If anybody besides me is actually reading this you must be bloody bored of me carrying on about the trip to Belize. I can understand that, but you need to understand that, for right now anyway, this is the only thing in life that I still have to look forward to. Pathetic, I know.
Anyway, I got a good map of the country and started figuring out distances between the areas I will be visiting. From Belize City to Punta Gorda it is roughly 200 miles. Given the way the roads are described and the time necessary to get out of Belize City, I figure it will take around 6 to 7 hours. So I plan on getting the first ferry out of San Pedro, which is at 7:00am, in order pick up my rental car and get out of town early enough to get to Punta Gorda by mid-afternoon. My plan is to stay at Blue Belize Guest House, get dinner in town and check out the local stores, available housing, and generally just meander about to get a general feel of the area.
My understanding is that this area of the country, the Toledo district, is the wettest part of the country and has rain forest conditions with up to 170 inches of rain per year – sort of like Seattle, but always warm and a with a population of around 23,000 (the whole district, not just Punta Gorda). OK, so the rain is the only thing similar to Seattle, but the point is that growing moss on my backside is not my cup of tea. I have also heard that the sand flies are positively horrific. Nonetheless, I want to check out the area if for no other reason than to satisfy my curiosity. PG itself is around 6,000 souls and sits at a whopping 15 feet above sea level. My house in Key West was 11 feet above sea level, so an additional 4 feet is a 36% increase in elevation!
There is a water taxi from Punta Gorda across Honduras Bay to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala that takes about an hour and costs a whopping $3.75. If I had more time I would check it out. Wednesday morning I leave for Placencia, but not before checking out the Wednesday morning market in PG.
No comments:
Post a Comment