7/19/06 update. Hello. Alexey here. So, I arrive in Belize curious about what kind of operation these jokers are running. Turns out I´ve now woken up at 6am or earlier for 4 straight mornings (with a 6am volcano climb tomorrow)... I thought this was vacation! Wow, these guys are slave drivers - quite a contrast to my eastern european beer/vodka sampling tour.
So before this trip started, I only had one damn request for these folks - get a club for the car! Turns out they don´t have a "club" for the car! I mean, if my toyota corolla gets broken into 3 times in the states within a yearjust for the heck of it, what is going to happen to a car with Massachusettsplates in Colombia???? I mean, cars are really not that hard to steal. Anyway, so far so good, still looking for a walmart with a club and trying to park inprotected areas.
Wednesday, after recovering from a night of bad dancing to even worse reggae, we left the belize islands (cayes) in a small motor boat and outpaced a fastmoving storm which occasionally packed gale force winds. We were able to see the ole´ palm tree tossin round like a twig thing you always see on the weather channel. The locals seemed unphased and said they still run ferries during hurricanes - the reef protects them. (see pic) I was happy to not flip. Upon arrival to belize city we found Dennis (the 3 day car watcher) just hangingout. He took us to the car. Turns out "they weren´t exactly sure wherethe car was located" (!?!!!) so it was pretty good we ran into him.(seepic)
After finding the car, I promptly earned the name s··tbag, as I deftly huckedmy backpack on top of an enormous pile of dog crap. After 20 minutes of damage control, we were on our way to guatemala. We tried to visit the president of Belize at his house in Belmopan, but turnsout there is no president, only a prime minister. The guard told us he would have ask if we culd go in the gates, we said we were in a rush.
I get very nervous with border crossings. I carry a special glue stick because Ihave to glue my passport together before each crossing because it isdelaminating and the the picture and the edges just looks like it can beslipped in there - plus I look like a terrorist - plus the portion on the front that says US passport is pretty much rubbed off - plus there is no room for any stamps in my passport because I have all these sketchy stamps from sketchy countries. Fortunately I have usually have innocent looking people to go withme that help cover for me.
The crossing involved 5 separate payments and some negotiating, but we made it. We thought we would be smart and not get out any more belize dollars, but turnsout we nearly ran out of cash as a group (this includes back up cash), oops. The roads promptly turned to dirt as we hit guatemala, but Jose was happy because there was sugar cane juice and promise of Tepezquile (large rodent)
Finally made it to Tikal vicinity and had nice swim in the a lake with some ofthe locals. It´s great to be here, also great to be with some travelers asc heap as myself who consider spending more than $25 per day a rippoff.
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