Caye Caulker, Belize

Caye Caulker is a small island off the northeast coast of Belize.  It is a beautiful Caribbean island with great scuba diving, snorkeling, and kite boarding.  I ended up going back to Dangriga on my way from Utila.  When I got to Dangriga I went to the same hotel we had stayed at before and the guy looked at me and said, why are you back, it's so hot here.  He was right, it was even hotter than before and I didn't think that was possible.  From Dangriga, I took an express bus to Belize City, which means few stops and AC, then a water taxi to Caye Caulker.  The whole thing took about 4 1/2 hours.  The boat stopped by Caye Chapel, a small golf resort island on the way.  It was gorgeous.

Since I have been here I have encountered some noteworthy things:

 - Mandingo, again.  Our Belizian friend we saw in every Belize stop going back to Lamanai.  He is still wearing his self-made, palm leaf, viking hat and is a legend on the island.

 - a local who had "Trust no Bitch" tattooed to his forearm.  I think this is going to be a problem for him and his ability to find a good woman later in life. At first I couldn't read what it said and asked him.  He tried to tell me it said trust no one, but I knew better.  He was clearly embarrassed, and rightfully so.  The trust no bitch guy is perpetually drunk and claims to work at every restaurant we are eating at.  His intro line is, "do you know I work here?"

 - a middle of the night 7.3 earthquake centered about 40 miles off the coast of  Roatan, Honduras.  It wasn't too bad here, but the short-lived tsunami threat was a little scary.  We were right on the edge of the suggested impact zone and if a tsunami hit Caye Caulker, there would be nothing anyone could do.  The island is no more than 1/2 mile wide and totally flat.  When reading about the destruction in Honduras, I realized I was in the most effected places, Utila, Puerto Cortez and La Ceiba, all of which I was in a few days ago.

Next on the agenda is some diving and kite boarding.

Coming Home

Oops, I said I was coming back July 18th on my last blog.  I am actually returning on June 18th.  I am back in Dangriga.  I came here as opposed to Placencia since it was closer to my ultimate destination of Caye Caulker.  I head out there tomorrow.  The last leg of 3 days of travels (3 short days).

Utila, Honduras

After the long trip, it was nice to get to Utila. I started my adventue here by walking, and sweating, as I looked for the perfect place to stay. Ubber important, right? I found my place at Underwater Visions Dive Center. The rooms are great and surrounded by a beach (with volleyball court), hammocks and the ever important, bar in the center. The staff is a bit spacey, but manageable. The bar music is awful, second only to the long wait for the attention of the bartender. The combination manages to even hases off the divemasters on occasion, and that´s a hard thing to do.

Most of the diving here reminds me of fall colors and small, water trees in the desert. It's nice and there are some beautiful corals and fish, but not a ton of fish life. I met up with two Danish sisters and we had a great time, diving and renting a golf cart to tour around the island. We visited the cave pools (caves with fresh water pools), the two beaches on the island, Doctor John (the local doctor who smokes cigarettes and purposely dresses in the ugliest clothes that anyone on the island can find and donate to him) as well as almost every restaurant on the island. Although extremely slow, slow as in I´m not sure were going to make it up this tiny hill, it was great fun. While slow, the cart was sturdy and we were able to do some off-roading on paths that would make an ATV cringe. One path lead us to a dead end. Well, not exactly a dead end because we were able to see a local cutting up one of 3 large iguanas for dinner. Yummy, lizard.

I left Utila on Sunday, making my way to Caye Caulker, Belize. I will get there Tuesday. Sunday I made it to Puerto Cortez. The town is not that great and after reading the bible, I kind of wished I would have opted to stay at Playa Travesia, just a few kilometers away. I went to Coca Cola beach. It´s not really a beach, but rather a sandy-grassy bayfront space the locals swim in. The beach was obviously sponsored by Coca Cola, as their signs are on all the refuse cans and their banners hang along the street. However, the restaurants only sell Pepsi. Looks like someone cut a deal at Pepsi to flip the bird at their main competitor, right in their backyard. I thought it was genuis. Monday I am taking a boat back to Placencia and head to Caye Caulker on Tuesday. I will be there for a week then head to Mexico. I booked my ticket home and am leaving from Cancun on July 18th. I think the US has the worst of the bird flu now, so I figure I should be safe to go back.

To Utila, Honduras

Placencia, Belize is a great place (photo to the right). There are a ton of American ex-pats intertwined with the local community and everyone is great! Its a small village, but a lot of character.

