Corozal was a tough introduction to Belize. My friend Webb wrote to let me know he didn’t think I would get a thumbs up from the Belize chamber of commerce and he’s right. On the other hand I wanted to say what I saw and felt. You are learning to appreciate Belize with me on this journey.
Driving in a new country is a new cultural experience. In Belize pedestrian crossings double as topes. I crossed one at 35mph and appear to have offset the alignment. Back to a tire shop I go! Caribbean Tire is a huge modern warehouse and has outlets in each town it seems including I noted Corozal and Orange Walk.
We mapped out a strategy at a picnic table at Corozo Blues where we spent a very pleasant night plugged in to clean electricity, properly grounded with no voltage spikes, so we were cooled as we slept by air conditioning and awoke to fully charged batteries. Our idea is to enjoy Belize for the next couple of weeks by doing what visitors do: outdoor stuff. Northern Highway roadworks with no flaggers. Figure it out yourself is the rule on the road:
Our plan is to drive south in stages as far as Placencia on the coast, a place we remember fondly as a sandy beach town from 25 years ago. From there we will turn inland toward Belmopan the capital and explore some cave and blue hole options. Closer to Guatemala we plan to camp in the mountains and visit some rarely seen ruins before we cross the border.
The start of the program required some driving south from Corozal on the northern Highway, as seen here.
The pavement is quite solid and smooth for the most part but the speed bumps come disguised as pedestrian crossings and they are built to a unique high step design of reinforced concrete (we saw one under construction). I think I have finally learned that a gray stripe across the road represents danger.
The pavement itself is of a design I’ve only ever seen in Britain with the asphalt embedded with gravel which offers durability beyond asphalt alone.
The countryside is flat and reminiscent of south Florida in that sugarcane seems to be the main crop. Orange Walk is known as Sugar City for that reason.
Rainy season starts in June but Belize is green. It’s lush everywhere you look.
The highway is broad but is totally devoid of markings so driving requires you take responsibility for yourself. I tool along at 35 mph and stay close to the right to allow easy passing. I guess you just pass where you choose as there are no prohibitions, no solid lines or road signs. It’s a totally bizarre system but it works.
Once you get these oddities sorted out the driving is quite relaxing. I love the blue skies studded with puffy white clouds, just like Florida.
Sugar cane truck looking for a load:
Sugar cane truck with a load:
Layne spotted a fruit stand so we stopped and Rusty went for a graze. Unlike Mexico there are almost no dogs along the road. Belizeans are terrified of dogs and I dread to think how dogs are treated behind the scenes but along the road Rusty can wander at ease.
Ten dollars worth of fruit and veg and an exchange of life stories with the young mother operating the stand. We gave her a tour of our home and she offered us a lovely pineapple which will be dessert tonight.
Belize is really really green. I can’t get over it. No wonder the Mennonites came here to farm.
We actually found a roadside food seller so I stopped of course. He is bi-lingual and could pass as Mexican as most Belizeans can in the northern districts.
He sold us some surprisingly delicious coconut candy, soft and chewy with a delicious smokey undertone as though it was cooked on a wood fire.
No advertised prices at the pumps. We’ll find out soon enough but we still have over 300 miles in our tank from Chetumal.
Lots of directional signs but I haven’t seen a speed limit since we left the northern border where it said the limit on the highway is 55 mph. Too fast for me anyway.
Orange Walk is Belizes fourth largest city with a population of around 14,000. The city is known as Sugar City thanks to the cane that is grown around here but it is also known as a landing place for Mestizo refugees who escaped what were known as the 19th century caste wars in the Yucatán.
Layne was getting fidgety as we had no fresh food onboard and we were both curious to see the inside of a Belizean store.
When we travel we like to explore local food shopping. Groceries tell you a lot about a culture.
Stores throughout northern Belize are operated by the Chinese community. Score one for diversity.
Bringing your own bag is unknown in Belize where sturdy yellow plastic bags are the norm. I was hoping to find some English biscuits on the shelves but that era has gone I think. It’s all American and Mexican junk food and packaged goods.
It’s a new store in Orange Walk and they were offering raffle tickets to shoppers. Layne endeared herself to the checkers by giving them her tickets.
Oddly the place carried no produce so we drove across town to check the original supermarket called 123 - their advertising slogan is “As Easy As 123” - thus we got to see lively downtown Orange Walk.
In addition to almost no road signs there are no pay phones in Belize but I am an old fart so I expect to see some legacy phone booths!
We met an Overlander we first crossed paths with in Chetumal. Mario is 70 years old and has been on the road two months from his home in Aguascalientes. He’s fulfilling his dream by driving alone to Argentina. I hope we will keep crossing paths with him.
To sustain us and to taste some local food we bought some buns filled with ham and cheese and it turned out some jalapeños. The bread was slightly weird, soft and sweet.
The inside with savory ingredients was okay. Layne couldn’t handle the sweet patita with cream cheese but I thought it was okay, sort of.
The second supermarket not only had some vegetables but also a few English biscuits. McVitie’s Ginger Nuts! The Commonwealth did not fail me completely…
More importantly we were just about out of my favorite butter type spread. Praise be 123, they offered a tub of this ambrosia at eight bucks US. I forced Layne to buy two, arguing I didn’t sit up working all those nights not to enjoy some Brummel and Brown on my tortillas.
Such are the minor victories of life on the road. Disaster narrowly averted. We are staying two nights at El Gran Mestizo resort.
It’s $35 a night, more than we’ve ever paid but I didn’t sit up nights for twenty years etc…etc… Today Layne does a Lamanai River tour to some Mayan ruins while I get the alignment done.
We had a beer and some fries at the restaurant as an appetizer as we got two free drinks for staying at the resort.
It has been a pleasant change eating non Mexican food in Belize. I love Mexican but there will be time for more of that later.
Oh and they had a BSA mysteriously on display. I liked that.
The temperature here is lovely and cool. Mosquitoes are at a minimum. I’m enjoying sitting up and listening to the crackle of night insects and distant trucks on the northern highway. We have found a serene spot in northern Belize on our second day. It feels like we’ve been in Belize forever.
