When arriving in Belize via boat from Livingston, you come into Punta Gorda. Punta Gorda is about as laid back as it gets. Hardly anyone in the town was moving. We were trying to find our way to the bus stop and when Dylan asked a girl if we were going the right way, she said "aaaayyyyyeeee" as she kept moving incredibly slowly up the road.
Having found the bus stop we made our way to Placencia. To do this we had to get off the bus in Independence and get a boat. In Indepndence we were met by a man in a van from the Hokey Pokey Water Taxi Service who shuttled everyone down to the boat dock. At the dock, there was a team of boys trying to out do each other by cleaning the van. In every country we've been to so far, all the guide books say to be careful when taking photos of children and always ask the parent for permission. I get the feeling that caution is not required in Belize. If you even look like you're going to take a photo there is some serious posing going on.
The trip to Placencia is down Mango Creek past lots of mangroves. It started out as a really pretty trip until it started peeing down. The driver pulled out a massive sheet of white plastic and everyone tried to hold onto it, cocooned, while speeding off down the river. Very odd experience.
Placencia is another very laid back place (well, all of Belize is). It's a small town with lots of beach cabins, a few restaurants and other basic necessities. Placencia is the classic white sand, palm trees, crystal clear water type place. We found a reasonably priced cabin right on the beach and proceeded to do nothing. Great place. The most action we saw was at a football game between the local team and a team from up north, Orange Walk. Oh, and there was some very amusing dancing by Ron, a Dutch guy we met in Guatemala who we keep running into.
After a couple of days we made our way back up Mango Creek (we saw it this time) to Independence and on a bus to Dangriga. In Dangriga we stayed at Ruthies Cabins. Ruthie is a real character. She will make you breakfast and dinner if you want and will then tell you 3 different times for when it will be ready, only to call you in an hour before the earliest time anyway. Me thinks our Ruthie is losing it a bit. Dangriga is, you guessed it, very laid back but quite a bit bigger than Placencia.
From there we visited the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary. We got a local guide to take us around which was well worth it. He certainly knew his stuff, and was an expert tracker. This sanctuary is known for jaguar sightings but very few actually get to see them. We didn't see any but our guide did find a number of fresh paw prints. We did see other things, including the rare blue beaked Mot Mot bird, so we felt quite honoured.
From Dangriga we went to San Ignacio which is inland, close to the Guatemalan border. There are numerous trips you can do from San Ignacio but all were very expensive, so we chose what we thought would be the best one. Our trip was to a cave known as Actun Tunichil Muknal. Deep inside this cave you can see ancient Mayan artefacts and the skeletons of people who were sacrificed. The artefacts are dated around 700 to 900AD when Mayan priests would come into the cave to make offerings. The cave is apparantly still used today by some Mayans. National Geographic readers maybe familiar with the caves as its 2001 article is considered one of the best reference documents on the cave's history.
The whole trip is a bit of an adventure. You first have a 4WD trip through muddy trails to get to the spot, followed by a 45 minute hike. You then launch yourself into water, having to swim and wade at various depths to get to the part of the cave containing the artefacts. It's great fun. The chamber with all the artefacts is truly amazing. The area is huge. There are hundreds of old pots that the Mayans carried in containing offerings and a number of human skeletons. One of the skeletons is pretty much complete and is known as the Princess.
The special thing about this cave is that the archeologists have not removed anything at all - everything is as it was found. Even the cave and chamber itself are amazing. It can be a bit of a moving and spiritual experience, which it certainly was for one man in our group who almost passed out several times. He kept muttering "our ancestors" to himself and was very tearful. Not sure if he was just overwhelmed or whether he was hearing voices. Whichever it was, he was certainly experiencing something.
From San Ignacio we made our way to Belize City and caught a boat out to one of the small islands off the coast, called Caye Caulker. We've been in Caye Caulker now for 4 nights (difficult to leave really). Caye Caulker is more of the white sand, palm trees etc. We found another place to stay right on the water front so it's all good.
Caye Caulker, and other nearby islands, are mainly about water activities. The reef off the coast of Belize is one of the best places in the world for diving so we had to give it a go. Once you get beyond the reef (which protects the island from rough seas) the waves really pick up. We were in some pretty huge swell which makes already nervous divers a bit more nervous about getting in the water at all! Once under the water however, all is calm.
We had 2 dives that day, both in the Hol Chan marine park. The first involved swimming along the ridge of a canyon. Lots of amazing fish to see. We also saw a sea turtle swimming along. The visibility was a fanastic 28metres of blue sea and Dylan managed to convince a fellow traveller to "borrow" some of his underwater video footage and photos - thanks Matthias.
Before the second dive, one of the divemasters put some fish heads into a plastic container then stabbed holes in the container. He took it under water with him as the area is full of nurse sharks. On the bottom all the nurse sharks were swarming around him and therefore swimming all around us - an incredible sight. Nurse sharks are not dangerous to humans so this was all quite safe, our guide was even tickling their bellies. It is however quite eerie with all these sharks swimming around you so close that you can touch them (and everyone was touching them too). After the sharks we swam on to an area where there is a tunnel to swim through. I didn't do it - I'm not comfortable enough with the whole diving thing to not have an escape route. Dylan did it though, and loved it. Back on the boat the waves were still huge and Dylan lost his lunch down the side of the boat. Nachos anyone?
The next day we did some more of nothing. Yesterday we went out for some snorkelling. The first spot was mainly to see different types of coral but there were plenty of colourful fish to see too. The next spot is known as Shark Ray alley. This is due to the number of nurse sharks and sting rays that hang around here. The boat captains feed them for the entertainment of the snorkellers. It was quite a sight with all the rays and sharks scrabbling for the fish. The last spot Dylan described as an aquarium. I didn't go in again as it was too cold for me (the only day is has been) but Dylan saw a huge variety of fish.
All in all, we are loving Belize. Dylan has got right into the local favorite cocktail, the Panty Ripper (coconut rum and pineapple juice, to the uninitiated). The people are fantastic (and did I mention, laid back). A huge bonus is that everyone speaks English. It's also nice to listen to the local language of Creole which is sort of like bad English spoken in a very strong Carribean accent. You think you can understand it but all you catch are a few words. The way of life in Belize is just wonderful, although I don't think much ever gets done. Our nightly entertainment here on Caye Caulker consists of the locals (and a few game tourists) sweating it out on the basketball court each evening. It's very entertaining as they spend most of the time taking the piss out of each other and arguing about the score.
Ya mon.
