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Belize
Dates Traveled: February 2000
To enter Belize, I took a bus down to Chetumal on the Mexican coast, and was immediately whisked onto a bus heading for Belize City.
While waiting in line to officially exit Mexico I was talking to an English woman, Natalie. It turns out she had just left the people she had been traveling with and so was on her own as well, so we decided to travel together for awhile. Ended up spending about 10 days together. Was nice to share the cost of rooms, meals, etc., and to have somebody to talk to. Definitely the best part about traveling, as it’s always easy to hook up with other individuals/groups for awhile. Even if you don’t choose to travel together, the same people tend to keep popping up in various cities/countries.
Anyway, we got into Belize City just before dark, which evidently isn’t a good time to be out in the city due to the crime. We walked to a small restaurant where she decided to try the gibnut. This is a rodent about the size of a rabbit, but is termed ‘the royal rat’ after Queen Elizabeth ate it during one of her visits. No, it doesn’t taste like chicken…..more like pork.
Belize City
The next morning we wandered around Belize City. Strange to be in an English-speaking country in Central America, and after my time in Mexico. Language has a creole accent to it, and actually sounds more like the islands, mon. Belize City is the former capital of Belize, but the capital was moved to Belmopan due to an abundance of tropical storms. Most people use B.C. as a staging point for the offshore islands (Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye), as Belize claims the second largest barrier reef after the Great Barrier Reef in the land of Oz. Evidently the diving is spectacular. However, since I’m not a diver, and had just spent time on the beach in Playa del Carmen in Mexico, I decided to move through Belize.
San Ignacio
We spent the next couple of nights in San Ignacio, which is near the border with Guatemala. It is a good point for tours of surrounding caves, waterfalls, jungle, ruins, etc. Many of the tours were a bit expensive, and I figured I’d actually have better opportunities later in the trip for some of the same types of trips. I did check out some ruins near the border, but then decided to cut short my time in Belize and headed for the border.
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