-Miranda
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We arrived in Orange Walk on Monday, a little creeped out. The bus stop in Belize City was very run down and the buses were just old school buses. Not at all what we were expecting. The bus was so crowded that the isle was filled with people standing.
We arrived in Orange Walk after 2 hours and got off at a terminal that was almost no more than a bus stop. We had no idea where we were, so we just followed the line of locals assuming they would head in the general direction of "stuff". We eventually found the town center, but still had a heck of a time finding a place to eat. We eventually found a small restaurant where, no matter what you order, the meal costs $7.50 belize. This means for both of us, drinks included, we only paid $7.50 got lunch. The food was good too. There was a hotel next door, so we just stayed there.
The next day we did the Lamanai River Tour. Basically, you take a boat up the New River to the Lamanai ruins. The river trip was great since we got to see lots of birds and some other wildlife. We stopped at one spot where a couple Spider Monkeys live. The guys that run the boats always bring a banana for them, so they hop into the boat, check everyone out, then hop back out. Pretty interesting.
The ruins were neat. The boat guide was also the guide for the ruins, so it was interesting to hear some about the ruins. These ones were inhabited a lot longer than most Mayan ruins, until the 16th century.
The river ride back was mostly just to get back, though we did see the shape of a West Indian Manatee. Couldn't see if very well, but pretty neat nonetheless.
-Miranda
A crocodile. It's pretty small. Only about a yard long.
The spider monkey, hanging out on the boat.
One of the temples.
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The next morning we really needed to figure out laundry. Our next plan was to head to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye in Belize and we had no idea what to expect, so while we were in a large city, we figured we would get it done there. Well, Joe was sick, so he stayed in the hotel to sleep while I went out. I'm not normally the explorer, so this was a bit of a challenge for me. I went to the market looking for breakfast. Most people in the area don't speak any English and my Spanish is so rudimentary that I'm not much help in communicating. In the market I found the vegetable/fruit/meat section and bought some apples and bananas. That seemed to be the easiest way to get something for myself and have something to bring back to Joe if he wanted to eat at all.
Afterwards, I had to figure out laundry. I hadn't seen any laundromat around. I asked the hotel desk and she made it seem like there were no laundry places nearby... Since the fancier hotels tend to provide laundry service, I went to one of those and asked the woman at the front desk. Fortunately, she did speak English so it wasn't too confusing. She pointed me to a block away. I headed there and was able to understand the woman there enough to know that she would be able to get our laundry done that day, though I didn't quite understand how much per kilo or when it would be done. We decided to do it anyway, so I got our clothes brought them back and she wrote they would be done at 2pm. The water taxi to Belize left at 3, so we figured that would be enough time.
Eventually, when Joe was feeling a bit better, we checked out of the hotel and found lunch. By that time it was 2. I went to get the laundry only to realize some of it wasn't dry yet. She told me it would be at least 15 minutes... Eventually, another girl there happened to speak enough English that I could tell her to let the other woman know that we would take it damp and hang it up once we got to our destination, but we needed to go. So it all worked out in the end.
We arrived at the dock on time and took an almost 2 hour boat trip to San Pedro. Upon arriving, we took care of immigration and customs (which is pretty nice and easy at such a small port) and went in search of a hotel. The first place we checked out cost $120 US... We decided to keep looking. While looking, a woman had passed us and eventually turned back asking if we were looking for a hotel. We said, yes and I asked if she had one. She did, and showed us to it. It was right on the 'beach' (in quotes because it's all boat docks. I wouldn't swim near here). She said there was fast wifi and they had water to refill bottles, etc. Figuring it was going to be pricey, she said since we were just walk-ins, she would give us a deal. We were both expecting something pricey, but she ended up quoting $45 + taxes. Sweet! We went for that. Definitely a good price.
The next day, we found a dive shop and did our first dive in the afternoon. The reef is close by so it doesn't take long to get there, but it was super choppy since the wind has been blowing pretty crazy. Once you were underwater it wasn't bad and the visibility was still good (not as good as Cozumel, but still really good). The coral here are amazing! Lots of fan coral. Also, there were tons of Nurse Sharks and we saw two Spotted Eagle Rays, which were very neat. We were supposed to do two dives, but ended up not going back out after the first one because of how choppy it was.
-Miranda
View from the doorway of our room.
View down the beach from our hotel.
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We had a relatively boring day today. After finding breakfast, we hung out in the room and got some work done in the lobby since we finally figured out how to get the internet to work (put in the right password, dummy).
The bus to Chetumal left at 2:45, our check out time was 1. Once we checked out we found a yummy lunch before getting on the bus for the 5 hour trip. The bus ride was uneventful and we found a decent hotel without too much difficulty.
-Miranda
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Today was a busy day. Apparently "el Presidente" was passing through Coba today. From what we gathered, he's like a governer of a state. That was a big deal, so streets were blocked off and there were a lot of police around.
Right after breakfast, we found a taxi to bring us to Punta Laguna. Here we got to walk around the jungle with a guide looking for monkeys. We ended up getting to see some Spider Monkeys, which was pretty fun.
Our original plan was to head to Chitchen Itza and stay there. But, the bus left too early for us to go there and go to Punta Laguna. So, instead we took a slightly later bus to Villadolid. We found a cheap, gritty hotel quick, then hopped on the next bus to Chitchen Itza. We made it in time to take a guided tour, which was pretty interesting. Merchants lined essentially every walkway. One really neat thing is a large ballcourt. After the two hours, we hopped on another bus and got back to our hotel room. We found dinner in a food court type setting. We didn't find much for other restaurants that had options for us, so it worked out, plus we knew where to find breakfast in the morning.
-Miranda
;)
Spider Monkey! (Click for larger photo)
Spider Monkey profile.
;)
The main temple of Chitchen Itza.
;)
The very large ball court. (Click for larger photo)
;)
The serpent (the shape of the shadow on the side of the stairs) can only be seen around the equinoxes. (Click for larger photo)
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