Mexico City and south on a bike
My Diary - Belize
10/03/07 Chetumal to Orange Walk (47 miles)
I tried my credit card again and it worked so "All systems go!". On the way to the boarder I saw a dead Agouti which is basically a rat about the length of a cat with twice the bulk. Look out for my "exotic road-kill gallery" coming soon! I crossed into Belize with no problems. Saw a dead Iguana. Talked to some guys in the town of Corozal who were having a day of fishing and beer drinking. They warned me of the dangers of Belize City. I took a dirt road shortcut through Libertad for 10 miles and saw some sugar cane harvesting in progress. Most of the bikes here are west coast USA style beach cruisers. More warnings of Belize City in Orange Walk
11/03/07 Orange Walk to Belize City (55 miles)
I cycled out of Orange Walk for 7 miles to the village of Carmelita with a Guatemalan guy who had been living in Belize for a while. He spoke English about as well as I speak Spanish so we had a good conversation using both languages and I think both of us learned a few new words. I think it is a good way to learn. His work was buying scrap steel in Belize and trucking it to Antigua, Guatamala. I was given many more warnings about my safety in Belize City. I met a Canadian couple who were cycle touring, having started in Villa Hermosa, but she did not seemed quite indifferent to meeting a fellow cycle tourer so we did not talk for too long.
In Belize City I found that people are very open - the rastas riding past on their cruisers would call out to me "Ay, whatīs up ma brodr" or "Yas, Yas" or "Ay, you got da whole ouse on da bike mon". It was a very strange atmosphere in Belize City. It is right on the coast and most of it not more than 6 inches above sea level - they must get terrible flooding there. Many of the buildings in the centre are rickety wooden structures. The City is very small - about the size of a town in England or Wales. Although everyone is very open and in a way laid back, there is an obvious sense of danger about the place. There are many people walking around swearing at nobody in particular and lots of tramps. As well as the tramps, the fit and well beg for money. All the way down to Belize City locals were warning me of the danger that awaited me there. Everybody seems to have been mugged there at some point. My hotel was fortified by bars over the windows and 2 locked doors to the street. I went to a Chinese restaurant down the road and dining there was very much by invitation only. There was a barred door to the street with a hole big enough to pass through take-aways and other items from the shop and then the counter was also protected by iron bars and a locked door. As a tourist I was allowed to come in and sit down, but none of the locals were admitted while I was there. The locals would come to the door and shout out there order in Creole and wave their money to prove they could pay. I asked the hotel owner if it was safe to walk around the main streets at night so I went for a walk out to the mouth of the river. There were lots of lights out to sea from many boats and it was easy to imagine this place teeming with pirate ships.
12/03/07 Belize City to San Ignacio (70 miles)
It was a public holiday today so no restaurants open for breakfast. I ate some nasty looking pork tacos for breakfast - will I get food poisoning? On the ride I saw lots of road riders on race bikes coming the other way. The road was flat all the way to Belompan and after that some hills and more interesting scenery. Stayed in a nice cabaņa Ģlose to the river where everybody goes to sunbathe and swim.
