Belize, Central America

After very little sleep we arrived in Belize city, got a taxi to the marina and caught a water taxi to Caye Caulker, a 1 mile x 5miles small island, 45 minutes off the coast of Belize.Being low season we found a room no problem, in fact we had the entire hotel to ourselves.The isalnd is a quirky place, very laid back, the island moto being; go slow! Everyone knows everyone else, and most resemble Bob Marly and everwhere you are, you are a stones throw away from clear turquoise water. It didnt take us long to adjust to island life.We had lobster on the beach, chatted to locals and other backpackers, drank rum, read books, snorkeled, it was heaven.We took a snorkeling trip out to 3 parts of the reef, swimming with tropical fish, a swarm of string rays and a couple of sharks.

After 3 nights we headed back to the mainland, we could have stayed for ever, but there is so much to see that we had to drag ourselves away.We then took a local bus from Belize city to Bermudian landing, where there is a monkey sancutary.The area consists of 8 villages that have signed a pact that every landowner would leave a large postion of jungle around their perimeter, so that the monkeys could survive. Our 1st local bus ride was a little daughting, but it went smoothly.We arrived in a village, in the middle of nowhere but were quickly greeted by Fallet, the coordinator of of the sancutary. We found a room, and it was quickly aparent that we were the only tourists here.There was nowhere to eat or cook food, or buy food for that matter but we were assured that at dinner time one of the local would cook us something. We went on a guided walk through the jungle, where we were shown the local plants and how they are used in medicine.Then we walked further into the jungle where there were a troop of black howler monkeys.Fallet had a banana so we could get a closer look at these amazing animals.They came right down to us, wraped their hands around our fingers, ate some banana before scurrying up into the trees again.They were so cute and kept showing off swinging on the branches around us.That night we were cooked a traditional meal, as promised, which was brought to our room.After picking all the bugs off our bed we tried to get some sleep.But the heat and humidity was bearly barable, there was something on our roof that was scratching all night, and the howls of the monkeys kept walking us.The next day some other tourists arrived.One couple were riding a tandum bike from Canada to Argentina! That night we had a less traditional meal of chicken and chips cooked for all of us.

The following day was our first boarder crossing, over to Guatemala.All went smoothly until we relised that we didn't have enough money for our departure fee, but two guys on our bus came to our rescue and lent us the money (thanks Louis and Paolo). We have now arrived in Flores, a cute town overlooking the lake, where we will spend a few days.