Ola again!
We are on a roll of postings now!
Given our busy social schedule (ie, we are meeting Nacho, Rosanna and Monty in Costa Rica in early September), we couldn't explore Guatemala further. We kept an eye on Dean, having found out that the Weather Channel did frequent updates on the hurricane's progress (so frequent in fact thath the hurricane didn't have time to move that much in between them...). At that time it looked like it would miss Belize altogether, so we made our way down to another island (yes, another island...) called Tobacco Caye. We took the express again and 3h and -$10 later we arrived at the outskirts of Belmopan, the capital of Belize. We were dropped off by the
express in a bus stop in the middle of nowhere and told to catch any bus going in a given direction. Hum... Interesting... In fairness to the belizean way of travelling, a bus came 15 min and about 10 mosquito bites later. This time it was the normal public bus, reffered to by tourists as "chicken buses", given the occasional chicken travelling with its owner. Actually they are old american school buses and we have since found them across the whole of Central America. Travelling in these buses remindes me of that crazy bus in one off the Harry Potter books: I swear chicken buses go through roads and curves where it would be physically impossible for them to pass without some sort of sorcery...
Still we arrived safelly to Dangriga, where we spent the
night in a lovely B&B which was unfortunately for its owner (Louise) clearly located in the wrong city: there isn't much to do or see there. The Weather Channel told us Dean was about to hit Puerto Rico and that it could head anywhere from Mexico down to Nicaragua. We started wondering whether we should head inland to Guatemala but then Louise told us that her brother run an hotel in Tobacco Caye and that the moment she was worried about the hurricane, she'd evacuate her mum and brother from the island. Actually, the government evacuates the islands and costal places when there's a hurricane coming. Feeling reassured, we made a very bumpy ride into the island in a very small boat. Although painful, it was worth it - Tobacco Caye is a pretty little island, in the middle of the reef, with five small hotels and one beach bar. It has white sands lined with palm trees, just as you would picture a little island to be like. It's perfect for relaxing as there's not much else to do beyond snorkeling, swiming, hammocking and tanning. Nice!
In the evening all the inhabitants from the island (about ten plus the tourists) gathered at the bar for an update on the hurricane and a drink, of course. The radio was on and every so often there was an update on Dean's coordinates, which the fishermen translated for us as "far, far away". Besides Louise's mum was still on the island so we were confident we were safe :-) And we can tell you that the sky over Tobacco Caye has more stars than in any other place we've been! Nice by day and by night!
Nevertheless, the wiser part of us told us not to push our luck and the following morning, with much regret, we took the boat back to the mainland. The same day Dean hit Jamaica and changed its course slightly south, putting northern Belize in its path. The Government ordered the evacuation of the northern islands, including our first stop, Caye Caulker. Fortunately most damage was material and the last time we checked only 12 people died, which is very low for a force 5 hurricane.
Bye for now,
Vania
We are on a roll of postings now!
Given our busy social schedule (ie, we are meeting Nacho, Rosanna and Monty in Costa Rica in early September), we couldn't explore Guatemala further. We kept an eye on Dean, having found out that the Weather Channel did frequent updates on the hurricane's progress (so frequent in fact thath the hurricane didn't have time to move that much in between them...). At that time it looked like it would miss Belize altogether, so we made our way down to another island (yes, another island...) called Tobacco Caye. We took the express again and 3h and -$10 later we arrived at the outskirts of Belmopan, the capital of Belize. We were dropped off by the
express in a bus stop in the middle of nowhere and told to catch any bus going in a given direction. Hum... Interesting... In fairness to the belizean way of travelling, a bus came 15 min and about 10 mosquito bites later. This time it was the normal public bus, reffered to by tourists as "chicken buses", given the occasional chicken travelling with its owner. Actually they are old american school buses and we have since found them across the whole of Central America. Travelling in these buses remindes me of that crazy bus in one off the Harry Potter books: I swear chicken buses go through roads and curves where it would be physically impossible for them to pass without some sort of sorcery...Still we arrived safelly to Dangriga, where we spent the
night in a lovely B&B which was unfortunately for its owner (Louise) clearly located in the wrong city: there isn't much to do or see there. The Weather Channel told us Dean was about to hit Puerto Rico and that it could head anywhere from Mexico down to Nicaragua. We started wondering whether we should head inland to Guatemala but then Louise told us that her brother run an hotel in Tobacco Caye and that the moment she was worried about the hurricane, she'd evacuate her mum and brother from the island. Actually, the government evacuates the islands and costal places when there's a hurricane coming. Feeling reassured, we made a very bumpy ride into the island in a very small boat. Although painful, it was worth it - Tobacco Caye is a pretty little island, in the middle of the reef, with five small hotels and one beach bar. It has white sands lined with palm trees, just as you would picture a little island to be like. It's perfect for relaxing as there's not much else to do beyond snorkeling, swiming, hammocking and tanning. Nice!In the evening all the inhabitants from the island (about ten plus the tourists) gathered at the bar for an update on the hurricane and a drink, of course. The radio was on and every so often there was an update on Dean's coordinates, which the fishermen translated for us as "far, far away". Besides Louise's mum was still on the island so we were confident we were safe :-) And we can tell you that the sky over Tobacco Caye has more stars than in any other place we've been! Nice by day and by night!
Nevertheless, the wiser part of us told us not to push our luck and the following morning, with much regret, we took the boat back to the mainland. The same day Dean hit Jamaica and changed its course slightly south, putting northern Belize in its path. The Government ordered the evacuation of the northern islands, including our first stop, Caye Caulker. Fortunately most damage was material and the last time we checked only 12 people died, which is very low for a force 5 hurricane.
Bye for now,
Vania
No comments:
Post a Comment