Yesterday I graduated from school! Verbs and tenses and cases are still exploding from my brain, and I may decide to speak in the same fashion as my brother Peter, who says he always uses the infinitive and never declines his verbs. I was something of an oddity at the school since most of the students are in their 20's, most of the students opt for the "total immersion program" (staying with a local host family and eating three meals a day with that family), and most students are here for at least four months. Obviously, they speak much better Spanish than I will ever speak but at 58, I'm going to do what is comfortable for me and my family (can you imagine Tommy living for two weeks in very basic accommodations, without TV and very little privacy?).
Last Sunday a group of us (students) went to Chichicastenango, the site of the largest indigenous market in Guatemala. We went there via chicken bus (one transfer) and the 100KM took four hours. The other kids said I had a true chicken bus experience, with a driver who was trying to win the chicken bus race, sometimes cornering on two wheels (well, not really, but it sure felt like it!). For the last hour, I shared my seat with two other people (this is a seat built for two elementary aged children). Anyway, I had my chicken bus experience! On the way back, we were all so tired, that we returned via mini-bus, which was somewhat faster and safer.
Chichicastenango is a market-lover's paradise. Stall after stall after stall selling local crafts, woven goods, beautiful clothes, shoes, belts, hammocks, travel bags....etc. etc. The colors! The variety! The richness of it all! Inadvertently, I discovered how to get the best price...just walk away. So, by walking away many times, I came home with lots of treasures! Just think of all the money I saved! We also visited the church at the top of the town. Our guide said that it was used primarily by the Mayans. It felt and looked very primitive and smelled overwhelmingly of incense, which was being burned at the entrances and in the church.
Have we told you about the great VISA scam? Cynthia will recall that we encountered this several years ago in Spain, and Bert ran into this in the Algarve when trying to buy port. It goes like this: the famous VISA emblem is on the gas/petrol pump, or front door, or even painted on the stall pillars, as we saw in Panachel. Often one chooses a specific restaurant or store or gas station, due to the VISA emblem. So, you eat or fill up or select stuff and go to pay, flipping out your VISA card. And the clerk looks at you and says, "machina no funcionada". Right. Machina no funcionada for years. We even have been tricked after asking if we could pay by VISA before we filled up with gas/petrol. Once the fill up was complete, the machina had stopped working. So, you always have to have enough cash to cover the fill up or dinner. Machina no funcionada.
We both came down with the flu this week. I missed a day of school while trying to recover. Even though I went to school, I didn't have much energy so decided to take a mini-bus half way to school each day. These are passenger vans (about the size of Tommy's Toyota and Chevy vans) with seats for 12 to 15. There are no published schedules or routes; the busses just drive around town, picking up passengers. The driver drives and his helper hangs out the side door, yelling for passengers. I flagged down my bus in front of the hotel each day. There are so many of these mini-busses that I never had the same one, and always just told them my desired destination before getting on. The fare is 1Q, no matter how far you go. This demand-based system really works! Donald says it has no chance in the USA due to unions, liability, the government and lawyers. Too bad!
It is easy to get your daily ration of fresh fruit: every other street corner has vendors of sliced fresh fruit (watermelon, papaya, cantalope, pineapple) and vendors squeezing fresh orange juice (which you drink from their glass glasses and return the glass, which they wash in a pail of water). I was game! Many of the vendors also have fresh eggs and I still haven't figured out how those are served (nor do I want to!).
We have the great fortune to be in a hotel which is centrally located for almost everything we want to do. Within a four block radius we have the Parque Central, banks, post office, lots of restaurants, internet, laundry, used book store (!), and TWO jazz clubs! We have been music pigs, attending almost every night. One of them is a little hole in the wall, with the "stage" being a platform over the smallest kitchen imaginable. This one specializes in a guitar style called "trova", and can handle about 30 people. The other club is a real restaurant (French) with great food, and seating for perhaps 60. We were there last night for Buena Vista style music, and we will go tonight to hear a trio playing more traditional jazz.
