonfire was lit on the beach and everyone passed the time in their own way. It was windy but peaceful. The stars were out, as were the lights of Belize City. ¨This is why I travel,¨ I though to myself whilst sitting in the sand playing around with the water and the phosphoresence effect.
The rain and wind during the night was quite severe and all we had was a tarp and the tent to protect us. Still, we all managed to get some sleep and appreciate the beauty of the sunrise in the morning. It was a beautiful island and a great place to clear your head with the fresh ocean breeze.
The sun we missed out on the first day decided to present itself on Day 2. The water was a deep crystal blue and we managed to get the sails up as well. It was amazing.
We snorkelled, ate, swam, drank, sung and just enjoyed the time on the top of the deck with Jermaine steering the boat and the reel trolling out the back for some more barracuda. Tobacco Caye was our destination for our 2nd night and as we approached the small isle we all got excited again. It was bigger than Rendezvous with residents as well as a few beach huts for tourists, including us as we left the tents aboard the boat.
Hammocks dotted the island, although I am still weary of lying in one between some coconut trees, especially with coconuts strewn on the surrounding sand. The last thing I would want would be unconsciousness!! Lisa and I snorkelled around the island and saw some nice fish and an eagle ray close to the dock. We both wished we did the snorkelling with the manatees in Caye Caulker now: the fish and reef was nice here but not many big fish. The afternoon and evening were spent lazing around the dock, drinking some more rum punch and a sneaky nap in the hammock. Again, Jermaine cooked up an amazing feast, this time making a lobster dish that had everyone going
Captain Jermaine
a.k.a. chilled out dudeback for 2nd´s and 3rd´s. And the stars were even more amazing this night, with the milky way streaking across the sky and shooting stars spotted every few minutes.
Our ride into Placencia on the third day was nice and cruisy. We stopped at Saltwater Caye which had a beautiful white sandy beach to relax on as well. Everyone was sleeping on the deck and thinking about the next part of their journey. Lisa was heading to another town in the evening to get to Antigua the following day where as I was staying to catch the ferry to Honduras the next day. The sailing trip definitely didn´t disappoint either of us. Jermaine and Leon @ Ragamuffin Tours had looked after us and showed us a taste of the caribbean that I never knew existed. To anyone thinking about sailing off the coast...DO IT!!
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kymush
kym monroe
hey, it looks absolutely amazing, i will be in belize in 9 days! cant wait! happy travelling!xx