Last week Katie and I traveled to Belize to renew our visas. Every three months we get to travel outside Honduras to renew our visas (not a bad deal). We left Teguc at 5:00am in the morning to catch a bus to San Pedro Sula. From San Pedro Sula we caught a chicken bus to Puerto Cortes, and from there we caught another chicken bus to the Honduras/Guatemalan border. Up until this point we had made perfect timing and arrived in each town just a few minutes before we needed to catch the next bus. Once we got to the border though our luck had ran out- or so we thought. While we were passing through customs the police officer told us that the bridge up ahead had been washed out due to the heavy rain they had received the past week. It had been out for the past three days and they were still working on fixing it. He said that it might be fixed in a few hours and that we should just wait at the border until it was fixed. No vehicles could get through so our only other option was to walk across the border and past the broken bridge and catch a bus from there. We were in a hurry to get to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala so we decided to walk. Luckily for us the situation wasn't near as bad as the police officer had made it seem. As soon as we made it across the bridge they open it up for cars to pass through. There was a ton of flooding still around the road though and I could now understand why the Honduran president had declared Honduras in a state of emergency.
Once we made it across the bridge we got in another bus that took us to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. In order to get to Belize you have to take a boat from Puerto Barrios to Punta Gorda, Belize. We missed the last boat by 30 minutes so we ended up finding a cheap hotel and staying the night in Guatemala. I am so glad we stayed though because Puerto Barrios has the absolute best tortillas I have ever had and apparently they are the only town in Guatemala where you can find them. The next morning we woke up and took the earliest boat possible to Belize. It was about and hour and half boat ride an on the way we saw a school of dolphins and got to observe the beautiful beaches of Guatemala and Belize. The beaches that we passed had a mountain range right behind them- best of both worlds.
Once we got to Punta Gorda we took yet another bus to Placencia, Belize. We stayed in Placencia for two days and spent both days on the beach. It has been rainy in Honduras so it was really nice to see some sun. It didn't rain a drop the entire time we were in Belize :) When then traveled to a small town called Hopkins and stayed the night there and then got up early in the morning to go to Dangria. That day we went cave tubing about 1 hour outside of Dangria. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever done. Tubing down a river, inside a cave, in pitch darkness. Good thing our tour guide let us borrow some head lamps!
We went to dinner in Dangria and that night I got my hair braided by a local we had met. It was extremely painful but really fun to get to know a local better and learn about many of the Darifuna traditions. The next morning we woke up around 4:45 to catch the earliest Bus back to Punta Gorda. The trip was a great and relaxing vacation but by the end I was definitely ready to get back to Honduras. I hope to travel to as many Central American countries as possible while I am here in Honduras. I will keep you posted!
We went to dinner in Dangria and that night I got my hair braided by a local we had met. It was extremely painful but really fun to get to know a local better and learn about many of the Darifuna traditions. The next morning we woke up around 4:45 to catch the earliest Bus back to Punta Gorda. The trip was a great and relaxing vacation but by the end I was definitely ready to get back to Honduras. I hope to travel to as many Central American countries as possible while I am here in Honduras. I will keep you posted!
