From Mexico to Belize – Crossing the Border

Tulum – 

We get up early to take the morning bus to Chetumal. There, we want to cross the border to Belize… I noticed the city streets to have some extreme potholes, yet the Route Nationales are well maintained. Strange. They are also totally straight! I really wonder how the bus driver does not fall asleep while driving down this monotone road.

My concerns about bad weather are gone now. Looking forward to scuba dive in Caye Caulker .

Chetumal – 

Aaaand I got again some doubts: Everything here is flooded. It seems It has been raining extremely the last few days. We get off the bus and head to the port. Getting watertaxi-tickets to Belize is quite easy. Time for some lunch: We find us a nearby cantina which seems to be set up for the dockworkers. Don’t judge a book by its cover. The food may be extremely cheap, but also very good: We get is some thin tortilla Chimichangas stuffed with loads of chicken covered in cheese. Delicious.

We return to the port an have our luggage loaded into the boat while we ready our immigration papers. We already knew that there would be a security check: 4 military police guys arrive with a drug sniffing dog to check the luggage. The hand luggage is being examined… then few pieces of luggage get unloaded again to be inspected. I really don’t understand why they couldn’t wait with the loading till everything is checked by the police in advance – would save them all the hassle with pushing the luggage around. One of the Policemen and the dog jump onto the boat and Fido has to get into the luggage hatch next. The pretty young dog has already enough trouble to keep himself from slipping from the smooth boat surface. So he is like “No way I am jumping though such a narrow hole”, whimpering. After trying to convice him for a while, the policeman finally gives up and we can get on our way to San Pedro .

San Pedro – 

Last night I dreamt of San Pedro
Just like I’d never gone I knew the song…Madonna Louise Ciccone

Yes, La Isla Bonita  looks quite nice, yet Caye Caulker is supposed to be way more chill&beautiful. After passing through immigration (this is probably the smallest immigration office in the world) we head on to Caye Caulker. On the ride to Caye Caulker we get to know Kate, a British girl and Ben, a Canadian. We chat for a bit and notice a Belizean 5$-Bill taped on the boat. Belize’s money looks alot like the british pound… yet, the queen printed on it looks a bit different. Kinda tanned and much younger. Well, we are in the Caribbean after all, so even her majesty is in holiday-mode .

Caye Caulker – 

It gets dark quite fast. Somehow everyone seems pretty relaxed here – “Go Slow” is the motto of the island. A few boys are playing street ball at a yard near the harbor. The fastest moving people on the island? We share a golf cart taxi* and head with Kate to “Pause Accomondation”, the stay we booked while we were staying in Tulum. Ben has to continue to his hotel with is a bit further away. Both agree to meet tomorrow and I kinda had the feeling during the boatride that she was kinda into him anyways .

“Pause” got some nice looking bungalows, and I really like the location. The shore is just about 2 meters from the house which is surrounded by palm trees and mangroves. The toilet is outdoors, on the other side of the yard, but that’s okay. You can hear some rustling in the mangroves – crabs crawling around. We ask Kate to accompany us to dinner. Our choice is the restaurant “Belizian Flava” – you can get a 25 BZD (12.51 USD) menu with lobster, side dishes and 2 drinks. Cool. Eventually, we see Ben near the restaurant. The island seems small. So dinner for 4 it is. I prefer pork ribs over lobster though. Stuffed, we get back to Pause where it immediately starts to rain cats & dogs. COME ON !. Yet, I fall into bed and sleep like a rock.**

*Those are the only motorized vehicles on the island

By the way: The mosquitoes don’t seem to care at all about some puny bug spray here… Get yourself some DEET-“weapon of mass destruction”