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!

Zipolite, Mexico

Zipolite is perfect.  It is a small town with a few restaurants and bars and a great beach.  The first day we came, the waves were insane.  They were probably 12-feet high, closed quickly and crashed so hard it sounded like thunder and looked deadly.  It was deadly.  Since, the sea has calmed down tremendously and is swimmable.  

The beach is long enough for walks and while I was on a sunset walk the other day I saw a completely naked woman, laying ass-up in the sand, with no clothes around her, but a lot of local friends.  Immediately following this I witnessed a small dog trying to hump a larger dog, but the small dog was too small.  He would mount the larger dog from behind, and when that did not work, make his way around to the larger dog's head.  It was pretty creative, but once his owner saw what was going on, he was immediately put back on his leash.  When I returned past this scene the second time, the tied up dog was staring at his former playmate, tongue dragging on the sand and panting.  It was pretty funny.

Since we've been here, we've spent a lot of time lying on the beach, we've done a beach tour (by boat) and were going to do a crocodile tour, but I got a small stomach reaction to some local food.  This was not the swine flu, although our trip to Zipolite has also been marked by the swine flu outbreak.  It appears to be centered in Mexico City, so we have not been greatly impacted, but we are being careful and stocking up on antibiotics and masks, just in case.  Veronica had a wedding in Playa del Carmen on May 9th, but their Canadian airline cancelled all flights to Mexico and the wedding has to move to Dominican Republic (in a week and a half, all new plans have to be made).  Given this, we have decided to fly out of Mexico on Saturday so we don't get stuck here.  We will be going to Belize on Sunday.

Puerto Angel

We spent 4-days in Puerto Angel at a great hotel, Buena Vista.  It is a small town on a small bay.  It's hot, beautiful and completely shuts down after 10pm.  We spent our days at the nearby Playa Panteon, a small beach with a restaurant, chairs and umbrellas on the beach.  The first day the water was like a pool, perfect for much needed cooling off periods from the heat.  The second day the bay was raging with waves that would consume the entire restaurant.  It was like a totally different place.  Puerto Angel was very relaxing and we decided to head to Zipolite after for a few days as there is a lot more to do there.

I have found something that surpasses my previously mentioned new favorite Mexican dish, Tlayudas, enchiladas verde in this little comedor in Zipolite.  These are not your traditional enchiladas, they are served open-faced with the cheese and verde sauce cooked into the tortilla and the 'prime' beef, for $0.70 extra, on the side.  Amazing.  I've eaten them the last two nights. 

Eating in Mexico is a whole experience unto itself.  For starters, it is not unusual to sit in a restaurant for 30 to 60 minutes without being approached by anyone other than the ladies selling over-sized white tops with multi-colored knitted bands.  This lack of service is certainly not due to an abundance of customers, as often, there is no one else there.  Once you flag down a waiter, get a menu and get your food, you can forget about seeing the waiter again, unless you happen to be sitting next to another table performing the same routine and can piggy back onto this.  It is necessary to ask for all desired condiments and napkins up front.  To get what is on the menu or what the waiter says is on the plate is a unique pleasure.  For example, the other day I asked what was included with my chicken breast.  The waiter said vegetables, to which I replied, Fantastic!  Instead of vegetables, I got pasta salad, french fries and rice.  In this situation any question as to what happened is responded to with either we did not have it or this is what is comes with, regardless of what is written or has been said.

We have just moved to Zipolite, a small beach town about 1 mile north of Puerto Angel.  We are moving slowly through this part of Mexico.  We've got a great beachfront hotel with an amazing view of the ocean.  And every once in a while, one of 2 naked men who walk back and forth along the beach, will strut by our balcony.  The room also has a great daytime breeze, which is key given that Mexico is about as hot as I imagine hell to be.  It's impossible to walk down the street without enjoying the sweat of an hour-long workout.

Miscellaneous Mexico

I think I perfected the art of adding salt and lime to a cerveza. First, squeeze the lime into the beer then add a dash or two of salt, slowly. This is truly an art form and took ´a few´ times to perfect.

In my haste in writing my last blog, I forgot the most interesting part of Puerto Arista; our room. After hunting around for a while, we found the best room we could and it was a total dump. But, a dump with air conditioning, which was wonderful during in the sweltering heat of the day. The room had large holes in the ceiling and the randomly painted portions of the walls dropped paint chips on a regular basis. I do not believe the room had been cleaned, but if it was, it was definitely cleaned by a non-domestic male. The walls were filled with cobwebs, most well below reachable levels. We had many eight-legged friends living with us. In fact, the first night, I thought I felt something crawling in me. Usually, when this happens, it is my imagination, but this time it was a medium sized daddy long legs spider. I spent the rest of my waking hours chasing his invisible friends off my body. Did I mention the toilet had no seat and the shower spit water?
As previously explained, albeit quickly, the locals of Puerto Arista had no sense of time or direction. As instructed, we arrived at 9am to catch a 3-hour bus to Pachutla, a bus that supposedly left every hour in addition to the trucks that leave every hour. When we arrived we discovered that there are no trucks and only one bus each day, it is 6-hours and it left at 2am. Not wanting to spend a day in the hot box called Tonala, or return to the beach at Puerto Arista, we started moving towards our target bus by bus. After 2 buses, we had a 4-hour wait in Juchitan where we enjoyed a great ceviche lunch and some much needed internet time (there was no internet in Puerto Arista. They have internet in the himalayas, but not there?). Since we were heading out for another 3-hour bus ride, and traveling by bus seems to work up an intense hunger, we searched for dinner to go. We were able to secure an entire chicken, cut into pieces with kitchen shears, bones and all.

