After 3 amazing weeks in Mexico it was time for me to move on. My next country to explore was Belize. Somehow, I have always been fascinated by this country because I knew so little about it and because it seemed to be a little bit different from the rest of Latin America. It was pretty straightforward to get there, I just took a water taxi from Chetumal to Caye Caulker, a little island off the coast from Belize. I got my Mexican exit stamp at the port in Chetumal and enjoyed 90 minutes of bumpy boat ride. We then stopped in San Pedro for the immigration procedure, which was done quickly. That was it, I already was in Belize. It took 30 more minutes on the boat and I arrived in Caye Caulker.
Similar to many places along the Mexican coast, the beaches in Caye Caulker were full of seaweed, so swimming or spending a day at the beach was not really an option. But I still liked the island. The slogan of Caye Caulker is “go slow” and people were definitely living up to it. The village is tiny, there are plenty of palm trees and bars playing reggae music. The food was really amazing, there was so much fresh seafood. It was a bit difficult for me to walk around, because every 5 meters someone (mostly old dudes with dreadlocks) was trying to talk to me, invite me for drinks or sell me a tour. Belize felt indeed quite different from Mexico or any other Latin American country I’ve been to. The main language is English, and the people are a wild mix of different origins.
Since Belize was quite expensive compared to Mexico, I didn’t do any scuba diving, but I went on a one-day snorkeling tour, which was amazing. We saw manatees (sea cows), nurse sharks, tons of different fish species and lots and lots of beautiful corals.
Caye Caulker
Manatee, spotted while snorkeling on Caye Caulker
After 3 days in Caye Caulker I moved on to San Ignacio, a town in western Belize, towards the Guatemalan border. Many people come here to do a tour to the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) cave, and so did I. To be honest, when you travel a lot and do many tours it kind of becomes repetitive at some point: You get picked up by a car or minibus, they drive you to some place, where you do some hiking, swimming or sightseeing, you take a lot of pictures, get some lunch and then they drive you back. I’m not saying this is boring, I am super grateful to have seen all the amazing places I’ve been to. But the tours start resembling each other a little bit. Not this one. My ATM cave tour was one of those once in a lifetime experiences that you never forget. We were a group of 5, plus our guide Renan, who has been guiding these tours for 20 years and was super knowledgeable. It was about an hours’ drive and then a 45 min walk through the jungle to the cave entrance. After not even 5 minutes of walking we had to cross a river which was as deep as I am tall. There was no bridge or boat, so we had no choice but to swim fully dressed. Of course, we had been warned about this, so we didn’t bring anything and only wore light clothes (swimming suit, shorts and t-shirt, light trekking shoes). Completely soaked we continued through the jungle and had to cross 2 more, shallower rivers to reach the cave entrance. There we put on our helmets and turned on our headlamps. In order to enter the cave, we again had to swim and the clear blue water looked just beautiful. It was pretty cold though. We made our way deep into the cave, half swimming, half walking and had to cross several narrow cracks and climb over some rocks. It was the perfect adventure and the cave was breathtakingly beautiful. Red and yellow rock formations, stalactites and stalagmites completely covered with sparkling crystals, bats flying above our heads, and the light from hour head lamps reflected by the water, painting dancing shadows onto the cave walls. But it got even better. We continued into the “dry” zone of the cave, which was full of remains from the Mayan culture. The caves had signified the underworld for them, where gods and spirits dwelt, and they had entered the caves to perform rituals. We found ceramics, arrowheads and even petrified human skeletons, some of which were covered in sparkling crystals. Everything had been left exactly the way people had found it and the only sign of modern civilization were some tapes that led the way. I cannot even start to describe how magical this place was. It was over way too soon and we climbed and swam back to the cave entrance and made our way back through the jungle. This was definitely one of the most magical places I’ve ever been to. Unfortunately, I can’t show you any pictures, since cameras are forbidden in the cave. It’s a pity on one hand, but on the other hand the fact that I was not constantly trying to get the best shot made the experience much more intense. Anyway, it’s not a place that can easily be captured in pictures. You’ll have to go and see it yourself to believe it!;)
I spent a few days in San Ignacio and checked out the Mayan ruins of Cahal Pech, which are just a 20 min walk from the town. I really loved this site, it was in the middle of the jungle and there was almost no one. Also, there are no fences, so you were allowed to climb on top of the pyramids and just soak up the atmosphere. Definitely an underrated Maya site! I also did a cave tubing tour, meaning that you sit on an inflatable tube and float down a river through caves and jungle. Even though the cave was not as magic as the ATM cave, it was still a lot of fun.
Maya ruins of Cahal Pech
Cave tubing fun
My next stop was Hopkins, a Garifuna village back at the coast. The trip there was a highlight in itself. First, I took a bus to Dangriga. It was a typical chicken bus, an old, colorfully painted American school bus with open windows and loud reggae-ish music. We went along the “Hummingbird Highway”, through jungle hills, orchards and tiny villages. In the bus I could again admire the cultural diversity of Belize. There were Latinos, Creoles, Garifuna, and even Amish. In Dangriga I had to wait for my connection, since there are only two buses per day to Hopkins, but then it was only 40 more minutes to get there.
Hopkins is said to be a vibrant town and the center of Garifuna culture. However, when I was there you could definitely feel that it was low season. There was just not a lot going on, so I didn’t stay very long.
Hopkins village
Next, I moved on to Placencia. Here on the other hand I was grateful that it was low season, because it is said to be full of American resort tourists. But now it was pretty quiet, which I enjoyed. Most accommodations and restaurants are located along a tiny sidewalk and surrounded by sand and palm trees. After having slept in dorms for 5 weeks I got a room for myself in a super cute guesthouse with an amazing terrace. Pure luxury! Again, swimming was not really an option due to the seaweed, but I took a boat tour to monkey river, a beautiful jungle river, where we saw howler monkeys, huge iguanas, turtles, crocodiles and lots of birds. Otherwise I just enjoyed some peace and quiet and the sea breeze, sitting on my terrace. Well, that was the backpacking part of my Belize adventure. Tomorrow I’m heading off to a tiny island off the coast from Placencia, where I will do some reef conservation volunteering. It’s the only part of my trip that I pre-booked and i’m really looking forward to it!
My amazing guesthouse in Placencia
Placencia beach
Monkey river boat tour