Discover for yourself

My first month in Belize was perfect. I had the element of surprise that I wanted, peace, and quite an adventure. I’m glad I came into Belize with such an open mind.

It was Saturday and I returned back to my casita from a full day on the beach greeted by my host letting me know ‘We have plans if the storm gets close but don’t worry it usually doesn’t”. This is the first I’m hearing of a storm which isn’t surprising as I’ve spent all day today and yesterday afternoon walking North on the beach which means all by myself for miles and miles. Walking these remote beaches is pure peace for me. The ocean is therapeutic and walking isn’t painful anymore, my foot is healed fully. I feel free with being able to walk while my head seems to be feeling more and more free each day.

It’s rain season and the storms are short but there have been some strong ones. The big ones usually were hitting at night. I just returned from dancing in the rain while on the beach. It was a great day of quick and short bursts of showers. It must be a really big storm if she’s bringing it up. I google it, ‘Beryl Hurricane to hit Belize Friday’. Oh shit, there’s a hurricane coming….

I want to get a feel for what all my friends (locals) are saying. I headed out on my golfcart to all my usual spots and everyone’s chuckling at me ‘I’m not going anywhere, this is home’. I went with the vibe and didn’t worry. I went about my Sunday per usual, hit the beach by 8 AM to start walking/jogging. I’d stop and hang out at different areas. I stepped on a stingray at one of the beaches, that was crazy! I think we scared each other. I watched the rays dancing and jumping out of the water near the reef. They’re so active the last few evenings.

Monday comes around and everyone back home is checking in asking what my plan is, The island I’m on is right in the path and it’s going to hit on Friday. All of the news says it. I panic a bit and ask my host to walk me through the evac plan again. They have a good plan in place with a good cement shelter. The locals keep saying “It’s going to turn last second, it always does. We’ll know before any news channels. The news is always way behind on what’s actually happening here”. They were right, I was showing a breaking news update that it’s upgraded to a category 4  from my USA resources and the locals would say “that was 12 hours ago, it’s down to a 2 already”. I didn’t have a worry I felt safe and there was a good plan in place.

Tuesday I find out that the last planes out will be Wednesday. If you stay past that you’re on your own or could get mandatory evac and all have to cram together on boats. That scared the shit out of me, especially when they said the police leave Wednesday too. I found this out while they were boarding up my windows on my casita. Boarding the windows up making it super dark inside and then thinking of not having power from the storm, it’d be pure hell in there. Alright it’s time to decide – stay or go. Prior to this I was cool, calm and collected. Everyone else was and still is – but not me.

I had a little breakdown talking it out with the ocean. I was scared because everyone from the USA told me to stay away from the mainland – it’s too dangerous. I had so many options; I could cut my trip short a month and head back to MI or MO. I didn’t want to yet though, I wasn’t ready. I had more deep soul searching to do. I could go to the mainland and risk it against everyone’s advice. I could find a new cool place to go like Brazil or anything – the worlds my option but I wanted Belize, I wanted to finish my 2 months. The beaches and I weren’t done with all of the therapy work I was doing. I decided I’m going to evacuate, I’m going to make the best of this situation and explore what the mainland has to offer. After my 5 min breakdown crying hysterically to the beautiful and perfectly sunny ocean view. I was ready, decision has been made. Wipe away the tears and getting packed to head to the mainland. Let the side quest begin!

All of my local friends chuckled at me when I told them I’m leaving. I explained it to them to think of it as snow for me. If they were visiting Michigan and a blizzard is coming in, the locals would likely stay and others would run. I had the 9th to last seat off the island on a paid ticket.

I jump on AirBnB and there’s a cute little property with a home and several casitas on the same property in San Ignacio. It’s gated and says it’s walking distance to the market which is perfect! I’m so excited there’s a market. I was hoping to support more locals on the island with their arts and trades but there weren’t many great options. There was a lot brought in from China with a few actual artists here and there. I was pumped to be near a market for some authentic Belize crafted stuff, I was really hoping for some good handmade jewelry and San Ignacio might be the place. I don’t know anything about the mainland because I listened to everyone else rather than finding out for myself so I never looked into it. Learned a life lesson with this one! GO and check destinations for yourself.

My hosts in SI (San Ignacio) were the perfect fit for this spontaneous mini getaway (from a getaway). They were very helpful with navigating this visit so last minute and we were safe from the storm in SI. They helped me arrange a taxi to take me from the airport to their location. It was a little over 2 hours to go from East to West Belize. SI is on the border of Guatemala. I could take the public bus system that would take 6-7 hours with no A/C or hire a taxi to take me across the country. I hired a taxi. This was my first time in a car in a little over a month, I missed my golf cart already surprisingly.

My taxi driver brought his son with him, he was 13 and appeared to be maybe 7 or 8 by his size. The kids are so small in Belize. He was 1 of 9 kids. I later found out that the kids aren’t allowed to talk to the customers. I tried engaging conversation with him because that’s a very boring drive for such a young kid I was very coldly ignored. I was surprised that there was no reaction from his Dad or the boy as if I hadn’t talked at all. Later talking with my hosts I told them how odd it was that the boy wouldn’t speak to me. They said he likely would’ve gotten beaten when he got home if he did. Makes sense now.

A lot of folks bring their kids with them to work in Belize. Car seats are not necessary and toddlers can just run around the car freely, standing in the passenger seat while the drivers drive like it’s Nascar but with a braking competition too. The cars were very run down as you would expect. Adults had to wear helmets on mopeds/motorcycles but kids didn’t. So Mom, Dad, and 2 kids could all be on 1 bike and only the adults have helmets.

I arrived in San Ignacio Wednesday night and left on Sunday. Over the next few days I explored SI and am so grateful I went. I arrived on mainland Belize not knowing what to expect and left Belize mainland knowing wonderful people, learning more about their culture, seeing 3 human remains, exploring multiple Mayan temples, so much wildlife, holding a 7′ iguana, hiking miles and miles in the real fricken jungle, and while there were times it wasn’t the safest I always felt safe with the people I was with. 

You have to push past the fear from what you’ve heard and go experience it for yourself. We are all products of our environments, little pieces of everyone and everybody around us. If I would have followed what everyone said I would’ve never visited mainland Belize, I’m so happy I explored it for myself. Go and do the thing even if others are saying don’t – listen to what YOU need and do it.

If you’re still reading this far – Thanks for sticking around! I took quite a hiatus after starting this blog last year. I enjoyed writing this and visiting the memories. The video above doesn’t have anything to do with this blog post, just sharing 60 seconds of San Pedro (on the island) while I wait for my smoothie – Enjoy!

peace & love.