A new random fact about me: my favorite Mexican name is Lupita. I think it goes back to the early seasons of the Showtime series, Weeds. Lupita was the housekeeper. Here, whenever I see a restaurant called Lupita´s, I want to go, regardless of the general condition of the premises.

We are now in Puerto Angel, it is fantastic. A beautiful bay with the added bonus of beach chairs and umbrellas. It is amazing how these simple items can change a beach experience. It makes it possible to forget about the insane heat and enjoy the day. At this point it is 9:30 at night and I am sitting in an internet cafe completely open to the street and sweating like I just took a 4-mile jog. It´s almost summer in Mexico. I have found the most amazing food down here, Tlayudas. They are large tortillas either stuffed or topped (like a pizza) with cheese and meat and beans and all sorts of great Mexican foods.

San Cristobal and Puerto Arista

The 12-hour trip from Antigua to San Cristobal, Mexico started off rough. I did not sleep the night before we left which turned out to be a blessing when the alarm didn't go off and I was awake at 4:30am to get us on our way. On the first mini-bus leg of the trip, we had the worst seats (those without backs for those of you who have been in a Mexican mini-bus before) and there was no sleeping for those first few hours. When we changed buses in Lago de Atitlan, I was going on 24 hours without sleep and was elated to secure sleepable seats. The next time I opened my eyes was to view the 'Welcome to Mexico' sign. I'm not sure what it is about this country, but that sign brings about a great feeling.
San Cristobal was great. The temperature is cool, the town is lively and full of culture and there is a lot to do. The colonial town is similar to Antigua, but with the added energy of Mexico that compliments the town well. We managed to find the best margaritas, the best live music and a salsa competition. The salsa competition was great to watch and I even managed to dance a bit in between sets. My salsa dancing needs some fine-tuning, but I´ve got the basics down. When the turns start coming, watch out, I lose all sense of rhythm after the second one. I hear that gets better, but patience has never been my strong suit.

After San Cristobal we decided to head to Puerto Arista. If you´ve never heard of it, that is because we were on a quest for a non-touristy location and we found it. The only tourists were from Mexico. Below I have outlined the high and low points of the weekend, which are one in the same. In no particular order:
- I chased my first mirage. Walking down the beach it appeared there was a water inlet or outlet ahead. When the water did not seem to be getting closer, Veronica suggested it was a mirage. Not believing in the deception I was witnessing, I spent a fair amount of the afternoon walking to random points where the water had previously appeared before I agreed it was a mirage.
- The sort-of transsexual. Our first best friend in Puerto Arista was a transsexual who had clearly gone through some medical procedure to change his sex from male to female, however, did not go so far as to shave his legs. Our new best friend sought us out because she saw us as her ticket into the heterosexual male crowd in Puerto Arista. She even made us promise we would attend the non-existent discoteque on Saturday night and dance with her.
- The people were a bit off. It´s hard to put a finger on the source of the social awkwardness in this town, but it was blatant. One of many examples is how our actions spread as news through town. When the locals fabricated a discoteque and karaoke bar at someone´s house, we said we could not attend because we were tired (which really meant not a chance in hell are we going to a random person´s house to dance and sing). The next morning, everyone in town knew we had gone to bed early, even strangers who we had not yet met.
- Pool hopping. They were actually reservoirs, not pools. These semi-below ground, non-filtered tanks lined the bars along the beach and provided a welcome relief from the giant waves of sand in the Pacific. One afternoon, we made our way down the beach from dirty reservoir to dirty reservoir, each time taking a photo as evidence of our bravery. We knew we´d been at it for too long when we actually agreed that we had found the best pool and settled there for a while.
- No one knew how to get anywhere. We took a day trip to Boca del Cielo, a small island about 2o minutes from Puerto Arista. Every time we asked how to get there we got a different response; take a bus, a taxi, a truck, it´s 20 minutes, it´s 30 minutes, etc..... Therefore, it was not surprising when we were told buses leave every hour for our next destination, but actually leave only once a day, at 2am.

Currently, we are in the middle of a multi-stop route and hope to make it to Zipolite tonight.