After a great night in Bakalar, Mexico we headed south to the Belize/Mexico border. Unsure of what to expect we checked out our friends
“Life Remotely” blog who recently crossed the border and posted a great detailed report explaining the crossing in detail.
It turned out to be a simple affair. We found the Mexican customs office, relinquished our Mexican visas and stopped at the Banjercito to check-out the truck. We received an exit stamp in our passport and they removed our Mexican vehicle import sticker from the trucks windshield. We were officially in “No Mans Land”. The area that exists while you are checked out from one country but not checked into the next. You may know it by the term “duty-free zone”. They had a large mall here where you could pick up cheap booze, cigarettes, and crappy knock-off brand name clothes.
After stocking up on junk we hit the Belize border. We had just learned the day before that Belize's official language is actually English. Quite a surprise to us. It took a while to get used to saying, Thank you, instead of Gracias and Yes, instead of Si. But man were we happy to finally be able to have a full-on conversation with people instead of standing there like idiots trying to communicate.
The check-in process to Belize was simple, a few stamps in the passport, a cursory check of the vehicle and we were in. Welcome to Belize! We picked up vehicle insurance just past the border, $23 for 2 weeks.
While we were in Bakalar we met up with
"Team Equipt" who gave us the line on a great campsite just past the Belize border, We headed off towards the GPS coords. The road was not on our map but Ben assured me, we could make it.
Cruising down the road we hit a river with a ferry crossing. This was no ordinary ferry, an ancient hand-cranked job which looked as if it would sink at any moment. (I later learned that it actually did sink about 3 weeks before…
It could hold about 3 cars at a time, apparently it runs 24/7. The conductor sleeps on a wooden bench in the ferry.
We met some cool [url="http://www.northernbelize.com/cult_mennonite.html]Mennonites[/url] on the ferry who were partying it up, we shared a few beers while we took turns cranking the ferry across the river. Hard working farming folk, there is a large Mennonite community in Belize. Apparently they got fed up with U.S religious policy and a large population relocated to Belize in the 1950s. Most are still very religious leading an almost Amish lifestyle, preferring horsedrawn buggies to automobiles. We met some of the more "
progressive”boys. Ha!
We crossed the river, continued down the road, eventually hitting another hand-cranked ferry.
Pressing on towards the GPS coords we eventually found the spot. And it was worth every mile! Thanks again <a href="http://equipt1.com" target="_blank[/img]Team Equipt</a[/img]! We enjoyed this secluded beach cove all to ourselves. We stayed here for 2 days not seeing a soul, soaking up the sun and waves.
From our cove we headed towards a small town in Northern Belize by the name of Sartenja. Sartenja, Belize is home to the
“Backpackers Paradise” A great little hostel/restaurant run by an amazing French and Swiss couple. They have carved out their own little piece of paradise here. They rent out cabins, tents, and hammocks to travelers for great rates. Natalie also can cook like nobodies business, we had amazing French/Belizean fusion meals for dinner every night.
The “common area”. No shortage of hammocks to go around. Lauren and I spent most of our nights here lounging in the hammocks listening to the rain and crickets chirping outside.
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