Day 134
Current Location: San Ignacio (Belize)
Total Countries visited: 4
Total Miles Driven: You wouldn't belize how many !
Hello everyone ! This is a weird feeling, the closer it gets to Christmas, the warmer and more humid it gets... is it the same thing for you ? I thought so. Maybe it's just me.
So... my last post was in Merida, Mexico. One week went by, it feels like so much more than that. I have done a lot, seen a lot. But before I go forward with my travel recital, I have an important announcement to make:
Monster has fallen in love. With Belize, the beaches, the people - in San Pedro more particularly. He met this very cute, very young Belizean girl and was literally taken by her. So... he decided to stay. Maybe I will come back in a few years to discover little monsters running around everywhere ?
All is not lost, I still have Pink Monster and Gentleman-ster. They will be featured in future episodes.
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| Monster and his new girlfriend. Aren't they cute together ? Bye-bye Monster ! |
Now for the regular programming:
Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza recently became one of the official "Wonders of the World". It is probably the most complete, best preserved set of ruins in all of Mexico. But is it the most beautiful? I think not - I thought Palenque was more scenic, in its jungle setting and howler monkeys... and Tulum on the beach, just gorgeous... but everyone has their own opinion. It certainly was an interesting site to visit, and probably has more historical significance than all the other sets of ruins out there, but with the intense heat and 99% humidity, coupled with the hundreds of vendors peddling cheap artifacts everywhere I went, I was very glad to go back on the road and enjoy Large Marge's peddle-free air conditioning.
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| Main pyramid in the central area. |
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| Monster playing in the ancient columns. |
And Monster showing off his mad skills by diving in the pit formerly used for human sacrifices:
Cancun
Aaahhhh, Cancun... I have a love-hate relationship with Cancun... On one side, it has really nice beaches with crystal clear water, good diving, great food and entertainment for all tastes... On the other side, it just doesn't feel like Mexico. Seriously, the only Mexicans I saw in Cancun were the waitstaff and other resort help.
I still had a good time, but it didn't provide me with a unique experience that I couldn't replicate in Vegas.
The side trips away from Cancun were far more special - I went to the resort area of Xel Ha and the nearby ruins of Tulum for a wonderful day. Xel-Ha is a Disneylike resort of natural pools and rivers, great for snorkeling and tubing, enjoying the water and being lazy. I took advantage of my snorkeling experience to test the underwater case for my camera - it works !
And Tulum is another set of ruins, quite impressive by themselves but made stunningly beautiful by the fact that they are on the beach, right next to the ocean.
Most importantly, I took advantage of my few days in Cancun to get certified for open water scuba diving, which means that I can now go diving anywhere I want in the world and take wonderful pictures or marine and aquatic life (see below) - a whole new world is now open to me !
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| My first underwater picture - snorkeling at Xel-Ha. |
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| Fun at Xel-Ha. |
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| Dramatic view of Tulum ruins. |
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| Tulum and the beach. |
Playa del Carmen
Although I only stayed at Playa del Carmen for one day, I have to make a special mention of it. I love Playa ! It is in my opinion far better than Cancun - instead of 19 year-old americans getting wild and crazy, you have 30-somethings europeans getting the vibe and enjoying themselves. Plus, the town and its beaches are just gorgeous. I could easily stay here a week.
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| Nice walkway in downtown Playa del Carmen. |
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| Beautiful beaches of Playa del Carmen. |
Belize
Can you Belize it ? Wow, what to say about Belize... where to start...
Belize is a tiny country. I did everything I wanted to do here on a half-tank of gas. I think the country is no more than 100 miles wide, by no more than 350 miles long.
Driving into Belize, everything changes. The people look different - there are a lot of black people here (african descendants), whereas I don't remember seeing more than a handful black people in Mexico. For a population of barely over a half-million, the cultural diversity is amazing. There are something like 20 languages spoken there, and I could hear english spanish creole and mandarin (chinese) pretty much everywhere I went (yes, mandarin - there is a large concentration of Taiwanese on the islands, perhaps due to the British occupation of both islands many years ago).
And it truly has a Caribbean feel - the music is reggae, the food is barbecue and jerk, and I love it. Quite refreshing after eating tacos for a month.
