HOPKINS

We packed up at 8am and caught the 8:30am bus to Belomopan where we waited an hour to catch the bus to Dangriga. The ride down the HUmmingbird Highway was beautiful, finally jungle covered mountains. We should have just stayed on the bus and been dropped off at the Hopkins Access road but we did not know this.

Once in Dangriga learned we had 4 hours until the Hopkins bus so we got on the next bus south and were dropped off at the Hopkins Road and caught a taxi into town where the hostle told us they did not offer camping, we had a couple of choices so we headed North along the main road and kept seeing signs for Kismet, Colleen went ahead to investigate and returned in a car with the owner who brought us to her funky little guest cottage bungalow space right on the sea.

We set up our tent under a small thatch covered space 20 feet from the water. Jakobi and I went for a swim, the water is really shallow for a long ways out.

We hung out and ate a rice meal and a nice man got Jakobi some coconuts and we tooka short walk and then retired to the tent to play Phase 10 and have a family meeting about what to do with our remaining two weeks here. Jakobi has been a pain in the ass complaining all the time about everything and being bored and needing buttloads of attention while the rest of us are content to relax and are able to entertain ourselves. Jakobi kicked Colleen in the face when she lost her hand in Phase 10 and screams about everything and is making this trip unbearable. I am content to just chill, would be happy here for a week but that is unlikely as Jakobi would be bored. Traveling was much easier when she was a baby and had fewer needs. Ambiana on the other hand is a great traveler, she has her books to entertain herself and can amuse herself with dancing.

I introduced Jakobi to raking the sand to give her something to do and she came up with the game of sand golf to amuse herself for awhile.

Rain on the tet but it is gone by the tme we get up. We take a morning swim and have eggs for breakfast with toast. Colleen wants to go to Glover’s reef for a week but it is expensive and the logistics are tricky. Their is a Dutchman here named Gaston with a sailboat who offers to sail us out to Tobacco Key for two nights on his boat where we can snorkel the reef. Colleen bikes down to Sitte Point to inquire about Glovers and while she is gone Jakobi and I go out to Gaston’s boat to check it out. It is 100 years old this year and in it’s original state it is the same type of craft as the Titanic’s lifeboats. Gaston has retrofitted it into a sailboat and it is beautiful. The girls would get their own berths and Colleen and I would sleep in the forecastle. After a quick tour Jakobi and I jump overboard and swim back to shore. Colleen returns and Glovers is out so we confirm the trip with Gaston and then go get ice cream to celebrate.

A Belizean Cemetery

TOBACCO KEY

After dinner Colleen and Ambiana take the bikes to get dessert while Jakobi and I hide beneath a sheet to escape the sandflies while watching the clouds race across the face of the moon. Orion is rising and Colleen and Ambiana return with German Chocolate cake and lemon pie which we eat by the sea beneath the moon then go to bed until the rooster wakes us and we peer out at the orange sunrise. Our boat is offshore awaiting us and the sea is as smooth as glass.

Our trip got off to a rocky start because after we had packed up all our stuff Gaston casually informed us that we were paying US$150 for only one night on the boat. We had misunderstood and were disappointed and when we communicated this to Gaston he got huffy and threw in the 2nd night for US$25. As were stowing our extra stuff in Trish’s room off he went in the dinghy with Ambiana and Jakobi. AMBIANA IS NO LONGER AFRAID OF THE DINGHY!!!!. Gaston came back for us and soon we were all aboard. He then went over all of his rules for being on the boat most of which I forgot and was sternly reprimanded for the duration of the trip. There was no wind so we motored out of our anchorage and off were were to Tobacco Key 15 miles off the coast. As we moved out the mountains of Belize came into view behind us, we passed Dangriga and in about two hours made it to the Key which is only about 100 yards long and 20 yards wide, covered with palm trees and shacks on pilings and has 2 bars one at each end.
To avoid paying BZ$5 a person for entering a marine sanctuary we had to leave the boat and spend the day on the Key. We passed the time snorkeling the reef on the south end of the key where we saw lots of pretty coral and fish. Jakobi is not bored snorkeling and could do it all day and has learned to dive down beneath the surface. We left the girls on the beach and Colleen and I had a snorkel date and went out a bit farther to the edge of the reef and saw a 10′ long shark cruising at about 4 meters down.

