Belize
Belize was the domain of pirates but not much is left of that legacy except a knowledge of the seas. We crossed the Mexican border after dark and had to pay the border guard a made up fee to leave. On the Belize side a taxi driver took us to the nearest town of Corozul and dropped us off to a very basic guest house for the night. My health was failing rapidly and had to use the cockroach ridden bathroom frequently through the night. Fortunately for me, that was the worst of it. In the morning I took an anti-nausea pill for our boat taxi to San Pedro then we took our first malaria tablets as well. I find them pretty damn awful but Marty is fine with them.
Of course, crossing a border means a time change so we were at the taxi departure pier at 5:45am instead of 6:45am. We lay around on the pier and waited the hour until we could finally leave at 7am. San Pedro was beautiful with the aqua blues and greens in the water that you see on all the holiday brochures for the Caribbean. We had breakfast, found a shop that sold Central America Lonely Planet Guides in English (quite an accomplishment!), then jumped on another water taxi over to Caye Caulker, a smaller island 20 minutes away. Mel and Matt had told us about it so we were looking forward to being there and we weren´t disappointed. The island has about 3 sandy streets and people drive golf carts to get around instead of cars. One street is a long row of dive shops, restaurants and hotels. We got a bright yellow cabana right on the ocean. Inside it was plain but very comfortable and I decided I never wanted to leave.
The next day we booked onto a couple of dives in Spanish Bay to refresh ourselves on how all the diving aparatus works before attempting the 40m dive in the infamous Blue Hole. It was beautiful with colourful corals, stunning schools of brightly coloured fish and even a starfish bigger than Marty´s hand. We also saw a giagantic sting ray (Southern Ocean Ray) and a moray eel. Because of a strong breeze the swell was quite high and true to form I lost it over the side before the end of the day. Despite that it was well worth it. We saw a giant sea turtle come back for air on the way back finishing a very fun expedition. Back on land we went down to the Lizard Bar and Grill for a drink. This bar/restaurant is right on the end of the island and you can literally jump right off the side of it into the ocean - very cool!
The next day we got up early and by 6am were on a motorboat powering for the Blue Hole 2 hours ride away. I was glad I had thought to take an anti nausea pill this day as the swell was still high and others on the boat were looking quite green, but I was fine! Actually I still tried to do all the anti prevention things like sitting on the back of the boat where the movement is least as without the pill it would have been horrific. As usual Marty was fine and enjoyed exploring the large boat we were on and chatting to the dive masters out with us. There were a lot of people on board - about 30 paying as tourist divers and around 8 dive masters. It was chaotic and it was easy to see how people can go missing undetected. Fortunately for us that wasn´t to be our fate. We arrived over the Blue Hole and had a briefing then we were straight off the end of the boat and going down. We hit a sandy ledge then descended over that into the murky depths. At 40m there wasn´t a lot of light, but enough to see the giant stalagmites and stalagtites that are a left over from when the cave was above water. It also was enough to see the seemingly gigantic 8 foot long reef sharks that came to check us out along with enormous groper. As we slowly ascended the gropers kept pace, then when we got back to the sandy ledge for a safety stop, a group of about 8 sharks circled over the hole right next to us. It was surreal and far beyond the 1 foot sharks I thought we would be seeing. Even Marty was blown away by the experience of having sharks only a few metres away.
Our next dive was beautiful with lots of colourful fish and coral along with a barracuda to show us his teeth. Right at the end of it Marty saw some sea eels hiding their tails in the sand and waving around like seaweed to lure fish closer. For lunch we stopped at a little Carribean Island called Half Moon Caye (from memory) where we were given the quintessential Central American lunch of chicken and beans with rice. We were given 20 minutes to walk around which was only enough to see a quick glimpse of seabirds nesting there. Our last dive was quite shallow and we swam along a reef wall called the aquarium. The name was very apt as vast quantities of sea life abounded there. Looking out past the wall we saw a giant turtle swim past, then huge schools of bright blue fish. On the wall were clown fish, parrot fish and so many more it would take forever to name them all. Coming up to the surface we found a barracuda hiding right under our boat.
It was nice to get back on dry land. Marty bought us a pineapple for dinner and we ate it on the shore outside our room. After all the sun and fun of the last 2 days we slept early and long. The next day I was heartbroken to leave. I could have given up the rest of our travels and not moved any further, but alas. Hitting Belize City was like culture shock. Between the water taxi and the bus terminal was a slum of falling down houses and trash and bad smells everywhere. We walked quickly through. Here we caught our first chicken bus. There weren´t any chickens but the man sitting in front of Marty was carrying a gun and the man in front of him was packing a machete. Later we found out as soon as you turn 18 you are legally entitled to own a gun and for $25US you are able to buy one on the black market. Due to lack of forensics and the ratio of one police car to 50,000 people (not certain that is acurate - it is a word of mouth figure) with no government support, most crime is ignored. Even if there are witnesses, word of mouth is not good enough for a conviction so only clear finger prints give you away. Figure how easy it is to get out of that one!
We landed in San Ignacio and settled into a very basic guesthouse named an ambiguous Central Hotel. Tony who runs it was really friendly as was another Canadian man who had been living in the town for 3 months in an attempt to win a local girl´s heart. On their advice we went and checked out some local Mayan ruins which we had to ourselves. The English translation was City of Lice and it was quite a small holding in it´s day but was nice to visit.
The next day we took a tour to see Ankh Tunichil Muknal or Cave of the Stone Sepulchure which featured in National Geopgraphic. We had to swim over a water hole to enter the cave where our guide led us through many twists and turns. Limestone formations glimmered on the sides as we waded and at times swam in for nearly an hour. At a given point we climbed up into a dry cave through a steep narrow entrance that led to a vast cathedral littered with 1000 year old ceramics and bones remaining from religous Mayan ceremonies. The Mayans saw caves as the underworld and took food and sacrificial victims deep within to communicate with their gods. Lime had seeped through and begun to cover a lot of the remains. The incredible thing about being there was that there were no barriers. The only thing between us and the destruction of a Mayan artifact was good balance and conscience. The grand final was climbing up a rickety steel ladder attached to a wall at the back of the cathedral and seeing the skeleton nicknamed the ice maiden perfectly laid out seemingly at peace to meet her sacrificial end. Most likely she was made high on magic mushrooms first as was their way. Not so at rest was the skeleton of a teenage boy who had been left facing a wall with both arms and legs broken, whether left alive or dead is unknown but either way was very tragic for him.
Already our brief stay in Belize was over and despite the lack of law we had no problems. Next was Guatemala...
Photos: www.katmarty.smugmug.com