Belize also contains a good portion of the second largest barrier reef in the world (after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia)... there are hundreds of dive sites, with vertical walls of coral and more aquatic life than you could ever imagine. I feel truly lucky to have had the opportunity to dive off San Pedro in Ambergris Caye (an island 50 miles off the coast of Belize) and enjoy the amazing natural beauty that its ocean has to offer.
And then there is San Pedro, main village on the island... my kind of town, I fell in love with it (and monster too, see above). A slightly sleepy town at day, with people strolling the beach, having a drink on the terrace or going for a dive... at night, it's all reggae music and amazing catch-of-the-day at dozens of restaurants and bars along the main strip. San Pedro became very special to me very quickly and I promise to come back soon and stay at least a week. I recommend it to everyone - it truly is magical.
Some of the smaller towns off the coast are also pretty cool, including San Ignacio from where I am currently writing. Very cute (and cheap) hotels with friendly owners that remind me of my grandparents, amazing food for under $5, and cool people everywhere...
But then, Belize has a few things that did not please me at all... the major towns are just plain ugly and awful. The largest city in Belize, Belize City (population: 70,000), has a dumpy feeling and is not well developed. My overpriced hotel was sitting 50 yards from the ocean, but there was no beach and the only path to the water was a dump site for the local community.
The capital of Belize, Belmopan, only has 12,000 inhabitants (smallest capital city in the world I believe), and the town is just a wreck of poor planning - everything is scattered, there is no feeling of centralization anywhere, and half the streets aren't paved... If that's the only thing you see in Belize, you will certainly leave with a bad impression.
And in addition to Belize being quite expensive by Central American standards, the country itself has the dumbest currency policy that I have ever seen. Basically, the Belize dollar is tied to the US dollar on a 2-1 ratio, and because the government is afraid that all the money would flow out of the country with free trade of the currency, they are severely limiting the holding of US dollars by most people in the country. For example, Belize citizens are not allowed to have a US bank account. And although it is very easy to exchange US dollars for Belize dollars, the reverse is an absolute nightmare. Residents can't do it, and tourists can only do it under certain conditions.
So my pain in the butt story in Belize is that I lost my ATM card right before entering the country... trying to think of ways to get cash to pay for the rest of my trip until my card is replaced, I thought I would hit the local casino, withdraw cash using my credit card and just exchange it later. Obviously, the casino would not let me withdraw in US currency, so I was stuck with thousands of Belize dollars and no obvious way to sell them back into some usable currency. I had to go to a local tourist information girl in San Pedro, who in turn had to go to 7 or 8 different shop owners and exchange some Belize dollars into whatever US dollars they were holding - usually $40 or $50. It took about 45 minutes and a bit of tipping to get her running to all those places (plus she was a bit overweight, that didn't help). Then as the whole town ran out of US dollars, I had to wait to get to Belmopan, go to the bank and be told that they didn't hold any US dollars. A second bank held $200 US dollars, and after a 30 minute wait and a long form to fill, I finally got all my money exchanged.
Morale of the story - Belize is an amazing destination: gorgeous jungle, crystal clear oceans, world-class diving, the best barbecue this side of Texas, a lazy and friendly lifestyle with the coolest people you could ever meet; just make sure that you don't get more local currency than you need, and don't bother exploring Belize City or Belmopan, there are much better places to see out there.
Belize is a tiny country. I did everything I wanted to do here on a half-tank of gas. I think the country is no more than 100 miles wide, by no more than 350 miles long.
Driving into Belize, everything changes. The people look different - there are a lot of black people here (african descendants), whereas I don't remember seeing more than a handful black people in Mexico. For a population of barely over a half-million, the cultural diversity is amazing. There are something like 20 languages spoken there, and I could hear english spanish creole and mandarin (chinese) pretty much everywhere I went (yes, mandarin - there is a large concentration of Taiwanese on the islands, perhaps due to the British occupation of both islands many years ago).
And it truly has a Caribbean feel - the music is reggae, the food is barbecue and jerk, and I love it. Quite refreshing after eating tacos for a month.
