Belize

---

Belize,

There is so much to say about Belize but I will try to be concise from my short experience in being there. I recall arriving to Punta Gorda, Belize by boat from Livingston, Guatemala. As soon as I was there I realized that I was in a different country. The language I heard arriving threw me off as I got on the bus because they weren’t speaking English or Spanish but a mixture of it called Creole. I arrived to a beach town called Placencia. It was a nice and a quiet place. I met some Canadians and Americans there. It’s a small world because I met a guy who had met my friend Tony in Xela, Guatemala. I was on my own by this time but it was good to know that my friend Tony had left him a good impression. Placencia was very calm and relaxing but I didn’t have that much time left so I decided to head north to a Caye Caulker, an island I heard a lot of good things about from a lady named Lindsay in Tikal. On my way there I stopped by Dangriga, a city known for their large population of Garifuna people. I met some nice girls there and we ended up traveling together to Caye Caulker.

Journal entry:

I’m lying on a hammock enjoying the sun rise (thinking of the song by Bob Marley now, “sun is shinning, the weather is clean…makes you wanna move…your dancing feet…to the rescue, here I am…want you to know now, where I stand…), yup…I met some girls: Lauren from New York, City who is doing Peace Corp for two years in El Salvador and her friend Valerie is from Quebec, Canada. I also met Hannah from Oklahoma who left Dangriga after living there for some time. There are a lot of people here at Tina’s Backpacker’s hostel. I even recognize some faces from Guatemala. Small world for travelers, isn’t it?

There is a young boy on the island that every woman falls in love with. He's adorable, and I met his mother at the hostel I'm staying. I saw him all the time and he was more than happy to get his picture taken.

Yesterday, I walked around the town with Hannah and we went into a local supermarket to get some drinks, a guy just cuts in line in front of everyone and surprises everyone by having a tampon box on his hand as he says with authority, “THAT’S A MON!,” in his Creole accent he continues, “ONLY MON DO THAT!…NO I DON’T NEED A BOG!…ONLY MON DO THAT!” and then he storms out of the store. I guess he was proving a point that we shouldn’t be embarrassed to buy our spouse their tampons. It was one of the funniest things I experienced there.

It’s Halloween day and Hannah and I are getting creative to make our own customs since we’re on an island. We made them from coconuts, palm tree leaves, some paint, anything we could find, really. We ended up being one of the best customs of the night, definitely a memorable Halloween night.

---