The Road Less Traveled, Belize

So after an incredible 6 day experience in Guatemala, we were off to a new country via an old crappy "Greyhound-type" bus. The trip from Flores (Tikal), Guatemala to Belize City, Belize was about 5 hours. The road to the border of Guatemala was hilarious... pretty much just one long dirt road with pot holes, random horses, and roosters walking down the road. Exactly what you might picture Guatemala to look like!

Just past the border checkpoint, we could already tell we were in Belize. Amid the surrounding jungle, were palm trees, houses on stilts, and cemetaries much like those of New Orleans... above ground and colorful. The vibe was already becoming more Caribbean.

Sarah and I were the only tourists on the bus that hopped in a Taxi to head to the bus station. Most, if not all, the travelers were content to head straight to the tourist trap of Caye Caulker just off the north east coast of Belize. We were looking for a more "Belizean holiday" and headed to Placencia (southeast coast). Gotta love the random man who says he's a taxi driver and takes us to his unmarked car... I think we saw a small picture with a license number on the corner of the dashboard before heading out!

Once at the bus station, in typical Belizean style, there were no posted bus times and absolutely no prices listed! haha This is when you have to rely on the locals to shuffle you onto the correct bus. The best part is that none of the "helpers" are wearing any sort of uniform so you just have to trust them when they tell you which bus to get on!

We hop on the once-American-School-bus, now-Belizean-city-bus and attempt to throw our bags under our seats. We take a look around and realize that we are the only travelers and the only white/blonde people ! Sweet, clearly not from Belize!! Then the Caribbean music starts blaring, heads begin bobbing, babies stop crying, and we put the windows down for some AC.

The 4 hour ride to Independence (the launch point for Placencia) was virtually un-eventful and gave us a great opportunity to check out the countryside. I would highly recommend traveling via the "old school buses" around any country because they are economical and give you the most real experience.

The bus driver dropped us off and said that the water taxi was "just that way..." sweet... there we go, gigantic backpacks on, walking through the middle of this random town ... hoping we were going the right way. This was one of those times that we were laughing about the situation we were putting ourselves in!! Turns out the locals were really nice and when we got to our destination the guys that run the water taxi invited us to play Dominos with them!

Sarah and I gave it our best shot and I think they quite enjoyed teaching us how to play and talking to us. We really enjoyed getting the chance to spend some time with true locals, and listen to their Caribbean accents. When they spoke to us, we could understand them but when they spoke to eachother, they spoke a Spanish-English-Creole blend and it was completely foreign to us! All was good until Sarah accidently threw a Domino into the lake...time to go!

We stayed at Deb and Dave's Last Resort which was an adorable beach side condo and it only took 2 minutes for us to put on our suits and head to the beach. Unfortunately, recent weather had churned up the water and instead of white capped waves, it was black muddy water rolling in! So listened to music and had a drink at the bar with the locals instead!

Early morning coffee on our patio at Deb and Dave's...

That night a local rasafarian-artist (picture barefoot with long dreadlocks) invited us to his house for home-made crab and pasta salad... sweet... free delicious meal and some great laughs! :)