Belize in them.....
I arrived in Belizean frontier on My 12th on a bus from Flores, Guatemala...... One of my favorite travel activities is scanning the local radio stations on long rides.... I knew I had made it to Belize when I heard Sizzla's "Black man in the White House".... I was looking forward to Belize because of it's love for reggae music...
On the Guatamalan-Belizean border.... it reads "If you are refusing to return to your country, you have the right to apply for refugee status in Belize"... After I took this, a border guard told me not to take anymore pictures....
Driving through Western Belize... just past the border....
The tropical countryside....
One of the greatest sights upon entering the country was seeing Mennonites harvesting watermelons.... I also heard a few German religious tunes on the radio..... If you're more curious, wikipedia Mennonite's ....
Fast way forward to San Pedro on the Ambergris Caye where I arrived on ferry from Belize City... (I didn't take any pictures in Belize City... in fact, I hardly went out... I found it shabby, seedy, and a bit aggressive. Not that I can't handle that,.. I just feel like dealing with it)... Anyway... I checked into a private room in a hostel in San Pedro right near a runway... only allowing these small types of planes to go in and out....
Time to explore San Pedro and its oddities..... Hard to see the signage here, but this is a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints right on the beach.... strange sight...
.....real estate ads are everywhere.... the island is developing fast as a haven for expatriots..... I can become a property owner for less than 15,000.... wow....
San Pedro had some of the best bars I had ever seen.... just the locations of them and the outdoor set-ups were what I have always wanted in bars.... the tempeture was perfect, reggae was playing, my beer had a Mayan temple on it, and the scenery looked like a corona Christmas commercial......
So,.. I;m drinking a beer at Wahoo's lounge and I am looking into a church, which is right next door..... yes,.. a church and a bar right next door to each other... I can drink a beer and watch a sermon .... I've never seen that before....this is why I travel...unusual experiences.
I'm more than OK on my own observing the world and enjoying my restorative niches, but soon enough, I would be meeting locals and asking them where the riddims were... meet Marcus aka 'Smokey'... He became my Belize friend... we talked a lot about music and ate lots of street food...
If you are into interesting cultures full of diverse people,then you would like Belize.... It is a mixture of Garifunas, Mestizos, and Mayans... all of whom speak a litle bit of kriol (which closely resembles Jamaican Patois), Spanish, and of course, standard English when they are trying to impress and make a buck...
Yes, I took Marcus to a karaoke joint where he sang a few reggae tunes and watched others perform.. like this town character...... as Danica Patrick and some UFC guy look on....
Day 2 in San Pedro... I found a Coati on my shoulder and i was ready for more silliness....
A week into traveling, I think I started to take on that weathered, grizzled, "been-out-on-the-road" look..... Sweaty, dirty, and ultimately relaxed.....
The tackle box.... one of the best bars I've ever been to in the world... it's basically a bar on a dock.....
A Chinese-owned hole-the wall bar in San Pedro.....
chatting with the old Belizean veterans for insight....
Marcus kept on talking about wanting to go into a studio to do some music, so that's what we did.... I watched as he recorded a few tracks... one dancehall track and one "chop-and-screw" track... As a lover of music, he was really into obscure American hip-hop subgenres and could recite dozens of dancehall track.... it made him very happy to go into the studio... and he couldn't stop talking about it for the rest of the time we spent....
A red-toned nightspot away from San Pedro's center... the loud punta music here was hypnotizing ....
dirt roads, stray dogs, warm island winds at midnight..... San Pedro had very special relaxed feeling to it..... very peaceful.... I begin to realize why so many were choosing to come and live here.....
The golf cart is the main way to get around the island.... there were thousands of them... it is comparative to the family car in the U.S..... and they are $12,000... steal or rip-off?...i'm not sure....
Spontaneous nights in San Pedro... going from place to place... having no plans.... it was how I wanted it... "watchu wanna do?", he would say, "It's your vacation".... I mostly just wanted to wander, observe and follow the music... and that we did...
Meet the Belizeans.
No diving trips for me... no scuba diving... I choose to just hang out with the locals and see what their lives were all all about... we were "keeping it terrestrial" as Marcus said a few times....
.....late nights eating street food and feeding stray dogs......
This was Marcus' friend, Alex...... who nicknamed "Dr. Dre"...... he was dreaming and scheming to somehow get into the U.S.A. and live the proverbial American dream.. as were many of his friends.... Sometimes some of us take living in the U.S. for granted and then when we travel, we are reminded again that many would risk almost everything to be there......
The roaches in the tropics are monstrous........ As we were hanging out in this "VIP Room", Alex told me, "Man,.. this is nothing, .. we get used to this... we grew up like this.. when we were kids and sleeping, dem roaches used to crawl over our faces and the rats would nibble our feet at night and we would just have to kick them away".
Another anecdote ..... In my room in San Pedro was where I first saw a bedbug... yes, the first time in my life I have seen one... and, yes, I have traveled plenty... Yeah, sure, I was probably sleeping with them too.... I just hope they didn't come back with me...
Anyway, that's Belize.... thanks, friends....