Arrival in Belize: Orange Walk and Belize City

02/10/09-03/10/09

We set off from Mexico feeling excited at the prospect of getting to Belize and experiencing all of the wonders that we had read and heard about from other travellers! Belize is a former English colony that gained independence in 1981 and is a member of the Commonwealth. The official language is English, although several other languages are spoken, and the Belizean notes bear the face of Queen Elizabeth II, as she is still the Head of State here. In Belize, everything is so different compared to the other countries that make up the Central American continent and so we were really looking forward to our time here. Maybe it was our fault for starting in Orange Walk??? Not that we could have avoided starting there, as it was the first place of 'interest' on the route from Mexico...but what can I say, disappointment just doesn´t do justice to how we felt upon arriving there (And I´m sad to say that two weeks later, when we are just about to leave again, our experiences of Belize, with the exception of a few, have not been much better than this first one).

Orange Walk is Belize´s second largest city, but does not seem at all prepared for tourists, as there is absolutely nothing to do here. It´s not that we like places which are heavily geared towards tourists, but it´s always nice to at least have something interesting to see, do or find out about. That is certainly not the case in Orange Walk! Well actually, there was a wildlife sanctuary nearby, that may have been interesting, but it was such a mission to get to, that we decided not to bother. If Orange Walk had offered us a better place to base ourselves for a couple of days, we may have been more open to the idea of spending time and money exploring the surroundings, but we were keen to move on as soon as possible. The one consolation here was that we found a really nice restaurant with a terrace out the back where we escaped the dirty and miserable looking streets of the city for a couple of hours.

Another shock to the system on arriving in Belize, although this one a little more expected, was the cost of everything. It is so much more expensive than anywhere else we have been so far, and even more expensive in Europe in some cases. The internet and phone tariffs are by far the worst offenders, with some places charging as much as US$ 7.50 an hour!!! Although we did manage to find a more reasonable rate of just US$2 in a couple of places. Accommodation (quality depending of course) also tends to be a lot more expensive than we have been used to, with Belize City (our second destination in Belize) really taking the biscuit on that score! In Orange Walk we paid the slightly-higher-than-normal rate of US$22.50 for a double room with private bath (and the luxury of a TV, which is always useful in a boring place), so when we got to Belize City the next day and headed towards one of the supposedly 'cheapest' places in our guidebook, we were shocked to be told that a double room with shared bath (without TV) would set us back US$50!!! We asked what other alternatives available and we weren´t any more impressed with the dorm room rates of US$20 per person, which would potentially mean sharing with three other people and sharing a bathroom. Not that we are at all averse to dorms (they are not my favourite I must admit) but usually they provide the huge advantage of costing next to nothing, not $20!!! It just so happened that we were staying there during a very quiet period (there was only one other guest) and so we ended up staying in the dorm room for a reduced rate of $15 per person, which is still very expensive, but we didn´t think we would fare much better at any other hostel so we decided to take it! A couple of hours exploring the city was enough to confirm that there was nothing much to do here either, so at least we wouldn´t have to pay the extortionate room prices for more than one night :)

Belize City is Belize´s largest city and former capital. The capital was moved to Belmopan in 1961 following the devastation wrought by Hurricane Hattie. Belize City is right on the East coast of the country and more prone to being hit by the numerous hurricanes that pass through the area. Due to the expensive accommodation and lack of tourist attractions its main purpose is to serve as a transport hub between the islands of Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye, which lie about an hour to an hour and a half away from Belize City. It appears that most people are aware of this and don´t even bother spending anytime in the city, preferring instead to hop straight on a boat, but we thought we´d give it a chance. There were signs pointing towards the Anglican Cathedral so we decided to have a look...unfortunately it looked more like a factory and is quite possibly the most unattractive cathedral I have ever seen. We also tried to find the 'Tourist Village' that is supposedly located near to the port, but either we didn´t find it, or it just wasn´t impressive enough to get our attention. We spent a good couple of hours walking around but having been approached by at least one beggar on every street we had walked down, we didn´t feel all that safe and so we decided to head back to the hostel, where we ordered a take-away pizza for dinner and watched the F1 until the early hours of the morning :) Tomorrow we are off to Caye Caulker, the smallest of the two nearby islands. Let's just hope it doesn´t further disappoint our already diminishing expectations!

P.S. The encounters with beggars in Belize City are not uncommon, and apart from being rather annoying and at times unnerving, some of the beggars are downright rude if you refuse to give them anything. We are not completely heartless and we on occasion give away our small change if we have anyway, but you can´t give to each and every person that asks for it, as you would end up no money, but on one occasion when we weren´t able to give anything, the beggar in question shouted out after us "Why are you people always so mean??? Get out of my f***ing country". A friend we made later on in Belize told us she had suffered a similar experience and had been told to "F*** off"...charming! I feel like I am painting a very grim picture of Belize here, and it is all due to the fact that our experience of the country on the whole was deeply disappointing, an opinion which is shared by several other tourists that we have come across during and since our time there, but I don´t want to ruin the country´s reputation for anyone else, so don´t let my ramblings put you off visiting Belize by any means!!! :)