You gotta Belize it...

So after Laguna Bacalar, I made a brief jaunt back to my beloved jungles and waterfalls of Palenque - just to savour a bit more of Mexico before I left my newly crowned Favourite Country in the World. Here I met with my good friend Julio and together we travelled to Belize. Belize made me very happy! The closest that I have ever got to a Caribbean country, Belize did not fail to impress. I really loved it - despite the country's dangerous undertones - and I have resolved to return when I have more money to travel there. Four nights just isn't enough, although it definitely was for my bank balance which choked heavily on Belize's high US Dollar prices.

Reaching Belize territory

We arrived in Belize city on Friday morning but immediately took a water taxi to the island of Caye Caulker. For me, this blissed out island GLOWED. At all times of the day (and night) reggae, reggaeton or some other near variation of the music will be blaring from stalls, homes, restaurants, people's shoulders. And everyone seems to know all the words! I felt SO CHILLED on Caye Caulker! Belizeans here all speak perfect English too... although that is just to tourists. Amongst themselves they speak Creole. Creole sounds utterly brilliant. I overheard several entertaining conversations, including one gentleman on the phone, "Girl, I don't wah hear any of yo stupidness!"

During the daytime, we would go swimming at the island's 'Split', literally where the island split in to two after the last hurricane. Our hostel also lent out canoes and I loved nothing more than paddling out on the calm sea on a canoe. One day we took it to the North side of the split to discover the beaches there... However my favourite time was when we took the canoe out just at sunset and without paddling, just let the boat rock with the gentle waves and sat in silence and let our senses be consumed by our environment as the sun shone awesome colours through the sky, clouds and sea.

One night we went out dancing at the Oceanside Club and as expected, I had one of my favourite nights out during my travels! Belizeans not only know how to dance so rhythmically, but they can also dance at double the speed of the rest of the world! I attempted many times to emulate their shaking and grinding and various floor manoeuvres but unfortunately failed... However in the process of trying, I had the time of my life!

Not all is safe and chilled in Belize though. The first night we arrived, we collapsed in utter exhaustion after our achingly long journey from Palenque. However the next day we were regaled with the story of our fellow hostelites of how they went out that night and got in to a bloody fight involving one of the girls being hit across the head with a two-by-four and gunshots having been fired. Then the night that Julio and myself did go out dancing, we were being hassled by a local guy following us about the dancefloor and touching himself. Disgusted, we left the club and walked back to our hostel only to realise he had followed us home. Thankfully after some time, he left. The next evening the island was alive in fury as it was revealed that a drunk policeman had shot a captive in one of the cells. The local people were gathered outside the police station demanding to know what happened, why it happened and where the policeman was hiding. It was very tense and when I spoke to the locals about it they seemed disturbed, sad and upset that this type of thing had happened again. As we left the island Julio and I were sitting on a bus chatting to a lovely Belizean Menonite when we saw the face of Alex Goff, the same man who had harrassed us that night on the front cover of the newspaper. He was also the same gentleman that was shot by the policeman.

Julio and I rode the rest of the busride to Guatemala in quiet reflection.