May 8-9
After flying back to Belize City I went to the Princess
hotel to gather my bike and the gear that I had left in their storeroom. The bike was fine, but unfortunately a bit of
gear was missing. A large raspberry to
the manager, Mr. Tuna Akbulut, for making it clear that he wasn’t about to do anything. However, there is a new
medium of revenge out there: Trip Advisor.
There will be a few comments posted by yours truly. Won’t get my stuff back, but I’ll feel better.
From Belize City I headed north towards Mexico. But I had to make a stop first at the Planet
of the Apes… actually the Bermudian Landing Community Baboon Sanctuary. Now, I know there are no baboons in the
Americas, so I just had to see what this was about. Actually, it’s a sanctuary for black howler
monkeys that was started by the landowners in the area to preserve the howler’s
habitat. They’ve done a good job of
setting aside what would otherwise be farmland (and I have to give them credit;
these are subsistence farmers) so that the monkeys would have a protected area.
My guide, Robert, took me for a nature walk where we not
only saw the howlers, but got up close and personal. The little guy to the left is a juvenile about a year old. The old man of the tribe is the one below.
If you've never heard howler monkeys you should know that they really
deserve their name. None of this "chirp chirp" sound that other monkeys
make. A group of howlers sound just like a pack of lions, and if you hear
them growling at dawn or dusk you'll really worry that you are about to be
attacked and undoubtedly eaten alive.
Fortunately you're probably safe... unless you're a banana.
After that I headed towards the Mexican border at
Chetumal. The ride was uneventful until
I stopped to ask for directions in Corozal (Belize). I hit a patch of sand going about 2 mph and
the bike fell over, breaking the cut-off switch. Now, this isn’t a problem in turning off the
bike (you can always turn the key), but without the switch the bike won’t
run. This can be problematic, to say the least. Fortunately I have a wiring diagram in the
repair manual that I carry and was able to take enough apart to hot wire the
bike. See… my mis-spent teenage years weren’t
wasted! It also pointed out another
example of why I have a Kawasaki instead of a BMW: In the Beemer the switch is probably
integrated with a computer or something like that that requires a tech team
with $50k of diagnostic equipment to get it running. With the Kawi any delinquent with a
switchblade and a piece of wire can get the thing going. Sometimes that is just plain useful.
I got to the Mexican border at 5:45 pm and had no problems
with immigration, but it seems that customs closed at 5! Only in Mexico! They told me to go into town and come back in
the morning, so off I went. Actually, it
turned out fine since it gave me a chance to try to fix the cut-off switch
(unsuccessfully) and to find a new rear tire (successfully). Then back to the border, do the paperwork, and off to my next stop,
Tulum in the state of Quintana Roo on the Yucatan Peninsula.
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