i had to check out of my hotel in cozumel at 2, figured i'd grab the first ferry to playa del carmen, hang out in a bar for the afternoon and take the late bus to chetumal for the boat to belize. good plan. but when i got to playa i found a bus leaving at 6, figured i'd hop on. but that put me in chetumal at 11 and none of the hotels were open. and the first boat to belize was at 3 the next day. that really sucked. i had a late dinner at a taco stand and slept in the bus station with the homeless guys. couldn't ask for more uncomfortable benches. i really feel every bit of 40 today.
i managed to get a few hours sleep and since there wasn't much around the bus station i took a cab to the dock, listed online as in 'the heart of chetumal'. the heart actually means government offices. so its about 7am, i have 8 hours till my boat, and i'm in a giant park in the square with all my gear just waiting for the sun to melt me. super poor plan. the boat office is closed and there's just a few handfuls of people wandering into their office jobs. and their spanish is fast and slightly different and no one spoke english. all i wanted was directions to a public bathroom.
finally the boat office opens and i get checked in, pay some sort of unnecessary tax to leave the country, and get directed to the office next door to pay even more for another stamp on my passport. i've paid enough people and now i can officially leave the country. and i get directions to a restaurant to try to kill a few more hours.
between the restaurant and laying under the trees in the park its now time to get on the boat to belize, ambergris caye, actually, and the storm starts rolling in. i've been hearing for a couple of days about a hurricane coming this way but everyone thinks it'll miss belize so i didn't think to change my plans. i could've easily stayed on cozumel diving and drinking for another week. but here i am in chetumal with lightning and thunder and pouring rain and crazy wind, about to get on a boat with 30 other people and all our luggage for a 2 hour barf fest. a few people were trying to find where to get sea sick meds before the storm came up but they were unsuccessful, so they were already taking bets on who was gonna puke first. this boat is small, no windows, no a/c, i figure if i have to smell puke the whole way i'll eventually be doing it myself.
in actuality it was a pleasant trip. a bit jarring due to the wind waves and the crew opened a rear hatch for the sickies. i'm not sure i've ever gone so fast in a boat before, at one point the wind caught the side hatch and ripped it open causing several people to freak out. but we outran the storm, i fell asleep, and woke up in sunny ambergris caye.
immigration and customs were sort of a joke, we lined up in a shack and waited a while for two guys in uniforms to arrive in their golf cart. it took about 1 minute to get through, i was asked if there was anything in my bags that shouldn't be there, i said no, off i went.
i needed a cab because i didn't google my hotel, plus it was crazy hot and i was soaked from standing in the rain in mexico, but i didn't have anything but pesos in my wallet. so i got screwed on the exchange but it got me to my place. i'm staying at tradewinds paradise villas, i set up a deal with a hotel and scuba package. decently nice place, ocean front, swimming pool, air conditioning, wifi, everything i need. a quick swim and a shower and i can start to erase the last 24 hours. not showering for 24 hours in 94 degree humid weather is really not cool. i smelled worse than the bus station.
there were 2 couples at the pool when i went swimming and got some info from them. basically the same as most places i've been, one price for locals and another outrageous price for tourists. they filled me in on fun things to do and good restaurants, which i immediately forget, as is my way. i found a grocery store and it was pretty crazy expensive, especially with the hurricane threat. i tried very hard to only speak spanish so maybe i'd get a better deal but actually ended up making people laugh at the stupid crap that came out of my sleep deprived brain. but i think i scored a few points for trying, better than the guy in front of me asking how much everything was in american dollars...well, dumbass, divide by 2. i've only been here for an hour and i know that much.
now i'm sitting on my lanai, got my belikin beer, watching the lightning show. and the guys hammering plywood over the windows. my scuba dives have already been cancelled for tomorrow since everyone is pulling their gear from the water. i don't think the hurricane will hit here but i think i'm just being optimistic since i don't want to evacuate. every time i enter 'belize' into the weather channel website it gives me bahrain so i guess i'll just keep my head in the sand for a while longer. someone will tell me if i need to leave. i hope.
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| great day for a boat trip |
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