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Published: February 2nd 2011
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Bus to Belize
It was nearly full when it left from Chetumal about 20 minutes later. Belize is one of those countries where you might wonder 'what were they thinking?' A population of 320,000 people clinging to a thin strip along the coast between Guatemala and the Carribean Sea. An ex-British colony in a solidly Spanish speaking area of the world – if you discount the West Indian nations not that far away. The country relies heavily on tourists – primarily the sun lovers and divers – and sugar cane that looks like it is grown, or controlled, by large agri-companies. It is probably as rich as any other country in Central America, has a democratic system and the people mostly speak English. It seems to be doing alright but surely it hasn't enough population or enough resources to survive on its own in the long term.
We didn't spend long in Belize. The sun and beach thing had been done in Mexico and we don't really have time to spend laying about on beaches for weeks at a time. Diving could be interesting but we decided to skip it for the moment. Instead we decided to stay in Orange Walk and take the boat trip up the New River to have a look at the
What a difference it makes
when two letters are transposed Lamanai Mayan Ruins.
The Mexican bus took us to Chetumal on the Mexican side of the border. Local buses to Belize leave from the Nuevo Mercado so we organised a taxi to deliver us. Nicely ripped off there. The price we negotiated wasn't really all that much but more than a 3 minute ride was probably worth. We had no idea of the procedure but, as usual, we figure. Before we had all extricated ourselves and bags from the taxi we had a bus organised and packs were being stacked into the back.
Buses in Belize are all ex-USA school buses. They seem to work reasonably well although, having been built for children they do tend to have some seats just a little close to the one in front for real comfort. A lot of the locals, particularly in the north of the country, are not tall and have no problems but they can be a little squeezy when a taller person has to jam themselves in.
Orange Walk was apparently named after the famous, and often controversial, parades around parts of Northern Ireland. It is not a large town but nice enough. It took us a
Riverside at Orange Walk
Or some of it. The Mayan name for the river is Dzuluinicob (new people), referring to the river's role as a trading route. The Spanish renamed it New River. while to get used to the English being spoken – both the fact that it was English and the interesting accent. We found a good place to stay in the Orange Orchid Palm Hotel at around $40 a double. Not that cheap but very nice, clean and well located. The promised wifi wasn't working but you can't have everything.
At the risk of upsetting the Mayan afficionados I will report that we are fairly close to the end of our tolerance level for Mayan ruins. Not that they aren't interesting and powerful buildings and not that I am sure that we would gradually develop more knowledge if we looked at more, but I suppose I wonder whether I am that keen to find out even more about them. Lamanai hit our list because it was less developed than most ruins, had a lot less tourist because it is more difficult to get to and is in the middle of a jungle. All of that and the fact that the best method of getting there is along a river through a jungle.
The boats at about $40 US per head are not cheap but they do take you on
Bird on the river 1
Its tail is more feathery than our egrets have a trip lasting up to 2 hours on the way up, provide a guide for the ruins, lunch and drinks and then bring you home pretty smartly in about an hour and half. The guide we had knew the wildlife and vegetation as well as the archaelogical information along with being a pretty good boatman. Worth the money.
Lamanai has just a few of its structures on show. The rest are still well covered by the jungle that moved in after the last of the Mayans to live there were attacked by sickness and disease brought in by Europeans. Many of the other Mayan city states had met their end, to an extent, at their own hands by destroying the environment around them so that a major drought was disastrous for them. Those at Lamanai lasted a lot longer due to its excellent location on a major source of fresh water but the sicknesses chased them out in the end.
There had been a thought that we would stay a couple of days in Belize City and have a look around but, after reading up we decided that we might instead try to make it to San Ignacio
Bird on the river 2
This one was a "purple something" and meet up, if we could, with Trish, Tony, Graham and Alice. The bus ride was again very easy to organise. Walk up, say where you want to go, be directed to a bus and away you go. It cost us the grand sum of $6.25A per person to get from Orange Walk to San Ignacio and the buses were by no means uncomfortable.
A couple of our travelling companions on the trip up were Mennonites. We had noticed these people about in Mexico and even a couple in the USA at El Paso but we they had seemed unapproachable. One of our companions on the bus from Belmopan was keen to talk. Unlike some of the others he had a full beard and a hat that had clearly been hand woven. He had the uniform on – check shirt, overalls and soft looking canvass shoes – and certainly looked the part. He told us that members of other groups were often more wordly and used tractors rather than horses on their farms. Some even made use of electricity and were really not that different from everyone else. I would have liked to ask the question that intrigues me
Bird on the river 3
Think this one was a heron. about these groups – why did you pick that particular stage of development to stop at? He gave the impression that he would have happily answered but another passenger sat next to him and engaged him in detailed conversation so I missed out.
The Mennonites, we were told by other Belizeans, produce the great majority of fruit and vegetables for Belize. Their farms certainly look productive and efficient. I did wonder why some of the other large tracts of country seemed to be left untouched other than for cane. While there is quite a bit that is used to graze cattle, there doesn't seem to be much happening on a lot of the land that looks like it might be useful – although I should point out that it is hard to assess land from the seat of a moving bus so I could have this very wrong.
San Ignacio is a nice place and a good jumping off point for things around. We had a nice place to stay in the Tropicool Hotel in a place close to the centre of town and well located for some reasonable eateries. There were a lot of tourists around the
Iguana did a-courting go
He's wearing his courting colours for the female who is somewhere among the leaves. place and a good proportion of people who looked like they were relative long termers or perhaps living there permanently. It does seem that some Belizeans are making some money by selling off land to people from the USA and even the UK as holiday homes. It would make sense. The weather is very kind most of the time, prices aren't bad and it would be an interesting place and people to get to know better.
Our stay in San Ignacio was extended by a bout of gastro or two that convinced us to sit tight but we did have the opportunity to catch up with the others and had a very nice night catching up and discussing plans. There was also pretty good wifi there and we were able to also catch up on some business that needed to be sorted. Unfortunately, the Belizean government blocks Skype to we weren't able to make a few phone calls easily to the relations.
One bonus of our time in San Ignacio was that I did have the opportunity to spend most of an afternoon watching highlights of all of the One Day Cricket Matches between England and Australia on
an Indian channel and am now slightly better informed about the sad form of the Australian team. I am doubtful whether Clarke can do the job, either as captain or number 1 batsmen.
Into Guatemala now. We will probably spend a couple of weeks here with one being allocated to a Spanish language course. It will then be a relatively quick movement through Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua before we hop on a plane through to Colombia. We may skip Costa Rica and Panama to give ourselves more time in Bolivia but are checking out travel options..
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AdrianaIna
Adrienne Pilon
Lamanai
Nice blog. I've done many of the Mayan sites long ago, but your blog made me want to go to Lamanai. Thanks.