Belize: Chapter Two

Of Cows and Bandits

So like I said, our lovely hotel in Belize decided to pack us all into a bus so that we could continue our vacation in another part of the country without fear of being blown away in the hurricane. In case anyone is wondering the hurricane did in fact hit Ambergris Caye and a significant portion of the island's properties were severely damaged.

So off we were to a place called San Ignacio in the Cayo district. It's a forested region close to the Guatemalan border. We stayed in a hillside hotel with cabanas (with thatched roofs and porches with hammocks) perched above the town. While figuring out what the hell we would do over the next few days in the interior, a few of us realized that we weren't all that far from Tikal and requested a trip to the world-renown ancient ruins.

After some negotiation about the logistics we were off for a 3-hour drive into the jungle. Being an architect this was a dream. I've always had an interest in ancient sites, which resulted in a trip across Mexico to visit the places so famous there - Chichen-Itza, Tulum, Uxmal, Palenque, Teotihuacan, and the like. Now if only I could get to Egypt, Peru and Cambodia to round out my interest. Along the way we had a lunch at a roadside dive, which might not have been the smartest choice, but it was damn good. I'm still suprised I didn't suffer some serious stomach ailment after that.

We arrived at Tikal just after 1 and were told to be back on the bus by 4:30 because if we didn't make it back to the border by a certain time it would close and we'd be in Guatemala for the night. Now nothing against Guatemala, but this didn't really seem ideal. I had taken notice of the border town on the way in and I certainly didn't see a Holiday Inn, or anything else inviting for that matter.

Okay, a good few hours wandering the ruins, climbing temples, and being scared out of my mind when I heard an animal roar. It sounded like a lion, but it turns out it was just some howler monkeys in trees. Man those things are loud. Tikal is beautiful. It reminded me a lot of Palenque with these massive temples peeking out of the jungle. It was great, but like a good little day-tripper I made my way back to the van by 4:30 to ensure that we could leave as scheduled. I shouldn't have bothered.

First 10 minutes go by and we're still missing a good handful of people. A few minutes later a couple trickle in, but by 5 o'clock we're still missing a few. I of course am freaking out at the thought of not being able to get back into Belize. I'm an adventurer, but when I signed up for this trip I wanted to sit on a beach for a week watching my skin grow browner and enjoying having nothing to do, and so I wasn't exactly mentally prepared to be sleeping on a floor with 10 other people, 100 cockroaches and 1000 mosquitoes.

I go in search of the remaining stragglers and find them haggling at the outdoor market for some tacky souvenir that doesn't even represent the culture of Guatemala but rather something you can get in any tourist destination. I drag their asses back to the bus. As we're heading back to the border (a good 2 hour drive), my Mom converses with the driver in Spanish about what happens if we don't get there in time. Now I might not be able to speak Spanish so well, but I sure as hell can understand it. He is uncomfortable for a moment and then says that the border doesn't really close, it's the bandits he was concerned about. Excuse me?

According to our guide, the bandits are notorious for attacking tourist cars once the sun goes down. Sometimes they just want to rob you, but sometimes they attack people and worse things happen. Well, in my opinion that's worse than being stuck in Guatemala for a night, so I very wearily look out the window at the setting sun. We probably still have an hour and a half to go and it's going to be dark in 20 minutes. I try to ignore my fears by closing my eyes, only to be awoken 10 minutes later when the car comes to a screeching halt.

I think to myself - this is it, we're going to be attacked. I look out the front of the car, but instead of being held up by bandits it’s a herd of cows in front of us, moving ever so slowly along the highway. We all had a nice giggle over it, but 20 minutes later we're still behind the cows and now we're all more or less annoyed. We're finally able to maneuver around the bovines and make our way to the border without incident. Back to San Ignacio and the safety of my cabana on the hill. Thank God.