Not the nicest places in Belize
Trip Start
Nov 15, 2009
1
74
81
Trip End
Ongoing
Dangriga & Hopkins, Stann Creek, Belize
Monday, August 9, 2010
We bought the tickets off the same guy as we met the previous day and got a receipt. Then they took us in a cattle truck 15 minutes away to immigration where we had no problems in getting our exit stamps from Honduras. We then got our stuff together and went to the boat for 11am as requested of us and waited a further hour and a half for the boat to leave. They took our passports from us as they called our names out and we entered the boat and kept them for the duration of the journey - no idea why?!.
It wasn't a ferry at all, it was a speedboat with a plastic cover to protect against the sun. It held about 40 people and boy did they cram you in. With three 200hp engines, it was a bumpy ride over to Belize, not to mention hot and sweaty and uncomfortable (we had cushions under our bums but not behind our backs so every time we went over a bump you banged your back against the boat). Despite having a crew member up front on the lookout, 40 minutes into the 3 hour ride we went over a log and the engines cut out. Floating in the middle of the sea we all thought we wouldn't be going much further than this but luckily there was no damage. The captain, after having shouted at the guy at the front, then paid more attention himself and was weaving in and out of the debris along the way. It's funny, it was again only the locals that were throwing up every few seconds. God knows how many sick bags they went through but throwing them over into the sea - come on ... plastic is not bio degradable!!!
Dangriga:
Anyway, 3 hours or so later, we arrived in Dangriga, a small little dock on the river in what seemed like the middle of know where. We waited on the boat until the immigration officer boarded and called us out one by one, stamping our passports and handing them back (phew!). Welcome to Belize - yay!!!
Maria and Simon were going straight on another boat off to the Tobacco Cayes for diving but since my ears are still blocked I thought I'd do some land exploring starting with Dangriga.
I'd opted for a hostel from the guidebook - Val's place run by Diane, a lovely, very hospitable lady (she'd named the place after her mother - bless). I met 2 American guys (Jason & Germ, real name Jeremy) who were sharing my dorm room and asked if I wanted to go for some dinner later - why not?! It soon came to light that they were clueless when it came to travelling (first time out of the States) and so when they heard about my travels, soon latched onto me and followed my planned route.
Dangriga itself is not touristy at all. It is the 3rd largest town in Belize after Belmopan (the former capital) and Belize City (the capital). It thrives on the Garifuna culture (Black Caribs who were shipwrecked slaves mixed with the native Caribs. The Garifuna adopted the Carib language but kept their African musical and religious traditions). They are very patriotic if that is the right word and very territorial so they don't really like Spanish speakers. It's English and Creole and that's it for languages. Spanish is spoken more in the north of Belize and toward the Guatemalan border.
Anyway, we went for dinner and then had drinks with the some local guys. No bars as such, just cafe's selling alcohol and we tried the national drink - coconut rum. Not to my liking and neither is the beer so I made mine last the whole evening. There's nothing to do or see in Dangriga so the following morning the boys and I took a morning chicken bus to Hopkins, except this particular bus wasn't going all the way into the town so dropped us on the highway and we hitched a ride into town from a passing minibus.
Hopkins...
Is a very quiet, remote village with hardly and people walking around. It's set on the beach and the roads are sandy, although again, you don't see many cars. We stayed at Yugadah hostel (I think we were the only people there) but the landlady was lovely - Rosie. She did everything to make us feel welcome. Her hospitality was second to none (she was like a mum!). She even supplied me with a washboard and a large bowl together with a hose pipe, so I got stuck into some old fashioned hand-washing!
I took the boys for a long beach walk. If you saw them, you'd soon realise that they are more of the sitting in a bar types but I convinced them that some exercise and fresh air would be good and they could then reward themselves with a beer - worked a treat! Ha! We walked for about 2 hours as far as the eye could see, with the boys moaning the whole way (I said I'd continue by myself but they wanted to make sure I was ok - how sweet). The beach was nice outside the resorts where it had been raked but otherwise it was littered with garbage and seaweed and the water was as muddy as in Dangriga - obviously the floods had reached up this far. We found a spot clean enough to swim in but the bottom of the sea was silty / muddy so we didn't stay in for long. It was an early night for all of us, in this quiet little village, in preparation for our 7am bus to Belize City the next morning as it's time again for some nice beaches - we're off to Caye Caulker.
