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Articles Tagged ‘Hopkins’

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The Monkeys Arse

Monday, November 21st, 2005

Just added some images to the previous entries so scroll back down to check them out.

After the celebration day in Hopkins, myself and travel companion for the last week Laurie, went to the bus stop with conflicting info on whether their was a bus out of town or not. We didn’t get up in time for the 8am bus (guess who’s fault that was!) so we went down to sit and wait on the edge of town. We had very little money (I only had the bus fair) so we had no choice but to get to a place with a cashpoint. Eventually we realized there were no more buses running (it’s a Sunday thing) so we hitched a lift in the back of a pickup which took us straight to Dangriga, what a result!

Dangriga had little to offer other than a place to stay and an ATM, but that was fine.

The next day we parted company as Laurie was headed to Belize City and the nearby baboon sanctuary. I couldn’t face watching those red-arsed monkeys picking each others swollen behinds so I’ve headed to a place 6 miles west of San Ignacio near the Guatemalan border. It’s a butterfly farm/nature centre with a lodging place called Trek Stop, set in the jungle with wooden cabins, free internet, great food, a video library and excellent hospitality – it’s amazing what you find in the jungle.

Sunset from Trek Stop
Sunset from Trek Stop

Tomorrow’s another day and I’m going to go for a trek up to the local Mayan ruins to see if I’m over the ruin overload, or not.

I’ll try to post more photos in the next day or two. Let me know if you like them or whether they’re just taking too long to load and becoming a pain in the monkeys arse.

Posted in Belize, Central America, Travel | 1 Comment »

Caye Caulker – Go Slow

Friday, November 11th, 2005

Caye Caulker

I’ve been in Caye Caulker for almost a week now, and think that it’s time to make plans to move on. Life here is just too laid back and easy that I can see myself slipping into the lifestyle and never continuing my journey.

Al, Ed and myself arrived here last Saturday morning when it was overcast and raining occassionally – not what we were expecting. We sorted out accommodation and within an hour we all had a beer in hand and the sun came out to play – welcome to paradise island.

Ed and Al
Ed and Al

The beaches are white sand, palm-fringed, turquoise blue sea kind of thing. The place is so friendly and laid back, everyone speaks English (with a dollop of Creole) and reggae lazily drifts out of most bars and restaurants. You just can’t help but smile here, and that’s coming from me which says a lot.

The three of us went out snorkelling on the Monday morning (I’ve lost all concept of time and dates) with a small group of people. The local reef was beautiful with loads of tropical fishes, sharks, manta rays, coral etc. I really enjoyed the experience (first time for me) and will have to do some more on my travels.

After a couple of days the Tucan tour that we had left back in Mexico rocked up, with 30 new people and a few that were on the first leg of it with us. The next few days were fantastic as Ed, Al, Charmaine, myself and joined by Charmaines new partner in crime on the tour, Terrie. We all hung out together eating, drinking, kayaking round the island and generally having fun. I should mention a couple of the locals we’ve met. Maurice is the man, a big tall rasta dude from Chicago, living on the island running his own bar & grill – Wish Willys. He provided much hospitality which led to Terrie and myself ordering items which are not on the menus of any of the other restaurants in the area – the girl is a bad influence on my innocent self! Another local Reggie was working in the ‘I and I’ bar (reggae bar with hammocks and swings) and he’s such a nice guy. He’s originally from Hopkins on the mainland and I will no doubt bump into him again when I go there for the big music festival next weekend.

Come Thursday when the Tucan tour left along with Ed and Al returning to England, I found myself feeling sad and sorry for myself. This is going to be the toughest part of travelling, meeting really good people and then having to say goodbye all the time – what a pisser!

Still, within a couple hours I’d met some more people in the hostel, went out for drinks with them and had a really good night. How fickle am I?!!!

Right I need to go and start planning where next – I aim to get off the island in the next day or two and should get off the net before I run up a bill for more money than I have on me.

Posted in Belize, Central America, Travel | 1 Comment »