April 28 - 30
After a quiet day yesterday hanging around Rio Dulce,
relaxing, and catching up on this blog it was time to get back on the
road. I left Rio Dulce early (6:45) to
head for Belize. When I stopped for
breakfast El Pinguino decided he needed a little rest too and promptly fell
over in the gravel in front of the restaurant.
(Can’t trust them penguins!).
Unfortunately, the kickstand of the bike had come apart and I had to
find a shop in Poptun to re-thread the bolt at the bottom.
I should mention, these kinds of things are common. I’m always having to fix something, which is
one reason I chose the Kawasaki: It’s a VERY simple bike. Kind of the technological equivalent of a
Model T. A lot of people use BMWs for crazy-ass rides like mine, and while BMW
makes fantastic bikes, I want simple. No
computer, no injection, no nothing that I can’t fix with a piece of string and
some chewing gum. The Kawasaki fits the
bill for this kind of travel in third-world countries. Anyway, I found a truck repair place that could fix the threads
and a half-hour and three dollars later I was on my way.
The border crossing into Belize was the easiest that I have
had so far. There was no line at immigration
and customs didn’t even want copies of my paperwork! In many countries this can be a major time
waster: getting stamps in your passport then having to find a copy shop to make
copies of the passport with the stamps, etc.
In Belize they just wanted to see the registration, noted it in my
passport, and I was off. I did have to
stop at an insurance office to get a temporary policy, but even that was a
pleasure. Since there was competition
(there were three companies at the border), they invited me in, gave me coffee,
the use of a clean restroom, and I was on my way.
One thing that really surprised me was that as soon as I
crossed into Belize there were many, many signs in Chinese. There is evidently a huge Chinese population
here. Although I asked many people, I
still don’t know when they came to Belize, from what part of China, or why. Other than that, the signs are in English. Before it was Belize, this was British Honduras so the official language is not Spanish. However, it is not an English that many of you (or me) would recognize.
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The other thing that there was was speed
bumps. They LOVE them in Belize. Every town, every store, every drunk by the
side of the road, seems to set up a set of speed bumps. And if they don’t have “official” bumps made
out of concrete or asphalt the people make their own out of thick rope or
pieces of tires. It really puts a strain
on the suspension, to say nothing of one’s person al posterior section
Since I had a few days before going to San Pedro (Ambergris
Caye) to meet Karen, I decided to head to the town of Dangriga. This is supposed to be the center of the
Garifuna culture (decended from African slaves). Unfortunately nothing was open and the town
was really a bore. After one night I
headed for Belize City. Keeping with my
philosophy of “take the road less travelled” I got off the highway and took the
“coastal road”. This was 37 miles of
dirt. While it might not be too nice in
a car, on a bike it was fine. First, no
speed bumps. And talk about no traffic…
on the entire road I saw two cars, two bicycles, and a tractor. I was however, a little worried that if I
broke down out there they might not find me until years later!
Belize city is pretty much of a pit. While the hotel I stayed at was fine (the
Princess Hotel and Casino) I had been warned not to walk around the city,
especially at night. I followed that
advice. The next day I went searching
the city for some motorcycle oil to do an oil change, and when I finally found
it I was also told that the store (Benny’s) had a shop next door that I was
welcome to use and where I could discard the used oil. Perfect.
The manager, James, couldn’t have been nicer. People are constantly helping out this way,
just when you need them. It’s one of the
reasons I always try to help bikers who come through Panama… this “Pay it
forward” (or pay it back) really seems to work.
One thing that DIDN’T work, however, was Skype. I’ve gotten quite dependent on it. But because in Belize there is a monopoly on
internet and telephone, they have blocked Skype. Can’t have them cheap calls going around the
world, can we? It was a major
frustration for a week.
Tomorrow I fly to Ambergris Caye for a week of “upscale”
relaxation and diving.
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