The first time I ever met someone who had been to Belize was in 1999. I was in Puerto Iguazú, on the Argentinian side of the border, visiting the legendary waterfalls. In an improvised travellers gathering around some beers, a chap from Belgium was telling us about his visit to Belize a few weeks earlier. As it was a place that I had never considered visiting or knew much about I asked him many questions.
He told us that it was a fairly complex place, it could be quite dodgy as it had replaced Panama (after Noriega’s fall) as a stop point for the Colombian cocaine on its way to the USA. There were narco related gangs of youngsters and the police was also in the business, closing roads so the small planes from Colombia, loaded with drugs, could refill and continue their way without being bothered. Funny enough, I bumped into him by chance in Buenos Aires tube, as a goodbye he said: “you have to go to Belize and get your own feeling of the country”. I thought that after the stories he had told me that was the last thing I had in mind but I assured him I eventually would.
In 2006, 7 years and a different life later, Belize was a real possibility. We were organising a trip to Guatemala and thanks to the amount of info in the internet I knew many more things about Belize as a destination: the Cayes, the second biggest reef barrier, crystal clear waters ideal for diving and snorkelling…so Belize felt like a perfect break from Guatemala and we decided to go.
If there is a border I have crossed that has a far west feeling to it and deserves an outlaw movie, it should be the one from Guatemala to Belize. Very disorganised, strange looking people with stacks of banknotes offering currency exchange, people who seemed to be crossing the border from one side to the other continuously…
When trying to enter Belize with the car, the border agent seemed not to like us that much (or at least me), so he asked me lots of questions with a very unfriendly face. At the end he let us pass after handwriting the car license plate in my passport. After the car was fumigated and with a brand new insurance for Belize purchased in the border we headed east trying to reach Belize City as early as possible, and from there to the cayes.
In 1961 a tropical storm badly damaged Belize City and the government decided to move the capital inlands. Thus Belmopan was born, and although it was finished around 1970 it took some time before it became the country’s fully functional new capital. When we drove pass it felt like a small quiet village rather than a capital.
Crossing the country from the West to the East took less than 2 hours. When we arrived at Belize City a big storm had just finished and the city did not look that well: flooded streets, scattered garbage, strong smells..and lots of people, mostly young, sitting in groups in the porches of the houses and looking as they were not that busy. We looked a bit lost in a crossroads and a guy (football jersey, baseball cap) came to ask “wassssup???”.
So we asked him if it was better to go to Caye Caulker or to Caye Ambergris, something we had been discussing from the start of the trip. With a really heavy and hard to understand accent he said: “kee caaa caaa, gotta go to kee caaa caaa”, what after some brainstorming we realised it was Caye Caulker. We also asked him where to leave the car and, pointing to the corner where his friends were, he said: “just there, it will be alright”. After exchanging a quick nod we said thankyou and decided to park the car somewhere else where we had a better chance of finding it when we were back. We finally parked it at the Radisson and on our way to the harbour we saw a few really beautiful wooden colonial houses that improved our first impression of the city.
- Photo by Pablo Méndez
The speed boat that took us to Caye Caulker was new and modern and in 45 minutes we were there. CK is a narrow strip of sand (8 x 1.5 Km) with palm tress, sand and a lagoon on the Caribbean side shore. The first impression we got was that is was a very quiet place, with just onelong sandy street and with no big resorts or tall buildings, only bungalows and wooden houses. Felt much more like a tourists area than the continental part of the country.
- Photo by Ana Viéitez
As soon as we were dropped in the pier, an old guy with dreads told us that he could get us a nice and cheap place to stay. We did not mind that much one thing or the other we went with him and finally stayed at a basic but clean bungalow.
After having for dinner the CK speciality, lobster hamburger, we went around the different diving/snorkeling agencies in the main street. Both diving and snorkeling are the real deal in the cayes and the main reason for tourists to go there. The Belize Reef Barrier is part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, second biggest in the world to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
When we woke up very early the following day it was pouring rain and our hopes of a great day out were gone. We went to see Mario, the guide, to confirm that it would not be possible to go out in the boat and he replied: “in an hour we are leaving and bring sun screen, there will be no clouds and your back will be fried”. Needless to say he was right and in less than an hour the sun was shinning and there was no single cloud the rest of the day. It was my first experience with tropical weather.
Before leaving I needed to send an email, it was a bit late and I rushed to the internet cafe. The rasta grandpa stopped me looking distressed and told me: “what are you doing???”. I was really surprised and just explained to him that I needed to send an email. He replied: “in this island you don’t run or rush. Look at me, all I have to do today is going to the end of the street and come back”. They guy was my hero. Maybe I just did not see the sign:
- Photo by Ana Viéitez
To this day snorkeling in Belize is one of the best ones I have ever done. The water is, possibly, the most transparent and clear I have seen, it felt like looking through a immaculate glass. In the coral reef there were lots of multicoloured fishes, sting rays (they came as soon as they heard the engine of the guide boat, as he used to feed them), reef sharks, underwater plants…
- Photo by Pablo Méndez
But one of the best moments, if not the best, was in the lagoon in front of Caye Caulker, when a group of manatees passed below us, almost still in their calmness. Mario asked us not to bother them or try to touch them, apparently if they feel threatened they grab you, go down to the bottom and they don’t release you till you drown. Not sure if that was true or just a trick to scare us as I have never heard that again, no reason to doubt Mario though. In any case nobody tried to go any closer to the manatees.
The second day we stopped in Caye Ambergris, which capital, San Pedro, is supposed to be “la isla bonita” from Madonna’s song. It was much bigger and touristy than CK (but don’t imagine a Cancun in any case) so we felt we made the right decision staying in Caye Caulker.
After 3 intense days in which we were hardly out of the water and the only set back was that Fran could not go diving to the famous and amazing Blue Hole, it was time to go back to Guatemala. The car was still were we had left it and as we did not want to cross the border too late or driving at night for too long I tried to rush to the border.
As usual, the more you want to rush the earlier you find a traffic jam. We bumped into a long line of cars and people walking, then we realised it was a funeral and they were following a hearse. So I went out of the line and tried to pass all of them when a policeman stopped us, and he was really pissed. He shouted that it was a lack of respect doing that and that we had to go back in the line to pay respects to the deceased… unless we wanted a big fine. Back to the queue. And as soon as the procession turned towards the cemetery we left the scene like Mr Wolf in Pulp Fiction.
