I visited Mexico exactly five years ago (funnily enough, Facebook reminded me of that while I was in Belize), so I decided to skip it this time and start the final part of my trip – Central and South America – in Belize. Belize is a small country, about two-thirds the size of Belgium, located on the eastern shores of the Yucatan Peninsula, nestled between Mexico and Guatemala and with a population of less than 400.000 people.
From Hawaii to Belize
I knew this would be one of the big ones, and I was right. There are no flights connecting Latin America with Hawaii, so first, I needed to hop from Kauai to Maui (another one of Hawaii’s islands). From there, I flew 7.5 hours to Chicago, and after a 3-hour layover, I caught another 4-hour flight down to Belize. In Belize City (which is not the capital but the largest city), I took a taxi to the ferry terminal and boarded a ferry for another 2 hours to San Pedro. Basically, I was on the move for 24 hours, but that’s it—the big blue has finally been crossed.
San Pedro
“Last night I dreamt of San Pedro” is the opening line to Madonna’s famous song La Isla Bonita, and this is the exact San Pedro the 80s Queen of Pop was dreaming about. It is a small island at the northern end of Belize, close to Mexico. There are no cars here; people use golf carts to get around.
The main attraction of the region is the rich marine life of Belize’s reefs. So, I did what I had to do and joined a scuba trip to Hol Chan, an interesting underwater gorge with many species – some of which – like the (harmless) nurse shark and the spotted southern stingray – I had never seen before. The second part of that excursion involved snorkeling in the sha-ha-sha-ha-hallow waters of the so-called “Shark and Ray Alley,” where we saw dozens of adult nurse sharks swimming around and beneath us. Magnificent!
In San Pedro is also an Iguana Sanctuary that can be visited for free and where you can see many of these impressive creatures close up.
Dream a bit about San Pedro :
