Armando–Belize

The alarm rang and duties began, Kevin started the coffee and began packing while I filled the water bottles and started to call Kevin’s sister to wish her a happy birthday. His family recently sent photos from snow skiing and while I do not miss the cold there are times my mind wonders to being with them in the mountains playing cards or badminton in the evenings and waking up to ski or hike.

As I began pedaling we discussed two options, bike to Orange Walk and stay the night or make it all the way to Belize City and either 1. Find a hotel or hostel 2. Hope the Couchsurfing guy responded 3. Either way camp or get hosted because Belize is too expensive for our budget we set ourselves.

We passed small villages one right after the other and then all of a sudden we both realize this isn’t Mexico anymore and there are not street vendors every few kilometers, the signs had turned to English, and mile markers were our new indicators if we saw them because there were no signs telling you which towns or cities were where and there was absolutely no shoulder to ride on.

We laughed how I forgot to write my saddest story in the previous blog posts and this I vowed to add as soon as I could so insert now a sad story and if you love animals maybe skip this part: wild dogs and pet dogs alike are the most terrifying animals whom roam these streets and while Kevin and I had road space in Mexico we biked side by side although I was slightly behind to make sure our bags didn’t hit. As we chatted a dog ran out to chase Kevin and I stuck my line and kept biking to end up running over the dog and then swerving into the road inorder to not run into Kevin because I didn’t want to brake as I was on top of the dogs neck. Good news is the dog scurried away kept distance and continued to bark while his mates watched, saw the accident and ended up not chasing us. Then we biked down the road talking about how I should have kicked out rather than ran over the dog. I am slightly traumatized and still hate when dogs chase us but I have gotten better at just keeping my line and biking on.

Orange walk arrived and we hit the market because Kevin was craving pineapple and we needed water and groceries if we were going to journey on. We bought two carrots, a full pineapple which was gone in a matter of minutes because neither of us could talk as we raced to see who would get the extra piece since there was an odd number (I let Kevin have it 🙂 ) we went to a larger super store to get cheap water and try to find nuts to carry with…unfortunately Belize imports most of their products and this creates higher prices and very similar US products which we refuse to buy here. In reality we left Orange walk at 11:45/12:15 because we felt good and it wasn’t too hot of a day with the clouds, looking back I am not sure it was our smartest decision and at the same time it was the start of something great in this country.

As the morning turned to afternoon, hunger set in and the road was empty besides the giant buses passing us by and a few cars too close for Kevin’s comfort. It’s crazy how different our dislikes are. I for one dislike the dogs and camping where we can be seen whereas Kevin hates the mosquitos, ants, and cars which drive way too close to us for no good reason. What we both have agreed is not much fun is biking and searching for food when there is nothing in sight and we haven’t seen anything since we left Orange Walk until a small stand on the side of the road arrived before our eyes and we rode up and asked if they had food, the response is epic, yes we have chips. If I didn’t laugh inside to such an answer luckily Kevin followed up by asking if they had any real food and they said they would look and next thing I know we are sitting at a road stop stand eating their left over rice from probably the night before. We scarfed it down and the nicest older man said we could stay the night.

I checked my watch and got a better feel for the son and father duo and told Kevin I thought it was a good offer and would allow us time off the bike rather than making a 100km plus day so at 14:00 we relaxed played Yahtzee for the first time and even got to explore their land and enjoy conversations with Armando.

Meet Armando, a simple man who just loves life and helping people. His son was some sort of alcoholic who literally threw out big names and could only hold a conversation about diving which was fine until it became repetitive. We got to hack coconuts with machetes and drink their water both aged and young ones and I got to read my book when Kevin wasn’t dragging me to “meet” their needs and expectations of spending time in front of the TV. Armando cooked us dinner and in the evening we got to meet his wife whom comes from Mexico and only spoke Spanish yet we were able to enjoy her Spanish TV soap and then we were off to bed.

If I wasn’t writing this a week later I am sure I would have used descriptive words and made the story more detail to how it truly played out yet I am far behind in updates from lack of wifi and being tired when we stop biking which means I go to sleep at 19:40/20:00 when it gets dark and wake at 4:50/5:00 to start all over again. If I ever tell these stories in person please allow for the true creative spirit to come through. Peace and love, Kevin and CJ mostly CJ because Kevin just enjoys checking which photos I post and which stories I tell.