Took an expensive bus last night, which is the quickest option from Guadalajara - but meant it
left at 12.30am and arrived at 5.30am. I am very tired.
I got offered Cocaine this morning, but more on that later. Later: So I starting walking from the Bus station, without info about where the highway was. It was dark and confusing, being 5am, so I wandered. And wandered. I eventually was in this village... a man there was all nice and took pity and offered me a drive as he was going into town for 'work'. He then was asking if I want, what seemed to be, his hand. On that hand was powder. I was confused at first, coz I couldn't see anything and he started rambling 'Oh, I have been drinking and smokin" and I'm all 'Wahhh?' and offered to drive. He got out to use the bathroom, leaving me there to panic. He came back in and was all 'I am not a bad person', and 'I will tell you a secret..I am a dealer'. I was all, 'That's not good'... and he rambled more about how it is bad, but hard to get work, cocaine is easy, supports the fam...
He was a nice guy, but how much he changed from the guy lifting my bags into his car to the drunk?high? rambler, I was not trusting of his sober-state. As soon as we got on the highway (him still rambling), I was all 'My bus stop is the next one!', asked if he wanted a tip, but saying he probs shouldn't drive people around. I was grateful, but torn.
BACKTRACK TO BELIZE:
The next day in Belize we really did nothing but wander the island and swim.
THE NEXT DAY HOWEVER, we took a tour with the lady who gave me all this stuff to use on my nail (after she saw me hobbling down the road wincing.. what a nice lady), the Barrier reef is very close to the island actually, so we did not have to spend an hour and a half on the boat like in Aus, it also cost around $30 NZ, not $120 Aus, that is another bonus. It also did not kill Steve Irwin.
In conclusion, I liked the 2nd largest reef in the world better than the titleholder.
I love snorkelling, muchly, but find that it is pretty much the same everywhere you go... lots of the same fish and coral. But I still loved it, I just don{t know how to differentiate between different countries.. BUT the 2nd stop, was CRAZZZZY.
The driver man, assited by his 9 year old son - Kevin - who is the next generation of tour leaders, ripped up fish and put them in a tube. Seconds later, about 15 stingrays and 6 Nurse sharks were all around the boat. He jumped in and was petting them, touching them everywhere to show they are friendly... we got in one by one, Roisin was swearing her head off in her thick accent. This American (from the South) lady did not stop screaming and was going {BABBBBYYYY) to her husband everytime one was coming near. It was her first time snorkelling - she was thrown in the deep end alright.
It was terrifying and thrilling at the same time. I was trying to watch from a distance, but at one stage about 5 stingrays came up around my feet and I jumped up, in a ball on my back, furiously wading in the water. I had my eyes closed and geniuinely freaked out - blood chilling it was. Knowing that they do have powerful stings and will attack if touched on.
The nurse sharks are quite funny looking, all there features are round and they have light brown skin(?).. their fangs actually look quite comical. I was patting them a bit, this Spanish guy was clowning around... trying to be all tricky with his feet and such - not worth the risk I reckons.
Later that day I caught the ferry back to Belize city, alone. Boy, was I sad to leave my Irish Parents.. I was really casual with them but then when I was in the ferry I found myself quite upset!
I was out of money so needed the ATM, where I walked to once back in bay... I was a bit more scared than I was the morning I took this walk, as the sun had just set and it was getting dark. Men are everywhere.. just sitting or standing around... how people in these countries don{t get bored, I have no idea.
Near the bank is the ´square´ where I knew to find the taxi drivers, as it is where they sleep. One short, jolly-Santa man waved me down from a block away so I went straight for him.
He had a Previa. I love Previas... aka Bretheran vans. One day when we were in our old one up near the Bretheran school, they all tooted and waved at us - thinking we were one of theres. It felt good to be accepted.
My jolly bus driver told me about how the City used to be a bright, quiet and safe place, but now there is a lot of drugs and therefore thievery... he doesn´t like living here much anymore. I felt bad for him and the good people of the city - such things we don´t really have to worry about. I thought it was a great shame, as it does look like it was once a pretty city. The government is also very corrupt, he told me, even Obama sent a message about how corrupt it was - they really like Obama here, I´ve noticed. Lots of people bear the T-Shirts in the city, I guess it is because the city is mainly a community made up of African Slave ancestory. I think Belize looks up to USA quite a lot too....
Anyways, I went to the bus station - very different to the classy ones of Mexico - everyone stared at me from the moment I walked in to the second I got off the bus. Most of it was outside, but sheltered, with lots of food stalls. Every 2nd person asked where I was trying to be and pointed me the way. A lady came on with hot clove bread and I got some of the. Wish I had got more - it was so fresh, so nice. The ride was very interesting. I took the bus all the way to Corozal, so I must have been on it for a good few hours. There was a back door to the bus, men kept getting out to use the bathroom then quickly running and jumping back on when the driver was yelling to close the door. It was on the highway, but through neighbourhoods. I saw a LOT of Chinese supermarts and restaurants. Even the non-chinese ones, are all named with the person who runs it name. I like this. Most the businesses are ´Andrea´s´ or ´Wong Fu´s´... I like it coz it´s like - ¨I did this, I am gonna make sure everyone knows that it´s mine´.
When I got on the bus, it was 100% (bar me, obviously) black people. When I got off the bus, it was 100% Mayan or Mexican. Some of them ARE Mexican, the bus driver was speaking Spanish, some of them are not - but the boarderline is quite faint up the north there.
