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Published: August 29th 2008
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Caye caulker from the boat
obviously from the boat as we cant walk on water!!! Another day another bus journey and border crossing. Fortunately the journey from Tikal to Belize was only 5 hours and the bus was relatively empty. We had the first two seats which always gets you some extra leg room and we were both very comfortable. The border stop was a bit of a pain as we ended us joining the wrong queue and then at the back of the right queue. It is frustrating at times especially when you a bit tectchy from the heat. We checked out of Guatemala after a long wait and then headed off to get stamped into Belize. We could not see our bus but figured it was waiting the other side. The lady stamped us into Belize (hoorah we got a stamp) and we trudged back to teh bus with our backpacks. After loading them back on I decided to get back on the bus it was just too damn hot. We waited for another 20 minutes as we were two passengers short and then the driver decided to go. Without said passengers which was strange but they had shown no signs of turning back at the bus. Maybe they got a taxi, who knows.....
The first thing that hits you when you cross into Belize is not the heat but the fact that every single road sign and advertisement changes to english. An ex British colony english is widely spoken and it was rather nice I have to say. We had decided that Belize was a little rest time for us and were planning on travelling on from Belize city to San Pedro on the cayes. The bus driver had said that he would drop us off at the boat dock and sure enough as we pulled into Belize City which is hot, dusty and a bit rough looking he pulled up right outside the boat dock. A guy got on speaking very good english and explained the next boat was in an hour. We knew this anyway but it was nice all the same to be reassured. We loaded our stuff off the bus and sat in the shaded and breezy waiting room. There were a few dodgy looking characters hanging around but they seemed harmless enough. Tim had to use the ATM which had been occupied by two local guys probably to get some aircon so he had to ask them to
let him in but was a bit weird. We loaded onto a very packed boat after our short wait and headed off to the Cayes. The first stop was Caye Caulker this is a more popular destination with back packers but all the reviews we had read said there was no beach to speak of so we had decided to stay on the bit more exclusive San Pedro as it had a beach. After we dropped at Caye Caulker the boat was pretty empty heading onwards the extra 20 minutes to San Pedro. We docked, collected our bags and having already booked a place at Pedro´s Inn on the island over the internet we jumped a cab the short ride.
It took us a whole day to make the connection of San Pedro and La Isla Bonito to the Madonna song. We did not even know it was called La Isla Bonito until we spotted all the tourist maps with it on. I thought Madonna´s San Pedro was a guy?? Maybe it was but the sony is definately about this tiny place in Belize. Peter the english guy that ran pedros inn was most welcoming and immediately supplied us
with a ice cold beer. Settling in his shady bar from what was quite honestly stifling heat we sat back and rehydrated the best way we know how. Tim eventually took the bags to the room and came back beaming at how nice it was, he was right too for $40US we had a beautiful aircon room with pristine sheets and ..oh yes...fluffy white towels. The ensuite was a nice size and exceptionally clean and the TV had satellite, perfect. The reviews we had read for this place all said that the homemade pizza was superb so we decided to tuck into one of those which did very much live up to the best pizza either of us have ever had. So with refreshments and dinner enjoyed we took a walk through the town as the sun started to set. Although a reprieve from the earlier baking heat it was still very warm. The town was busier than we expected with many people whizzing round on golf buggies. The streets are a labrinth of shops, restaurants and hotels which line the beachfront. We took a walk along the beach until we got out of the main area and then meandered
back. The beach was not huge but it looked very pretty so we took to the decision of an early night and a day at the beach the next day.
By the time we woke and had a leisurely shower we got to the beach by about 11am. We found a spot and sat down and sweat and sweat and sweat and sweat. We lasted an hour it was just way too hot. The beach has little shade and the sea has very few nice swimming areas due to a thick bed of seaweed but even the nice bit we found it was like sitting in a bath tub. We literally crawled back to the room whacked the aircon on and showered again. We sat watching a film and then another until the heat had gone from the sun. Taking a stroll out again we were still shocked how hot it was and after a quick light dinner we were back in the room. We had to put a plan together as we had 4 nights here and did not want to spend everyday hiding out in our room. What we did was get up at 6am and hit
the beach, we left the beach by 11am when the sun got too hot and it seemed the best option. We still spent most afternoons in our room but the aircon was too good not to enjoy.
We spent one afternoon sat at a very nice breezy beach bar watching the world go by but it was most definately the hottest place we have visited and uncomfortable at times. The island is very pretty and the fact that most people spoke english was also a very nice change. We did very little while we were there but thats what we needed after a very busy month previously. The food was good, the weather way too good and the room was bliss so we enjoyed that. Our next stop was to go to Tulum in Mexico and for that we needed to get out to the Mexican border. The island has a little airstrip so Tim checked out the price of tickets and for 25 quid got us a flight that saved us doing a bus/boat combination. To say the plane was small was no exaggeration we arrived for our 7am flight and checked our baggage onto a tiny rack which was wheeled out to the plane. 15 seats were available and as we were asked to board Tim got offered a seat with the pilot. Not envious, green and a little put out at all as he settled himself into the cock pit, jealousy is so unattractive. He did offer me the seat but I knew deep down he wanted it!!! The flight was great and to our surprise we found ourselves looking down over swampland of all things. Not quite what we had expected. Peter our host arranged for us to be picked up from and taken through the border crossing so we sat back enjoyed the views and held high expectations for Mexico........................
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