Living in Belize for 5 years we have been all over the place and have done many things. Like most expats, our first year here was nothing more than a long vacation. Going to the bank was a daily thing. Neither of us have ever had any trouble making money so to spend it was all to easy.
We came in from the northern boarder and did our first stop in Corozal It was a cool place and had some nice beaches. We liked it and got a room for a week. We quickly got into a morning routine of coffee and then a walk. We started walking everywhere. Miles a day. We made frequent stops to talk to people and absorb as much of the feel of the place as much as info about whats around us. In the evening we would mostly look at our map and talk about what we should do next or look at interesting places on the map and get excited about "how cool its going to be when we get there". It doesn't sound as fun as it was. It was one of the funnest things we have ever done. Regretfully, we did not explore the outer villages in this part of the country. Later we learned we like the villages much more than the towns.
Back on the bus. We wanted to see more! The bus was packed and we were lucky to get a seat. Out the windows, all we could see was fields of tall, green sugar cane in all directions. As the buss stopped Amy and I were excited to explore and when we saw more than half the people get off in the middle of nowhere we decided there must be something here. We grabbed our (way to heavy) bags and hopped off too. "Where is everyone who just got off?" I asked. We were alone on the roadside, already. Still we can only see sugar cane. The bus was gone so we started walking down the road. The entire walk we were laughing about getting off the bus to walk miles down the road. Every now and then a buss would drive on past. We were walking looking for the next bus stop. LOL We didn't know we could stop the bus, or a car, truck, or hoses and buggy even. We were bran new here - at home we cant hitch hike - its just not done in Virginia. I dont remember if we found a bus stop or walked to Orange Walk Town, but we made it there.
I liked Orange Walk, but there were so many beggars we had to be rude to everyone. Eventually, someone tried to rob me at knife point. This really stands out in my mind as one of the funniest robberies ever. The little man (I stand 6'2" and at the time weighed about 180 to 190 lbs an always carried an easy open tactical knife) asked me "Please sir, for your money." He was very soft spoken and timid looking. "What?" I asked and he repeated him self. Back and forth with the same 2 lines until I thought he was just asking for money. "Not today, man I am not giving away money today" I told him. "I have a Gillette he explained. Now I was fresh from the states and to me a Gillette is a disposable razor for a mans face. I didn't know what to say so I started telling him that its good to keep your personal appearance up and that Gillette is going to help him out with the ladies. LOL I didn't know what to say. Then the guy pulls out some tiny pocket knife and shows me the blade. Not in a "Im going to stab you" way, but a "look at this" way. The cultural differences were still preventing me from knowing that this was a robbery. I looked at his little knife, complimented him on it and said "Look at this knife I use." I showed him how it opens easy and how the blade locks. At this point he got frustrated and again, with tiny knife in hand said "please sir, for your money". I then realized what was happening. I took a look around to see if he had friends. All I could see was people. It was early evening, still day light, and people were out doing their normal thing. Far to many people to robbed by a tiny man with a tiny knife. "No, sorry" I told him. It took about 3 more rounds of asking and being told No for him to put away the little knife, look at me with a mad face, and finally say the first rude sentence to me - "Fok you".
He turned and walked away and we got on the bus the next day. We never did get a chance to hit the outer villages around Orange walk.
Our next stop was Belize City. Believe it or not, Its very much like my home city, Richmond, Va. Looks and feels the same. At that time, for some reason, we had to walk from one bus terminal to another. It was not safe. Looking back, I am surprised we got to the other terminal with our big heavy bags. There were times during the walk where we had small crowds of people walking with us. I felt like a broken record telling people "no, I need my money." We were plain lucky that day. Today I would use a taxi. The danger in Belize city is real - especially to some one here in the country for 2 weeks or less. People who come from safe places always tell you what they would do or say if they were looking down the barrel of a gun, but people from crime areas know, you rarely get a chance to say - let alone do anything. With out upsetting too many people, I will simply say, I do not enjoy being in Belize City, so we went on south.
We didnt get off the bus this time till we reached Placencia. Ahh, the beach was so nice. It was the first tourist destination we had ever been to, outside of the USA. It was awesome. We ended up making friends and finding a house for rent for $300bz per month. We stayed 3 months and loved it. Spear fishing, hand line fishing and swimming everyday was our new routine With what we thought was cheep rent, we used our house as a base camp to explore the inland villages near us. Again, there is nothing funner than looking for something new and different - and finding it everywhere. In Placentcia its easy to have fun, too much fun. a good quarter of our money went to everyday life and rent and another quarter went to beer and rum. Big mistake! We left there with half of our money. We left running from the fun because we were spending too fast.
Griga! Dangriga was fun for a night. We got off the bus there to find a new holiday, for us. Garifuna Settlement Day. We ran from one party to another, but a very different one. We didn't see ANY tourists there, which made us feel much like celebrities I Don't remember everything we did but what I do remember was a blast. We found a $25bz room and slept. Next day started great. Breakfast, a nice walk, and a few good conversations. Then we met the group of 5 old men who eventually ran us out of town that evening. We couldn't shake these guys, they were having a great time following us from place to place yelling as loud as they can about us being "Bin Laden people" insulting and threatening us for not buying them beer. It wasn't scary but annoying enough to say "This town sux, lets go." So we went, south again to Punta Gorda.
Punta Gorda was much different. Sure people asked for money (that doesn't bother me) But when you explained to them you need your money, they would smile and be friendly with you still. I still have friends there today I met on that trip. We hopped on a village bus and by random chance ended up in San Pedro Columbia. This is where Amy and I learned that we love village life and we changed the way we travel. After 3 months we had only spent a few hundred dollars and learned some good ways to live cheep. We were still making mistakes every few hours buy continuing to buy alcohol. We didn't see it as a problem yet. Columbia village was awesome. I could live there. We have friend there still too.
Its been fun but time to go... Where to now? Belmopan. Well, what can I say... boring and expensive I dont want to be harsh but this is about mine and my wife's opinion. We stayed 1 night. Its ok, We have to go all the time now. Still I think of Belmopan as boring and expensive.
From the capital city, Belmopan, we jumped on a $3bz bus and headed west. We passed through some well developed areas and wanted to get out and explore, but decided to hold off till San Ignacio. Wow. Different all the way arround. The weather, people, terrain and just the feeling of the place was different. We instantly knew we found a spot to settle for a while. The weather was cooler, the people were busy but would take time to talk, the mountains looked perfect surrounding us in all directions, and the calm and happy relaxed feeling got into your bones weather you wanted it or not. It was hard to find a face without a smile. Tourists were common enough but not crowding the streets, bars and restaurants We spent our next 4+ years here. We took a year to live in Bullet Tree Village, which is one of my favorite places on earth. We lived about a year in the down town area of San Ignacio, which was really fun but village is better for us. We also moved out to the Mountain Pine Ridge area for about 3 years. We are still in that area, living in San Antonio (little Texas its called here). We rent a big house for $100bz per month and spend most of our time in our yard. We have started learning more about farming and have our own tiny farm in our yard now. I am thinking that I would like to get into farming on a bigger scale.
This has been a brief history of our start here. I hope it is entertaining. I wanted to get that out of the way so that I can get to the day to day blog posts and random rants. Check back soon and I will have more.
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