From Placencia, I took a boat to Puerto Cortez, Honduras. A 2 1/2 hour boat ride took 6 hours. Not surprisingly, we left about an hour late and had to stop to fuel up, one would have thought that would be done in advance since the boat had been docked in Placencia for days before the trip. We took a short ride to immigration and the short, stocky, painfully unpleasant immigration officer graced us with his lack of personality about an hour after our arrival. One by one he slowly and methodically stamped our passports and collected our 'conservation fee.'

Upon arrival in Honduras, we were checked by a masked 'doctor' for swine flu. He was given the gift of being able to tell if we were sick by a quick glance into our eyes. From Puerto Cortez we had a 4 hour van ride to La Ceiba where we could catch the morning ferry to the island of Utila. The van ride took about 6 hour. It was a long day. On the way we had a short discussion about where to stay and it was mentioned that one of the Lonely Planet's recommendations, Hotel Caribe, was actually a brothel. There were comments on the internet, and we all know if it's on the internet, it must be true. There were 12 of us in the van and it made it kind of complicated to find rooms. After 12 hours of traveling, everyone was a bit tired, but there were only a couple of rooms at each place we tried. The 3rd place was a little sketchy, but cheap and nice on the inside. I stayed, as did another couple. The remaining people in the van didn't even get out. We went out for dinner at Wendy's (yes, the fast food chain Wendy's is all over in Honduras) during a torrential downpour. The streets were instantly flooded and people were walking in the streets with water to their knees. Upon returning to our Hotel, I finally noticed the name. We were staying at the brothel. I locked myself in my room and was pleased that I was not woken by the sounds of pimps beating their women and/or porn. I did have a small contingent of drunk, homeless men sleeping on the sidewalk outside my window, but they went to bed early. I woke to gospel music. What a difference from night to day.

I am in Utila now, it's hot here, but nice. You can buy a package of 10 dives for $250. I think I'll have fun here.

I realized today that this is my 17th country in the last 10 months.

The Whale Shark

The Whale Shark is the biggest fish in the sea and polka dotted.  Today I went on a Whale Shark dive off the coast of Placencia, Belize and I knew it was going to be a good day when we saw 2 Whale Sharks from the boat.  We saw 2 more on our first dive and 2 more on our second dive along with a few other sharks.  It was amazing.  On the first dive, we dropped in and only swam a minute or two before we came face to face with a 25' Whale Shark.  It was vertical right in front of us and amazingly beautiful.  I could see the detail in the sharks' gills and the ridges on the body.  And those polka dots, I just love them.  The fine for touching a Whale Shark is $5,000USD, so you don't dare go near enough, but on the second dive I had one heading straight towards me.  It was kind of scary and definitely paralyzing.  This whale shark gradually moved up and swam right over my head!  I felt like I could have lifted my hand up and rubbed it's belly as it swam over me. Breathtaking.  I can't even begin to adequately describe the grace, beauty and size of this creature.  And to have the ability to swim beside it, under it, over it is incredible.

Here's the whole story.  I went out with Splash Divers, located near the pier in Placencia, Belize.  There are certain fish that spawn here around the time of the full moon and the Whale Shark feeds on those fish. The perfect time is about 3-4 days after the full moon, when all the whale sharks have had a chance to move into the area. The full moon was on Friday and I booked whale shark dives for Tuesday through Thursday.  As I waited, I checked in at the dive shops daily to see if they had come yet.  As of yesterday, there was a sighting here or there, but nothing major.  Today, the 4th day after the full moon, they were out!  We took a big speed boat out about an hour and a half.  The water was like the picturesque blue and green Caribbean water you see in the movies.  The first part of the boat trip was smooth, but after we checked in with the park rangers and passed the reef, it got rough.  When the boat wasn't acting like a roller coaster over the large swells, the front would edge over the crest of a swell and slam down, lifting you clear out of your seat and slamming you back down.  I could literally feel my internal organs slamming with the boat.  This was not a ride for the weak of stomach.  In fact, one girl took 3 Dramamine and still got so sick, she spent the first part of the day on our boat and the second on the boat of the park rangers so she didn't have to take the large waves outside the reef again.  Enough about that, back to the fun part.  Our first sighting was of a small dolphin who made his way along side our boat for about 5 minutes.  Our guides said this was a good sign, but I'm not sure why.  They hunt the Whale Shark by tracking a combination of marine life, birds hovering at water level and surface bubbles.  The Whale Shark loves bubbles. When we saw the first whale in the water, I must admit, I got slightly emotional.  Everyone on the boat ran to the side with the shark and jeopardized the boat's floatability significantly, but no one cared.  It was beautiful. From there it was a back and forth over whether we were going to jump in and snorkel with the shark or wait until we began our dive.  After 3 or 4 times of putting my weight belt on then taking it off, we decided to head to the wall and start our dive. As I said before it wasn't long before the giant was right in front of me, vertical.  And an amazing sight.  I kept moving closer to get in front of the air bubbles from the other divers and just watched as the shark moved about the water.  We saw our second shark a few minutes after number one left and then spent the rest of the dive swimming in the sea.  Since you are not around any coral and the wall is about 80 feet below you, there is not much else to see on this dive, just blue water.  After the first dive, we went back to the reef where the water was calmer and had lunch, then out for our second dive.  It took about 10 minutes to find the Whale Sharks this dive, but we saw two at the same time and for about 5 minutes.  It's equally as amazing the second time as it is the first. 

