You’d Better Belize it!

You’d Better Belize it!

Belize was always on our itinerary, but after a ‘Whoopsie’ in Honduras, we arrived sooner than expected. The Mennonite community in Spanish Village, Belize, is a large farming community with all that goes with that, including engineering capability – of which we took advantage. The Mennonites pretty much feed Belize with the majority of meat and vegetables being produced by them. The farm machinery is modern (and huge!) and they have a reputation for skilled craftsmanship. The rest of Belize comes to Spanish Village when it needs to get things fixed properly. The town is kept immaculately clean and would be a very pleasant place to live. The community has created a country park, with a lake, and they levy no charge to camp. We had a very pleasant stay there.

After our business in Spanish Village was complete, we drove the picturesque Humming Bird Highway to the coast to visit the expat enclave of Placencia- a town located at the end of a long peninsula. We then headed north to Belize City, visiting the Marie Sharp hot sauce factory on the way. Dave took a bottle of Berties Trinidad hot sauce for comparison – and we’re pleased to report that Berties won on flavour!

We left Big Bertha at the Old Belize Marina and took a ferry to one of the islands, Caye Caulker, spending four days exploring the island and snorkelling on its reef. We were very lucky to see a manatee – something we really wanted. We ate out a lot and even located a Trinidadian style restaurant! The curry goat was tasty, but the doubles weren’t so good.

Re-joining Big Bertha back on the mainland, we headed back towards the Guatemala border, calling in at a rum distillery, to San Ignacio where we stayed overnight with Tom and Marge, a very hospitable American couple living in Belize who had travelled extensively through North America in their own camper. The next day we crossed back into Guatemala. Luckily we were able to suspend our Temporary Import Permit on the way out of Guatemala, so re-entry was a breeze.

It was really nice to spend some time in an English speaking country again and use currency bearing the Queen’s head.