Boat Trips

by FERENC IVANICS
From Punta Gorda, Belize to Livingston, Guatemala we traveled by a motorboat. First we though that 50 Belize dollars for the crossing (which takes less than half an hour) is a bit costly, but when we realized that the trip lacks any comfort we felt that it was indeed, expensive.


The vessel was a traditional fisher boat converted to a passenger boat. The seats were rock hard, and it wouldn't have been a problem if the water were still. But the boat practically rallied through the waves of the Caribbean.


First it was almost funny, but after fifteen minutes we were sitting on our hands to ease our bottoms. We left the boat in Livingstone black and blue... And we were so happy, we were finally on the road, in Guatemala. But the custom officer put us off. It was impossible to go on from Livingstone, but by boat, again.


There were two options: an express boat for 50 quetzals (some 7 USD) or a collective boat for 30 (4 USD). We chose the latter, and thanks to the help of James Jr.'s mom, we could afford it (if we didn't have that money, who knows what would have happened). Later we found out that the express boat is nothing faster, it just has a more frequent schedule. Hurray, we were finally able to start walking, from Puerto Barrios.

PeeJee

by FERENC IVANICS
Our last stop in Belize was Punta Gorda a.k.a PG as locals call it. We had only a few days left of our so called visa. The only way to leave Belize is by boat. You have to pay for the boat and you have to pay a leaving-fee. So, it was 25 bucks for the boat and 20 for leaving the country. That's 90 for the two of us.


If you stay longer than 30 days, that's 25 bucks more. We haven't seen anything like that so far, it's a pretty unfriendly way to say farewell to the tourists. We were simply broke when we arrived to the border. We were expecting some support, but it became obvious that it wouldn't arrive in time. We were stuck in Belize.

So, we went to the competent office to explain our situation. The officer told us that he was only a pawn, that he wasn't able to help us. That we should go to the capital, Belmopan, and talk to some kind of a minister. Really. Explained something about jail and deportation if we wouldn't do anything to resolve the situation. Wasn't really convincing.


While we were stuck in PG we had to sleep somewhere. We were exploring the place when we saw lots of coaches parking in a nice, grassy yard. We started to chat with a woman, and she sent us to the house of his son. James Jr. had an even bigger yard and lots of coaches, too. He is an entrepreneur with a large coach fleet.


The story is quite amazing, they transport people all-over Belize, and it started with James, the father and with a single coach. He had a single trip every week to the capital (Belize City, back then). But later he bought another coach, and another one. Right now they have lines in every corner of Belize. James' mother kept us well, and they organized our trip to Belmopan and back, and right before we left, James' mom gave us 50 dollars. The whole stay at James Jr.'s place was a positive patch to ease our somewhat painful and struggling stay in Belize.

Breadfruit: A James Cook Fail

by FERENC IVANICS
Well, here's another fruit. Lately we've mentioned a lot of fruits and vegetables on our blog. My apologies to those who find that boring, but we think that it's interesting to see what there's to eat around the world. And it's definitely interesting with the eyes of a gardener. There's a lot more to try, but the ones we present here are the most important plants. Such cool tropical plant is the Artocarpus or Breadfruit. It was the famous Captain James Cook, who tried to spread it on the American continent (to provide high-energy food for slaves).


Its fruits are huge green balls, rich in starch. In Belize they fry it and they fry it; and it tastes good. Its flavor reminded us to roasted nuts. It's quite tasty and nourishing.

Milk Powder: Love and Hate

by FERENC IVANICS
We started to consume enormous quantities of milk powder in Africa. On one hand, during our long desert walks we needed nutriments that are rich in nutrients. On the other hand, its protein/calories/price ratio is exceptional. To put it another way: we'd love to eat meat and cheese, but often we don't have the means to pay for that kind of food.



During the last months we've eaten lots of milk powder. Milk powder + sugar + water + biscuits, we were on that diet for weeks, sometimes. And believe me, on that diet one starts to feel a light break down quickly: strange stinging abdominal pain, painful defecation, dull ache in the joints. You learn to hate it. But we love it, no matter what. We have to. I think if there's no milk powder, there's nothing else that provides a chance of survival at this price level.