I decided not to go out again Wednesday and Thursday.  I figured, it really can't get much better than this.  Next time I am around the Whale Shark I will go again, but for this trip, I am elated with what I saw.

Palacencia, Belize

I went to Placencia to catch a boat to Honduras.  I got here on Thursday and the boat left on Friday.  But, since the whale shark was supposed to be in town in a few days, and the beach was so beautiful, I decided to stay for a week.  I got a great cabana right on the beach complete with a comfy bed, hot water, a fridge and wi-fi internet.  I am in heaven at Bull's cabanas (located right next to the Cozy Comfort Hotel and about 100 meters from the Barefoot Beach Bar).  

Since we have been speaking Spanish since Nicaragua, it was a shock to get to Belize where Spanish is not spoken at all.  Many Belizians know Spanish, but everyone speaks English and Creole.  It took some getting used to at first (I kept saying hola, gracias, and trying my other words), but now that I have settled in, it's quite nice to speak in my native tongue.  I continue to have great experiences with Belizians.  They are friendly without wanting anything in return, much different from the rest of Central America.  Like most other countries, they are very proud of their country and are constantly promoting the food, the hot sauce (Marie Sharps is the Belizian hot sauce and it is great), their village, and everything else as, undoubtedly, the best in the world.  Belizians are very well educated and a lot of the people I have encountered have lived and studied in the states for several years.  Those who haven't have family and friends there.  Not  'friends' they met, but don't know where they live or remember their names, but real friends.  In fact, in a quest to impress us with Belize's presence in America, one guy told us the story of his rapper cousin who lives in the states.  He was involved with the P. Diddy, J Lo bar shooting a few years back.  I can't recall his name, but he is currently in jail.  Not the most impressive connection, but the story was still told with extreme pride and not a hint of regret or embarrassment for the situation putting his famous cousin in jail.  Today, while reading on my patio, I was offered some of the world's best cocaine by a random guy walking by wearing a white t-shirt ripped from the neck line to mid belly.  I acknowledged that it might be the best cocaine in the world, but politely declined to confirm on my own.

I have been in Placencia for a few days and done a lot of r&r.  Tomorrow I start a series of dives off the coast.  I am very excited to get back to diving as I haven't done any since Bali.

Lamanai, Dangriga and Hopkins

Our trip to the Mayan ruins of Lamanai was quite interesting.  We were joined by a crazy woman from Australia and her native Belizian, unofficial tour guide, Mandingo.  The woman was a combination of a paranoid schizophrenic and bipolar depressant on an extreme high.  She spent the first 15 minutes cursing her official tour guide for "changing his story regarding the f*@%ing cost of the trip, which was giving her a f%#*ing headache and ruining her day," in between telling incomprehensible dirty jokes and laughing hysterically at herself. Regarding the cursing, it was evident to everyone else there her guide was saying the same thing she originally understood, although she just didn't seem to understand anymore.  

After this initial turmoil, we headed to Lamanai via a small boat.  The trip along the jungle-lined river took a little over an hour and was met with frequent sightings of cool looking birds and a couple of alligators.  I saw only water splashing during the first sighting, but I saw beady little eyes lingering above the water during the second sighting.  My first real alligator.  The ruins were fairly minimal, but we did make a short, albeit steep and exhausting, climb to the top of the main temple.  The view was amazing.

