Belizean Blog

I forgot that I also went to ATM Cave. It was sick. It isn't like any cave that you'd go to in the US. They skeletons and pottery and right there, with only a little orange tape around them. The cave is huge. It has little crevices to climb through and crazy stalactites and stalagmites. Our tourism professor thinks that they're gonna start closing off the cave more and more because tourists (like me) are ruining them. One of the skulls had lost a few teeth because someone had dropped their camera on it and the pottery gets smashed more than you'd think. I was too pleased with our guide, but it was awesome. Also, Bear Grylls went to this cave so it makes me feel real cool.

So Belize has been becoming less safe. Last Thursday night, Marge, Emily, Winter, Melissa (from ProBelize), and Chelsea got mugged. Some drunk guy came by on a bike and grabbed Emily's bag. They yelled, but he biked off falling and fell a lot. Luckily, the only thing of value, Emily's 300$ camera fell out and is fine. Also, Belize city has been having a lot more gang violence. Today we found out that a murderer is camping out by a river that is a ten minute walk away.

So......I haven't written in like a month. Sorry.

Anyway, about a month ago, we went to Southwater Caye. This place is absolutely gorgeous. It is straight out of a postcard. It has three little resorts on it and a few private houses. It has beautiful beaches and the reef touches the island on the northern tip. We went kayaking and there was snorkeling and nighttime skinny dipping. I got so tan it was awesome. Twice I got up early enough to see the sunrise on the ocean and it was breathtaking. We also learned a little bit about the reef and visited the nearby Carrie Bow Caye, which has a research station on it. Also, on the way there, our van driver put the van in neutral on a magnetic mountain on the Hummingbird Highway and we started being pulled up the hill. It was weird and cool.

Things have been pretty good. School isn't too hard but is somewhat tedious. I went to the Belize Zoo with Maddy and two of her friends who came to visit. It was interesting. They only have animals that are native to Belize. I got to pet two tapirs, saw a jaguar, a yaguarundi, and ocelot, a jabiru stork, a kinkajoo and many, many exotic birds. There were monkeys too.

This past weekend, we went to Caye Caulker which is much more populated and touristy than Southwater. It is where Joni, one of our trip directors started a school. We had an amazing coconut curry with mango chutney for lunch and then helped paint the ocean academy. Then we had a tasty dinner and went to bed. The next day we cleaned up some mangrove areas and went on an absolutely amazing sailing/snorkel trip. There was fruit, fish sandwiches, shrimp ceviche, and a lot of rum punch. The wind and the sun were so nice. We got to see some nurse sharks up close which was cool too. This trip also produced the funniest moment of Belize and perhaps one of the funniest of my life. The sail boat becomes slanted when we start going fast and when we were heading home, Margaret (who is on the UVM sailing team) was given a chance to drive. Now Margaret is a racer and so the boat became steadily more slanted as we went quicker. We were mostly holding on to stuff except for Sheryld (Megan). It one fluid motion, she spills her rum punch, screams and begins to slide and roll of the boat. Just remembering the image is making me laugh again. Anyway, she keeps sliding and screaming and it looks like she's about to take Dani with her, but Dani just quickly moves as Sheryld joins the fishes and falls off. She was fine, but I don't think I have ever laughed so hard in my life. It was perfect.

So we awoke the next morning on the early side because we weren't exactly sure when the bus went from Dangriga to Hopkins. We found it it didn't leave until like 10 30 so we went to the beach. Kalyn found a California license plate. The beach was really nice, it was a little windy which prevented being too hot. The water was piss warm, not like the Jersey ocean I'm used to. But I hadn't been to the ocean in a while so it felt great. We walked farther down, towards a pier. It was covered in massive pelicans and we wanted to get closer. The dock had a sign that said "Private No Trespassing," but we went on it anyway. After we headed inland to get a snack, passing a "Beware of Dog Sign." We should've heeded it's warning. Three dogs started barking and coming toward us. A Pomeranian, some Spaniel-size thing, and one big one. Kalyn and I began to briskly walk to safety, but D the dog whisperer stayed and was fine. We found another way to town and then went to a farmers market where we shopped for hammocks, but didn't find any that were competitively priced. We also saw more huge pelicans. After purchasing 3 tacos for a dollar we went to the bus station. We had a slight wait and that is when were harassed by a little girl named George. She came over to us and just started grabbing at our stuff. I don't trust children so I quickly snatched my water bottle back from this little thief. Kalyn was a lot nicer and let her play with her camera. It was weird. I sanitized my hands and then we hopped on our Hopkins bus.

