Ferry pulling onto our side of slough

 Our second day in Belize was very relaxing and educational.  The tour to Orchid Bay, with the people we had spent the tour to the Mayan temples with, was to take place, but the tour group would be going to Orchid Bay by boat.  We were far more interested in what kind of drive it would be to the community, so we elected to take the car.  Boy, was that a surprise and adventure.  The road was dirt and, because they had recently had some rain in the Corozal area, there were mud holes that we dared not get stuck in.  Many were over 100 yards in length and, rather than just driving through water, we were driving through very slippery and deep mud.  The tires on our rental car were not the best, so I made sure we didn't slow down to a point I would not be able to continue moving forward. 

Having negotiated the mud slicks, we were then further surprised by coming to a line of cars waiting to cross a waterway by ferry.  These were not the kind of ferries an American conjures up, when thinking of vehicular transportation.  These were little more than barges with wooden decks that were propelled from one side of the water way to the other by means of a steel cable and one or two men cranking a gear and chain driven pulley that was attached to each side of the slough.  The barge had definite weight limits and could accommodate only about two to three cars at a time.

This is apparently one means of employing people.

It was interesting to see how the government provided jobs for some of their citizens, rather than to mechanize and automate everything.  I felt it would have been far more practical to build a simple bridge, but that would not have provided long term employment to anyone.

We encountered two of these ferries, on our way to Orchid Bay.  The drive was significantly longer than we had anticipated.  If one chose to purchase land and build in this community, they would have to plan on either shopping by boat or perhaps once a week by car.

Orchid Bay is a Gringo community that was a major subdivision of property with lots for sale.  They promised, eventually, to have a restaurant (and already had a meager one on site), along with a lot of other amenities that were not yet constructed.  We took the 10 Cent tour and saw homes that had already been constructed and others under construction.  Although we enjoyed the company of the members of the tour, we decided it was time to return to the town of Corozal and see what else was interesting.  We actually spent about four days in the area.  There were several subdivisions that were offering lots for sale.  None of them had a source of water, other than the cisterns that the locals used to gather rain water.  Electricity seemed to be available, but it was still a little on the primitive side.  Sewer was only available as septic systems. 

Evelyn at dusk outside motel restaurant.

We checked out some other older neighborhoods, which were mostly populated by expatriates, and found numerous houses that were for sale, but for which (in my opinion) were too expensive for what was being offered.  Even the lots (including those in Orchid Bay) were being offered at too high a price to warrant taking the plunge. 

The high point of our northern Belize visit was the introduction to the poor lifestyle the Belizeans apparently choose to live and the foods that were available at the restaurants.  I visited an open produce market, while in Corozal, and found it to be less than "clean" or desirable.  Nonetheless, I decided to try a tamale from one of the quick food huts, of which there were several.  I was a little apprehensive about the apparent filth in the hut.  I was served a tamale on a plastic, often reused, plate with a discolored fork.  I decided I might as well try it, since I had paid for it.  It turned out to be the best tamale I had ever eaten.  That goes to show one can not always judge things by appearance.

We got a chance to speak to several Expats, while looking around Corozal.  We can say, without exception, they were extremely friendly, welcoming, and encouraging.  They were happy and felt they had made an excellent choice in relocating to this area.  There was a huge lack of those things Americans have accustomed themselves to, including real supermarkets, department stores, gas stations (gas was over $5 per gallon or BZ 9.90 to 10.50 per gallon), and nice restaurants (although the restaurant at our motel was pretty nice).  On the other hand, for those who were living full time in Belize, one could drive fifteen minutes north and shop in the customs free zone or in Mexico, where they had Walmart, Home Depot, etc.  All-in-all, it was a life style one could easily adjust to.  It was less tropical, here, but it offered year around comfort.  The natives thought the 70 degree weather we were experiencing was cold.

This building housed the 3 businesses of the man with Evelyn.

Our last full day in the Corozal area, we chose to take a flight from the local municipal airport to the island of Ambergris Caye.  Although this was not a large island, it was a huge tourist attraction.  It was only about a fifteen minute flight from Corozal.  We rented a golfcart to get around the island. 

It was interesting, because the streets were very narrow and crowded,  There were many hotel/motels, lots of beach, numerous stores offering anything from ice cream to fishing tours, and some nice restaurants.  We decided to eat in a small establishment and found the food to be less expensive than that which was offered in most of the other restaurants, very tasty, and we were able to meet the owner.  He explained to us he had built the building in which the restaurant was housed.  He lived there with his wife and kids.  He also had a golf cart rental business, a charter fishing business, in the same building.  He was, in contrast to the average Belizean, very entrepreneurial.  He explained that, by doing the several businesses, he was able to earn about $5,000 per month.  That is huge for Belizean standard.  We managed to take pictures of Orchid Bay, from the air.

A view of Orchid Bay from the air.

We spent our final night in Corozal and decided we would drive to San Ignacio.  One of the unexpected drawbacks we discovered in being on the sandy coast was the abundance of Sand Fleas.  These were particularly virulent and Evelyn suffered greatly from them.  We were hoping to find the San Ignacio area to be less of a problem, in that regard.  More from the next leg of our trip, to follow.