Caye Caulker to Punta Gorda

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Today we got up without the alarm but still woke up early. I always wake up with the sun. Once it hits our windows I can't sleep anymore. I went out to get some coffee & snacks & fully slipped in the mud flat onto my knee. Ouch. I was standing at the counter waiting for my coffee & let out a big sigh. The man next to me said, why the big sigh? I showed him my bloody knee & said, because I just fell down. Phew, glad I didn't get caught sighing for no good reason. He told me to go wash it off in the ocean & I'd be ok. So, that's what I did & so far he was right. 😉

We packed up & waited for our water taxi to Belize City. We got into Belize City & we were about as impressed as all the reading & all the talk had prepared us to be. The city is literally the scariest, dirtiest, sketchiest city I've ever visited. It's no wonder the books & locals tell you to take a taxi if you arrive at dark. I was scared in the daylight. We didn't take a taxi & walked into town from the ferry terminal, which wasn't far, but was still scary. I asked a woman where we could get food, what are you going to do, we were hungry. She said she'd walk us to the closest restaurant. Yikes, should we be more scared that we need an escort? We got lunch of BBQ chicken, rice & beans & a fanta (orange, of course) & then decided we'd pay for the cab to the airport. So, our cab should accurately sum up Belize City. It was a Chevy Tracker that probably wasn't that old (it had a cd player), but every single door had the lining ripped open & torn out. The seats were crooked. The windows were all tinted black? Go figure. The back didn't open, so we put our packs on the back seat. I was afraid that maybe this would be where we got kidnapped or robbed, but thankfully the guy drove us to the airport & I tipped him & all was well. Whew. Most nervous we've been the entire trip. It was a creepy town. Glad to just pass through & make it out alive. There's a shooting there nearly every day it seems, according to the papers & news & the talk. Yucky.

So, in the safety of the AC'd airport we bought our first plane tickets of the trip to Punta Gorda, Belize. We waited for about 1.5 hours in the airport & Geoff read, I typed. The plane ride was so much fun. It was a Cessna with 12 seats & 2 up front for the pilots. We only had one pilot, I guess that's ok, right? The ride was beautiful. The terrain south changed so much. The rainforest & hills became more evident. It was a great plane ride. So different than our buses. I felt like a superstar. Not gonna lie. We stopped over & landed in a couple towns & flew into Placencia, where we're heading next so it was cool to see it from the air. The airstrips were either sand or dirt mixed with some grass. Awesome!I was snapping pics like crazy. We landed in Punta Gorda in the early afternoon. The "terminal" was like a shed. I didn't go in, but snapped a photo. We flew Maya Air. http://www.mayaregional.com/

Punta Gorda is a very very sleepy town. That is what we had read & it is very true. The town was so quiet it almost seemed asleep. We walked for a bit & found a little hostel with basic rooms for $18 a night. We moved in & went out to walk more. We basically walked the entire town then & it was somewhat ghostly. Quiet is an understatement. There are a few paved roads but most are dirt. It's surrounded by green, lush jungle like forest & the water on the other side. We had some fish empanadas from a lady who's stand was actually open (she pulled out a handful of corn meal, pressed it in her tortilla press, filled it with fish & fried it, omg I may never be able to go home & eat how we normally do....) & we walked to the cement pier. While standing on the pier we saw a jellyfish & a spotted Eagle Ray. Guess we don't need to pay for diving? We talked with a local guy who told us how all the families come out on Sunday & swim off the dock & have picnics. He had the heaviest Creole accent I've heard yet. If I'd met him a week ago I wouldn't have understood a single word he said, but now that we've been hearing it I think I caught most of it. He described their sand as granular, not fine sand, so I'm curious about that. On our walk back to the hostel, it started to rain (we think it's following us....thanks seattle). But at least it's not cold.

We walked by our hostel, Nature's Way, & continued down the road to a little bar that was on stilts over the water. There were 3 other locals there & us. We sat on the deck & watched the stars come out. The rain stopped for awhile & the clouds parted & we enjoyed the stars. The weather is a minute by minute change here & my new favorite pasttime is watching the moon rise & the stars come out (have I already said that, I may repeat myself a bit as things I do are pretty similar & simple, but it makes me happy). We're directly below Orion's Belt all the time. It's funny to look at a different sky than home.

After a Belikin we decided we needed food. We started walking & were stopped by two of the cutest little puppies that were sitting in front of a little house. The house belonged to King (that's what he said his name is) & he was outside brewing some Ginger Wine in his front yard. He doesn't have electricity or running water but he said he likes it better that way. He has dreds down to his waist & a super thick rasta accent. We ended up stopping & talking with him for quite some time. While sitting there he showed us how he makes rings from the cahoon seeds & he made 3 in about 20 minutes for us. We did a lot of talking about love, life, falling in love, finding the right mate & the beauty of simplicity. It was fun. He was another person who is well educated (he lived in London for 9 years & went to college there, only to return home to the house his Grandfather built that currently, by choice, is without power) & choosing to live a more simple life in Belize. He could do the most incredibly perfect British accent & he was cracking us up with it. He said he mastered it while in college because he didn't get a lot of respect with his creole/rastafarian accent. We sat with him outside in his "art studio" for probably almost 2 hours. Then we remembered we were hungry & went in search of food. On his recommendation we went to Marian's restaurant. Another good suggestion.

When you walk into Marian's Restaurant, Marian comes to greet you (wearing her apron) & lists off her daily specials (which were 3: stew chicken or pork chops with rice & beans or a turkey dinner, oddly enough). You pick what you want, grab your drink out of the cooler & have a seat. We had pork chops that we shared which were perfect. I had my first Lime Juice ever, which was like lemonade, but made out of limes & super delicious & delightful. Still love the Fanta though... Respect! 😉

We headed back to our hostel & tried to fall asleep. No shower tonight (icky bathroom, I can only handle so much with my germophobia, I had the purell attached to my hip literally, thanks Burnsides for the purell hip holsters!). I apparently still have the ADD problem that I was experiencing in Mexico because even though I'm tired I can't fall asleep right away. Honestly, tonight I was scared of something crawling on me & it was really really humid & muggy. Tough to sleep. So I read most of my book for a long time, which I highly recommend & can't wait to go home & read more by this guy: Christopher Moore "A Dirty Job." Love love headlamps! Geoff was out. Then it started torrential downpour again & I wondered if the roof was going to cave in or if there were going to be puddles all over our room in the morning (none of which happened). But other than the rain the town was peacefully quiet. Finally able to fall asleep after i did a sweep of the room with the headlamp & since there were no bugs or other creatures all was well 😊

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Photos

Water Taxi Terminal
Caye Caulker

Plane trip
to Punta Gorda from Belize City

Cayes
From the sky.

Landing
in Punta Gorda

Punta Gorda
Center of Town