Stuart was heading for Punta Gorda, about as far south as you can go, so we thought we'd join him. Jasmin had taken an early bus to Dangriga to meet with a friend and generally get back to her travels (and probably drink less as a result!), so it was just the three of us.
Again, having a car meant we could do as we pleased, so we set off to find a little bit of Mayan culture in the form of a ruin and several tiny villages outside Punta Gorda. Visiting these villages, we were about as remote as you can get in Belize, but not so remote Coca Cola haven't got in on the act and put up a few signs! Come to think of it, is there anywhere they haven't been?
As we drove through, one thing there were plenty of were school children. They were busy walking, running for cover in the rain or just sitting watching us drive by. Shouldn't they be in school? Or was it lunch break? Seemed like a long lunch break to me. Anyway, they all had uniforms which is something all the countries we've been to are quite big on, no matter what the quality of the education.
Feeling the need for more adventure, we left the car and headed into the jungle to find a cave which apparently has Mayan paintings in. We found the river and the cave, but there was a small problem. If there are any paintings to see in a cave, you need some light to see them. Caves are very dark and we didn't have headlamps.
Oh well, we still swam into the cave mouth, just for the fun of it!
Punta Gorda (above), a port town and route to Guatemala and Honduras, has a nice feel to it. Many of the clap-board houses on stilts look like they would fall down with a minor gust of wind! The only thing that would make it better is a few more people. Like most places in Belize, there aren't a right lot of people around. Still, it did us just fine for the night and in the morning we found a place that served tea and scrambled eggs. (not the place below!)
0 comments:
Post a Comment