There is also a stained glass studio just around the corner. This guy's work is fabulous but he has a very small market because this is such a poor country. He did some of the windows for a church on Parque Central...absolutely beautiful work.
There are lots of foreign college-aged kids here, studying Spanish and doing volunteer work. The majority of students at my school were pre-med students, with one being a doctor who had just finished her residency in Seattle. What a fabulous experience for these kids! Most of them are either from North America or Scandinavia. Xela is a sister city to Tromso, Norway so that probably encourages Norwegians to come here.
We plan to leave Xela tomorrow. We love it here but it is time to move on. There are several things we won't miss: the incredibly dirty air, which we have noticed much more since we were ill. The tragedy of the homeless children (all ages) which is an enormous problem here. The "collectors", which are college boys, dressed in klu klux klan-like outfits except that the outfits are purple or yellow or black, rather than white. They go around the city, soliciting donations from businesses, mainly. If the business doesn't pay, their merchandise and walls are splashed with paint. My teacher said that the police don't do anything about this problem; I subsequently read a newspaper article which said that the police were trying to stop this practice. Meeting these collectors on the street is creepy.
So, talk to you soon!
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
March 14th, 2007, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
We arrived in Quetzaltenango two days ago, so that we could go to Spanish language school here. This is the second largest city in Guatemala and if you can´t handle the official tongue twisting name, its nickname is Xela. It is a great place! We decided not to opt for the home stay option, but rather are staying in a modest downtown hotel. I have had two days of lessons and my head is exploding with verbs. Tommy is having some quiet time for now, needing to de-stress after the drive here. I walk back and forth to school (about a half hour each way), getting my morning coffee at McDonalds (the only coffee place open at 7:00 am). I get back to the hotel about 1:30 and then Tommy and I join forces to explore our neighborhood. TwoBaby holds down the fort at the hotel, waiting for us to bring him treats.
Our previous post left us in Flores, from which we drove south down the middle of the country. From Flores we went to Coban, where we stayed at a great little B&B and ate an upscale dinner in their restaurant. The next night we stayed in a funny little motel near Salama which had a pool, noise all night and a horrible restaurant. While we were looking for our night spot, we stopped at a restaurant to ask if we could camp in his parking lot. He looked at us, and then said ¨Cobras!" Tommy starting shouting, ¨Cobras! There aren´t any cobras here!¨ Finally, the man pointed us down the road, suggesting that we could find something further along. About a half hour later it dawned on us that he was saying ¨cobrar¨, meaning that he wanted payment for letting us camp in his secure grounds. Ah yes, a good lesson which we used the next night when we camped in a restaurant parking lot nere Tecpan.
From there we went to an official campground in Panachel, near Lago de Aitlan. This is a lake, formed by a collapsed volcano and surrounded by at least three other volcanos. It was completely magical! Our campground is owned and run by a transplanted Texan who smokes the truth every morning. Panchel itself is kind of a hippy, touristy, very comfortable small town on the lake, and one takes tuk tuks everywhere for a cost of 5 quetzals per person, point to point. A tuk tuk is a small vehicle, with probably a motorcyle engine and a small seat in the back for passengers. Panachel is at the base of a very, very, very scary mountain road. My eyes were closed most of the time as we travelled down the road.
After two days in Panachel, we drove here. All 96 kilometers took 5 hours! Most of this was on the Pan American Highway, which we had joined just east of Guatemala City. This highway is positively the worst piece of highway extant. It goes up and down mountains, with trucks crowding every lane, whether or not they have the power to get up the mountains or the brakes to get down safely. The highway has road works, road works, road works, announced or not. Everyone is passing everyone, particularly on blind curves. You get so that you are certain the next one will be a head on collision; strange that we never saw one! There are pedestrians everywhere. There are vendors of foods and trinkets as you wait in line for a road work stoppage. The entire highway is completely and utterly accident potential, and without a break or rest stop. Tommy drove the entire way, and I am grateful that he could handle it (I couldn´t).
