Belize Day 2: The Chicken Bus

Boarding the bus

Public transportation is an interesting way to get a feel for a country, especially when your wife is the only person with blonde hair on the bus. But I've gotten ahead of myself. 

Belize is slightly larger than Massachusetts. It's a melting pot of Creoles, Mestizos, Garifuna, Maya, East Indians, and very few Caucasians. The country gained independence from Britain in 1981. (Damn, those Brits don't know when to let go.) We felt the ride would be a good introduction to the country and its people.

We woke early to the sounds of birds. Ate a little breakfast at the Smokey Mermaid. Then caught a cab ride over to the bus station. You cannot miss the building because it is painted entirely in yellow with red and green trim. Now picture two fair-skinned Americans with luggage getting out of a cab and they're the only tourists at the station. Trying to look confident, we strode into the terminal. A man directed us to the bus and we nabbed the last two seats. 

The bus has an employee that rides with the driver to collect fares while it's moving down the road. We were heading to the Belize Zoo, about an hour away from town. The ride cost $7BZ for the both of us. The bus stopped several times to pick up more passengers. Sad to say, no chickens got on the bus. They are not allowed on Sunday’s due to people being in their church clothes.

Local kid on bus

We started to notice the kids were staring at Diane. They kept moving closer for a better look. I suddenly realized that she was the only person with blonde hair on the bus. The kids found it fascinating and couldn't help but stare. I jokingly started calling Diane, the "Blonde Goddess" of the Chicken Bus.

Hot. Stuffy. Cramped. That's what it felt like to ride the local bus. There were however lots of friendly smiles on everyone's face that we met. An hour later, they dumped us out on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

Next: The Belize Zoo

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Build a GoPro Water Ski Rope Mount

Image
One of the best views of water skiing is to mount a GoPro to the ski rope. Here is how to build the rope mount. Parts needed: 2-foot piece of 3/4" PVC pipe Duct tape GoPro bicycle clamp Foam noodle Wrist strap Zip tie Since the 3/4" pipe won't slide over the knot on the ski rope, you will need to cut the PVC pipe down the middle. (like a clamshell)  Fit the two halves over the rope and duct tape them to the rope and the V part of the handle. Duct taping to the V section is key to keeping the camera upright.  Attach the GoPro bicycle clamp to the pipe. Make sure you have a safety leash hooked to the camera and rope so it doesn't end up at the bottom of the lake or river.  I used a wrist strap from one of my still cameras and threaded the thin end through the GoPro latch and zipped tied the other end to the rope.  Add a section of a foam pool noodle to the rope to ensure good floatation. Duct tape the noodle closed. Add some duct tape on each end of the rope ...
Read more

Belize Day 4: Actun Tunichil Muknal cave adventure

Image
Eating termites. Swinging from vines. Exploring a sacrificial cave. Sounds like a scene from the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. And that is exactly what it felt like. This was our adventure into the ancient Mayan cave of fear called the Actun Tunichil Muknal. The guide Juan Carlos and driver picked us up at our hotel in a beat up Chevy van. The rig looked like it had seen a lot of hard road. It wouldn't be long before we learned for ourselves why it looked that way. Juan stopped in town to pick up a young couple that would be joining us, Ryan and Susan. The van then rolled down the two-lane highway till it reached a dirt road turn off. From there, we drove over a washboard dirt road through a valley surrounded by jungle. This part of the ride definitely would test the fillings in your teeth. Pot holes the sizes of craters. Creeks flowing over the road. Yet as I prayed my capped teeth wouldn't fall out, I noticed something unique outside the window. There were families washing t...
Read more

How to flip a Sleekcraft boat over in your garage

Image
How do you flip a boat over in your garage? That was the challenge my neighbor had while restoring his speed boat. His 92-year-old father came up with this brilliant system of pulleys and supports that made it fairly easy to turn the boat upside down. We start to raise the boat off the trailer. An engine jack was used to raise the bow. Note the yellow strap from the pulley to the dash. This was to prevent cracking the bow. Close up of the bow pulley system and how the strap slipped off the top wheel.  We should have cut a groove in it to make sure the strap stayed centered. A wooden support frame was built to hang the pulley system and connect it to the transom. We carefully turn the boat upside down. Stern leg bracket: The is the piece that connects the back legs to support beam. The legs were 2x4s and the support beam was two 2x6s. Safely turned upside down.  UPDATE 05/17/2021 The boat restoration was completed a few years back and came out amazing. Here are fe...
Read more