Belize

Belize has a bad rap among the travelers we've met -- too expensive and not friendly. It is certainly more expensive than neighboring Guatemala, with which it has had a long-running land dispute, but we found the Belizeans to be very friendly. The country is primarily English and Kriol speaking, though at the borders Spanish and English seem interchangeable. We had a bit of difficulty getting used to speaking to people in English -- somehow "hello" has come to seem less friendly than "buenos días." Belizean Kriol is a mixture of English, Miskito and West African languages and in my limited experience is entirely incomprehensible.

Leaving Guatemala we argued our way out of a departure tax we had never heard of. We're still not sure whether it was legitimate or not but the speed with which it disappeared makes us think not. In San Ignacio we stayed with the very friendly and knowledgeable John (who only spoke English to us) and his wife Rosa (who only spoke to us in Spanish.) John is a former tour guide and told us a gripping story about beating off with his umbrella a wild pig that was attacking his Australian client. He finally had to grab the pig and "Whomp!" it against a tree. John proudly repeated a few times that "You think you have the first black leader in the Americas, but it was really us!" (Prime Minister Dean Barrow is pictured below.)

We visited two impressive Maya ruins outside San Ignacio at Xunantunich and Cahal Pech and walked into the hills around the town. While we waited at the bus stop for our ride home from Xunantunich we had two separate people approach us just to chat. One man had spent some time working in the local chicle-harvesting industry and described the method of hacking into the tree's trunk and limbs, letting the sap run down a master channel to a bag at the bottom. (Chicle sap was the rubbery component of chewing gum and Wrigley's was big in Belize and Guatemala.) Gregorio, our other acquaintance, had had a debilitating stroke a few years before and proudly explained how he had worked to regain much of his ability to walk and speak. He discussed how contemporary Maya culture was being eroded as young people move away from indigenous communities.


















On our second day in Belize we rented a canoe and paddled down the Mopan river. We saw a lot of beautiful birds and actually had some blue sky! (We have been discouraged by the gray skies that linger over all our visits to ruins and make for drab photos.) We pulled the canoe out at a pretty landing and found a lovely eco-hotel at the top of the hill. The limeades at Table Rock were delicious and we chatted with Jen and Chris, the U.S. couple who act as the clearly excellent manager and chef. For those who are not traveling on a shoestring we recommend Table Rock!





It was a tough call but, making a genuine effort to get home within our second year, we decided to move on quickly from Belize to Mexico. We have the additional attraction of meeting up with our friend Scott in Oaxaca to keep us moving. On our way from San Ignacio to Belize City we stopped at the Belize Zoo. The animals here are all local, rehabilitated injured creatures who can't be rereleased. There were great photos of the female harpy eagle who refused to stay away once released and had to be fended off with a chair before getting back into the comfort of her cage. Mike also has some nice video of the snuffly baby tapir Indy, and the weasel-like grisons that somehow move forward while running in circles.









From Belize City we got a bus to Corozal near the Mexican border, stamped out of Belize and stamped into Mexico. A local bus took us to Chetumal where we found a couple of Mexican beers and a bus to Tulum.