round-the-world in 2005
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Mar 23 - Mar 26, 2005
At last some English being spoken, albeit with such as strong Caribbean accent!

23 Mar 2005 Dreadlock holiday
Another day, another country - why not? Today we headed for Belize. We flagged the bus down for a ride across the border. Our bags on top of the bus got a covering of fine limestone dust along the outback road to the crossing. A much more civilised border crossing much to our relief. The first signs of English in quite a while. They say that in Belize the locals speak English, but I swear ‘it doon soon nooffin liike englis’. A bus to Belize city the ex-capital, which is surprisingly smaller than Darwin. Then a short boat ride to an island off the coast, Caye Caulker, which is only 1 km long. What a Caribbean paradise. A sandy one street town with a laid back lifestyle, like Rottnest island with a Rastafarian style. A swim went down well at the beach before a relaxing dinner.

24 Mar 2005 Unbelizable
We splurged today on an all day snorkeling and sailing cruise. There is a large reef just off the island, which is the second largest to Australia's great barrier reef. We were a little embarrassed that we have not been to out own barrier reef. This one was pretty special - we will have to compare some other time. We got to swim with sharks and sting rays, and to see lots of coral and multi-coloured fish. The trip finished with a few nibblies and lots of rum punch, which went to our heads after a long day in the sun. We continued to party back on shore with our new Aussie, German and Belizean friends.

25 Mar 2005 I can not belize it
We woke this morning with sore heads, after too much sun and snorkeling ... and I guess that too much local rum had something to do with it. We had a slow day doing the clothes washing, swimming, reading at the beach, shopping, and planning our ongoing travels. Belize is quite expensive in comparison to other Central American countries, so we tried to do all the free stuff today. We had a nice dinner on the ocean shore to finish the day. Soaking up the atmosphere, listening to Bob Marley again.

26 Mar 2005 Belize it or not
This was the third night in the same place, only the second time we have done this so far, so it is time to move on. As it was expensive on the island, we visited the bakery for breakfast for the third time in three days. We caught a ferry back to Belize City, and when we arrived at our accommodation destination we found it was burnt down. Not to worry - we found another place down the road thanks to some friendly advice form a local. A two-story weatherboard, very old, ramshackle, fire hazard and almost falling down guesthouse - just like most of the buildings in Belize city. We took a self-guided tour around the city, which didn’t take too long because everything was closed being Easter Saturday. Despite a few beggars and addicts, the locals are all really friendly and proud of their country.
next we cross over the border to Mexico.