Click on a photo to enlarge it.
We put some reflective stickers onto the back of Winnie which is required in some Central American countries and Kirsten also put the
Alemania stickers onto the front. Our first stop was at the Mexican side to get exit stamps for our passports. We were also supposed to
show our vehicle permit papers but there was no one in the office. It was just to prove that we had them as we weren't going to hand
anything in so it didn't really matter.
Then we went over to the Belize side. You can pay for everything here in US dollars and the Belize dollar is at a fixed rate of 2
Belize for 1 US so you can even mix the currencies when paying! Our first payment was $5 US for fumigation - our vehicles had to get
sprayed.
We got one month in our passports at customs and then got our vehicle permit. Everything is written down by hand in a ledger. We
drove through the customs area for vehicles and were just waved through. Then we got insurance (compulsory here) from an insurance
office nearby. We paid $30 US for one months liability as we're not sure how long we will be here so it was easier and cheaper than
trying to extend later. Everyone must have insurance here which is not the case in other countries.
The whole border crossing took 1 and ¾ hours and we set off into new territory. But our GPS kept cutting out and then coming back on.
Hopefully it's just playing up today and it will rectify itself.
We got to Orange Walk which is the second largest city in Belize and were expecting supermarkets and places to get fruit and veg as
we couldn't bring anything over the border. But the place was like a small, dusty Mexican village!! We stopped at a small stand and
quickly found out that it is really expensive here! Two litres of milk for $4-25 and we paid $9 for not a lot of fruit and veg. The
good news is that the oranges are cheap (7 for $1) and they are very,very good!
We tried to find some info on tours for Lamanai but as we learned from our stay in Belize, information is not easy to come by. We
asked the man at the fruit stand and he gave us a recommendation and even tried to phone but there was no answer. So we drove across
the toll bridge (no attendant today so free!) and went to Lamanai Ecotours.
There was no one there (hence no answer from the phone) but it looked good. Newly built cabins, very clean toilets, a boat launch
and several good looking boats. We checked a few other places but when Errol Cadle, the owner of Lamanai Ecotours (Email: errolcadle1@yahoo.com, Ph: (501) 610-1753), arrived we decided to take the
tour with him because we could stay for free and we could have a boat for the four of us instead of joining a group. We could even
go fishing and were promised a very good lunch all for $50 US per person.
The boat tour on the New River was really good and well worth the money. We saw Great Blue herons, hawks, ospreys, egrets, limpkins - weird looking
birds that look like a pterodactyl, Jesus Christ birds (so called because it looks like they are walking on water when they are
really walking on lilies), bats in a tree and a few crocodiles, one of which was sunning itself on a tree log with its mouth open!
There was also an abundance of flowers and trees including Lady of the Night Orchids and Provision which are huge flowers that die
when the sun comes out. After all of that the 90 minute tour around the Lamanai ruins paled somewhat. They were occupied from 1500 BC to
1600 AD and therefore the longest occupied Mayan site. It flourished and grew into a major ceremonial centre with large temples
that were added to over the centuries and weren't excavated until the 1970s and 1980s.
There are over 60 buildings with a Royal complex that includes a building that is 33 metres high and rises above the jungle canopy,
a small ball court, the Jaguar temple and a structure with a huge mask of a man with a crocodile head dress. The Mayan name for
Lamanai means submerged crocodile.
View from the top of the Lamanai High Temple - 360° Panorama(move mouse over panorama and click on the arrows)
The best part of the ruins was trying to get photos of the numerous howler monkeys and all the wildlife. The lunch was really tasty -
rice and beans cooked in coconut milk, chicken in a yummy gravy, salad, coleslaw, and fried plantains (a type of banana) and papaya.
Then we stopped on the way back for a spot of fishing and Kirsten caught a bass! Then we sped back along the channels of the river,
speeding around the corners! We got back at 3-30 pm and can highly recommend the tour and Carlos our guide.
New River & Lamanai Tour
Our next stop was Crooked Tree where we had to drive along an extremely muddy road and then paid $8 US entrance for the two of us.
April is the best time to come here when it is a bird watchers paradise so there wasn't really much for us to see. We still walked
around for 90 minutes though.
Bermudian Landing was definitely worth a stop. We stayed at the visitor centre for $5 US for the night and then went on a 90 minute
tour with Robert who was really good. He was very knowledgeable about the local plants and told us about their medical uses. One is
even used as a pregnancy test with 99.9% accuracy and nicotine free cigarettes. He showed us how soldier ants are used for sutures
(yeuk!) and pointed out a flower called Hot Lips.
The highlight was the howler monkeys where we got up close and personal and even fed them the leaves from the trees ourselves! We
will probably never get this close to them again.
Howler monkeys at Bermudian Landing
We drove to Belize City and parked at a secure parking lot. We walked around the streets to find out about ferries to the islands and
also found the tourist info place. It seems that the only way to get info about the Barrier Reef islands is to go over to the islands
which means staying overnight if we want to go on a snorkelling trip.
Even though Belize City used to be the capital there isn't much to see. Most people only come here to get a ferry over to the islands! But we
did see a huge cruise liner out at sea. There has been a huge increase in tourism here mainly because of the cruise ships who bring
their passengers here to go on snorkelling tours and tours of Mayan ruins.
We drove out of the city and went to the old marina where we could park up for $5-50 per night with hot showers, toilets and water or
$7-50 including electricity. Unfortunately the washing machine was out of order. We had counted on being able to use it as we have a
lot of washing to do but they said they were getting it repaired. Well, we'll see.
