Day 70 San Ignacio, Belize

Today was a very interesting day of travel. First we headed south to a town close to the Mexico-Belize boarder called Chetumal where we had to then buy another ticket on wards to Belize City. It was on this bus ride that we finally got to see some of the true Mexico we wanted, not the built-up tourist areas of the Mayan Riviera. We stopped for a break in one town where ladies were selling fresh tacos with chicken and salad piled up on top of each other. Brendan of course tried his luck at a few and gave them rave reports. We had 2 hours to kill in the bus station at Chetumal which gave us a chance to watch some of the soccer with the other commuters.

So then onto Belize City via a few other smaller areas of Belize. As soon as we crossed the border we noticed a change. The radio and news were all in English, people came onto the bus selling tamales, cut up mango and other delights and they looked very confused at our bad Spanish before telling us to speak English in their strong Caribbean accents. We saw many people with dreadlocks and glazed looks as well as some pretty rough looking streets. As we arrived into Belize City with the sun setting very fast we noticed minimal tourists around and we started to see why we had been given caution about this place. It did not have a good feel at all. We had one more bus to catch before we were at our destination and it was already nearly 6pm. We walked off our bus, asked the first guy we saw for a bus to San Ignacio and he quickly directed us to a bus pulling out from the station. No time to refuel or have a pit stop, we had to jump on and go. The local bus was interesting as there were only 2 seats left for the 4 people getting on. Brendan opted for sitting on the spare tire at the back but I was lucky enough to land next to a lovely local lady who I chatted to for the next 2 hours. She gave me many recommendations and warnings about her country and other areas in Central America. I loved listening to her almost musical Caribbean accent. She told me about the crime in Belize, the dodgy areas, the ways to be safe as well as travelling stories from herself and her family throughout Central America. She mentioned El Salvador once, making the action of a knife across her throat and then followed with a story about her daughter being strip searched at gun point while on a bus in Guatemala. My excitement about being in a new country was starting to diminish and to top it off during the bus ride there were 15min updates on the possible hurricane coming this way...awesome start to Belize.

We finally arrived into San Ignacio with just enough time to book into our hostel and run around to a few tour agencies to suss out some activities for the next day. After looking at all the options, the crazy high prices and thinking about the next few days ahead after Belize, we decided to just have one night there and then make our way to Guatemala the next day. We ate a classical local dinner of chicken stew with rice and beans and headed to bed with reggae music playing next door. I am sure there are many lovely places in Belize but we just didn't come across them. Bring on Guatemala.