Here are some phrases to capture our impressions so far: incredible mountain scenery, particularly in the north central part of the country; moutainsides with small farming plots and corn growing up the mountain sides; pedestrians everywhere carrying their loads (food, firewood, animals) either balanced on their heads or their backs), short-bed pickup trucks with metal structures welded shoulder high so that about 15 to 20 people can stand in the back; guns, guns, guns slung around most men´s backs; wonderful tourist police in their black and gold pickup trucks, keeping the roads safe for us; hundreds of minibuses (9 to 12 passenger vans) doing the town to town transportation runs; pink Eveready signs painted on lots and lots of houses along the road; fabulous fruit drinks (watermelon included); old US school buses, some still yellow and many painted terrific colors, particularly those known as the ¨chicken buses¨ (the most basic and local of the bus system); and color, color, color everywhere! The indigenous women wear the most beautiful woven outfits, and they have the blackest longest hair you have ever seen.
The Guatemalans smile a lot. When they do, you see that most of their teeth (particularly the front ones) are outlined in gold. And wasn´t Tommy the lucky one: one of his gold inlays popped out (not the one you fixed, George) and he went to a dentist yesterday. This cost a mere 50 quetzals (about $6.50 US). We´ll see how long the repair lasts!
We have seen two funeral processions. In the first one, the coffin was in the back of a pickup truck and every conceivable kind of vehicle was in the procession (including a tractor). We saw the second procession here in Xela, as we were trying to navigate our way to the school. The procession was on foot, blocking the entire main street for miles and miles. Colorful, though.
As we left Panachel, we stopped to fill up with gas. The minimart at the gas station also sold dried cat food, the first we have seen since we left the US. We gratefully purchased a couple of bags although TwoBaby has been pretty happy about his non-dried food diet of fresh chicken and fish. We were able to find cat litter in Belize so loaded up on the stuff there.
Very few people here speak English but one phrase is always in English: car wash. There are lots and lots of car washes. We used one in the north of Guatemala to wash off our Belize road dust (extreme). It took two people 40 minutes to get the van clean. The cost was 25 quetzals (about $3.00 US). Hard to believe, isn´t it?
Everything is very cheap here. We delight in our dinners for less than $20.00US, including the sauce. Our hotel (but keep in mind that it is very basic) is only about $20.00 US a night. The fresh fruit is everywhere, and you can get four or five watermelon slices for about $0.50US. We don´t mean to dwell on the cost of living here. It is a pretty special place, as well!
Hasta la vista!
Our previous post left us in Flores, from which we drove south down the middle of the country. From Flores we went to Coban, where we stayed at a great little B&B and ate an upscale dinner in their restaurant. The next night we stayed in a funny little motel near Salama which had a pool, noise all night and a horrible restaurant. While we were looking for our night spot, we stopped at a restaurant to ask if we could camp in his parking lot. He looked at us, and then said ¨Cobras!" Tommy starting shouting, ¨Cobras! There aren´t any cobras here!¨ Finally, the man pointed us down the road, suggesting that we could find something further along. About a half hour later it dawned on us that he was saying ¨cobrar¨, meaning that he wanted payment for letting us camp in his secure grounds. Ah yes, a good lesson which we used the next night when we camped in a restaurant parking lot nere Tecpan.
From there we went to an official campground in Panachel, near Lago de Aitlan. This is a lake, formed by a collapsed volcano and surrounded by at least three other volcanos. It was completely magical! Our campground is owned and run by a transplanted Texan who smokes the truth every morning. Panchel itself is kind of a hippy, touristy, very comfortable small town on the lake, and one takes tuk tuks everywhere for a cost of 5 quetzals per person, point to point. A tuk tuk is a small vehicle, with probably a motorcyle engine and a small seat in the back for passengers. Panachel is at the base of a very, very, very scary mountain road. My eyes were closed most of the time as we travelled down the road.
