YOU BETTER BELIZE IT!

(NK)We made a rookie error by crossing into Belize without filling Trisha up. The cost of fuel in Belize is significantly higher. After going through the paperwork in Mexico we drove through no mans land and were immediately overwhelmed with Caribbean hospitality. The heavily accented English and the friendly smiles that greeted us immediately put us at ease. Customs and immigration was a breeze. We ended up chatting to the passport control guy for about half an hour as he gave us his picks of where we should visit.

What have you done to the Police unit!

Rustic river crossings

The ferries use Manpower in Belize

The first stop involved a two hour-long drive down a dirt road and a crazy river crossing before arriving at the very peaceful Backpackers Paradise. Natalie and Ed’s place has a variety of organic fruits growing in a jungle setting. The spiders are getting bigger and the creepies are definitely doing more crawling. We pitched the tent after a small incident with a big hairy spider, before joining Natalie in the restaurant for some Lion Fish and coconut rice.

Lion Fish is a poisonous non-native species that’s killing off other native species all over the Caribbean. We spoke to a marine biologist who told as that they’re doing everything they can to encourage restaurants and fishermen to start selling this stuff as opposed to the Conch, which isn’t as abundant. It’s one of the best fish I’ve ever tasted, very meaty with the slight sweetness you get in scallops. Makes sense, tastes delicious and saves the sea. There, some education.

The next day we went out horse riding with Natalie through the jungle past a Jaguar watering hole.

Saddle Up

Bush came along for the ride, looks like someone we know

(FK) Natalie kindly offered to take us out as Neil and I both hadn't ridden since we were young. So, we got kitted up like Brokeback Mountain extras, mounted our trusty steeds and off we went for a jungle, village and beach hack. Natalie had reassured me that my horse was very relaxed and would have no problems.

Great, I thought, that will ease me back into the saddle nicely. It became apparent early on that Ned was in no hurry at all, despite all my enthusiastic "vamoose!" and "allez!" it did little to encourage my ride to pick up his pace. Natalie even fashioned a whipping stick for me, but even that didn't work. It wasn't until Natalie's feisty young horse gave mine a bite on the legs, that he decided to pick up the pace momentarily, only to return to an amble. Neil was an absolute natural galloping off ahead whilst I could only laugh at my stubborn horse.

The Three Amigos

(NK) That evening we got acquainted with two other travellers, Kerry and Linda who were also heading to Caye Caulker, so we agreed to leave Trisha with Natalie and Ed and jump in the back of a flatbed down to the port. The three dogs that live at Backpackers ran behind us all the way down to the pier and gave us a goodbye kiss.

Puppy love

(FK) Island life was calling again along with the chance of more diving. There's no cars on the island and the only roads are white sand paths, as soon as we stepped off the boat, the laid back Caribbean vibe hit us with the island's very apt moto of 'go slow' apparent. It's a place not without its characters, especially the colourful Rastas, spreading warm greetings of love, peace, oh and the offer of some good homegrown weed too!

The Rasta Mantra

Go Slow

We found the cheapest place to stay (but really good) was Sandy Lane and we had our very own private love shack. So we dumped our small bags, chucked off our flip flops and went for a beer.

With a roof right over our head

Yes. It. Is

The highlight of my three days was a massage at Cocoplum with Mayan midwife Ms Juana. We found it by accident, exploring the island on our Fixie bikes.  Chris the owner invited us in to have a look around, despite it being Sunday morning and a rare day off for him. He was a pretty interesting chap, and could talk more than me (NK – which meant we were there for a really long time). He’d been born into a Mennonite family, but did not fit the mould with his creative freethinking. He had designed a beautiful and tranquil haven set back from the main town. His eye for design was clear with his Remy Mackintosh inspired designed lights and a zen like balance to the whole place.

Coco Plum Sanctuary - designed by Chris

We got talking about some of his past clients and the wonders of Mayan medicine and practices. Chris told us some of the amazing differences the Mayan womb massage had made to women and their partners.

Chris is most definitely in touch with his feminine side and not afraid to celebrate it. The Mayans believe that the centre of a woman is her womb and in order for her to be as emotionally balanced and as fertile as possible, her womb needs to be in the centre of her body. Urmm, yes Chris, every woman's womb is in the centre, isn't it? Apparently not. This can lead to various problems such as hormonal mood swings, depression, pains in other parts of the body, miscarriages and difficulty getting pregnant.  He'd treated numerous women who had difficulty conceiving, one of whom was about to embark on $20,000 IVF treatment, only to discover she had fallen pregnant naturally six weeks after returning home. Even women who aren't planning on getting preggers end up with a bun in the oven.

Don't worry this isn't going where some of you might think it is. So anyway, I was sold purely on the hormonal balancing side. A girl can never be too balanced in my opinion. Ms Juana got to work on me with a full body massage, which was much needed after the stress and strains of the previous weeks. She finished on my stomach area, massaging around my waist, hips and my insides it felt like. She took my hands and got me to feel my stomach, pointing out a cavity in the lower left and then a solid shape on my right just above my pelvis. Sure enough my womb was off centre, so Ms Juana put in back in place and finished with a head massage.