Upon returning from Lamanai, we headed straight to Dangriga, a small beach town full of Garifuna influence, Punta Rock, and Chinese food.  It was quite unexpected to go out for dinner in this Caribbean influenced town and find only Chinese restaurants open, all serving the exact same menu varieties of Chow Mein and Chop Suey.  Unfortunately, it was Monday and there wasn't much going to showcase the Garifuna influence outside of the mid-week wake, which was quite a party in the village.  We were invited, but unable to find our friends or the location.  The people here are great.  Very friendly and similar to Jamaicans in their slow paced, 'one love' views of life and continuous spliff smoking.

We headed to nearby Hopkins beach for a day.  We were going to attempt to scuba dive, hoping to find the nearby whale shark.  Upon arrival, we learned that the whale shark was coming in about 5 or 6 days, supposedly he feeds off of spawning fish 3-4 days after the full moon, and there were no afternoon trips for any other kind of diving.  We gladly spent the rest of the day on Hopkins beach.  It was quiet, secluded and very relaxing.  In the evening we had a great dinner, pleased to be out of Dangriga for a non-Asian variety, and listened to some Punta Rock

 drummers.  Our friend from Dangria offered to come have dinner and pick us up, but wasn't able to make it due to car failure, so we took a shuttle home.  The shuttle driver was our bartender and he drank the local bitter (Belizian alcohol) and smoked a blunt on the drive back.  Good thing there wasn't anyone else on the road.

We also ran into our old friend from Lamanai, Mandingo, who is pictured on the left.  In Hopkins, there is a great drumming center where locals go to jam on the drums. We headed down for a great private session of drumming and even got a lesson.  It's not as easy as it looks.

I would definitely suggest Hopkins and Dangriga as great places to visit.  They are quiet places, not a lot of tourist.  The locals are friendly and the vibe is very Caribbean. Hopkins has a bit more variety in restaurants, a few bars open midweek, the drumming center and is an easy launching point for reef dives and to get to some of the Caye islands in this region of Belize.  Placencia is said to be a better launching point for whale shark sightings.  I am heading there tomorrow.

To Belize

From Puerto Escondido, we headed to Huatulco where we caught a flight to Chatumal, via Mexico City. Chatumal is right on the border of Belize, so it made for an easy crossing out of Mexcio. Since Mexico City was the center of the swine flu outbreak, we were a little anxious about how the trip would go. Everyone was sold out of masks and no one could not sell antibiotics unless the purchaser was really sick, therefore, at the onset we were equipped with only hand sanitizer. It was pretty painless. In Mexico City, the amount of masks increased significantly from what we had been seeing, which was next to none, but only about 60% of the people in the airport had them, and some were just hanging around their necks. We got masks from a mobile truck, handing them out on the street. However, when we got to Chatumal, we were instructed to give our masks back so they could be used by the medical service providers. I do not understand how that is safe nor do I understand how they might go about sanitizing the masks so they do not act as a conduit for the swine flu and backfire as a method of protection. I continue to be stumped by this one.
The "free zone," which is the the area between Mexican immigration and Belize immigration, was shut down, meaning the stores, restaurants and large casino/hotel was closed. According to one local (from Belize), there are about 2000 Belize workers who are employed in the free zone and they did not want the Mexican's giving them swine flu. Fortunately, we found the only cab driver working that area and were able to secure a ride from the border to neighboring town, Corazol. From the look of this cab driver's face and the sound of his sneezes, my guess he is an example of why the free zone was shut down in the first place. We sanitized immediately upon exiting the cab.
Since there is nothing to see or do in Corozal, the morning following our arrival, we headed to Orange Walk. In the bus we caught a glimpse of the green-blue Caribbean Sea and it was beautiful. Orange Walk is a small town with not much to see and nothing to do on Sunday, everything is closed. Even during the other days of the week, my guess is there is still not much to do besides play slots in one of the numerous small casinos that line the streets. It is quite possible there are more "Entertainment Centers" (this town's name for casinos) than any other establishment in Orange Walk. We headed here for a river boat trip to Lamanai.

Adios Mexico

We spent the last 2 days in Puerto Escondido in the pool at Hotel Ines.  We indulged in the local favorite, frozen margaritas and saw the giant surf waves this town is known for.  It's a cute town.  We also prepared to fly to the south of Mexico where we are going to cross the border into Belize, we leave in a few hours.  Although the swine flu is catching everyone's attention, we have not seen and impacts of it here yet but will be pleased when we are out of Mexico just the same.  Adios Mexico, it's been great!