Belize also contains a good portion of the second largest barrier reef in the world (after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia)... there are hundreds of dive sites, with vertical walls of coral and more aquatic life than you could ever imagine. I feel truly lucky to have had the opportunity to dive off San Pedro in Ambergris Caye (an island 50 miles off the coast of Belize) and enjoy the amazing natural beauty that its ocean has to offer.
And then there is San Pedro, main village on the island... my kind of town, I fell in love with it (and monster too, see above). A slightly sleepy town at day, with people strolling the beach, having a drink on the terrace or going for a dive... at night, it's all reggae music and amazing catch-of-the-day at dozens of restaurants and bars along the main strip. San Pedro became very special to me very quickly and I promise to come back soon and stay at least a week. I recommend it to everyone - it truly is magical.
Some of the smaller towns off the coast are also pretty cool, including San Ignacio from where I am currently writing. Very cute (and cheap) hotels with friendly owners that remind me of my grandparents, amazing food for under $5, and cool people everywhere...
But then, Belize has a few things that did not please me at all... the major towns are just plain ugly and awful. The largest city in Belize, Belize City (population: 70,000), has a dumpy feeling and is not well developed. My overpriced hotel was sitting 50 yards from the ocean, but there was no beach and the only path to the water was a dump site for the local community.
The capital of Belize, Belmopan, only has 12,000 inhabitants (smallest capital city in the world I believe), and the town is just a wreck of poor planning - everything is scattered, there is no feeling of centralization anywhere, and half the streets aren't paved... If that's the only thing you see in Belize, you will certainly leave with a bad impression.
And in addition to Belize being quite expensive by Central American standards, the country itself has the dumbest currency policy that I have ever seen. Basically, the Belize dollar is tied to the US dollar on a 2-1 ratio, and because the government is afraid that all the money would flow out of the country with free trade of the currency, they are severely limiting the holding of US dollars by most people in the country. For example, Belize citizens are not allowed to have a US bank account. And although it is very easy to exchange US dollars for Belize dollars, the reverse is an absolute nightmare. Residents can't do it, and tourists can only do it under certain conditions.
So my pain in the butt story in Belize is that I lost my ATM card right before entering the country... trying to think of ways to get cash to pay for the rest of my trip until my card is replaced, I thought I would hit the local casino, withdraw cash using my credit card and just exchange it later. Obviously, the casino would not let me withdraw in US currency, so I was stuck with thousands of Belize dollars and no obvious way to sell them back into some usable currency. I had to go to a local tourist information girl in San Pedro, who in turn had to go to 7 or 8 different shop owners and exchange some Belize dollars into whatever US dollars they were holding - usually $40 or $50. It took about 45 minutes and a bit of tipping to get her running to all those places (plus she was a bit overweight, that didn't help). Then as the whole town ran out of US dollars, I had to wait to get to Belmopan, go to the bank and be told that they didn't hold any US dollars. A second bank held $200 US dollars, and after a 30 minute wait and a long form to fill, I finally got all my money exchanged.
Morale of the story - Belize is an amazing destination: gorgeous jungle, crystal clear oceans, world-class diving, the best barbecue this side of Texas, a lazy and friendly lifestyle with the coolest people you could ever meet; just make sure that you don't get more local currency than you need, and don't bother exploring Belize City or Belmopan, there are much better places to see out there.
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| San Pedro main street - only golf carts are allowed. |
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| San Pedro beach - perfect place to rest or jump on a boat |
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| Belizean waters - incredibly clear, warm and inviting. |
Underwater adventures
I will leave you now with some of my better underwater pictures. I saw a lot of shark, turtles, eels, ray, and all sorts of multicolor fish, in addition to the reef itself. The reef forms canyons into which you could swim, 100 feet of vertical color and life, it was phenomenal.
Until next time !
DMR
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| Cranky eel did not like to be disturbed. |
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| Surreal underwater scenery. |
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| Stingray at the surface. |
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| Little red fish tried to hide but failed. |
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| There were a lot of sharks, apparently not dangerous. I could get within 15 feet. |
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| The Moebius fish. |
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| Incredible colours and shapes. |
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| Fish that looks like a porcupine. |
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| Turtle. They swim a lot faster than they walk !!! |
Until next time !
DMR
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