Belize

OK I gotta break these up a bit

Belize was cool because I could let my mind relax a little. Everyone speaks English fluently; it's the official language and is taught in all of the schools. Most folks speak Creole (Kriol) or Spanish too. I stayed in Belize for 5 days which seems like such a short time after 5 weeks in Mexico but I had some really amazing days while there.

Sat March 29^th Into Belize. The Border crossing went ok. I didn’t have enough pesos with me though but I had a $20 green back and was able to pay my Mexico exit tax. Next I had to buy liability insurance for Belize and had to have the Moto sprayed with insecticide. It was all a little annoying but went fairly quickly. Once in Belize everything changed. The landscape was different the roads were different the language the faces. I traveled through rural farming communities and a lot of sugar cane. It was immediately apparent that the Belizean economy is struggling. It was an easy drive to Belize City and was able to find my Hotel without any problems. The Chateau Caribbean Hotel was a beautiful old hotel but it's well past it's prime and looks pretty rundown these days. Still, the room was comfy and the staff was really nice.

Sun March 30^th, Snorkeling near Caye Caulker: I met Elaine and Mark from Oceanside CA and they said they were going Snorkeling and that sounded like a good idea to me. They were a nice couple and invited me along with them so we took the water taxi out to Caye Caulker and as it turned out, there was room for me on the snorkeling tour. I had a great day. We snorkeled in four locations along the barrier reef:  Hol Chan, Shark Ray Alley, another spot and finished in Coral Gardens. The conditions were great and everyone had a nice time. It was a very international group too, 2 guys from Holland, 2 girls on spring break from Santiago Chile, a German couple, Mark and Elaine from SoCal, Me and the Belizean Guide. It was a long-ish tour, we were on the water for 6 hours and everyone got a little too much sun. Afterwards, Mark, Elaine and I grabbed a snack and a beer on Caye Caulker and then just made it on the last water taxi back to Belize City. Once we made it back to the Hotel we hung out in the bar and drank Belikin Beer and talked. Mark works for the USPS and is a musician (keyboards) and Elaine works in the schools with special needs children. Once again I had a fun experience, which was made truly excellent because of the people I spent the day with.

Mark & Elaine

Eagle Ray

Nurse Shark

Sophia & Maria from Santiago

Tired and Sunburned but had a great time

The Water Taxi

Sunday March 31^st, Belize City to San Ignacio: Today was an easy day on the bike just 75 miles to cross from Eastern Belize to Western Belize near the border with Guatemala. I stopped near Belmopan, the capitol, to refuel and have lunch and the only tricky thing about the day was trying to Navigate within the little city of San Ignacio. Its streets are mazy with many one-way roads and hilly too. I drove around in circles for a while trying to find my hotel and when I finally found it; it was booked... But I was able to find another right around the corner and it turned out to be a really cute Guest House with about 10 rooms. I Highly recommend Martha's Guest house in San Ignacio. They had everything you could need A/C, WiFi, a nice restaurant, and a laundromat, the place was nicely decorated with paintings by local artists and the rooms were clean and comfortable. It was really nice to get my Motorcycle Jacket and Pants cleaned; after 5+ weeks on the road they were taking on a life of their own.

Monday April 1st, Guided tour of Caracol: Everything was a guided tour in Belize which made it significantly more expensive than Mexico but still totally worth it. Caracol is deep in the Belizean jungle south of San Ignacio and its almost 2 hours down a bumpy rutted dirt road to get there. Perfect for the KLR but I would have been tired just getting there, let alone, touring around in the heat of the jungle and another 2 hours back out. I'm glad I did the guided tour... Mario, our guide, was great! He showed us a Mahogany tree, pointed out Toucans and weaver birds, waited patiently while we watched a family of Howler Monkeys move through the canopy, and gave us so much information about Caracol.

The Sacred Mayan Ceiba Tree (I'm at the base). The Mayans believed these trees tied the heavens and the underworld to the terrestrial world. 

Mario was an excellent guide

some waterfalls along the route from the ruins

April 2nd, Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM Cave): this was the second guided tour from San Ignacio. Stunning! This archaeological site/adventure exceeded all expectations. You cannot go here without a licensed guide and I went with a group of 6 people and there were several other groups, too. 1st you hike into the jungle for about 45 minutes and there are several waist deep stream crossings and then you enter the cave. You have to swim into the cave entrance and you are in and out of the water quite a bit as you go further back. there are some spots where the rooms are huge and other places where you are up to your neck in water squeezing through a space just wide enough to get your Petzl helmet through. when you get to the back of the cave you come to a room where the Mayans were making offerings to the rain god, Chaac, who resided in the underworld. The Cave was documented and recorded by Archaeologists in the early 90's but they removed very little from the cave so what you see is largely undisturbed, the way the Mayans left it 1500 years ago. There are the calcified skeletal remains of 14 people that were believed to be sacrificed, still in the cave. On the tour, we saw 5 of them. Cameras are not allowed anymore, (someone dropped a camera on one of the skulls 1 1/2 years ago) so I don't have any pictures to share.

Actun Tunichil Muknal Images
Actun_Tunichil_Muknal Wiki

I met some nice folks on the tour too; Brits, Matt & Nicola and Zack & Caitlin from Texas. After the tour I met up with them and another couple and had a nice dinner and some drinks. This was just a truly exceptional day, one that I will remember for a long time.