Back aboard at sunset Colleen made rum punch and Gaston shared some weed with me and we took in the beautiful colored clouds on this last day of calendar year 2017. Gaston went back ashore to party and we cooked dinner and played Phase 10 which Jakobi finally won for the 1st time ever. We were in our berths long before midnight, the girls in their own rooms so to speak. Firecrackers went off ’round midnight and next thing we knew Jakobi was asnugglin’ us. We spent the 1st day of 2018 hiding out on the key again. The snorkeling wasn’t so great because we woke to a NW wind and white caps on the sea. Jakobi had raisins for breakfast and promptly got seasick. A puke over the sides and all was well again. The wind and white caps stirred up the ocean and visibility sucked. The wind eased in the afternoon and Gaston took us in the dinghy to the other side of the reef where we floated back to the little beach snorkeling the whole way amongst pretty canyons of reef with sandy white bottoms. I ended up towing the dinghy most of the way as Gaston was on the hunt for a lionfish. I tugged it all the way around the point, my feet cramping in my fins and when Gaston finally re-appears he barks at me ‘You are too close to the ref” rather than a thank you for taking care of my boat. He is a condescending dick and I am ready to be off his fucking boat. He was very nice to a puking Jakobi and he made us a nice dinner out of that lionfish and does all the dishes but still i don’t like being around him. Slept soundly the 2nd night and woke up to wind and rain. Colleen dreamed she caulked her teeth together and I laughed about that all day. It was a rough crossing back to Hopkins, strong winds and big waves and Ambiana, Jakobi and me on the verge of seasickness which was exacerbated every time Gaston stopped to light up a cigarette or pull in a fish from his trolling lines. A big wave rolled Jakobi across the deck into me and let loose the boom scattering the solar panels and knocking off the stern support for the boom and causing me to wonder what we would do if Gaston fell overboard but that didn’t happen and as we got closerr to Hopkins the surf subsided and no puking occurred.

BACK TO HOPKINS

It was a nice to days but I was happy to be off the boat and back at Kismet setting up our tent again 20 feet from the sea. We walked to town for groceries but ending up eating out at Emily’s Cool Spot where we had Pineapple Jerk Pork Chops and banana coladas. We spent the night sitting out of the rain in kismet’s kitchen talking with a couple from VT, Noah and Bess who Colleen actually knew through Richarda. After dinner we went to the bar next door with the other tourists to listen to some music, I left with the girls and Colleen stayed late for the Garifuna drumming.. We spent a lazy next day at Kismet, morning and afternoon swims, a walk North past the fancy resorts to the lagoon and then to Nice Cream for ice cream. I made a solo trip to the store for dinner and colleen biked to the marina for fuel for our stove and returned with bacon and salad for our pasta dinner. It is full on dark here by 5:30pm, no twilight at 17 degrees N latitude. The dogs of kismet sleep outside our tent all night and bark at anyone passing by. This trip for Jakobi has been all about the dogs, I am tired of the mangy beach dogs always sniffin’ around. Ambiana is up all night going to the pooper with a stomach bug I got up at sunrise and found her sitting in tears on a beach chair staring out to the horizon where a distant rainstorm obscured the rising sun. It sucks to be sick so far from the comforts of home and we are considering pushing back our pack up a day if she is not feeling better.

CASTILLO BEACH, HOPKINS

We hung around Kismet until Ambiana flt well enough to move on and then we walked through Hopkins, 2-3 miles to the southside to Castillo Beach which is the spot we’ve been looking for.

