February 23, 2007: Belize!

Wow! We crossed the border from Mexico into Belize this morning. A mere 1.5 hours, and TwoBaby had to pay a fine for not having his visa in order. Oh yes, the beer was confiscated but not the wine. My theory is that the inspection agent liked beer but not wine.

So, to back up: contrary to our earlier indication, we decided to cross into Mexico from Brownsville, which turned out to be a great decision because it is a small crossing area, and everything is in one building. Everything went smoothly, including the inspection 20 miles further into Mexico. We were hot! We drove about 200 miles south of Brownsville, and ended up camping on the beach next to two RVs from Michigan. Bob and Bunny from Michigan report that the place is pretty deserted until Easter. The name of the area is La Pesca. We had a fresh fish dinner from the rustic cafe nearby...pretty darn special and a great way to start our Mexico experience.

Since we only had a 7-day visa (and, in reality, it was only 6 full days), we had to make a lot of tracks each day. From La Pesca, we pretty much followed Mex 180 down the Gulf coast, crossed the Tropic of Cancer, went through Tampico and Tuxpan, avoiding the bigger cities (like Vera Cruz and Villahermosa), but paralleling the coastline. We turned east south of Campeche, so that we could cross the border at Chetumal.

We camped each night, and our accommodations varied from the beach at La Pesca (free), to a field next to a (probably) hotel/whorehouse, a field (Anton Lizardo), the parking lot of a restaurant (Paraiso), and several real RV/camping spots (Isla Aguada and Cenote Azul).

Driving...poor Tommy! As he says, "the minute I take my eyes off the road, there is some *#@* thing to avoid!" Potholes you would not believe! But the worst of all are the topes, pronounced toepays, but I prefer toepiss. These are obstacles placed on the road (officially or not), with or without warning signs, to slow down traffic. You hit one of these fierce things once and you have learned your lesson! They vary from concrete lines to concrete mounds two feet high, and large round metal balls interred in the road. The military uses a gentler variety: spread out truck tire strips or rope (about 10 inches in circumference). All these topes catch your attention and reduce your progress to about 40 mph. And then, of course, there are other hazards. We had a real lock-up-the-brakes situation as a cow herd wandered right into our path. We did try a toll road one day, thinking that the driving would be easier. Not that toll road: there was so much road work being done, that we were on and off the toll road, and constantly avoiding road parts.
Tommy needs a medal!

We have seen such varied scenery as we drove through Mexico: we started in a dry, desert climate, went through green, green bouganvilla land, to rolling green hills, to Gulf coastal scenes, through lots of small towns and villages. This is a beautiful land!

Our eating experiences have been varied, from the fresh fish in La Pesca to a fancy beach restaurant (where we ended up camping for the night). Alert to our cooking friends: try fresh fish, sauteed in butter, garlic, onions and dried poblano chilis cut into strips. Out of this world!
We had pollo asado at a roadside restaurant we called "Dog Chasing Pig Restaurant"; the dog seemed to be in charge of keeping the pigs off the roadway (but didn't bother if they walked through the restaurant). Actually, this was a roadside stop, not a "restaurant". Last night we had a bottle of Mexican wine (Vinos Premium XA, Cabernet Sauvignon, from the Baja); even our cheap tastebuds thought it was excellent.

Last night we camped at Cenote Azul. A cenote is a formed when the limestone shelf breaks and the underground river floods the area. This morning I swam in the cenote (just to say I did); it was warm and the lightest torquoise blue in color.

We saw a lot of trucks, hauling sugar cane to market. These trucks are piled two and three stories high with the cane. We saw one truck, pulling three wagons of cane, and we very glad we weren't behind him on a hill. Occasionally ahead on the top of a hillside, one sees the huge silloutte of a black bull, advertising Magno Osborne; isn't that a port wine?

And so here we are in Belize. We haven't made a plan for our stay here (this answer drives the border guys nuts!). But we'll check in again soon. We're off to explore this town, Corasul, and have some dinner. Ciao!