Cassava, Yuca, Manioc

by FERENC IVANICS
Three names in the title, but it's the same plant. And it has dozens of local names. We saw it first in Africa, most Senegalese fish dishes come with a piece of cassava. I read somewhere that in tropical regions it is a wide-spread potato substitute. Well, cassava is rich, cooked it is practically as rich as potato. Why call it a potato substitute? As far as we can tell potato could be a cassava substitute. Their flavor is so close that it's almost identical, but the texture is a bit thicker. They say it can be grown in temperate zones as well, like in Hungary.


Around the house it might raise some problems, since young plants look eerily like hemp. You better tell the neighbor first, if you are starting to grow cassava in your garden.

Bamboo Didgeridoo

by FERENC IVANICS
My brother had brought his didgeridoo and he lost it after some 6.000 miles in Houston, U.S.A. Didgeridoo is an instrument, kind of, it doesn't play tunes, rather emits a constant esoteric vibration. It was a traditional instrument of the Aboriginal people of northern Australia. Nowadays it's used by various electro, psychedelic or genre-hopping bands.


While walking in Belize we found a nice little pack of bamboo. We spent the whole afternoon cutting and carving two didgeridoos, using our cheapest Chinese knives.


Didgeridoos are magical stuff, they work only with their master, which is not surprising, since that master forms the instrument's mouthpiece to match his own mouth.


We've been adjusting our new didgeridoos for weeks and now they sound pretty fine, though we have a lot to learn and practice about playing a didgeridoo.

Watch us play on our self-made bamboo didgeridoos

Sapote

by FERENC IVANICS
We saw sapote fruits first time in Mexico. The sapote tree is nice, robust and tall, but it looks obvious that it doesn't like cold. It's really a tropical plant. We found some fruits along the way but they were unripe and hard. The fruits that fall from the trees are quickly swiped by animals.


In Belize we carried two unripe sapote fruits for three days in our backpacks. When it finally softened, we tried it. Under the skin (that looks like a hardened human skin) there's an orange-red flesh and a huge black stone. It's juicy and pulpy, faintly sweet with a scent of cinnamon. Not bad and it yields high.


There's at least a dozen different types of sapotes, the one you see on the picture is, hmm, well, one of them...

Beards

by FERENC IVANICS
Some of you might have noticed that we've been avoiding shaving. Yep, we are growing beards, we've been doing that since crossing the Mexican border on the 15th of august. We'll have a shave when leaving Chile. I assume we'll have extreme beards by that time.

Belize Rasta

by FERENC IVANICS
At the end of Hummingbird Highway there's a Garifuna village called Dangriga. Its population have mixed ancestry, but their origin is mainly black African. Many of them are Rastafarians. We haven't had the chance to visit Jamaica but we believe that this is the closest we'll get. Compared to the quiet mestizos Rastafari people are noticeably communicative, talkative and friendly. Sometimes it's hard to understand their creole-English. We haven't seen so many Bob Marley T-shirts, haven't heard Bob Marley singing from so many houses while walking down the main street.


So we decided to take here a haircut. A Garifuna barber, loud reggae music, Bob Marley posters, a perfect way to lose your hair. In ten minutes the breeze caressed our bald heads. It's easier to stand the heat this way.


And about weed, since it seems to be closely related to the Rastafari movement: as we understood there's an unspoken agreement between the state and the Rasta people, you won't be disturbed if you smoke pot at home, but don't you ever dare smoke marijuana at a public place...

Brutal Oranges

by FERENC IVANICS
In some areas rain forests were replaced by orange plantations. This is the main agricultural product in Belize. We've spent many nights camping in these plantations, eating fallen fruits. No one ever bothered us. The value of a piece of fruit is hardly measurable here.



Unsurprisingly these plantations look like rain forests themselves, orchids, fern, moss cover the orange trees. In some places we've seen giant oranges, fruits as big as a human head. We've never imagined oranges can grow this big. And the one you see on this photo isn't the biggest one, but our cellular was depleted and we didn't feel like carrying the extra weight 'til the next stop.

Resuming Belize

Basically the blog is still on hold, we recommend everyone subscribing to the RSS, email or Twitter feeds to receive immediate updates. But we'll pick up the thread of the story in a weeks months time.

by FERENC IVANICS
Belize is a small country. They have two cities, which are rather larger towns. Other villages are almost like ranches. Belize has, in total, 270,000 habitants. There's no soft drinks in bottles larger than two pints, these are small as well, small as the country.



But, to call the road on the photo above a Highway, that's an easy overstatement. Though it's true, this is the widest road there is in Belize. Many times you see the wilderness just one step away from the Highway. You have to pay attention, especially when two trailers pass by each other.


