Our final Guatamalan bus journey, Yay! Was actually a real bus which was a pleasant suprise. Even if it was built in the 70’s and the air conditioning was great until it started raining water on everyone. But all in all a very easy journey and the border crossing was easy as.
We were heading to Belize city and then hopefully further south to Hopkins for some Caribbean action. However after booking our bus tickets we realized it was going to be a bit of a transfer to get to Hopkins and we were over spending two days travelling to spend one day somewhere. So we decided to spend one night in Belize city and then spend the rest of our time in Mexico. We have been hearing amazing things about Mexico from our travel buddies so it made the decision for us pretty easy.
You don’t go to Belize to see Belize City. There is nothing really wrong with it its just that there is nothing super great about it. You pretty much use it as a stepping stone to all their amazing reef islands. But we were spending a night there so decided to go for a little wander.
It’s hard to describe but after crossing the border you definitely felt a change of vibe from indigenous to Carribean. Cars were blaring Reggaton and everyone was just laid back cool. The buildings were all painted wood and it kind of had a pretty run down feel to the place. In saying that everyone was really friendly and we kind of stuck out as there were not too many white people around.
The national language is English but the locals speak Creole or a mix of both. I must admit that I had trouble understanding their English as it has such an unusual accent or maybe it’s more the words they use.
We stopped off at this tiny diner and the lady quickly told us we had to have a traditional Belizean dish which consisted of fried fish, pigs tail, potato, sweet potato, plantain, yucca and boiled egg in a delicious tomato sauce. She also brought out in a tiny container a hot sauce and she cautioned us that it was really hot. Well it really was. I have never really seen Tim balk at hot sauce but this one had his number.
Our stop over in Belize was short and sweet and we are a little disappointed that we didn’t have the time to get out to the islands but it just means we will have to come back! S
While not stunningly beautiful the place certainly has charm.
Our lunch, lucky we shared!
These shops were just fantastic
The Main Street near where we were staying.
Another local cafe we didn’t have time to try.