After two days in Panachel, we drove here. All 96 kilometers took 5 hours! Most of this was on the Pan American Highway, which we had joined just east of Guatemala City. This highway is positively the worst piece of highway extant. It goes up and down mountains, with trucks crowding every lane, whether or not they have the power to get up the mountains or the brakes to get down safely. The highway has road works, road works, road works, announced or not. Everyone is passing everyone, particularly on blind curves. You get so that you are certain the next one will be a head on collision; strange that we never saw one! There are pedestrians everywhere. There are vendors of foods and trinkets as you wait in line for a road work stoppage. The entire highway is completely and utterly accident potential, and without a break or rest stop. Tommy drove the entire way, and I am grateful that he could handle it (I couldn´t).
Here are some phrases to capture our impressions so far: incredible mountain scenery, particularly in the north central part of the country; moutainsides with small farming plots and corn growing up the mountain sides; pedestrians everywhere carrying their loads (food, firewood, animals) either balanced on their heads or their backs), short-bed pickup trucks with metal structures welded shoulder high so that about 15 to 20 people can stand in the back; guns, guns, guns slung around most men´s backs; wonderful tourist police in their black and gold pickup trucks, keeping the roads safe for us; hundreds of minibuses (9 to 12 passenger vans) doing the town to town transportation runs; pink Eveready signs painted on lots and lots of houses along the road; fabulous fruit drinks (watermelon included); old US school buses, some still yellow and many painted terrific colors, particularly those known as the ¨chicken buses¨ (the most basic and local of the bus system); and color, color, color everywhere! The indigenous women wear the most beautiful woven outfits, and they have the blackest longest hair you have ever seen.
The Guatemalans smile a lot. When they do, you see that most of their teeth (particularly the front ones) are outlined in gold. And wasn´t Tommy the lucky one: one of his gold inlays popped out (not the one you fixed, George) and he went to a dentist yesterday. This cost a mere 50 quetzals (about $6.50 US). We´ll see how long the repair lasts!
We have seen two funeral processions. In the first one, the coffin was in the back of a pickup truck and every conceivable kind of vehicle was in the procession (including a tractor). We saw the second procession here in Xela, as we were trying to navigate our way to the school. The procession was on foot, blocking the entire main street for miles and miles. Colorful, though.
As we left Panachel, we stopped to fill up with gas. The minimart at the gas station also sold dried cat food, the first we have seen since we left the US. We gratefully purchased a couple of bags although TwoBaby has been pretty happy about his non-dried food diet of fresh chicken and fish. We were able to find cat litter in Belize so loaded up on the stuff there.
Very few people here speak English but one phrase is always in English: car wash. There are lots and lots of car washes. We used one in the north of Guatemala to wash off our Belize road dust (extreme). It took two people 40 minutes to get the van clean. The cost was 25 quetzals (about $3.00 US). Hard to believe, isn´t it?
Everything is very cheap here. We delight in our dinners for less than $20.00US, including the sauce. Our hotel (but keep in mind that it is very basic) is only about $20.00 US a night. The fresh fruit is everywhere, and you can get four or five watermelon slices for about $0.50US. We don´t mean to dwell on the cost of living here. It is a pretty special place, as well!
Hasta la vista!
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
March 7th, Guatemala
Wow! Guatemala! We had an easy border crossing from Belize to Guatemala. The border town was similar to Tijuana: a little sleazy and lots of vendors. Several miles down the road, we stopped for refreshments and Tommy used the bathroom (which turned out to be in the owner´s house). Suddenly, Tommy is yelling my name: he was locked in the bathroom! The owners and we had a big laugh about this. We continued on to El Remate, where we had hoped to camp for the night but the town didn´t feel quite right and the camping site was up a very steep slope. Instead, we drove on to Tikal, the site of the largest Mayan settlement in Guatemala.
This area is so well organized but not overly commercial. The campgrounds (for vans and tent campers) was right on the edge of the park entrance, as were some small restaurants. Easy! We woke up at 5 am on Tuesday, as the really serious Tikal visitors were heading to the park so that they could watch the sunrise at the temple sites. We were less serious (big surprise!), and fiddled around for several more hours before going in.
