BELIZE CITY - Ok, so back to real time now... sort of   The last chronological post was from Mahahual, Mexico.  Here's a shot of the folks we stayed with there - Rene and Maria - right before we took off to get the car back to Chetumal, and get our butts down to Belize!



When we got back to Chetumal we returned the car and headed to the bus station in search of transport to Belize.  We weren't immediately sure where we should go, but Belize City seemed logical as it was the only place with an ATM and we had no local currency.  They accept dollars everywhere but we didn't want to dip into our emergency stash.  It was about noon and the next bus to Belize City was at 3 o'clock... a little too long for our tastes, since the ride is over 4 hours into a 'not so safe' city.  We figured we'd just try and get across the border and stay someplace for a night... but then we learned there was another bus station with '2nd class' busses running on the hour to Belize City!  We headed to the other station, and for 6 dollars US we caught a ride on what is known as 'the chicken bus'.  They're all old US school busses, as you can see from the photo, and they still have the 'school bus riding' rules and stuff posted at the front.  It was fairly empty at the start but as we approached Belize City it was strictly standing room only.  Lucky we were the first ones on or we'd have to stand.  Oh, and it took about 4.5 hours to go about 75 miles (distance may be an exaggeration) because it stopped all the time, often just at people's houses!



When we finally got to Belize City we walked from the bus station to where the hotels were.  What a busy bustling place!  The books say it's poor (which it is) and dangerous (which it can be), but people were smiling and milling all about.  There was a lot of noise and local music in the air.  We found a nice little hotel by the 'Swing Bridge' for  the night.  It was run by three older sisters, and there were 5 beds in our room for some strange reason.  I think when they're really busy they use it like a dorm.  It didn't matter though because we had the room to ourselves.

For dinner we tried a few local places we'd heard of... the first one was closed, the second was out of food, but the third was a charm.  There was another guy there that we'd seen at the second restaurant, and he was alone so I invited him to join us.  His name was Bodo Piper, a german entrepreneur who'd been largely responsible for tourism development in Dubai.  He was now in Belize working on another business of selling LED and rechargeable battery powered lights to the locals.  A lot of folks have no electricity and these things last for days, so they are in high demand.  We really had a good time talking to him and he gave us some local Belize City tips... like try not to stay out after dark, and certainly not after the shops close because even with all the police there have been muggings and shootings.  Nice!  It was after dark, so after paying the 7 dollars US for the most fantastic dinner, it was straight to the hotel for us!!  And even with all the noise (and gunshots I had a great night's sleep.

 

What did you think of this article?

Liked
Disliked
No Opinion