28 June 2007 - A note from "Blondie"

I´m going to try and make this brief, though knowing me I probably won't succeed.

Ok, well I'm now in Guatemala. Up on the North Coast, currently in Livingston, in an hour or two i'm taking a boat down the Rio Dulce river to Rio Dulce (the town) which is next to Guatemala's biggest lake, which I can't remember the name of right now...

I'l spend a couple of nights there, then bus it down to Guate to meet Josh's family.

Hurrah.

Ok, after we last spoke i jumped on a bus (4 hours long) to Chetumal which is on the Belize border. There I had to change buses, and get a Belizean, i.e ex American school bus throught the border and down to Orange Walk.

Funniest immigration guards ever, very Belizean ("How are you today?""Fine thank you""Well, you're looking mighty fine")

I got to Orange Walk sometime in the early evening. Found a hotel room (avec television= NEWS NEWS)and then blew some budget on a boat trip for the next down the river to some Mayan ruins (Lamani)

Orange Walk is Belizes "industrial capital" though im not sure if you can call a town with like 15, 000 people a capital of anything. Almost everyone speaks both Spanish and English and there is a surprisingly large Chinese population, as is the case through out Belize.

Ok, next day, earlt morning, went to get the boat, then realised that Belize is actually an hour behind Mexico so I was there an hour early. Never mind.

We finally left, and had the most informative (overly so) guide you could possibly imagine. But yeah, it was pretty amazing, through the jungle for about 2 hours, we saw a baby croc and almost hit a manatee who poked his head above the water.

The ruins were fantastic, you had to do a bit of jungle trekking to get there. Superb.

Photos later.

When we got back O.W i got a bus straight to Belize City (an hour away) }. Didnt really like it there, felt a bit threatened, especailly at night. So I left the next morning for the 7 hour bus journey down toPunta Gorda in the south, an hour of the journey involved a dirt track throught the jungle not the best when you{re in a recycled school bus.

P.G was very cool , very laid back. Hasd some dinner while being regailed (sp) with stories about defending the country against the Guatemalans and watched a storm roll in off the Gulf of Honduras while drinking a aBelikin. Nice. The storm was ridiuclously loud last night, but it didt stop me sleeping mwa ha.

Boat ride here was fine, and quicker than I expected.

Hurrah,

Belize thoughts- very friendly people, especially in the south, very diverse, a bit run down (to be expected given its connection to hurricanes), the city- a bit menacing not really a place for "blondie" on her own, oh and constant reggae. Oh and plantian overload. With coconut rice. Yum.

Ok, I think I have to go now.

Much love to all....

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