What a place! Those Mayans were amazing! Incredible number of temples, etc. in a very small area, although we guessed that we walked about 6 miles in order to see all the sites. The park was fairly crowded with lots of tours. We were one of the few who didn´t climb to the top of the temples. seeing Tikal was a really great experience, and yes, Wilson, Tommy did get the t-shirt!
Last night we ended up in Flores, an island in a small lake about 60 miles from Tikal. We camped across the street from our restaurant, after being assured by the locals that it was safe (it was). Today we´ll head southward.
The entire Central American area could use Tom Baron down here to get these roads in better shape! The maps give one no indication if the roads will be good or bad, and when bad, they are very, very bad. We followed a bus yesterday, so that it could show us the danger spots. And, contrary to the books, livestock crosses the road. I get a kick out of the pigs but Tommy likes the turkeys best.
We talked to a family from Quebec. They are travelling, with three young children, all through Mexico and Central America. Their van is the same size as ours, and they estimated that their trip would last eight months. We also saw two motorcyclists from Germany (plates started with AA..Achen?), who had their large dog in a cage at the back of one of the cycles. I feel quite normal, travelling with TwoBaby!
Last night in our restaurant, the TV was showing the UEFA Champions League playoffs (Lyon v Roma), and flashed that Porto and Chelsea would be playing later on. We wondered if Miranda and Peter went to the game.
A few final notes about Belize: such great people who are always smiling! And everyone speaks English. There is lots to do there, for example, stays at the jungle lodges, tours to the caves and Mayan sites, hiking, diving, swimming, snorkling, canoeing...unending. Everyone rides bikes. And there are Chinese everywhere! Almost all the businesses are Chinese-owned and no one seems able to explain why. Nancy, the graveyards are above ground here, too. At the border, we saw a pickup parked in a ravine parallel to the border. Two guys jumped out of the pickup, hefted two large boxes, and ran across the border (out of sight of the guards). Our last campground in Belize was one of the nicest: it had a great restaurant, and a river in which I went swimming each day. We also met a group of bike riders who were on a tour of Guatemala and Belize (one of the guys was a Californian, who saw our California license plates). They were with an organized tour, which transported their luggage from place to place while they rode. Their truck had broken down that day, so they ended up camping in our campground unexpectedly. The British Army Jungle Force (which trains in Belize), helped tow their truck out to a town.
These little stories are part of our lives now. See you soon!
This area is so well organized but not overly commercial. The campgrounds (for vans and tent campers) was right on the edge of the park entrance, as were some small restaurants. Easy! We woke up at 5 am on Tuesday, as the really serious Tikal visitors were heading to the park so that they could watch the sunrise at the temple sites. We were less serious (big surprise!), and fiddled around for several more hours before going in.
What a place! Those Mayans were amazing! Incredible number of temples, etc. in a very small area, although we guessed that we walked about 6 miles in order to see all the sites. The park was fairly crowded with lots of tours. We were one of the few who didn´t climb to the top of the temples. seeing Tikal was a really great experience, and yes, Wilson, Tommy did get the t-shirt!
Last night we ended up in Flores, an island in a small lake about 60 miles from Tikal. We camped across the street from our restaurant, after being assured by the locals that it was safe (it was). Today we´ll head southward.
The entire Central American area could use Tom Baron down here to get these roads in better shape! The maps give one no indication if the roads will be good or bad, and when bad, they are very, very bad. We followed a bus yesterday, so that it could show us the danger spots. And, contrary to the books, livestock crosses the road. I get a kick out of the pigs but Tommy likes the turkeys best.
We talked to a family from Quebec. They are travelling, with three young children, all through Mexico and Central America. Their van is the same size as ours, and they estimated that their trip would last eight months. We also saw two motorcyclists from Germany (plates started with AA..Achen?), who had their large dog in a cage at the back of one of the cycles. I feel quite normal, travelling with TwoBaby!
Last night in our restaurant, the TV was showing the UEFA Champions League playoffs (Lyon v Roma), and flashed that Porto and Chelsea would be playing later on. We wondered if Miranda and Peter went to the game.
