Onwards Through Belize

---

Good afternoon all

After a restful time on the island of Caye Caulker, it was time to see some locations in the rest of Belize. My next stop was Belmopan, the country's capital. Belmopan owes its existence to a hurricane. One feature of this coastline is that it has been constantly ravaged over the years by hurricanes with seemingly harmless names like Wilma, Iris, Stan, Mitch and my favourite, Hattie. (Back in Mexico, when someone asked me if I had heard what Wilma had done out in Cancun, I thought I'd missed out on a particurlarly exotic episode of The Flintstones. Then I realised he was talking about the hurriance.) It was shortly after Belize City narrowly avoided being flattened by a hurricane that the government decided it would be better to have the capital somewhere safer inland.

So the spooky town of Belmopan was born. Spooky because there is not much there. I checked into one of the few hotels and told the owner I didn't know whether I would be staying one or two nights. She gave me a knowing smile as she handed me the key. I walked around and discovered several government buildings and some nice parks, even a cricket field, but hardly any people. The place was deserted. Who works in all these offices? I had a quiet meal as the only customer in the restaurant. I walked back to the hotel without meeting another person. There were no cars around. Where is everybody? I now understood the hotel owner's knowing smile. She knew I wouldn't be staying for a second night - no-one does. I got back to the hotel thinking I was the only traveller in the entire town when I saw some other people checking in. I went to say hello and found out it was the biker blokes from Michigan. They had stopped in town for repairs to their bikes and decided to stay the night. They too had already made the decision to move on the following day. I'm glad I went to Belmopan. I can now say I spent a night in probably the world's quietest capital city.

From Belmopan, it was back to the coast in a southerly direction along the Hummingbird Highway (it just sounds better than the M62 doesn't it?). There were spectacular views on the journey as the terrain became mountainous. I stayed for a couple of nights in the small fishing town of Dangriga. It was a much less touristy town with a more local feel to it. The best restaurant in town was Chinese food. I tucked in to chicken fried rice and then had my first hot shower for about 10 days. Ahhhhhh, that's better.

After Dangriga, I headed to the small village of Maya Centre. This village was 6 miles away from the world's only dedicated jaguar santuary, the Cockscomb Basin Reserve. Sadly, jaguars are nocturnal creatures so I didn't get to see any big cats. I did, however, put some big time walking effort in and climbed up the trail of Ben's Bluff. It was very hot and I was perspiring profusely when I reached the top. Not attractive. It was well worth it as an impressive view of the rainforest jungle unfolded beneath me. In the distance, one of Belize's highest mountains, Victoria Peak, towered above the jungle. The trek to get there promised a beautiful view of Belize. It also promised to be a round trip of 4 to 5 days strenuous hiking so I decided to leave that trek for another time.

All in all, I had walked close to 10 miles on my day in the jaguar reserve. I had earned a good rest and retired early that night. On this trip so far, I have had to get used to unusual things in the bedroom. I have chased lizards out of the room on 3 occasions and had to remove a frog from a shower. I had a great sleep in the jungle hut I was staying in but was woken at around 7am by a knock on the hut door. "It's a bit early for the landlady to be collecting payment", I thought. The knock came again, a little more insistent this time. I got out of bed and heard footsteps scampering away. As I opened the door, I saw a cheekly little howler monkey retreating to the safety of the jungle. Not some little kid, an actual cheeky monkey. I'm pretty sure I saw him cup his hand over his mouth and snigger as he ran off.

Next time - my time in Belize comes to a close in the south of the country and I decide to go all interactive on this blog. Hope you're enjoying reading it and don't miss the next episode.

Joff

---

Comments

[Red]

Columbo
Your blog is better than a double episode of Columbo! Keep em' coming.

[Tim J]

Blogmungus
Joff If there were a literary prize for "Best Blog" you'd win it hands down. Mind you, yours is the only blog i'm reading at the mo. Hope you had a good birthday and all is well, sounds as though it is. Nothing happening in the UK at all. Ever. Charlie Drake and James Brown are dead. I think they were mates. Sounds like a "shocking place for hills" All the best Tim