To give Mexico credit to the very end the border procedure to exit was extremely simple however the process was complicated by a total lack of signage. 
To get to Belize (“Bay-lee-say” in Spanish) you skip the border village of Subteniente Lopez which is a shame. Belize calls it’s northern border crossing “Santa Elena” as that used to be the name that spanned the villages on both sides of the Rio Hondo which is the border. However in 1936 when Mexico was suppressing the Catholic Church the governor of Quintana Roo changed the village name to honor Sub Lieutenant Rosalino Lopez who died by firing squad in 1924 after defending the government of President Alvaro Obregon against unsuccessful rebels led by Adolfo de la Huerta. So the village of Santa Elena goes by the peculiar name of Subteniente Lopez. Anyway enough of that; we are done with Mexico. As I say the exit from Mexico was easy once we figured out the two office locations which as usual had no signs on them. I hate overstepping at a border crossing as you look like you are trying to get away with something. After half an hour turning in our van permit and our tourist permits we paid a $70 fee to exit Mexico (!) which we’ve never done on the northern border, and then we drove to the border itself marked on the bridge.
The international boundary with Mexico to the left and in the south the commonwealth of Belize. King Charles of Britain has the US surrounded, Canada to the north and the former British Honduras to the south.
The first stop was the fumigation hut which costs $5US or $6 for us oversized vehicles. Notice we now are using English and there is lots of signage. Thank you Belize!
From fumigation we drove ahead a mile, bypassing the exit to the “Free Zone” to all appearances a rather squalid community of cheap dust catcher and clothes shops that Mexicans can visit without officially entering Belize and thereby avoid heavy Belizean duties. We could have done it too while staying in Chetumal, had we known or wanted to.
Straight ahead for the duty free zone, turn right where the cabs reduce are parked to deal with immigration and customs. Which is the big yellow building in the background below. The photos unfortunately have to be taken from a distance to avoid annoying officials who think photography at borders is subversive rather than educational. The copious signage tells you this is not Mexico.
We ended up spending about a hundred dollars US to enter Belize, some for GANNET2, fifty bucks for Rusty who now has his own paperwork in case anyone asks…
You just start at the beginning, use the address of a hotel as your residence in Belize, fill out every blank line and patiently make your way by immigration, agriculture and customs. This last asked if we had anything to declare and we said our van was stripped of eggs meat fruit and vegetables and in the 95 degree heat no one wanted to check it. We sailed through. The checkpoint at the end checks your passport with your entry stamp and your vehicle entry stamp (also in your passport weirdly) and then you drive to the insurance building and buy thirty days coverage for thirty US dollars.
From fumigation to insurance took an hour but we moved back from Central Time in Chetumal to Mountain Time in Belize so we gained a little on our day. We were pretty hungry by now as it was one o’clock local time and we don’t usually have breakfast. I was on one cup of tea! So we drove nine miles to Corozal the nearest village on the Northern Highway which is getting torn up to be improved.
The signage is American and speeds are in miles an hour. You drive on the right but in these work zones there are no flaggers so everyone figures it out on their own in the narrow bits.
It was a pretty crazy introduction to driving in Belize but our size seemed to garner more respect than I expected which helped. Gas is sold by the liter and comes out, in Corozal around $5:20 US a gallon, which was better than expected.
For some irritating reason the Belize Dollar (BZD) is pegged at two to one with the US dollar. When we paid for two SIM cards for our phone we paid $45 US with an American hundred dollar bill. Without batting an eyelid the clerk gave us a hundred and ten bucks change in Belize dollars. I made a joke which went right over her head. She was shocked we’d happily pay two dollars (US) a day each for cell service with unlimited data.
Verizon is paired with Smart cellular in Belize, I checked before we left Mexico. At the border I set Google maps to trace a course to the Smart office in Corozal and the nice lady there sold us new unlimited data SIM cards good for ten days.
I have Verizon travel pass but that costs ten bucks daily. And that is that, the border is behind is and we are good for thirty days. I doubt we will stay that long.
It’s just our first day in Belize in the northernmost town but I can safely say we both miss Mexico. The feel here is that of a Caribbean island, the vibe is more worn out than laid back and the place lacks the charm of Chetumal twenty miles and a world away.
Layne went to buy a cooked chicken for dinner at 2:11 pm. They had closed at two. Why? Beats me.
