My hotel (for real, more on that later).
Met a few interesting people in this hotel: There was this guy from Africa who also lives in the Bay Area. He has a business in Jamaica and is staying in Belize with his family for the week before heading back to the states. Turned out he is the biggest Warriors fan and we ended up “worshipping” Steph Curry over breakfast while I was waiting for my cave-tubing ride.
After spending my first day trying to figure out the bus routes and schedules, I took the 5:30am bus next morning with the Belizean locals to go see Lamanai.
Riding a speedboat through the rainforest en route to Lamanai. The guide would pull the boat over from time to time to see crocodiles in the river and iguanas on the trees.
Almost the entire group is a family, with family members spreading across Alaska, Canada, and Costa Rica – Nice people, blended right in.
Belize is a developing country and people living in shacks like this is not uncommon.
Lamanai ruins.
Once again, I was the only solo-traveler in the group. This family from Michigan just got off a cruise ship for the land excursion. They were surprised to hear that I traveled to Belize by myself, which is a reaction that I got a lot lately – But I had a lot of fun explaining it.
To get to the cave, we needed to walk through the rainforest. The Belizean guide was telling us all sorts of things th… See More
Going through the cave.
Rice and beans, an essential element of any Belizean meal.
Last picture of rice and beans. I promise.
Just kidding.
I made a mess here but with some imagination this is actually a very good Chicken Tamale – A chicken leg wrapped in steamed corn dough wrapped in banana leaf.
Belize is a developing country and the streets are not clearly marked. I used Google Maps to get my way around the city.
Novelo’s Bus Terminal, the main bus terminal in Belize City.
Over the course of the trip, I had the opportunity to speak with a number of Belizeans. Their main languages are English, Kriol, and Spanish. Kriol is an English-based Belizean language and is oftentimes tricky to understand (Think of it as speaking English with an accent).
90% of the people I saw were either Maya or Kriols; I sporadically saw a few Asian faces and the ones I met are all small-business owners (restaurants and convenience stores) who live in Belize and can speak fluent Cantonese. After realizing pretty much all Asians who live in Belize speak Cantonese, I spoke to them outright in Cantonese whenever I ran into one.
Getting inspired by the Peru trip, I made it a priority to talk to locals and tourists as much as I could. Just this simple act made this trip a lot more interesting and adventurous – Not so much from the touristy things that I got to see, but the whole experience of learning from the Belizean locals and tourists from all over the world was mind-blowing.
Caye Kaulker, one of the most famous islands off the coast of Belize in the Carribean Sea. Many visitors got off the cruise ship to spend a day here. I took the watertaxi here from Belize City.
Earlier in 2015 Leonardo DiCaprio bought an island 10 miles from here (Blackadore Caye) to build his resort on.
