Hammockeering Around: Beautiful Belize

What a great place Belize is. Right from the border crossing people were friendly. Many folks spoke English too which was a welcome change as my Spanish vocabulary still mainly consists of what road signs say. To me they spoke English with a Caribbean accent, but among themselves they spoke a mix of English, Spanish and Creole which sounded wonderful to my ears. The landscape was flat and forested, the weather was warm and comfortable and the roads were good. It is not a very populated place which made for light traffic and easy camping.

A highlight was the Belize zoo. It is a small zoo that only keeps local animals but the Belize local animals are what the zoos in the rest of the world want to have. I watched spider monkeys swing through the trees and howler monkeys quietly eat leaves though I have heard them in the wild while I bike through dense forest. A black leopard and a spotted leopard had cages next to each other. They sat and looked at each other for a while, they're probably friends. The zoo had a few tapirs. Long nosed pig sized animals that are related to horses. They were my favorite. Tropical birds as well filled the zoo including a harpy eagle, the largest species of eagle in the world. It was big enough that the zoo posted a sign explaining that it did not prey on human babies. I can only assume that rumor started with a real incident. The zoo was also useful in that it had live examples of the snakes I may step on as I push my bike through tall grass to find camping. Some are poisonous and some are not. My plan is to avoid them all if I can. A guy at the zoo gave me some good advice about them. He said if it slither away it is not poisonous and if it stands it's ground, whether I've seen it or not, it is poisonous.

I made a couple of friends in Belize too. Another cycle tourist, Max, caught me one morning on his trike. The day we met I lost him but when we reunited the next day he had found a very welcoming restaurant to camp and eat at. Our host at the restaurant, Gerson, was a great guy. He let me use his shower, bought me a drink after the restaurant closed and gave me a little tour of the area. It was such a nice place that I took a day off there. The next day Max and I left together heading toward the Xunantunich Mayan ruins. The ruins were fantastic. Multiple large pyramids were on the site. It was situated on a hill that gave a magnificent view. From the top of the largest pyramid I could see to Guatemala, my next destination.