After a lovely month in Mexico it was time to move on and visit new countries.I´ve added six new countries to my list of places I´ve been. My first boarder crossing was from Mexico to Belize, where the chicken bus I was rideing drops you off...you go through customs ( where are you going? , how long are you staying?...anything to declare?...no I wont get up and check your stuff....I could of smugled in anything and they would´nt have cared...quite relax at all the boarders. ) and it picks you up on the other side and carries you along your way. I met a Aussie in the bus terminal who was heading the same direction as I was , but he spoke absolutely no spanish....can you believe this someone relying on me to interpret spanish for them...my five years of spanish one finally paying off!!! We ended up missing the last boat to Ambergris Caye our true destination and ended up staying one night in the border town of Corozal....what an experience. Matt (the Aussie) and I decided to go out for a few pops seeing it was a Thursday night and we had had a long day of traveling. I believe we walked into five different bars where there was only men...thinking this a bit weird we inquired about the situation...hopeing we had´nt some how slipped into some kind of Twilight Zone Gay Town, and it turns out that alot of the woman from Mexico come over the boarder illeagally for jobs in belize....ironicly there was a large imagration bust two nights before and all the woman of the town were deported....just my luck!!
Ambregris Caye was nice....the diving and snokleing..is fantastic. Belize is home to the second largest barrier reef in the world next to Austrialia´s. I swam w/ six foot Nurse shanks thats skin felt like sand paper and stingrays that had wing spans of the same size...they have more of a rubbery texture to their skin. I also snorkled in Hao Chan Marine reserve where it was as if you had lowered me into an aquarium every color you could imagin was represented in the fish. I saved my diveing experience for The Bay Islands in Honduras based solely on the cost of diving in Belize compared to Honduras. Belizes topography is thick jungle and beautiful Cayes. Honduras on the other hand has beautiful mountains and valleys w/ pleanty of grazing land for cattle. In all of Central America there is extream poverty, but the people in general seem quite happy...perhaps its because they all have been through such brutal wars that the peace is a welcome rest. I got a real feel for the countries rideing hours upon hours on Chicken Buses...essentially they cost a dollar an hour...to ride through entire countries sometimes only cost 4-5 bucks. All the locals travel this way and often times I´m the only white guy on the bus....which leads to many friendly smiles and greeting...my favorite spanish expression : Mucho Gusto....(nice to meet you). The average people live in no more then shanties along the road w/ dirt floors and all types of live stock rambleing around. The homes would look dreary except for they´re painted with the incredable blooms of the native flowers. The colors are so bright in there gardens growing wildly that it gives this odd beauty to the home.
The bay Island of Honduras ( Utila to be Exact ) are a divers paradise. People from around the globe travel here to get certified for open water, advanced, Master Diver and Insructor. It has great diveing...the Belize barrier reef breaks up this far down but there are spots of it here and there. The costs are second to none about a third of what it cost elsewhere. DMTs ( Dive Master in Training ) courses last 4-6 weeks so its nice to save on the cash. Most of the dive shops offer free hotel stays if you get certifed w/ them. Captain Morgans is who I dove w/ a great buch of folks that invited me out to parties and drinks each night. When you travel alone it´s nice every once in a while to have a group of 15 people to go out with. The entire island is generated by one station and the power shut off all the time but at christmas time this is even more prevelent then normal. All the bars are well prepared w/ candles to light the way...nothing like a cold pop by candle light on a dockbar in Honduras....one wrong step and your diveing again.
