Monday, February 13: Bus to Belize City

I had hoped to go tubing again, but it was pouring rain, making the river too dangerous. It had been difficult to get out at the end the previous time, and with the extra water, the current would be even stronger. 

Instead I walked down to say goodbye to Manuella, Margaret, and Lucy. 

Hammock Attachment

After that Theo dropped us off at the bus station. Given how hard it was raining, how much of the road was covered by water, and how heavy my pack had become, it was a huge blessing! We caught the express bus this time rather than the regular bus. I sat below the emergency exit in the ceiling which dripped water onto me whenever the bus stopped. But that was insignificant in comparison to the people who got the drip when the bus was moving. Given that the express bus stopped just as many times as the regular bus, I decided that the only difference between the express bus and the regular bus was the additional word in the front, "Express". It's also possible that the express bus has the luggage rack in the ceiling while the regular bus doesn't.

  One thing that we did notice is that the bus didn't usually stop completely for a stop sign or if only one person was getting on or off. One guy forgot his backpack, and they tossed it off the bus after him. Many of the stops were at the ubiquitous and rather large speed bumps, so the bus combined an almost complete stop for the bump with people climbing in and out. Very efficient!

Urgent Care Equivalent--on bus route

Once in Belize City we took a taxi to Hotel Sea Breeze. It was very clean, but not in the best of neighborhoods.

We went for a walk, going over the historic swing bridge to the south part of town and even more quickly back again--we discovered quite quickly that south of the river isn't the best idea for two women traveling alone. Then we walked around the north part of town, the best part of which was the ice cream shop which had air conditioning. It was in the 90s and humid.