Jet skiing. I can see why they call it skiing. I could compare it to my first ever ski holiday last year. We were in Switzerland, and I had precisely one ski lesson before we went away. However, when I had my first Bridget Jones moment where I practical slid horizontally along the slope only to have to pick myself up and walk back up the hill, I realised I needed lessons. So I did. I had three in total and they were great and by the end of my last one I was happily parallel skiing down the blue run. However…when I stopped the lesson and went down the run with my friends, I was a different person.
Scared of falling. Actually thinking they’d brought me to the top of the mountain to ski to my death as I couldn’t see where they were going over the top of the hill. Needless to say I had a break down…all delightfully captured on my BFFs GoPro, which she happened to not turn off. How convenient. Anyway, in terms of the comparison to jet skiing, it was terrifying to begin with. I kept shouting at Nathan, who was driving the jet ski, to slow down, or not turn around so fast. I genuinely thought we were going to fall off and die. We didn’t though! But, it was so much easier and relaxing the quicker we went (we only got up to 30mph) and it was the same when skiing. The more rigid and stiff and slower I was, the more the would probably hurt when I fell, plus it was way more tiring. So, I let go (skiing and on the jetski) and it was way more enjoyable!
We were whizzing up and down the bay outside our hotel. They gave us boundaries as we weren’t able to go to the reef nor too far north or south. It started out as a petrifying half hour but did turn out to be really fun!!
Good job we went when we did as the heavens opened and it absolutely pelted down with rain, making it slightly cooler which was nice! Our time in this beautiful island was coming to a close so once the rain passed we made the most of the last sunshine before he sunset. We ordered in pizza to our hotel room and watched The Ranch before getting a few hours sleep.
Wednesday was going to be a travel day. We had our ferry tickets booked and instead of getting a taxi or golf buggy to the ferry terminal, we walked. It was about two miles walking, in the horrible humidity, lugging all our crap over the poorly paved roads and pavements. Somehow it didn’t take that long and as we got to the ferry terminal, I was relieved when one of the guys took my bags for me and checked them in. We were dripping. How we haven’t acclimatised slightly yet is beyond me!!
We had about an hour until I could exchange tickets for boarding passes so we wandered up to a bakery before realising we had no cash and then wandered back to the ferry terminal just in time to avoid another downpour! The ferry journey was horrendous. The three biscuits and litre of water I had for breakfast almost resurfaced. The wind was howling, the sea was rough and we certainly weren’t gliding effortlessly over the waves. No no I now have a slight understanding of how my mum felt all those years ago on an Iceland trip when we left her downstairs throwing up on a whale watching trip. Sorry mum!!
An hour and a half of bump, bump, bump, BUMP, bump, bump, bump, BUMP and repeat. I swear I walked off with whiplash, concussion, bruises and a horrific case of nausea. Luggage was taken off ready for us to collect and the extremely helpful chap who’s name I don’t know, but he is the one who is working the hardest, gave us directions to an ATM and the bus station.
Back into the sweltering heat of Belize Citt we lugged our stuff down to the ATM along the crowded pavements. Not the best place to be carrying lots of luggage. Luckily as we got to the ATM a delightful taxi driver offered to take us to the bus station for just $5. Because the streets were so busy, we obliged. I grabbed some cash and in we jumped.
It took about ten minutes to get to the bus station and as we pulled up some guys with sack trucks came up asking for a couple of bucks to help with our luggage. We politely said no and then continued into the station as the guys muttered obscenities at us. Not the attitude to get our custom but hey! I get they need money but every single other person has been nice when we said no. Except these. The station was swarming with homeless people too. As we got inside a guy asked where we were going to which I replied “San Ignacio” and he pointed us to the right bus. We walked straight through, the driver took our bags and on we got.
Thankfully all the windows were open, we grabbed a couple of seats and waited for the bus to depart. The bus was clearly an old school bus painted red and blue. It was comfortable though! No air con but the windows were sufficient enough! About twenty minutes into the journey a guy came through to collect our fares. BZ$20 to San Ignacio for the both of us so $10! We had now learnt that the taxis, for the distance they take you, are expensive. Thea so called chicken busses, are cheap! About £7.50 for us both to go 62 miles.
It was raining unsurprisingly. We tried to sleep but failed. Instead I stared out the window at the place around us. Brightly coloured houses. Numerous supermarkets. People just sat outside chilling. Children playing outside. Houses on stilts that generally looked like they would collapse under the slightest weight. You had big houses and then tiny houses. Houses on bricks.
The dwellers looked like they had built their humble abodes anywhere and everywhere. I couldn’t take photos out the window as it was raining so hard but I’m sure you can picture it. We dropped people off and picked people up, some of which I’m sure weren’t at actual bus stops. Two hours later we pulled into San Ignacio and departed the bus. We tried to get our bearings. Failed and asked a vendor where Venus Hotel was.
Right in front of us. We had to walk two seconds and there we were. Up the stairs to reception and we were in. How could we miss it? It’s painted bright green! We got our key, dumped our stuff and sniffed out some food. We headed to Eva’s restaurant and tried to see where it was on google maps. Then wifi dropped out. Sometimes it’s best just to look up. It was again, right infront of us.
As we walked down Burns Avenue, there were tour places and restaurants. They had touts outside vying for business but they weren’t pushy. We had Eva’s restaurant on our right and Tandoor on our left. I took the menu from Eva’s and Nathan took Tandoor. I actually felt bad handing it back to the guy at Eva’s but it was a bit too posh for us. We wanted chicken. It’s advertised as an Indian restaurant but it offers everything from Indian, Mexican, pizza, pasta, salads and chicken.
The food was delicious. I had the chicken fajita which was divine. Probably the best fajita I have ever had to be honest. After eating we walked around the town.
Burns Avenue 
We visited the shop to grab some biscuits and wandered in and out of the shops before heading back to the hotel. We wanted to ask how to get to Xunantunich on Thursday and luckily our hotel was partnered with a new taxi driver trying to drum up business. He said it would be $35 and he would take us there, wait for as long as we were exploring, drive us back and stop wherever we wanted! I booked him for 11am…
Until next time….