A few final notes about Belize: such great people who are always smiling! And everyone speaks English. There is lots to do there, for example, stays at the jungle lodges, tours to the caves and Mayan sites, hiking, diving, swimming, snorkling, canoeing...unending. Everyone rides bikes. And there are Chinese everywhere! Almost all the businesses are Chinese-owned and no one seems able to explain why. Nancy, the graveyards are above ground here, too. At the border, we saw a pickup parked in a ravine parallel to the border. Two guys jumped out of the pickup, hefted two large boxes, and ran across the border (out of sight of the guards). Our last campground in Belize was one of the nicest: it had a great restaurant, and a river in which I went swimming each day. We also met a group of bike riders who were on a tour of Guatemala and Belize (one of the guys was a Californian, who saw our California license plates). They were with an organized tour, which transported their luggage from place to place while they rode. Their truck had broken down that day, so they ended up camping in our campground unexpectedly. The British Army Jungle Force (which trains in Belize), helped tow their truck out to a town.
These little stories are part of our lives now. See you soon!
Sunday, March 4, 2007
March 4th, 2007: San Ignacio, Belize
Today is Sunday, March 4th and we are in San Ignacio, Belize, which is the western most city in Belize. We hope to cross into Guatemala on Monday or Tuesday.
The last time we talked, Tommy and I were in Corozal, having just crossed into Belize. Since then, we have seen much of the country (Orange Walk, Belize City, Ambergris Caye, Dangriga, Belmopan, and now San Ignacio. Belize is a very small country, but only has three good roads; the rest are either dirt (graded or not), or very broken pavement with enormous potholes. If you stay on the good roads, getting around is easy. We had the misfortune to take one of the bad roads by mistake; it took us 5.5 hours to go 40 miles. And it was hot!
Belize is beautiful! The landscape varies alot from the north to south, and east to west. Generally, the further south and west we went, we found things more "upscale" and less ramshackle. And the ramshackle is really ramshackle as only the Caribbean can do. Most people are riding bicycles, and those driving cars are honking their horns to say hello to their friends (most disconcerting until you get used to it).
While is Corozal, we took a drive out to Consejo, and bumped into a North American-looking subdivision (urbanization). Wow! This was really out in the middle of nowhere and we wondered WHY? Since then, we have come across several other subdivisions and various states of completion, but they are all very far away from any town or indigenous activities.
We took a boat tour to Laminai, one of the Mayan sites. During the tour, we travelled past a Mennonite community, saw the sugar cane factory, and birds, birds, birds! We were fascinated by the snail kite (this guy eats only snails and his beak is curved so that he can get into the snail shells); the keel billed toucan; egrets and kingfishers. Another day we drove to Altun Ha, another Mayan site; this was the day we took 5.5 hours to go 40 miles on the most miserable road ever. But along the way, we met Hector, who was cutting sugar cane and gave us one to suck on. Hector, as well as many other Belizeans we have met spent some time in the USA.
After camping two nights at Corozal, two nights at Orange Walk, and one night at Altun Ha, we were camping fatigued and spent two nights in a very basic motel near Belize City. Our friend Gill Graham would not have agreed to the parking lot of this motel, let alone staying there! It was, however, clean, air conditioned, and the toilet and shower worked fine. And our hosts were fascinated with TwoBaby, and told us where we could buy more kitty litter.
We went over to Ambergris Caye via water taxi. While there we met up with Sarah's cousin, Coleen, and two Redding, California transplants, Denise and Jim (thanks to Wilson). Life is easy on Ambergris Caye! The big draw there is the barrier reef, and the diving, snorkling and fishing. It is beautiful! Coleen has an active coffee bar right in the middle of town. We asked her to tell us the most difficult thing about having a business in Belize. She said that getting reliable, steady supplies was the hardest thing. It turns out that the Mennonites produce 70% of what the country eats, and as a result, they also control what will be imported or won't be. For example, a while back, they decided that they would produce the cheese so none could be imported, leaving the country without parmesan and other such cheeses. This situation lasted until the tourist industry put pressure on the government. Interesting, isn't it? Denise and Jim now have a property management business, having sold their original Belize business, The Sausage Factory. We really enjoyed chatting with these folks!