I woke Neil up who had dozed off for an hour on the sofa and went and spoke to Chris. I felt amazing, re-energised and I’m going to say it - glowing. Ms Juana said that I might have suffered a sore leg in the past. I hadn't told Chris as I didn't think it was important but I'd been suffering with a really sore right foot for about a year. It causes me pain when I walk after sleeping or sitting for a while. I thought it was to do with wearing heels and or poor supporting flats. Anyway, when I got up from the bed I could walk normally instead of like an old lady.

Ms Juana, Chris and a hormonally balanced me

I was absolutely blown away, Chris explained the muscles that hold the womb in place are connected to the ones in your legs and the position it was in was causing the muscles in my foot to be affected. He'd had a similar lady in who could only walk with a stick due to severe leg pain. After a treatment she no longer needed the stick.

I told Chris that I would drop him a line to let him know how my foot is and if I end up pregnant!  

(NK) As if things couldn’t get more relaxing, that night we had a BBQ with Kerry, Linda and some Rastas.  Rasta Mike, Kerry and I went to a back street fishmonger to pick up some ‘caught that day’ Snapper and Grouper, before Linda taught me how to roll a joint so we could get everyone’s appetite going. It’s always good to learn new skills.

What a catch

Fi gets her hands dirty

Keep on rollin

Rasta Mike turned out to be a whizz in the kitchen and had also brought some of his homemade Blackberry wine, which tasted somewhere between Port and Sherry. Before dinner, Rasta Ray gave us a beautiful speech about how he’d like to welcome us to the island; his home was our home as we all live in one home - planet earth. No borders, one love.

Spoken like a true Rasta!

He finished it with: “I know I’d receive the same welcome in your country too.”

“Errrrm, yeah, you definitely would.” we said, with lie written all over our faces. Being put on the spot like that made us think.

Rasta Mike cooks up a storm

It’s strange; in the US we were warned about Mexicans. Then the Mexicans warned us about Belize and Guatemala. And everyone worries about dangerous countries without perhaps giving a thought to the genuine human beings that live there. It’s easy to get consumed by fear, building a picture in your mind that isn’t consistent with reality. There are bad people and good people everywhere. It does not depend on your nation of birth or the colour of your skin.

Another local called Vicky joined us at the BBQ, and our new friends started raving about how good fish eye tastes! I was seriously doubtful and told Vicky she would have to go first. To my dismay she plucked out the sizeable fish eye with a knife, popped it in her mouth, sucked, then spat it out. 

Suck and spit!

It was my turn next, in it went before I could rationalize anything and surprisingly, it did indeed taste a little bit like Oysters. I mean a little bit. It’s not something I’m in a hurry to do again.

Yikes

The boat trip back to Sarteneja was hit by an unexpected spanner in the works. When we tried to get the connecting water taxi from San Pedro, we were told there were none on a Wednesday or Thursday. Our faces dropped. We either went back to Caye Caulker or stayed in San Pedro for two nights. Both were expensive and time consuming options. In the distance I saw some more local boats in a makeshift port so we took a wander over.

On the way we were accosted by three piss heads, one of whom had a pet raccoon on his shoulder. He even let me stroke it. Just as we were making our excuses to leave, we were saved by a bypassing Rasta, who led us to the legend that is Captain Orlando.

Captain Orlando

He told us that for a fee much cheaper than the Water Taxi he’d take us back to Sarteneja at Midday. We agreed and came back later to jump aboard his small sailing boat. The water taxi took about 1 hour 45 so we were taken a back when Orlando told us it’d take 6 hours. Turns out Orlando’s five brothers were also coming on the boat.  Ah, at last, I thought. We are going to be robbed and left to die on a desert island.

Aye Aye Capt'in

Turned out to be one of the best trips we’ve ever taken. We talked and laughed all the way as we skipped past the beautiful Cayes in glorious sunshine over perfectly calm waters.

One of the many Cayes we passed

As the sun started sinking, a lone dolphin came right up to the boat and put on a little show for us. Under a carpet of stars the brothers continued to navigate there way back home without a compass. Once a week they make the round trip from their village to sell fruit and veg in San Pedro.

We couldn't see where one started and the other ended

They told us that the route was also huge for cocaine smugglers and fishermen sometimes found big bags washed up on the shore.

Dolphin/Cocaine watch

 It’s known as the sea lotto and one bag is enough to feed the village for a year. Unfortunately there have been occasions when the smugglers have come looking for their gear and they always end in bloodshed. Another sad example of how the international drug trade ruins ordinary lives.

As they pulled up by the pier in Sarteneja we literally had to do a running jump ashore as they brushed past and headed onwards to their village. It ended an amazing trip that you won’t find in any guidebooks.

After a wet night of camping at Natalie and Ed’s we were heading for Belize’s wild interior.