A wide sandy beach amongst the jungle with swings in the palms, a large thatched covered pavilion with hammocks and tables and two friendly boys, Norman 11, the owner’s son and Rodwyn, 6 Norman’s nephew, to play with Jakobi. Once I had unshouldered my load and recovered from the long hot walk I looked around and loved what I saw. and located us a nice spot to pitch our tent-home under neath a palm but close to the sea. Colleen borrowed a bike and rode to the store for dinner while Ambiana lay in a hammock and slowly got better. We know she is alright when she begins to dance on the beach. Jakobi and I beat Rodwyn and Norman in a game of Belize Baseball which has 4 bases set out in a square with home plate half way between 4th base and 1st base. After the game I took a hammock break while Jakobi continued to play. We are going to suffer when we get home because it is COLD here with a NW west blowing, we put on our long pants and shirts and I have my winter hat on my head. After a dinner of curried rice and veggies we retire to the tent to sleep with the rustling palm fronds sounding like rain and their shadows dancing on the tent roof. Colleen and I both woke in the middle of the night and peed in the moonlight on the beach.I go up at sunrise to bask in the golden light and even now it is chilly, I wonder if this is related to the storm on the East coast pushing colder air this far south. The sky is clear for the moment from the clouds that have persisted over the past few days and soon the will rise above the clouds and bring us some warmth.

We have found our spot here at Castillo Beach beside the Gulf of Mexico with its gentle palm fronds swaying in the breeze and the ocean lapping in our tent-dreams. A lazy place to pitch our home and enjoy the pleasures of doing nothing. Ambiana has finished a Wrinkle in Time and has passed it on to me and is now reading a Michael Creighton novel. Colleen goes on her runs and does her tummies and Jakobi has a quartet of friends as Norman and Rodwyn have been joined by two of cousins and they run around the place playing hide and seek, sardines, volleyball, soccer and coconut toss which involves sticking a long piece of stiff grass in a baby coconut and flinging it through the air to see whose goes the farthest. Jakobi and I are the still the baseball champs though Norman whips us in everything else.

I took the bike to the marina to get more gas for our stove and then we took a family walk south along the beach to the point in the distance passing all the fancy places to stay that are our neighbors. These are the nicest buildings I have seen yet in Belize and it is funny to think that we share the same sea and sand and yet we pay US$10 a night while these places cost US$300 a night. Is that what a bed and a roof is worth? In our 2 weeks here we have encountered few backpackers and fewer backpacker style accommodations other than on Caye Caulker. It seems the average tourist here comes for 7-12 days, stays at one resort and from their ventures out on ‘tours’ to the various sites, ruins, zip line, cave etc. On our travels on the public bus we are often the only tourists as those staying at the resort are picked up and brought to the airport by a resort shuttle.

Ambiana loves the fancy resorts and has picked out her favorite and Jakobi and Colleen conspire to treat Ambiana to a pre-birthday Pina Colada on it’s veranda luring her down to it with a ‘let’s take a walk on the beach’ ruse. Ambiana is thrilled! Jakobi not so as earlier in the day she got icky stomach and puked twice so her and I walk back to Castillo Beach to relax while Colleen and Ambiana stay for Happy Hour Hordevours and a swim in the pool. The next morning we were supposed to be up at 6am for the &am bus but there was rain on the tent so we decided to sleep in an catch the 2pm bus instead. Yesterday I found the Mayan Calendar I have been looking for, it is 12″ in diameter, is carved not etched, has both the month (“Hab”) and the day glyphs (“Tzolkin”)and a carving of the rain god in the center. It was US$100 but I got it for US$90 and it is now tightly wrapped in newspaper and plastic and tucked securely in my backpack.

All packed up we hiked down the beach and turned inland to our bus stop and caught the 2pm bus which was the funnest bus so far on our trip cruising up Hopkins main street with Lucky Dube playing on the sound ssytem and picking up all the locals heading into Dangriga, such a beautiful collection of people, kids and babies in all shades of brown.