We did a walking tour in Belize City. It is so small and well laid out, that it is easy to get around and find things. There is a lot of street life around the swing bridge and the entry port for cruise ship people. It is also quite scuzzy and dirty. But you can get anything: three people asked Tommy if he wanted to buy some dope or crack. Our DVD vendor asked both of us if we wanted to party with him. We were chicken! We found an Ace Hardware, and true to its slogan, Ace was the place and found a fan for the car to ease the night heat.
In between Belize City and our motel, we found a little bar (now, who is surprised at that?) right on the lagoon, with palm trees and a cooling breeze. It was a little slice of heaven! Again, here our host had spent 18 years in the USA.
Since TwoBaby had previously been fined for not having the proper visa, we decided to visit the Guatemalan Embassy to see if Two needed a visa for Guatemala. He didn't but it took about an hour to discover that. But what a fantastic reception we had! The people were so nice, and gave us several Guatemalan trinkets, pamphlets, and driving advice.
After Belize City, we drove down to Dangriga, which is a Garifuna town; Garifuna is almost creole-like. We stayed in a great, basic cabana on the beach. We walked into town (10 minutes)to get some dinner. Sad to say, we were very uncomfortable because we were in the color minority and it just didn't feel too safe. We were surprised about that.
The local beer is Belkin, and the guy who owns Belkin is also the distributor for Coke, Fanta, and Guiness. The local lore is that when Pepsi tried to introduce itself to Belize, the Belkin guy bought and destroyed all the Pepsi until Pepsi gave up. The beer, by the way, comes in regular, light, premium and stout and is very good!
We are taking our internet hits where we can find it. Several campgrounds have had a terminal (usually very, very slow); a coffee house on Ambergris Caye had a half dozen terminals as does this coffee house in San Ignacio. But the most interesting internet experience was in the gift shop for a prison. We picked up the prison newsletter, which we will forward onto Wilson.
This is a surprise: there is almost no smoking here, and this doesn't seem to be a goverment-mandated situation but rather that very few locals smoke (regular cigarettes). The food experiences haven't been all that great, although last night (in the restaurant in our campground) we had the most delicious squash soup (green!) and fresh fish.
Hey guess what! The cost of gas (petrol) here is about US$4.50 a gallon! It is a good thing that this is a small country! And also probably why there are so many bike riders.
Oh, one more thing: this is the land of religion. The 7th Day Adventists have really done well here. Everywhere, everywhere we see their churchs. And lots of Baptist churchs, too.
I think we are up to date now. Talk to you soon!
The last time we talked, Tommy and I were in Corozal, having just crossed into Belize. Since then, we have seen much of the country (Orange Walk, Belize City, Ambergris Caye, Dangriga, Belmopan, and now San Ignacio. Belize is a very small country, but only has three good roads; the rest are either dirt (graded or not), or very broken pavement with enormous potholes. If you stay on the good roads, getting around is easy. We had the misfortune to take one of the bad roads by mistake; it took us 5.5 hours to go 40 miles. And it was hot!
Belize is beautiful! The landscape varies alot from the north to south, and east to west. Generally, the further south and west we went, we found things more "upscale" and less ramshackle. And the ramshackle is really ramshackle as only the Caribbean can do. Most people are riding bicycles, and those driving cars are honking their horns to say hello to their friends (most disconcerting until you get used to it).
While is Corozal, we took a drive out to Consejo, and bumped into a North American-looking subdivision (urbanization). Wow! This was really out in the middle of nowhere and we wondered WHY? Since then, we have come across several other subdivisions and various states of completion, but they are all very far away from any town or indigenous activities.
We took a boat tour to Laminai, one of the Mayan sites. During the tour, we travelled past a Mennonite community, saw the sugar cane factory, and birds, birds, birds! We were fascinated by the snail kite (this guy eats only snails and his beak is curved so that he can get into the snail shells); the keel billed toucan; egrets and kingfishers. Another day we drove to Altun Ha, another Mayan site; this was the day we took 5.5 hours to go 40 miles on the most miserable road ever. But along the way, we met Hector, who was cutting sugar cane and gave us one to suck on. Hector, as well as many other Belizeans we have met spent some time in the USA.