Rusty and I wandered around a bit in the former waterfront glory allowed to crumble slowly over the years.
Belize joined other countries in the British Empire in seeking independence after World War Two and gained self rule in 1964. It was a period when Britain was only too glad, unlike the French, to end colonial rule. However Belize had a problem.
Guatemala claims Belize as its territory citing an 1859 treaty with Britain wherein Britain was to pay for a road to the Atlantic Coast which has never been built. Thus say the Guatemalans, the southern two thirds of Belize are by right Guatemalan. Britain postponed independence till 1981 stationing troops in Belize to defend the colony from its neighbor. An absurd situation that the International Court of Justice is even now mediating between the two countries. However there is at any rate a road border open between Guatemala and Belize that we shall be using in a couple of weeks.
Belize’s history has been one of enormous Mayan construction with cities and ruins dotted through the country that only now are being described as the greatest in the Mayan kingdoms. The Mayan civilization faded away inexplicably around 900 AD after 3500 years and when the Spaniards invaded their colony based in Guatemala City included Chiapas Yucatán and Belize.
Britain wanted the hard woods of Honduras and imported African slaves to cut the trees and log the jungle. After Spain was forced out independent Mexico came to an accommodation with Britain in 1893 and agreed to a boundary. Mexico had its own difficulties organizing unwilling Maya communities in Chiapas, and Guatemala never stopped wanting a broad Atlantic coastline snatched by Britain. Through all this the sole English speaking country in Central America trundled along following its own eccentric path.
Belize takes pride in being a diverse country having taken in refugees from the endless wars in the other less peaceful Central American countries. There are Mennonite farmers who are a tribe apart and the backbone of agriculture here. Spanish is widespread and in Corozal we saw many Chinese businesses all across town.
English is the official language but Belizeans speak among themselves in a patois with a Caribbean lilt impossible to understand.
We wandered around Corozal for a bit making a half hearted effort to buy supplies to replace the fresh foods we’d eaten before crossing the border but we found nothing much. Chinese groceries offered packages and canned foods only. It was rather dispiriting after all the activity and roadside commerce of Mexico.
The vibe wasn’t friendly which explains the lack of people in my pictures. That and the 95 degree heat.
We had a few youngsters stare at us and make rude comments in patois which gave us the creeps frankly. I shocked the kid by winking and saying conspiratorially “Nice one!” as though I understood.
It came hard after three short months in easygoing Mexico where people want you to like their country and put up with your eccentricities to try to understand you.
It’s a pity but I felt much more at home in Mexico than in this place where poverty seems endemic and the grind feels like it has worn people down.
This house below put me in mind of Key West, the old place when ordinary people could have a place in the sun:
Rusty is a source of abject terror. The guy who checked our papers as we left the border zone recoiled in horror when he saw Rusty sitting in front of Layne. A passerby asked if he was running away as I walked behind him. “He knows where he’s well off,” I said darkly. The employee at the resort where we are parked froze in terror at the sight of him.
I am not at all sure that I want to know how Belizeans treat dogs. If they are that scared of them I’m forced to wonder why. Rusty seems to quite like it as there have been so far, fewer street dogs than in Mexico. Cars though are brutal and race through the streets and I hang on tight to my dog.
There are topes here which is hugely disappointing and we are learning, after one rough encounter with a speed bump to be alert around pedestrian crossings. I guess you have to slow traffic to allow pedestrians a chance at life.
Such astonishing architecture too!
The locals limin’ outside the supermarket creeped me out too. In Mexico I’d crack a joke or say hello or point out some failure typical of a foreigner and the ice would be broken. Not here.
Too many shuttered storefronts. Corozal feels under siege.
Then we checked Corozo Blues a little resort on the waterfront. It’s listed in iOverlander and we hoped we could spend the night for ten bucks (US).
We started with a much delayed lunch. Hummus with a Beliken beer a very pleasant lager.
Then pizza with leftovers for dinner and they said we could park for the night in their lovely garden.
Quite the privilege and Rusty loves the grass. Clean toilets, strong WiFi such that we don’t need Starlink and even an electrical hook up to charge our batteries. No mosquitoes or sandflies either so we are living large.
A good place to rest and plan.
Tuesday was about as long and involved as this post!
