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Day 29 – Chetumal to Belize City

So we crossed Mexico!!
The border crossing wasn't that bad after all – a few procedures though:
1. Pay a fee for having stayed longer than 7 days in Mexico
1a – Get cash at an ATM to pay the fee
2. Cancel the Mexican insurance
3. Go through the border
4. Go through the "free zone" between the two countries
5. Get the bikes sprayed
5a. Get money in the free zone bank to pay the bike spray
6. Go through Belize immigration
7. Go through Belize customs
8. Go through the border
9. Get Belize insurance (required)
Uff!!
The language spoken here is English… we got so used to asking things
in Spanish that at first it feels strange to go up to people directly
in English…
We stopped at the first little town and got some gas – the most
expensive gas we've seen so far – $5/gallon! Good things the distances
here are not that great but I think from now on gas price will be
pretty steep. The guy at the gas station told me that the gas prices
are going up on Monday and that he usually crosses the border to
Mexico to fill up his car.
The road down to Belize City was OK… small roads… absolutely no
markings on the road but I enjoyed seeing the countryside and the
different style of buildings. Sugar cane and cattle – that was
basically what we saw on the way.
Then we hit the water – on the road – a LOT of it! I saw some cars
crossing so decided to go for it realizing that it was not that deep.
Unfortunately I pressed the record button on the camera too soon – it
was still booting up – so I didn't record that largest section but got
some of the other flooded areas on tape.
It is the second big flood they have this year. We were told that it
does not happen every year so this time around several houses and
businesses were seriously affected – for the second time. Quite sad.
Getting into Belize City was a little disappointing. I kept thinking
that it would get a little – just a little – nicer when we got to the
"Tourism Village" but it didn't. At least the guide book took to a
quaint hotel called The Great House Inn… the internet here is
flawless!
So it was a short day riding – we stopped around 3:30 – unpacked the
bikes – gave the hotel a HUGE laundry load – ate at the hotel – Cajun
Chicken – quite tasty – local beer and then went back to the room.
The day was gray and we were tired… slept till now.
Figuring out what to do tomorrow… probably go out to the Cayes
(pronounced keyes) to see the good part of Belize.

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