On June 20, 2002, I entered Belize, had my passport stamped and then proceeded to customs. Attracting the usual attention, I explained to the customs official what was in my bags and where I was going. He wrote a few notes in my passport and waved me through. I entered a large free zone where Mexicans can come to buy supplies they cannot get in their country. Instead of Pemex, there are Esso, Texaco and Shell gas stations. The whole area is surrounded by a high fence.

         The terrain was very flat and I soon arrived in Corozal, pulled into a park and had lunch. There were many black people about with a strong rastafarian influence. A crowd soon gathered around the bike. After lunch, I went to three banks only to find that they did not have Interact, therefore, my banking card would not work. As I carried on toward Belize City, I was starting to get the impression that this country was even poorer than Mexico. I rode past fields of sugar cane and the usual yelling and whistling continued from people along the side of the road. I set up camp for the night in a rock quarry.

         It had rained over night so I awoke to find the quarry had changed to soft clay. By the time I pushed my bike out of there, the wheels were packed with so much clay, I was unable to ride. I had to spend the next 20 minutes cleaning the bike. I sailed into Orange Walk Town by lunch time and tried to find a bank with Interac or Plus with no luck. I stopped by the New River for lunch and decided to join a group of kids for a swim to cool off. It was only later that I discovered there were crocodiles in the river! Back on the Highway, I came to a toll bridge that crossed the New River but there was no one there to collect the toll. That night, I camped off the road near a swamp.

         The flat, straight road went on forever. I stopped at a bus shelter to rest when one of the locals came out to see the bike. He informed me that the town of Biscayne was very close. The store there had no water, just coke and orange soda. I took the orange soda. Shortly after, it started to pour rain so I stopped at another bus shelter where a couple locals were also seeking protection from the downpour. It was amazing to listen to them talk English then switch to Creole while others spoke French or Spanish.

         I arrived in Belize City in the late afternoon and while I was trying to figure out where to stay, the usual crowd gathered around the bike. One of the spectators was from Jamaica but he had lived in Toronto for many years. He told me where there was a cheap hotel and walked along with me to show me the way to the Downtown Guest House. It was a real dump but cheap and clean. It was run by Miss Kinney, an Asian woman and her helper, an American gentleman. Outside my window, Miss Kinney had three parrots in cages that made loud screeching noises around sunrise. She also had several cats and a dog. If I left my door open, the cats slept on my bed. The only other guests were Tim, an American in very poor health who lived at the Guest Home permanently with his "Boy Friday", Pole. Three black gentlemen were also there from North Carolina to buy some land in Belize. They were waiting for someone to pick them up.

         Belize City can only be described as a slum. It was dirty, old and falling apart. Most people arrived at the airport and jumped on a water taxi to go out to one of the keys. The town was small enough to walk everywhere. I was still not able to find a bank with Interact and fruit and vegetables were scarce. I was able to find a Laundromat to do my own laundry and an Internet Service where I found a message from my relatives in Canada telling me where their land was located in Belize. Wandering around the downtown area, I realized just how run down the place was. The blacks would yell out at me "Ea, white boy, come over here". I didn't know if this was their way of saying hello but I never stopped to find out.

         On June 26, I planned on going to the ruins at Altun Ha. In order to get there, it was necessary to catch a bus that left at 5:00am and dropped me off in a town a couple of miles from the ruins. I was up at 4:00am and made my way to the bus stop. The trip on a school bus was slow as it stopped at every little town along the way. I was dropped off at a bus shelter and then made my way up a dirt road to the ruins arriving there at 7:00am. There was no one to take my money so I wandered around freely . Many of the ruins were still being excavated so I spent some time talking to the workers. As I was leaving, the tour buses and car loads of people were arriving. I walked back to the main road and found the bus to Belize City wouldn't arrive for seven hours! I decided to try and hitch hike back to town and I was soon picked up by a Mennonite couple. Apparently, there are a number of Mennonite settlements in Belize. This couple had come from Western Canada in the 1950s and still had children living all over Canada. They dropped me off at the main Highway where the bus service was much more frequent.

         The next day, the three men from North Carolina were getting impatient waiting for their ride so we all decided to go to the Keys or Cays as they are called in Belize. The Cays, surrounded by the longest Barrier Reef (175 miles) in the Western Hemisphere, are the main tourist attraction in Belize. They range in size from uninhabited coral specks to substantial islets of mangrove and coconut palms, some with idyllic beaches and tiny fishing villages. The warm, crystal-clear water make swimming, scuba diving and snorkeling some of the best in the world. We caught a boat at 8:30am and after a 45 minute ride, we arrived at Cay Caulker. We wandered around the town most of the morning as I shot some video then at lunch time, I realized that I had lost my sunglasses. I retraced my steps with Edward but with no luck. We were planning on catching the boat back when I decided to look in a gift shop near the last place I had been shooting some video and to my surprise, my sunglasses were there.

         I spent a couple more days trying to repair my front tire, resting and sending a parcel home. Then on June 30, I decided to leave. The heat and humidity were almost unbearable. I quickly used up all my water and suntan lotion. I arrived in Belmopan, the capital of the country, and found a cheap hotel. The game for the World Soccer Cup between Brazil and Germany was on television.

         On July 1, I went in search of a bank with Interact when I met Ellen. She was an American from New England living in Belize for over a year doing missionary work. She offered me her house for the night as she was going out of town. I arrived at her place by 11:30 am to pick up the key before she left. She shared the upper floor of a house with a room mate who was away and another family lived on the ground floor. She gave me the key and departed for her trip. I spent the day trying to figure out how to get money with my master card and looking for gas for my stove. I discovered that the Internet was very expensive as there was only one private phone company in the country and they had a monopoly on the service. The next day, I left the key with a neighbor and continued my trip.

Belize - Maya Beach