the biazed blog

We wanted to have a full day for crossing the boarder to Belize and also a little more time to explore the Laguna of Chetumal. It is also called the Lagune of the seven colours. After a couple of hours in the car crossing the Yucatan peninsula, we were badly in the need of swimming. After spotting the water a bit north of Chetumal, our mood rose 100-fold! That blue(s)! An increadible beach, crystal clear water and palm trees. We were excited and stopped at the first public beach. To make this even better, the water turned out to be not salty! Super bon! Wow!
The reason why we didn't work our asses up the Yucatan peninsula are quite clear to us, but may be worth mentioning. First and foremost, we already spent three weeks (of two planned) in Mexico. Secondly, there are only more colonial towns (less fancy than San Cristobal) and more Maya ruins (smaller than Palenque). Then - of course - there are the nice beaches, but those in Honduras are perhaps better, less americanized and thus less expensive. Honduras also has cheaper diving and longer coral reefs.

After all, the time in Mexico was great. If I shuffle through the pictures we took, I'm amazed by what we've seen already. Mexico is sympathic, somehow more reserved than I expected and surprisingly green. Alright, I have to admit that my pre-knowledge was rather low and I was reading the travel guide only on the way (or Anna read it, while I was driving). In my mind, Mexico was all yellow desert with occasional cacti and people would have a mentality that would be even more easy going that in the south of spain. It was interesting to learn that some of the most thriving and interesting cities (Xalapa and San Cristobal) are at high elevation with cool climate and quite a bit of rain. It has been also very rewarding to see that the mentality in Mexico was not what I expected. Males are less Macho than in southern Spain and the personal space is quite important and respected. For example, shopkeepers don't forwardingly question where one is from and always use the polite form (unlike casual Spaniards). It seems to me that some of the rules of the old 16th century Spain have been conserved more clearly than in their origin. That is understandable if one considers that Latino societies are rather conservative and family-sworn-in. That makes me think of a friend from El Salvador, who is proud to use the casual form with her father. Mexico is less chaotic than we've imagined and we never had someone offending us (e.g. no "gringo", absolutely nowhere). Is is also astonishing how much we (usually poor) students can afford here. A hotel is on average 200 pesos, i.e. 13€, divided by two). We are a bit uncomfortable with buying luxury that we'd never dare to touch in Europe (eating in restaurants, hotels). And one thing was also quite dominant: There is always a large extremely poor fraction of the population that offers street meals, peeled fruits or other products. Things nobody would do in our countries of origin. But of course it is comfortable to have this fraction around. Peeling fruits for you. And also for Mexicans. I'm unsure how well they benefit from the development of Mexico.
My spanish has come back, but I still lack a lot of vocabulary and the preterito & future two is almost unusable. Basically it's a big, big construction site and I doubt if I ever master it better than this.

Shokingly, we only have a bit more than 5 weeks left on our journey. Time is pressing us further southwards into Belize where we will spend only three days. Then we've got only one week per country! I'm looking forward to the people Guatemala, the mountains of El Salvador, the beaches in Honduras and the rain forest of Costa Rica. Anna is curious about the Lake in Nicaragua, hiking and picking up more spanish. After only two ruins, we've had almost enough of archeology, but we will visit Tikal in Guatemala and if we pass by something recommended we'll go for it.

Crossing the boarder has been a pleasant half an hour thingy. We first had to cancel the temporal car import on the Mexican side, which included paying 45$ to get our passport stamped again (!!WTF!!). The Belizian side however was very helpful and service friendly (almost like in the USA, but a lot more relaxed: e.g. one police checkpoint was not operated because of the heat - the officer stood next to a bush in the shadow and waved everybody through). Where we had to copy multiple documents and pay several fees (46$ + 30$) in Nuevo Laredo (when entering Mexico), we could just walk through immigration, show the title of the car, answer some questions and were all set to enter. An insurance office right after the border provides travel tips and a 15$ weekly liability insurance for the car. Oh by the way: In the meanwhile Margaritha temporarily shows three warning lights. The usual 'Check engine', the now constantly and annoyingly blinking 'O/D Off' and the casual 'low fuel' light. New record! Before walking through customs (which included bringing our bags out of the car to a table after immigration and putting them back without being searched or even looked at, the car got sprayed with some kind of anti-bacterium. This was to avoid carrying mouth and claw disease or bird flu into Belize (5$).