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At 6.45am our bus pulled into Belize City bus station. The station was a bit run down, but Matt was impressed to see his first sign for conch fritters (even though there was none available!)
The tiny bit of Belize City we saw was very rundown, and it is a designated poverty regeneration zone, so I'm not sure what it'd be like to stay there. Most of the information we've seen online suggests that you are better off staying outside Belize City and just coming back for easy access to day trips. This is partly due to the fact that there isn't a lot to do in the city and partly due to the fact that some areas are a bit dodgy. (The few people we met there were lovely though!) With all this in mind, we decided to head out to the Cayes - small islands which are easily accessible from Belize City by water taxi. There are two main Cayes to choose from: Caye Caulker or Ambergris Caye (which supposedly inspired the Madonna song 'La Isla Bonita').
We opted for Caye Caulker for our island experience as it supposed to be less commercialised than Ambergris (and so hopefully a bit cheaper), and also a bit more laidback, as it used to be a famous hippy hangout back in the 70's.
Anyway, getting off the night bus we were met immediately by a really friendly guy from the San Pedro Express Water Taxi Company, who became our taxi driver to the dock. After negotiating a price (£1.70 each), the driver helped us into our people carrier taxi. At least, I think it used to be a people carrier - it had no covering on the interior roof, a kid's bed sheet over the backseat, and the back door had to be held shut while driving with a hook that looked suspiciously like one that Ian would sell at B&Q. However, it was comforting to hear English being spoken on the radio after nearly two weeks of just Spanish.
After dropping us at the dock, the driver shook our hands and told us it was nice meeting us - we were soon to find out that everyone in Belize is crazy friendly, even when they don't know you! We were then met by a guy apparently called 'Service with a Smile John' - I'm not sure what part of that is his surname.
Waiting for the water taxi - if we though Mexican time was laid back, Belize time is practically horizontal! The island motto of Caye Caulker is 'Go Slow', so we got used to it: even the shops and restaurants don't have set opening times.
I was nervous about the boat, but the 45 minute journey passed pretty quickly and was relatively smooth considering how fast the speed boat was going! We decided to get a taxi from the boat to our hotel, as we had no directions or idea where it was. One thing you should know about Caye Caulker is that there are no cars - the only way to get around is by bike (much to Matt's joy) or by golf cart. So when I say we got a taxi, what I actually mean is that we clambered onto the back of a man's golf cart and held on tight!
Matt had found and booked us some accommodation online the night before: The Costa Maya Beach Cabanas. It was too early when we got there (only 9.30am) to check into our hotel, but we met the owner Bonnie, who kindly let us leave our backpacks in her office so we didn't have to carry them round. We went to get breakfast, and had hash browns and eggs - one giant flat hash brown the size of the plate, just what I needed after the night bus! We then had a much needed cat nap on the beach which was about 25m from our front door!
At 12pm, we went to explore our home for the next few days. It was amazing!!! It is a cabana on the top floor of two storeys, with a wooden balcony area overlooking the sea. The boards of the building are painted weathered white and sky blue, it's so pretty. Best of all though, were the two hammocks facing eachother on the balcony, which swing in the sea breeze. Inside had wood panelled walls and floors, and a big shower in the bathroom. I could live in there, it's so good!
For lunch, we went to a restaurant on a jetty where the floor is made of boards so you can actually see into the water while you are eating. I thought I'd better have some seafood seeing as it was going to be so fresh, although I tried not to think that what I was eating was probably swimming underneath the dock a few hours before!
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