On the morning of Monday, January 8, we woke up earlier than we would have liked, thanks to the blaring trumpets that seemed to be right outside our window. We later found out that the noise was thanks to the local police celebrating their ability to make noise at an ungodly hour without consequences because nobody wants to end up in a Mexican prison for throwing stink bombs at police officers. They could have been celebrating something else, but that’s my conclusion.
After breakfast, the four of us headed towards the Belizean border. The whole procedure took longer than we would have liked, but for pretty mundane reasons such as the bike’s VIN being hidden. Everything went well and we were into the next country (and an English-speaking one at that) on our itinerary before we knew it.
Belize border crossing
We had inhumanly-large portions of food for lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Corozal and then temporarily parted ways from Tim and Marisa near Orange Walk. We headed towards Belize City, relying on a paper map to guide us because TomTom did not include Belize on our GPS device, and arrived at our hotel without any problems. We stayed at Easy Inn for two nights at 134 BZD (~82 CAD) a night. Quite a high price for what we got, but we discovered during our time in the country that Belize was more expensive than we expected. Prices were on par with what we typically pay in Canada.
After unloading the bike, getting showered, and relaxing a bit, we went out for an early dinner at Riverside Tavern to celebrate 34 years of the world being a little more sarcastic. The receptionist at our hotel told us not to stay out in Belize City after 9:00 PM and to stay away from the South side so, after a delicious dinner, we were back at our hotel before 8:30 PM. We did not feel like we were in any imminent danger at any point; however, the city felt very sketchy after dark and was not a place where we wanted to be outside for longer than necessary.
Cajun salmon and baked potato
Curried shrimp
The following day, we decided to explore the center of Belize City. It is the biggest city of Belize and used to be the capital until 1970 when the government was moved to Belmopan due to Belize City’s susceptibility to natural disasters. The city is in a surprising state of disrepair and had us speculating where all the money paid for the high price tags were going.
Finding a decent place to have a quick lunch was more challenging than we expected as take-out windows seem to be more popular than restaurants. We did manage to find a nice cafe called Spoonaz that had a deck in the back where we enjoyed some paninis and fruit juice. After lunch, we rode around the city for a little while and returned to our hotel by mid-afternoon, underwhelmed.
Belize City
City street
Spoonaz cafe patio
Spoonaz cafe deck
Shortly after we got back to our hotel, the power went out in the area. We were quite limited in how much we could do without any electricity or Internet so, after unwinding a bit, we went to have an early dinner at the same restaurant as the previous evening. When we got back, the power and Internet were back in business.
We were sitting on the bed, working away on our laptops, when Phil felt a little tremor. I dismissed it as I was scratching my foot at that moment and figured the movement was that, but it happened again and this time, we both felt it. Soon after, we heard sirens that sounded more like something out of Silent Hill than anything we hear on a regular day. Phil went to the reception to check with the staff on what that siren meant. No one seemed to have a clue on what it meant and what we were supposed to do.
It was when we checked the news online that we discovered that a 7.6 magnitude earthquake had struck the Caribbean and there was a tsunami advisory for Belize City. Our room was on the ground floor so, we quickly packed our things and were ready to head away from the coast when we came across the owner of the hotel. He was kind enough to let us move our things to the second-floor landing and secure the bike on the terrace of the hotel. We were grateful that we didn’t have to ride because the traffic was bad and there were distressed people coming to the hotel for the night because their homes were closer to the coast.
Our worldly belongings on the second floor
The bike secured on the terrace
The advisory was lifted at 10:52 PM so, after moving everything back to where they needed to be and taking much-needed showers, we fell asleep in no time. At least I got a work-out 🙂
The world is a much better place with sarcasm!
I’m glad we convinced you we’re not serial killers.
Totally agree on first statement 😉
Still not completely convinced on the second one though 😀 ;P
And puns, Tim; the world is a much better place with puns 😉