After camping two nights at Corozal, two nights at Orange Walk, and one night at Altun Ha, we were camping fatigued and spent two nights in a very basic motel near Belize City. Our friend Gill Graham would not have agreed to the parking lot of this motel, let alone staying there! It was, however, clean, air conditioned, and the toilet and shower worked fine. And our hosts were fascinated with TwoBaby, and told us where we could buy more kitty litter.
We went over to Ambergris Caye via water taxi. While there we met up with Sarah's cousin, Coleen, and two Redding, California transplants, Denise and Jim (thanks to Wilson). Life is easy on Ambergris Caye! The big draw there is the barrier reef, and the diving, snorkling and fishing. It is beautiful! Coleen has an active coffee bar right in the middle of town. We asked her to tell us the most difficult thing about having a business in Belize. She said that getting reliable, steady supplies was the hardest thing. It turns out that the Mennonites produce 70% of what the country eats, and as a result, they also control what will be imported or won't be. For example, a while back, they decided that they would produce the cheese so none could be imported, leaving the country without parmesan and other such cheeses. This situation lasted until the tourist industry put pressure on the government. Interesting, isn't it? Denise and Jim now have a property management business, having sold their original Belize business, The Sausage Factory. We really enjoyed chatting with these folks!
We did a walking tour in Belize City. It is so small and well laid out, that it is easy to get around and find things. There is a lot of street life around the swing bridge and the entry port for cruise ship people. It is also quite scuzzy and dirty. But you can get anything: three people asked Tommy if he wanted to buy some dope or crack. Our DVD vendor asked both of us if we wanted to party with him. We were chicken! We found an Ace Hardware, and true to its slogan, Ace was the place and found a fan for the car to ease the night heat.
In between Belize City and our motel, we found a little bar (now, who is surprised at that?) right on the lagoon, with palm trees and a cooling breeze. It was a little slice of heaven! Again, here our host had spent 18 years in the USA.
Since TwoBaby had previously been fined for not having the proper visa, we decided to visit the Guatemalan Embassy to see if Two needed a visa for Guatemala. He didn't but it took about an hour to discover that. But what a fantastic reception we had! The people were so nice, and gave us several Guatemalan trinkets, pamphlets, and driving advice.
After Belize City, we drove down to Dangriga, which is a Garifuna town; Garifuna is almost creole-like. We stayed in a great, basic cabana on the beach. We walked into town (10 minutes)to get some dinner. Sad to say, we were very uncomfortable because we were in the color minority and it just didn't feel too safe. We were surprised about that.
The local beer is Belkin, and the guy who owns Belkin is also the distributor for Coke, Fanta, and Guiness. The local lore is that when Pepsi tried to introduce itself to Belize, the Belkin guy bought and destroyed all the Pepsi until Pepsi gave up. The beer, by the way, comes in regular, light, premium and stout and is very good!
We are taking our internet hits where we can find it. Several campgrounds have had a terminal (usually very, very slow); a coffee house on Ambergris Caye had a half dozen terminals as does this coffee house in San Ignacio. But the most interesting internet experience was in the gift shop for a prison. We picked up the prison newsletter, which we will forward onto Wilson.
This is a surprise: there is almost no smoking here, and this doesn't seem to be a goverment-mandated situation but rather that very few locals smoke (regular cigarettes). The food experiences haven't been all that great, although last night (in the restaurant in our campground) we had the most delicious squash soup (green!) and fresh fish.
Hey guess what! The cost of gas (petrol) here is about US$4.50 a gallon! It is a good thing that this is a small country! And also probably why there are so many bike riders.
Oh, one more thing: this is the land of religion. The 7th Day Adventists have really done well here. Everywhere, everywhere we see their churchs. And lots of Baptist churchs, too.
I think we are up to date now. Talk to you soon!
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