Hopkins is a big Garifuna community and is just beginning to develop it's tourism market, so it's a little less touristy/developed than places like Dangriga and San Ignacio. This bus ride was very pleasant.When we got there we went out the beach and onto a pier with no pelicans, but a few Canadians. Then a local girl asked us to support her local baseball team, but we thought she was a scamming urchin so we didn't give her any money. We head down the one of the streets towards a Garifuna drumming school. We got there and things were awkward, so we left. Next we started looking for a place to eat right on the beach. After a little searching, we found this amazing place with tables under thatch umbrellas that was literally ten feet from the beach. Our meal of shrimp burritos was very tasty and inexpensive, but took forever. Then we hung out on the beach a little more before heading to the bus station. Our ride back to San Ignacio was nice, except for the bus from Dangriga to Belmopan. It was hell, there were about 80 people on the bus so some people had to stand and I just had big ass in my face the whole time. Then we got home safe and alive. Everyone was just so completely jealous of us and they wished they were us. I think.

So on Friday, everyone was going to the Belize Zoo for a class field trip. It seemed interesting and I didn't really have anything better to do, so I had planned on going. Then, Kalyn and D said they weren't going and were going to find another adventure. Since I didn't want to get a lecture while at the zoo, and I'm tired of walking around in a pack of 18 Americans, I decided to stay.

We did a little research and decided that we would try to go to Hopkins or Placencia in the South. It was already 4:00 so that didn't provide a lot of time for transit, but we were hopeful. We hopped on a bus for Belmopan and began our journey. The bus ride was uneventful and little sticky, but 45 minutes later we were at the Belmopan bus terminal. Luckily, we had arrived about 20 minutes before the last bus out to Dangriga, a town just north of Hopkins.

Belize is small country, about the size of Massachusetts and with a population similar to Vermont's so we ended up running into Bam. Bam teaches a school in San Ignacio and lives at the Tia Maria (where four of our number are staying). He is from the South and was going home for the weekend. We tried to solicit some advice from him, but Bam is a little shy and didn't end up being too helpful.

This bus ride was a little more interesting. It took place on an air conditioned bus (probably why it was $8bz). At Belizean bus terminals, you have to be aggressive with the line and try to get on early to get a good seat. Us dumb Americans politely waited and because of this we got the seats in the back right above the engine or something else hot. Our fronts were cold and our backs were sweating. Then there was an angry man speaking Kriol in front of us talking to his friend. Kriol being English based, we could pick up on certain parts of it and he was not pleased. He was essentially complaining about us and Galen students. This conversation was sparked by a Galen ad in the newspaper he was reading. He said he didn't like people coming in and telling them what to do with there land. I think there was also something about people getting educations and leaving the country. He also thought that the teachers sucked and they can't pass the quizzes they give their students. We decided to be backpackers from outside Vancouver if anyone asked.

Shortly before reaching Dangriga, Bam talked with us again and scared us shi*tless. He told us not to go to the beach, don't try to go to Hopkins, and basically to get a room and stay there. His warning coupled with an image I had from the movie City of God made me freaked out. I may or may not have been carrying my Swiss army knife in my hand. We sought out cheap accommodations and after checking a few places we discovered the Chalenor which ended up being $15bz a person ($7.50 US). After that we got some food and I had ice cream that had a very medical taste to it. After a few rounds of kings and fuck the dealer, we went to bed.

I have to go to breakfast now, but I'll continue with the second half later.