Everything is so small, except prices. Belize is the most expensive place here in Central America. I don't know, maybe because there's a lot of imported products. We think that the sum to pay when leaving Belize is offensively high. But to say something positive as well, people are a lot more likable than we'd been told, we've met some particularly good guys. And no one wanted to shoot us for our shoes...

Hungarian "Amigos" in Belize

by FERENC IVANICS
Amigos is a diner and pub near Monkey Bay. Its manager is Gyuri, a Hungarian guy, unfortunately we haven't met him, he wasn't in Belize, but they treated us like old friends anyway. We had good meals and good beers.


Marvin the bartender is far less afflicted with severe depression and boredom than Marvin, the Paranoid Android from The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy. He's a good guy.


We also met Tünde there in the Pub, she tries to get along here in Belize, you can see on the photo the necessary documentation to extend your visa in Belize. Right now we hope that we don't have to prepare that documentation. We liked the pub and its funny signs, and of course, our hosts: Gyuri, Tünde and Marvin. Many thanks!

Monkey Bay

by FERENC IVANICS
We arrived in Ladyville with only a few coins in our pockets. Our food reserves were exhausted. We spent our last dimes on internet, hoping that some donations had arrived. It was a familiar story: we were expecting a serious sponsorship but the transfer was delayed by whatever reasons, and we hit the floor during these final days. We left Ladyville absolutely frustrated. No money, no food, no nothing. We were walking in silence, waiting for that miracle to happen.


A car stopped, the driver was a young and curious lady. Marga set us on our legs again, gave us some money, paid for some food and invited us to her house, in two days walking distance. The house is the central of a wildlife sanctuary. We slept in beds, we had delicious hot meals and showers, access to washing machines and the internet. And took advantage of the situation to learn more about the Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary and to walk around in the nature.



In the meantime the resident students and teachers were interested in our cause as well, so we were able to get on track again a bit relieved. We also met Harangozó Tünde in Monkey Bay. Tünde lives in Belmopan and were a good and helpful company. What can we say... Luck? Chance? Destiny?... Thank you, Marga!

Belizean Beverages

by FERENC IVANICS
We stopped for a break by a house between Ladyville and Monkey Bay. There was a young man buzzing around in the garden. Our cell-phone (which we use to take pictures nowadays) was almost depleted, we asked for help. The young man kindly took the phone and put it on charge, then came back to have a chat with us. It turned out that they have a winery, they make wine from blackberry. It's called blackberry but it's something like a mulberry, it's the fruit of a tree. So it's probably mulberry wine.



Thanks to Cody and the Red Hummingbird Farm & Winery, we had a chance to try this dark, sweet and thick drink (with some 14% V/V alcohol). We enjoyed it pretty much, it was rich and a good spirit-raiser.


While speaking about booze: One of the most popular drinks around the Caribbean is sugarcane brandy, that is: rum. Good rum is expensive. But fresh brandy, of lower quality and without aging is cheap. Sugarcane is one of Belize's most important crop, refined sugar is their primary export.

Scent of Mangoes

by FERENC IVANICS
Mango trees are blooming. Their small, brownish-yellow flowers hang from the trees in clusters. It's not a colorful but an interesting sight. Its scent however is heavenly. Sometimes we walk miles covered by this powerful scent. I was having headaches of this scent for three days... I knew it was almost identical to some familiar smell, the scent of a tree natural in our homeland. I wondered. Elderflower? Black locust? But I wasn't sure.


Then on the third day I smelled a bushy cluster of flowers again and I remembered... I remembered those winter afternoons when, as a child, I came home from the snowball-fights and I grasped with my bluish fingers a cup of hot linden flower tea. Mango flowers smell like linden flowers.

Welcome to Belize

by FERENC IVANICS
We needed six month to get pass Mexico. We left Mexico exactly on the 180th day and thus, entered a new country: Belize.


Belize is a small country in the Caribbean Area, gained its independence in 1981. Its official language is English. Belize is poor and underdeveloped, its criminal record indicators are worrying. Entering Belize City (the former capital) is not a good idea, as we were told.


Anyways, we've met some good folks with positive thinking. The officer at the border said: "Welcome to the Paradise" If we think about infrastructure, and urban areas, this might sound somewhat sarcastic or ironic. But yes, there are natural habitats worth exploring in Belize as well.