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Published: August 7th 2007
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Well we finally managed to drag ourselves out of Mexico on the very last day of our 90 day tourist visa (sob - viva Mexico!). We ended up going back down Mexico's east coast and journeying through Chetumal which has a border crossing into Belize, and then continuing onwards into Belize City. The border crossing was a doddle, just had to get off the bus go through imigration and then get back onto the bus and away..... As we were not going back into Mexico we didn't even have to pay any tax (you pay when leaving Belize). Belize was formerly British Honduras up until about 30 years ago and as such its primary language is English, and good old Queen Liz has her face on all the currency so it felt good to be understood and to be able to speak freely with people and not resort to universal sign language after a few failed attempts at elaborating on my basic Spanish. Belize City is a real shabby affair, most of its buildings are made of wood in the old colonial style and were crying out for a bit of TLC and general repair (in some cases a ball and
Cahal Pech - Ruins
Cahal Pech - Place Of Ticks chain).
Call me ignorant, but considering its close proximity to Mexico I was expecting far more Hispanic looking folk to be in attendance when in fact the demographic appeared mostly Afro-Caribbean - for some reason I hadn't expected this at all, considering the caribbean is a stones throw away there is no real mystery. Most of the information we had read about Belize City informs you to be wary walking the streets at night - and I must admit to being a bit on edge walking to the shops to get a bar of this and a drink of that after dark - there were all manner of disenfranchised, wild haired, scruffily dressed, desperate, drugged up loons begging for your loose change - which I happily handed over as they seemed to need it bad! We only really chose Belize City due to its close proximity to Caye Caulker an impressive island of renown with a massive blue crater like formation in the coral reef which is a few miles off the coast, unfortunately the weather had other plans. Being June (the start of the rainy season in these parts) we were kept home bound for the next following
Pine Ridge - Super Massive Black Hole
on our return from Caracol we stopped off at this huge cavern days - each day the sun would rise and it would look great - then an hour later the dark, black clouds of doom would roll off the sea and into town - proper tropical storms... damn! After the fourth such day, what with the City not being overly inviting, we decided enough was enough. Claire had researched a lovely oasis of a resort a couple of hours away near the Guatemala border and on ringing them to enquire further, found out that one of their drivers was coming to Belize City in a couple of hours to drop off some folks - so we jumped in and make good our escape.....
Leaving the grey City behind us our taxi driver informs us that most Belizeans stay clear of Belize City, noting if they have to go there they do so reluctantly, then get out quick! as he is telling us this the sun starts to emerge from the clouds and before you know it we are amidst the heart and soul of the real Belize. Cahal Pech Village Resort, San Ignacio is set atop a hill with an enviable view overlooking the small town below, it's Mayan theme
enables it to blend into the tropical jungle enviroment with thatched huts, 5 star service, pool, A/C, internet, cable and restaurant to boot - we had found a new home. After the uneasiness of staying in the City it was such a welcome friend. Its location was such that all the major Mayan ruins, caves & jungle tours were within easy striking distance - it even boasts it own ruins a quick 5 min stroll from the complex itself - yay! :o). So for the next week we chilled out big time, got into some Cave Toobin' (detailed below) and hot footed it around all the local ruins - in order of awsomeness - 1. Cahal Pech (not bad) , 2. Xuintunich (very impressive) 3. Caracol (oh my god awsomeness). We actually had to get an armed escort to get to the Caracol site due to hijackings that have occured recently - this contributed more than a little excitement to the whole expedition from the off. Caracol is the mother of all sites and has some of the most impressive structures I have yet seen - the scale of the place is immence and as with all these ruins most
Xunantunich - Orchid
looks a bit like a nose and mouth of it has yet to be unearthed. According to our guide this was one of the later sites of prominence and has inscriptions that detail its military might having overthrown the mighty army of Tikal (Guatemala) before its decline with the rest of Mayan society around 800AD. The whole site was elevated before even being built upon to give the imposing pyramids even more height and prominence out of the jungle canopy. It also has raised roads, a resevoir with rain water gathering drainage system and a proffusion of stone built houses for royals and other high ranking officials - this makes it quite unique amongst the Mayan ruins as most other sites show that only the ceremonial buildings and temples were built from stone with the locals living in wood and mud constucted thatched huts. The Caracol site is also so large (covering 65 square miles) that the archeologists believe it may well stretch into Guatemala itself (the land border lies a mile or so away from the site) and has unfortunately suffered from tomb raiders and opportunists coming to steal its hidden treasures and in so doing destroying history to the point that it has a very visible
Belize Army Detatchment for protection.
The other highlight of our stay in Belize was the 'Cave Toobin' we headed out to Jaguar Paw Eco-Park with our guide Clifford, a tractor tire inner-tube over our shoulders and coal miners light strapped to our foreheads. After an invigorating walk up hill through prisitine jungle we reached our destination and descended into the cool and shallow mountain river which would take us on a very relaxed ride through 4 magnificent caves complete with bats, stalactites, dripping water, occasional rapids, total and utter pitch darkness and oh yeah, little fishes nibbling your bum! There are numerous local under ground cave systems in the area which were sacred to the maya's and were places for offering pottery, foods, crafts and animals in tribute to the earth spirits - some even contain evidence of human sacrifices. So with that knowledge you find yourself drifting thorugh cavern after cavern of sheer spooky darkness entrusting the stready flow of the river to draw you back out into the light - there was only Claire, Clifford and I and a few faint screams of another party ahead of us - I'm not scared of the dark but even
I found it very eerie to say the least. In all it took a good 3 hours from start to finish and was fun.... just before we disembarked from our rubber rings I saw a tiny water snake flitting across the surface of the water.... Made me think what else was really in them caverns....
All in all I thoroughly recommend West Belize and would advise anyone against Belize City. So thats about it again. We have moved into Guatemala and I will be writing a new blog on Flores & Tikal soon. So until then I thank you very much Maz & Matt for your kind words - and hope everyone else is doing well there in Blighty... Peace, Love Unity & Having Fun 😊
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tony b
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keep on trucking !!!!