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Published: February 11th 2016
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After spending almost 5 months in Mexico it was time to cross the border and see some of Central America! First stop - Belize! We left Chetumal at 10am on a chicken bus! These are old American school buses that are used as public transport and the driver blasts regaton music the whole time! Absolute hoot! They pack them full of so much people!Surprised we didn't break down! We had a stopover at immigration which was a bit nerve racking for us as my travel buddy - Nikki - lost her immigration card! We had gone to immigration in Chetumal the day before and they had told her that she would need to stay in Mexico for 20-30days! We phoned the British Embassy who said no just go to the border, so we tried our luck with this. Initially she was to pay 780pesos - 390 for the lost form and 390 exit charge, but got away with just paying the exit fee. I also had to pay this which was news to me! Tried to argue but no point. We made it through, yahoo!
Four hours later we were in Belize City. Have to say it really
surprised me. I hadn't researched much, or anything actually just kind of going with the flow, but it was a great wee place. Had a carribean vibe to it, jerk chicken with rice n beans (although I'm a veggie so no jerkin for me!). Everyone was so friendly, and it's English speaking. Cool little place. We had to get a water taxi over to San Pedro where we were staying for 2 nights. We had wanted to stay in Caye Caulker as we'd heard this was the best place to go but was quite pricey for hostels and not much available. So we found a guy on Couchsurfing who said he would take us in! His name was Jeff and he is a chef. Must be a great rhyming phrase to use when he's meeting people. Couchsurfing is so good!!! We had done it in Chetumal and also Playa Del Carmen. You basically stay on someone's couch, for free, and it's great for you all to meet new people and get a local experience aswell. San Pedro was quite a big island but we really liked it. It was very similar to Isla Mujeres, where we had just been living
for 4 months, so maybe that's why we liked it so much. There's a gorgeous beach, colourful houses and so many golf carts which was the main mode of transport. We found Jeff's house, he was at work so he left instructions for us to get in which included a description of his 'crazy' puppy Chloe! Oh my days, never seen anything like it! She was insane!!!! Literally running about like she was on speed ! Hilarious. Such a cute and amazing wee dog. We wanted to keep her. She would sleep in with us, on the sofa, at night. She especially took a shine to Nikki and vice versa. Think Nikki was more emotional saying bye to Chloe than I've seen her be with anyone!
Got sorted and went out a walk. Didn't take that long to walk into the town centre. We had a look for somewhere to eat and this is where San Pedro has a downfall - it's really expensive! Well for us unemployed backpackers anyways! People had warned us that Belize was the most expensive place to go in Central. So we opted for the cheapest option which was a Chinese and
we ate it sitting on the beach. Was lovely, and we had watched the man make it fresh with loads of vegetables so not too unhealthy! Nikki however had an incident, second one after losing immigration form and we have only been away for 2 days! She didn't manage to finish all her Chinese curry so put the box in her backpack, which she didn't notice until the next morning, had leaked everywhere!! Absolutely stinking! So funny now but definitely not at the time! Lesson learneD; for both of us as I would have probably done the same! We went to see Jeff at his restaurant where he worked after our meal on la playa. It was very posh and we had a little cocktail there.
The next day Jeff was off work and came a wander with us and to show us around San Pedro. Started at the beach, where they have a huge slide that goes into the sea. I was really upfor going down it but apparently there were a few accidents on it when it first opened, including a woman 'knocking herself out' so decided against it. We walked all along the beach
and downtown, finally stopping in a bar for some rum n pineapples and to watch an America football game. Not going to lie, I struggled to follow especially after a few rums but was good fun! After here Nikki and I went a wander for food and managed to find some cheaper places. On Backstreet and Middlestreet you can find cheaper options. We had these lobster and cheese tortilla things for about 3 US dollars. Chuffed with that! Back to Jeff's and another night with our new pal Chloe snuggled in with us.
Early rise the next morning to catch the 8am water taxi back to Belize City so that we could head on to Guatemala. San Pedro was a really nice start to our travels, and Jeff was a great couch surfer host for us!
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