Blogs from San Ignacio, Cayo District, Belize, Central America Caribbean - page 12

Well, something really funny just happened, so I figured I'd try to write about it. I just met this dude Bern who is a rapper from LA, but he grew up in Belize, and went to LA first when he was younger, and got deported back to Belize. But then he made it back to America again, got lawyers and got legal. Now he is livin his dream of being a rap star, he does dance hall reggea, he calls it. It's really cool. Anyway, he came down here to san ignacio and that's where we're at. I met him, he was playing chess in a cafe. He and his two friends, Aaron and John, played games, then finally I got a game. I won! But we had a rematch for the bill, and he won, ... read more

For border crossings this was the easiest and quickest we have ever been through, no messing about. I think it has something to do with the Belizean easygoing attitude and way of life. It’s like no problem come in! Belize used to be a part of the famous British Empire and explains why it’s the only speaking country in Central America. I love the story of how it came into our hands! Guatemala and Britain signed a treaty giving Britain the rights to the land provided that we built them a road direct from Guatemala City to Belize City. Just like us conning Brits we took the land but did not build the road and haven’t since! Dell boy would be proud!! Belize came independent from Britain in 1981 and since then Guatemala have demanded the ... read more

I started out in Tulum, just to hang out at the excellent Weary Traveler hostel and get a headstart on crossing the border to Belize the following morning. I ended up crossing with an Australian guy headed to the Cayes, and we ran into a few problems at the border. There should have been no problem -- we left Mexico legally and as the holders of US and UK passports we should have crossed just fine. Unfortunately the man in charge at our time of crossing chose to stop us simply in hopes of us offering to pay to let us into Belize. I refuse to do this, and when asking to speak to his boss he flipped out and among other things threatened to detain me. Honestly, it was hard not to laugh at first, ... read more

A few days in Cowboy country: Rancheros on horseback, bulls fording a fast flowing river,hummingbirds and fireflys - the scene around us at breakfast this morning; and a sample of life on a ranch by the river Mopan, the dividing line between Belize and Guatamala. And Mayan ruins all around us, thousand year old temples with vertiginous steps leading up and up into the sky from the dense tropical foliage - mysterious and mute, stones from long abandoned cities now populated by a different order of jungle dwellers - howler monkeys ( as Jake says, which sound uncannily like the dinosaurs in Jurassic park), wild turkeys, huge spiders.. certainly more exotic than the roaches and red ants who colonised our cabana last night on the ranch! Yesterday we crossed the border into Guatamala (once we had ... read more

Update We were able to successfully upload pictures to our previous blogs (dating all the way back to Chichen Itza). Check them out by visiting our blog's homepage and simply scrolling down. Enjoy! Intro to San Ignacio Fairly teeming with Guatemala-bound travelers, archaeologists, peace corps workers and other thrill seekers, San Ignacio (also called Cayo) is a pretty town with a plethora of things to see and do in the surrounding area. Together with Santa Elena across the river, this is the chief population center of the Cayo District. That said, it's still small and during the day it's quiet. At night the quiet disappears and the jungle rocks to music from the town's bars and restaurants. With a selection of hotels and restaurants, it's also the logical place to spend the night before you cr ... read more