Inland Week-Monday April 9, 2012

Water Taxi

Our chicken bus!

Some of the group waiting in Belize City to board the local bus

View of San Ignacio from Rosas

The past week we went inland to visit San Ignacio, Belize and go on a few fun excursions. Since I was not able to bring my laptop in my small book bag I was traveling with, I am going to update you all now with the events of the past week. On Monday, we woke up at around 8 a.m. and headed to get some breakfast at the baker before our trip inland. I love how fresh the food here is and I've decided I need to purchase a bread maker as soon as I get home! The majority of the baked goods are prepared at the store and most food is grown or raised on the island. We then headed back to Pedro's Inn to turn in our keys and move everyone's luggage to Bailey and I's room for storage while we are gone. For our trip inland, we only brought a book bag for our long stay due to the amount of traveling we would do along the way. Just as we were walking to catch our water taxi, I realized I was the only one without my passport so I booked it back to the hotel to grab it before we left. We finally all reached the water taxi and crammed together with our luggage. There were probably about 75-100 people on this water taxi but it was fun. We took this into Belize city and got lunch at the port there. We then got a small taxi over to the nearby bus station. Our experience at the bus station was one of a kind to say in the least. There are no tickets or guaranteed seats on the buses here in Belize. We immediately met a local man at the station who said he could guarantee us seats for a little bit of money. He made it sound so simple in that he would lead us to the back of the bus to get in when the gates opened as everyone else was charging the front. As soon as the gates opened, I knew our plan was out the door. Everyone rushed the front and the back of the bus and they weren't letting anyone get in their way. As I approached the back of the bus, I saw that I was going to somehow get up a 3 to 4 foot step to get on this bus. One man yelled at me to go, cupped his hand for me to put my foot in and told me to jump in. Before I knew it, everyone behind me was pushing me up as others inside were pulling me in. It was hilarious to watch others in our group to stumble into the bus from every angle. Finally this "chicken bus" was as packed as it was going to get and we were off to San Ignacio! We were on this crowded bus for about two hours and it made about 20 random stops along the way. We went through a few a few checkpoints and the driver was getting in trouble for the number of people on the bus so he asked some of the people who had just gotten on to wait for the next bus. One of the ladies started yelling saying she wouldn't get off and was arguing with the driver. Finally someone else decided to get off for her and we were on our way. Finally someone else decided to get off for her and we were on our way again! Around 5 pm we arrived in San Ignacio at Rosas, the place we stayed at for the week inland. San Ignacio looks much like I imagine other central American towns look. It does not look nearly as wealthy or touristy as San Pedro. Rosas is in the center of town right above a restaurant and next to a club which blares awful music all night long. There was not any air conditioning at Rosas so we had to leave our windows open which made it hard to keep out bugs and club music. Overall it was really awesome to experience a different part of Belize!