I didn´t actually realise this until we stopped in a city - Orange Walk´- up North and the bus driver put on a Mexican music CD. I wondered why he was only busting this out now, when he could{ve put it on hours ago, when women got on the bus to walk the aisle selling Corn and Tamales (the fave Mex snackS) ...I looked around and saw only Mayan or Mexican Belizeans - on the bus, in the street.. Spanish was what people now speaking. It opened to my eyes to Belizean Culture... there is more to it than meets the eye.
IT ws an expensive effort to get back across the boarder, as unfortunately it was now about 10pm and all the buses for the day had stopped. I try to be a budget traveller, but there are good tricks I am learning for the next trip I go on. I had to Taxi there in a van... I was scared for my life for a few minutes there. Not because the van was unsafe, but because my partyman driver was BLARING the music (latest RnB, classic) but driving RIDICULOUSLY fast - but not really paying sticking to his side of the road. At all. This made me particularly queezy when we were going around the various bends on the wrong side .. that with the fact that there were no lights on the road.. it was now black so I had no idea what was ahead of us. Early on I was furiously grabbing for the seatbelt, couldn´t find the bottom bit and he reached over to try and help - meaning taking his eyes off the road and bending right to the ground - I was like ´´It´s okay - you drive, I will look for that.´He was all ´We don´t use seatbelts in Belize´, I was ´Even in this car? DRIVE PLEASE´. I got the buckle eventually, but it had obviously not been used for a while.
I walked through the crossing, with about 20 people all heading to the Casinos in no-mans-land. Once I got out into the middle part, I took photos of myself in front of each country. I got a whistle and looked toward the Belize side. The guy was waving his arm casually at me. I took another photo. ´No!´he yelled, must of thought i was working for some government. He probably thought I would put the photos on some blog, or something. I have found I have looked like a bad-ass on a few occasions here, because their ´´You are not meant to be doing that´´ signals and messages are so weak that I just think they are waving, like this guy. He was leaned back in his chair, one ankle up on the other leg, with his hand behind his head. It looked like a ´See ya, Thanks for coming to Belize, mon.´
My jolly bus driver told me about how the City used to be a bright, quiet and safe place, but now there is a lot of drugs and therefore thievery... he doesn´t like living here much anymore. I felt bad for him and the good people of the city - such things we don´t really have to worry about. I thought it was a great shame, as it does look like it was once a pretty city. The government is also very corrupt, he told me, even Obama sent a message about how corrupt it was - they really like Obama here, I´ve noticed. Lots of people bear the T-Shirts in the city, I guess it is because the city is mainly a community made up of African Slave ancestory. I think Belize looks up to USA quite a lot too....
Anyways, I went to the bus station - very different to the classy ones of Mexico - everyone stared at me from the moment I walked in to the second I got off the bus. Most of it was outside, but sheltered, with lots of food stalls. Every 2nd person asked where I was trying to be and pointed me the way. A lady came on with hot clove bread and I got some of the. Wish I had got more - it was so fresh, so nice. The ride was very interesting. I took the bus all the way to Corozal, so I must have been on it for a good few hours. There was a back door to the bus, men kept getting out to use the bathroom then quickly running and jumping back on when the driver was yelling to close the door. It was on the highway, but through neighbourhoods. I saw a LOT of Chinese supermarts and restaurants. Even the non-chinese ones, are all named with the person who runs it name. I like this. Most the businesses are ´Andrea´s´ or ´Wong Fu´s´... I like it coz it´s like - ¨I did this, I am gonna make sure everyone knows that it´s mine´.
When I got on the bus, it was 100% (bar me, obviously) black people. When I got off the bus, it was 100% Mayan or Mexican. Some of them ARE Mexican, the bus driver was speaking Spanish, some of them are not - but the boarderline is quite faint up the north there.
I didn´t actually realise this until we stopped in a city - Orange Walk´- up North and the bus driver put on a Mexican music CD. I wondered why he was only busting this out now, when he could{ve put it on hours ago, when women got on the bus to walk the aisle selling Corn and Tamales (the fave Mex snackS) ...I looked around and saw only Mayan or Mexican Belizeans - on the bus, in the street.. Spanish was what people now speaking. It opened to my eyes to Belizean Culture... there is more to it than meets the eye.
IT ws an expensive effort to get back across the boarder, as unfortunately it was now about 10pm and all the buses for the day had stopped. I try to be a budget traveller, but there are good tricks I am learning for the next trip I go on. I had to Taxi there in a van... I was scared for my life for a few minutes there. Not because the van was unsafe, but because my partyman driver was BLARING the music (latest RnB, classic) but driving RIDICULOUSLY fast - but not really paying sticking to his side of the road. At all. This made me particularly queezy when we were going around the various bends on the wrong side .. that with the fact that there were no lights on the road.. it was now black so I had no idea what was ahead of us. Early on I was furiously grabbing for the seatbelt, couldn´t find the bottom bit and he reached over to try and help - meaning taking his eyes off the road and bending right to the ground - I was like ´´It´s okay - you drive, I will look for that.´He was all ´We don´t use seatbelts in Belize´, I was ´Even in this car? DRIVE PLEASE´. I got the buckle eventually, but it had obviously not been used for a while.
I walked through the crossing, with about 20 people all heading to the Casinos in no-mans-land. Once I got out into the middle part, I took photos of myself in front of each country. I got a whistle and looked toward the Belize side. The guy was waving his arm casually at me. I took another photo. ´No!´he yelled, must of thought i was working for some government. He probably thought I would put the photos on some blog, or something. I have found I have looked like a bad-ass on a few occasions here, because their ´´You are not meant to be doing that´´ signals and messages are so weak that I just think they are waving, like this guy. He was leaned back in his chair, one ankle up on the other leg, with his hand behind his head. It looked like a ´See ya, Thanks for coming to Belize, mon.´
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