Hi there!
The last days I‘ ve been cycling through Belize. It‘ s a small country, the people here speak english, creole and some spanish. And it‘ s hot!!! The temperature was getting close to 50 degrees the other day! Even hanging out and doing nothinmg isn‘ t as easy as it seems. Sweat is running down like a waterfall!
I‘ m just siting in an internet-vafe in San Ignacio, about 16 km away from the guatemalen border. I just burned my pictures on a DVD and will send ‚em home, later. Hope to find a bikeshop here, but nobody I asked so far knew about one, though the guys at the bikeshop in Belize City said there‘ s supposed to be one here, I‘ ll see.Then I‘ ll cycle 10 km to a Campground and tomorrow I‘ ll go to Guatemala.
Ok, time to go… out in the oven again;-)
Anja
01.04.09
San Ignazio Trek Stop (6km to the guatemalen border)
Shitty day somehow. My plans for the day didn‘ t work out. I spent 2 hours at the internet café and in the end I didn‘ t get my pictures burnt on a DVD. There was some problem and the huy who worked there gave up after a while. Ok, then I could skip the way to the post-office as well. Looking for a bikeshop I met a guy from Switzerland who cycled quite a lot in Central America. Then he ran out of money and now he is working in San Ignazio for a while. He explained me the way to a bikeshop, but it was closed. So I hang out somewhere at a bench in the shade and talked to a belizean mom with her 3 kids for a while. That was nice, but it was very annoying that about every 5 minutes someone stopped to shake my hand, welcome me to Belize, ask me for a taxi, tell me a good place to stay or try to sell me some tour.
At 1:30 pm I went to the bikeshop again. The guy even had some tubes with presta-valves, but not my size. He sent me to a hardware-store where I tried my luck. Again not what I needed.
After a half day being busy I hadn‘ t achieved anything. Time for me to leave. At first I had to climb a steep hill to get on the road that leads to the guatemalen border. It was too steep for me to cycle, so I had to push my bike. I stopped at a gasstation to get some air. The guy who worked there asked me some questions and then he said, … but I know that you must get very tired sometimes. Oh well, don‘ t we all get tired sometimes? What kind of statement is that? It‘ s kind of like the other thing many people ask me. They wanna know if I stop sometimes for a break and if I sleep sometimes… Hellooouuuu?!?
The 10km to the Trek Stop were a bit hilly but it was easy riding. It‘ s not possible to sweat anymore than I did even without cycling anyway. Waterfalls of sweat are just running down on me!
I could pick between 2 campspots here and I chose the one under a tarp with a hammock. It‘ s very nice, trees all around, a bit like paradise but hot as hell!
They have a kitchen here, sell coke and beer and have a restaurant that opens at 6pm where I‘ ll probably have dinner and spent my last belizean dollars.
And now I‘ m ready for a short snooze in the hammock…
Anja