12/10/09-15/10/09Eager to leave the phantom city of Belmopan behind we took a bus to Dangriga, a small fishing village on the east coast of Belize. The beach was ok, although not very clean, and by now we were really starting to wonder where all these beautiful Belizean beaches were hiding! Our accommodation on the other hand was lovely. It was only a basic room with a shared bathroom, but it was obvious that the woman running it really cared about her guests and that it was important to her that they enjoyed their stay. I felt really at home there, rather than just in yet another hostel!
The vast majority of the population in Dangriga is Garifuna, descendants of the African slaves that the English brought over from Jamaica to cut logwood in the 17th century. Because we arrived on a public holiday, there was hardly anyone around and everything was closed so we walked up and down the one street taking in the surroundings. Several of the buildings are wooden constructions badly in need of repair and in general the aspect of the town is quite poor. We got chatting to one of the locals and asked if he could recommend us a place to eat, and he said: Burger King :) We were thinking, there is no way that there is a branch of Burger King in this tiny village, and our thinking was correct. King Burger, as it is officially called is a small restaurant specialising in local cuisine, but when it was first opened the owner had named it Burger King, unaware of the huge American chain of the same name. The local we were chatting to, having spent various years in the US, advised him to change it rather than get embroiled in a copyright lawsuit, and so it became King Burger! We ate breakfast there a couple of times and the food was ok, the service adequate. It seems that everyone who works there is either angry or simply incapable of smiling!
After a couple of days we were ready to move on again and so we headed south along the coast towards Placencia, our final stop in Belize before going to Honduras (yes, in spite of all that is going on there, we think it is safe enough to risk a couple of weeks there). As we neared Placencia, it looked promising, with beautiful hotel complexes right on the beach and sparkling blue sea. One of the bus attendants asked us where we were staying and they dropped us off right outside (what service!). The place was nice with a balcony overlooking the beach complete with hammocks and semi-comfortable chairs. We didn't waste much time in the hostel though, preferring instead to check out the beach and enquire about the boats to Honduras (the next one was leaving on Friday morning, giving us two nights in Placencia, which was plenty of time). The beach was unfortunately another disappointment, but probably the best we have seen in Belize. It was wide and long with palm trees, but the sand wasn´t very soft so it wasn´t very comfortable to walk on, and towards the shoreline, it was littered with rubbish and lots of dry seaweed. The sea too was filled with bits of grass, so the one time we went for a swim we only stayed in the water for about a quarter of an hour!
The best thing about Placencia was the people we met. On our second and final day, two new people moved into our hostel: Carrie from England and Miguel from Spain. They had met on the bus on the way here and had decided to share a room to be more economical. Carrie too was planning on going to Honduras the following day, and although Miguel was due to fly back home from Mexico City in about five days, by the end of the evening he had decided that he was coming too :) By that time, a fifth person had joined our little group and that was Dave, also from England, who already knew Carrie after spending time with her in Caye Caulker. They had also done the famous pub quiz and they too had won first prize! Only their first prize was a jug of rum punch and not US$25 of their bill. As you can imagine, they felt cheated :)
All three of our new friends were very interesting people with great stories to tell. Carrie moved away from England many years ago to settle in Australia and is now on the lookout for her new home, either in South or Central America, and the perfect place to set up a little business, whatever that might be. Miguel, who spent close to six years in Edinburgh speaks perfect English, but with a Scottish accent. It's understandable that he would pick the accent up after so many years living there and it is wonderful to listen to, but at the same time it's so funny to hear a Scottish accent coming from a Spanish person. And what can I say about Dave....he has so many stories to tell, that like Vic said, he could write a book. He has travelled to so many places, seen so many things and tried his hand at so many different jobs that he always has something interesting to tell you. We had a nice night together having some food and drinking coconut rum with pineapple...I think we were all under the impression that we were getting them at the happy hour prices and we just kept ordering them, but when the bill came, only one of them had been served within 'happy hour'. No wonder that first one tasted more like pineapple juice than rum and pineapple :) Dave was also heading to Honduras the next day, and more specifically to Utila, one of the Bay Islands, from where he had departed two weeks ago to explore the job opportunities in Belize. We were unanimous in the conclusion that Belize had been a big disappointment and Dave assured us that Utila would be a welcome relief from the dirty beaches, rude beggars and expensive prices of Belize.Utila is one of the best, and cheapest, places in the world to learn to scuba dive, which I have been hoping to do since we came away. Vic has been unsure as to whether he will join me or not, but Dave and Carrie, who are both experienced divers have been telling us both how amazing it is, and Dave knows the perfect place for us to learn in Utila. I'm definitely going to do it and I can't wait....now all we have to do is persuade Vic :)
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