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My first blog post from Belize! Well actually from Guatemala b/c I never got around to starting this blog while I was in Caye Caulker, Belize...but better late than never! It`s only been 5 days since I left NY for Belize City but already feels like I`ve been out here forever. Maybe it`s the weather or being on a Caribbean island where everyone tells you to "slow down mon" but I`ve succumbed to a slower pace of life.
When prepping for this trip, I found other people`s blogs really useful so will provide as much practical info as possible, inc costs, handy tips and any other useful info I pick up along the way. Flying over to Belize from NY was a real mix of emotions - excitement, raw fear and borderline panic. I realised at the stopover in Miami that this is the first time I`ll be travelling completely alone, in fact the first time in my life I`ll be completely alone full stop. At home, you can`t really just be totally isolated for longer than a day or two, certainly not when you have a mobile, FB, flatmates etc...and I`ve always travelled with family or friends. So the flight over was like riding Oblivion at Alton Towers over and over and over...
My first day in Belize I shunned the hostels and opted for Blue Wave guest house on the beachfront ($20USD/night) to catch up on sleep. That`s about all it was good for and seemed otherwise dead so quickly moved to Tina`s hostel ($12.50 USD), now rebranded Yuma`s by the new owner, Suzanna, from Germany. I want to say Suzanna was one of those friendly, hippy types you meet travelling but she was just a little scary in reality and everyone kept a safe distance from her. Tina`s itself is a funky place to stay though and, as long as you stick to Suzanna`s rules, it`s a great place to kip for a few nights and meet other travellers...cue some interesting late-night conversations on the hammocks about the oil futures market and Terminator Peckham (YouTube this, is too funny, I couldn`t stop howling with laughter) with Vinay from San Fran and Philip from Germany.
Caye Caulker itself is a great place to start travelling b/c it`s so chilled and you can ease into Caribbean life in just a few days. The sun beats down from 6am til 6pm without fail, the water is crystal clear and I bought a fantastic lobster meal for a tenner! The best bit though is the Barrier Reef - even just snorkelling on the reef blew me away and I got so carried away I lost track of time and ended up burnt as a lobster hah. So today spent the bus journey to Guatemala liberally applying after-sun and sitting like a crab, so my arms, legs and back didn`t touch the seat. But back to snorkelling - I literally stroked sharks, sting rays and got up and close to a friendly manatee! My advice to anyone thinking of doing the same is to take an underwater camera and capture the beautiful coral and sea life on camera. I took an old Canon which promptly died on Day 4, taking my pics to the grave with it¨:( thank god for my phone camera and Hipstamatic!
I`ve met some interesting characters - Charles the food vendor (originally from Brookly, NY) and I mused about old British sitcoms, a local Cuban lady confided in me that she thinks her 41 year old cousin is gay because he`s freakishly tidy (what do you say to that!? I nodded a lot) and Ricardo, a dive instructor who never sees his little girl since her mother whisked her off to Belize City but still pays child support :( it seems like people on this little Caribbean island have some of the same hopes, fears and problems as people in the UK.
To be honest, I really didn`t want to leave Caye Caulker as I felt there was more to explore, but everyone I`ve met has raved about Guatemala so I figured it was time to move on. Plus I couldn`t take the heat any more so headed off to the Guatemala border, backpack in tow...tomorrow I`m checking out the Mayan ruins at Tikal, booking a trip to the caves at Lanquin and devouring more of my book, The Tiger`s Wife by Tea Obreht. Love to all, miss you! xxx
p.s. Things I miss - hair serum. Pretty self-explanatory.
Braun toothbrush - oh how I miss the power of Braun. German efficiency at its best. My manual toothbrush just doesn`t cut it :/
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