DESTINATION 14, BELIZE and hopefully the arrival of a new Hogarth/Dolphin to the clan! (Note Blog written from the hammock on our wooden cabana overlooking the Caribbean ocean ha ha!) The next day we boarded our 'Express Bus' with some other westerners and local Belize people for destination 14, blimey just the number makes me feel tired! Not sure if the bus would get us there, we were pleasantly surprised and in no time at all were saying 'adios' to Mexico and 'Hello' Belize, yes bizarrely Belize is English speaking!!! Whilst excited about the prospect, it was also extremely weird to think that we weren't in a western country yet everyone spoke English and we were really intrigued about the experience of it all. On changing our money it got even weirder to see our queen smiling up at us from the notes below and when I asked if we needed a visa for the country the guy replied with 'where ya from' and then made me feel like an idiot by saying on my response, 'course you don't we share the same queen stupid!' Oooops!! The border crossing went ok, we got the usual rip off of having to pay the police money to exit Mexico which was SO annoying but it made life easier just to do it, and then we were finally over the border and on our way to Belize City. The first thing that struck me about Belize was the people. In other countries crossing the borders has meant that at least for the first 1-2 hours or so the landscape and the people seem almost like we are still where we have come from but here was different, as soon as we crossed the border the locals had a kind of Jamaican look which we didn't expect, vastly different from Mexicans and much to our surprise. The land too did not resemble much of Mexico and straight away you could tell that this was the poorest of the 3 countries within the area. Whilst driving the countryside felt quite vast and less populated by far, straw huts dotted the landscape but this time they had more land around them and even though we were on the country's main highway, it looked more like a back lane, just about big enough for 2 cars to pass! It was hard to tell if electricity existed in some areas and on arriving at our first town it felt more like a village compared to Mexico, such a difference already and we had only journeyed about 30 miles!!! On route we got chatting to a Yorkshire couple on the bus talking about Leeds and our entire nightclub haunts which was funny. For those that know Leeds and us of old you will be surprised to hear that Chapel Town is now a 'desirable' place to live... bl***y * ell eh!! These guys with some others departed at a place called 'Orange Walk,' we'd considered going there but time didn't permit, the place consisted of a main dirt road and a few wooden houses dotted around with small stalls lining the side of the road which was apparently the 'bus station!' I got off to guard the bags and alsoto try to listen to the language. It seemed really weird that people around us could now understand us so you had to make a note to yourself to watch what you said, plus when beggars etc.. came annoying you, you couldn't act like you didn't understand anymore, b*****! Needless to say I think my brain still couldn't register that these guys were speaking English as I couldn't understand a word at first, then we realised that they actually speak a type of slang version which is quite hard to decipher, but on talking directly to us their English then becomes clearer/more comprehendible. I still kept saying to myself though 'blimey these guys have great english' always expecting Spanish to be the main dialect! After a bit of commotion which saw the kiwi coupe James and Sandy getting back on the bus as 'the 20 mile away destination' they wanted to reach could only be reached from Belize City, 50 miles away (Uuummm, we could see that getting places might be tough!), we were back on the 'highway' passing more flat green landscape, wooden shacks and ex US school buses of old that now serve as local buses. 3 hours on we arrived in Belize City. In the guidebook and from travellers we had been recommended not to stay here as at night it is unsafe so we thought better of it and hoped that time would see us heading straight out to a nearby island. On entering the city I was surprised at what I saw. It didn't really reflect the place I had pictured, it was clean, had no high rises, bright coloured buildings were dotted about and it was more of a town than a city highlighting just how small and under populated Belize is compared to its neighbours. I didn't feel threatened at all and it actually looked a place that would be nice to stay..... On getting to the bus station my view changed somewhat, suddenly we were hounded by people wanting to take us places and when we all finally grouped together to get a taxi, a huge guy who seemed to be a 'friend' of the taxi driver took my bag. He did the old 'hey brother' thing with Adam, had a few teeth missing but gleamed a gold one and whilst he looked to me like one of those gang members out of some American thriller, he appeared harmless enough until we got in the taxi, it materialised that he didn't know the taxi guy and he wanted money from me. We didn't have change to give at this point and on telling him this the smile went, his eyes appeared dark and I felt quite scared! It was good our driver left swiftly! The short drive then took us though rougher areas of the city and at this point I was glad not to be staying there I just didn't feel safe. The expression described in the book that 'everyone wants to be your friend until they want something you can't give' rang true and even our nice taxi driver ripped us off! Not the best introduction to this country for us all. At the boat pier the laid back Jamaican feel expected was replaced by stressed locals rushing us and pushing us through, it was actually quite a relief to finally be on the boat heading away from the mainland, here's hoping that our idyllic destination an hour way was as good as hoped....