Vacation Round 2

After the few very enjoyable nights in Orangewalk, we took the bus to Belize City. The buses in Belize are mostly old school buses from the US. Not bad, but the buses were made for elementary students, not adults, and not made to be standing room only! Nice Bus Ride. More sugar cane and cinderblock-slab concrete structures. The bus stops often. For anyone waiting on the side of the road. There is trash everywhere. Mexico as well. Not just a little trash. A lot. Everyone throws it out of the bus windows. It sits lying on the ground. Thousands of plastic bottles a mile. Someone thinks of making millions recycling. The bus rolls on.To the unknown. The largest city in the country. Belize City. Formerly the capital of Belize. Now nothing but what seems to be bums and drunks in a severely poverty stricken part of the country. The bus stop is dirty. The vendors sell conch fritters for $.75 BZ. The girls say the bathroom's the worst they've ever been to. Outside thirty-some Belizeans all stand trying to book you a taxi ride, water or land. We walk. Interesting. Right through downtown. Drunks, bums, cops, first dirty looks I have received in the country. To the water taxi station. Standing. Waiting in line. A man starts to chat.

'How long you been in line? Since this morning?'

'Might as well have been,' I reply.

'Yeah, they're so slow here, and they don't post the ticket prices. I always tell 'em they need a sign. Don't pay more than $25 BZ for your ticket. You'd know that if there was a sign.'

'Yup, you sure would.'

Good guy. Owns a guest house on Caye Caulker. And builds furniture. Told me a few good places to stay.

'Some people don't do well here. They come planning on being here for a week or more, and after a day or so, I don't know, they just can't take it anymore. They have to go to San Pedro. It's too slow here for them.' The guy tells me.

'Good. That's the way I like it.' I reply.

I walk off the pier. My first step onto a paver inscribed 'Go Slow'. We check in to a guest house. Not bad. Two beds. A private bath. A table and chair. A patio. Hammocks. 100 steps to the nearest beer selling establishment.$25 BZ. It's not on the beach, but a walk to the front of the property. You can look either way down the street. See the ocean. Nice. We settle in and go to see the island.

Main Street Caye Caulker. Not much happening. About a half mile long. Mostly bars and restaurants. Scuba shops as well. We walk it. We turn around. We walk it again. We turn around. We walk it again. A few beers on the way from the many convenience shops along the way. Very nice. First mistake. Why am I wearing sandals. Streets of sand. No cars. Maybe one or two, for deliveries and picking up trash. Rastas everywhere. Need some Spinach, mon? A big painting on the police department warning of harsh penalties for illegal drug use. Everyone on bikes. Everyone barefoot. I walked around the Island once. It was nice. I could live here. Gotta drink water though. You don't-You could pass out. Heat exhaustion ya know.

Day 3. Caye Caulker. Wake up. Get proper. Go eat. Come back. Lay in hammock. Doze off. Get up. Go get a beer. Walk down main street. Sit on beach. Look at shells. Doze off. Wake up. Check out the split. See some friends. Chat. Get a beer at Lazy Iguana. Swim. Head back to cabana. Ice cream. Cold Shower. Rum Drink. Dinner. I&I Reggae Bar. Cold shower. Bed with fan blowing on me. A typical day on the Island. I don't think I'll be heading to San Pedro. Especially after today. Today was not a typical day. Today, we headed to the reef. The second largest reef on the planet. We traveled by sailboat. 20ish people. Sailing. Amazing. Nice wind. We seem to make good progress. First dive. It's been awhile since I've donned a mask and snorkel but I'm the first off the boat. The water's not too deep. 5-30 ft. The coral is amazing. So colorful. You can see for 150 ft. There are sharks. Turtles. Stingrays. Barracudas. Grouper. Angelfish. A lot of fish. The dive last fourtyfive minutes they say. Felt like 5. I could get used to this. Two more stops. Many more fish. Good jungle juice on the way back. Our main sail broke. We jibbed it back. Slow. Nice. New burn on my back.

New day. Kayaking. Around the north Island. New friends. Long paddle. Dolphins though. Right by the boats. I could get used to this.

Soon. Back to Tulum. I stay here for a few days.With my friend David. We drink and have a good time. He takes me with his family to some ceenotes. We crawl through the dense jungle. Mostly crouched. Sometimes on hands and knees. For 200 yds. A pond appears. Deep too. And crystal clear. 500 yds from the sea. The water cool and refreshing. No salt. My skin feels nice. There is no bottom in site. Many ceenotes are in caves. This one I feel has no end. Much better than the ocean.

Mmmm, pineapple. One per plant. One year to harvest. So yummy. Can't wait to talk about food. Stay tuned. Also, thanks for enduring the new tone. Sorry if it was hard to follow. You can blame whatever author(s) you feel were responsible for that influence on me.