"If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears."
Glenn Clark
This is the continuing account of my 2005 trip to the Central American countries of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Belize (see other postings in this series).
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On Wednesday, April 13, 2005, I boarded a chicken bus in Guatemala for the country of.......
Belize
This English speaking tropical country embraces a beguiling mixture of Caribbean and Latin cultures. The people are friendly, open and relaxed - everyone seems to know how to have a good time and relax. Belize is a tiny country, its entire population numbers only about 250,000 and it's only 23,300 sq. km. in size. Yet despite its diminutive size, the country offers a variety of terrain and plenty of opportunity for adventure. You can go snorkelling and diving in the cayes or simply lay back and soak up the sun; hiking and caving inland; and exploring the many national parks.
I arrived in Belize City and by 12 noon I was on a water taxi headed for the Belizean island of.......
The next day I wander around the island......
Caye Caulker
Caye (pronounced 'key') Caulker lies 32km from Belize City. The island is about 6.5km long and only about 600 metres at its widest point. Mangrove covers much of the shore and coconut palms provide shade. The village of 800 people is on the southern portion of the island which was split in to two portions during Hurricane Hattie.
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| Visitors to Caye Caulker arrive via the Caye Caulker Water Taxi Company!! |
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| Cabanas line the waterfront. Gotta love the colour! |
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| The view from my cabana balcony.....yes the sand is that white! |
After getting settled into island life, I take a snorkelling excursion to the world's second longest barrier reef. Our first snorkel is at the 'Coral Garden'......
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| Brain coral is one of the many types found at Coral Gardens. |
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| Blue fan coral sways in the 26C crystal clear water. |
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| Every now and then you would see these schools of fish hanging out around a piece of coral. Don't know what kind of fish they are nor do I know why they be hanging out.....but they were!! |
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| Knobby coral with a school of small fish hanging out. |
Our next snorkelling destination was called "Shark Ray Alley' and it's called this for good reason......
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| A large ray floats effortlessly through the crystal waters. |
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| The water was so clear that it looked like this ray was flying as opposed to swimming! |
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| Our snorkelling guide has a close encounter with a ray. Actually he comes here so often that the wildlife know him and come up hoping to get some food....... |
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| ......the food comes after we are safely back in the boat!! The Captain threw some fish scraps into the water and BOOM just like that the Nurse sharks appeared!! |
For our final snorkel we head for the Hol Chin National Marine Park (means 'narrow channel' in Mayan)........
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| A large piece of coral sits at the opening of the Hol Chin (narrow channel). This natural opening is one of the few breaks in the second largest reef in the world. |
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| Lot's of friendly wildlife hanging out. |
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| Supper later tonight!!!!! |
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| Shrubbery. |
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| I had gone snorkelling with my friend Chrystelle from Paris and England. I had met her originally on the chicken bus from Rio Dulce. I met her again wandering the streets of Flores, Guatemala and again on the bus to Belize City. |
The next day I wander around the island......
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| There are two main streets on Caye Caulker: Front Street and Back Street. Although there are vehicles on the Caye, the main forms of transportation are the soles of your feet (most people go barefoot) and golf carts. That's why this policeman patrols on bicycle....no high speed chases here. |
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| A local store selling its local wares: pineapple, bananas and other fruit and vegetables and of course Belkins, the Belizean national beer. |
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| "Hey Mister. Want to buy a fish?" |
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| Got me feet cocked up, a beer in hand, a good book and easy-listening music on the headphones, just a swinging in my hammock. |
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| Two very tired backpackers asleep at Tina's. Looks like they musta fell out of the hammocks. |
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| Chilling out at the Lazy Lizard Beach Bar! |
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| No words are needed here! |
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| My artistic photo!! |
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| Daughter looks on at Dad gut and fillet fish for my supper later!!! |
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| Sitting on the balcony of my cabana. Rough life!! |
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| .....and as the sun sets on Belize. it also sets on my 2005 adventure!! |
Cheers........
DIARY ENTRY: Thursday April 14, 2005 6:13PM: Here I am sitting on the balcony of my cabana, which is situated on the beach on Caye Caulker, sucking on a beer listening to Stevie Wonder.... Life is good!!
I woke up yesterday (Wednesday 04/03/05) morning on the dot in Flores, Guatemala, and waited patiently for an extra 35 minutes, obviously I'm on Guatemalan time. The shuttle picked me up but it wasn't the first class coach they promised either. Regardless; we crossed the border at 10:30AM and it took an hour to go through Customs.
Belize is hot!.....We got into Belize City under blazing Caribbean sky's. Met up with Chrystelle (French - English girl) on the shuttle. We had actually met on the bus from Rio Dulce to Flores. We both needed to go to the bank so we got a taxi. The taxi driver drove us around for 10 - 15 minutes and then dropped us off at the bank, which was right in front of where we got off the bus....$2.00....good start.
Got the 12:00PM water taxi to Caye Caulker. The Caye is a laid back island trying to capture the weary sunstroke tourist. I ended up sharing a cabana with Chrystelle.
Today I was up early to get the tour I had booked. Three snorkelling excursions from a sail boat. So this was awesome! The coral is in pristine shape. It's the second largest barrier reef in the world. The first dive was at the "Coral Gardens". This was a very good example of the reef in all its glory. A good abundance of a variety if fish and great coral. The next dive was the "Shark Ray Alley". Here I saw my first shark (several Nurse sharks and many rays) Finally, we snorkelled at the Hol Chin National Marine Park. This is where the barrier reef is broken (in Mayan it means 'narrow channel').
We got back at 5:00 and stopped at the Lazy Lizard for a couple of beers.....the lazy Caribbean Island tourist guy!!
DIARY ENTRY: Friday April 15, 2005 7:47PM: Got up this morning and Chrystelle indicated she had to switch hotels because her money was running short and with the telephone company on strike, there is no way to get any from the only bank in town.
Today is a day of relaxation (in fact, with no money, it will be for the rest of the trip). Managed to get a free hour out sea kayaking.
DIARY ENTRY: Saturday April 16, 2005 11:13AM: I got cut short there as I was writing my journal. Chrystelle dropped over (yesterday) and we ended up going to get some supper......as I was saying in the last diary entry....I got a free hour of kayaking from my hotel, so I took the sit-on-top out for a quick paddle. It was nice going down the island but arduous journey against the waves coming back.
I went out later that night but there is not much on the go. This is a really quiet island. Really if I had wanted to party, Ambergris Caye would have been a better choice. Regardless; today with no phones, I can't do much. No phones.......no Internet........no VISA......no spending!!!
DIARY ENTRY: Sunday April 17, 2005 3:51PM: Just got back from two dives in Shallow Bay. This is about an hour from Caye Caulker. The dives were outside the barrier reef. The first dive was a wall dive. Lot's of coral however not so much fish. Definitely saw more snorkelling. Our second dive was in the same area however this time we did a current dive. We just let the current take us and the boat picked us up when we finished.
Today is unofficially my last holiday day even though it will be a full week before I land on Newfoundland soil. Tomorrow I bed goodbye to the cayes and head for Flores, Guatemala.
DIARY ENTRY: Monday April 18, 2005 5:35PM: I was up at 6:30AM to catch the 7:30AM water taxi from the Caye to Belize City. After that I took my shuttle bus to Flores, Guatemala. I arrived around 2:00PM, got my hotel straighten away and went for something to eat. The power was out here so again I could not access the Internet, but after lunch the power came back on , so I was able to take care of that business as well.
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