250 The Belize Zoo

Wednesday 30th October 2013
Miles Today 0 Total 26,502

We started off today with a trip to the restaurant next door to the hotel for breakfast and it was fantastic. We both had omelets and they were made like British ones. 

A look across the bay.

Fat person trying to break the hammock.

We then went for a walk along the beach as the sun had finally come out and we wanted to make the most of it.

Sadly we wished we had been here before they invented plastic. The beach was strewn with little bits of all coloured plastic and bottle tops. These were interspersed with little bottles of the type you draw legal drugs from with a syringe. It was a mess.

The rubbish on the beach was awful. I do appreciate however that this is the rainy season and the rubbish washes off the land, into the sea and then the wind pushes it back on shore. Still, it is a mess.

Karen did not see me take this. Doh !

We then wandered around the village for a bit, did some letter posting and eventually found a bar called the Pickled Parrot. It was a chilled out place owned by an American couple and the barman was a typically delightful black Rastafarian guy who was playing constant Reggae on the music system. It was a great atmosphere.

A huge Iguana turned up in the garden so needless to say I took some pictures.

This guy is about 4 feet long.

And mean looking too.

We stayed at the bar till after dark and had a great time chatting with the locals who were unbelievably friendly and we eventually left the bar a bit the worse for wear and came across this little fellow on the way home.

A harmless 4" tarantula.

Thursday 31st October 2013
Miles Today 0 Total 26,502

Today is Rosie’s Birthday, Happy Birthday hun.

Today we just chilled out all day and just watched TV whilst trying to sort out where we were going to go next.

Out in the street in the evening there were hundreds of dressed up kids doing the “Trick or Treat” thing up and down the main street. It was cute to see the little girls dressed as princesses and the boys dressed as ghouls.  

Friday 1st November 2013
Miles Today 144 Total 26,646

Today we set off for Belize Zoo. We retraced our steps for about 100 miles (there are not too many roads here) and on the way back we came past a couple of touring cyclists. After a ridiculous conversation on the move we all pulled over for a chat. Uwe and Evelyn are German, from near Mannheim and have been cycling around the world for about 18 months.

They were extremely friendly, extremely hard corps and absolutely nuts. They have sold up everything to do this trip but fortunately their employers have kept their jobs open for 2 years. 

Banana trees, they grow the bananas in bags to keep out insects etc.

We parted company and rode the final 70miles to Belmopan and after finding a place to stay we set off for the zoo. The Zoo was not started as such, it started out as a refuge in 1983 for 17 animals that were left behind following a wildlife documentary and none of the animals there have been taken from the wild. They are all rescue animals, be it from other failed zoos or from illegal public possession. Indeed some animals were taken from an abandoned zoo in Guatemala where the owners went bankrupt and just walked away from the caged animals. They have a tame black panther here that was found in there, starved and close to death.

As none of the animals are wild, (except perhaps the alligator !) they are for the most part very friendly. The pictures sort of bear that out. 

On the way back to the hotel we drove past the flooded road that we were unable to take 4 days ago. It was clear and the flood had completely abated. 

 It was then back to the hotel which we arrived at just as it was getting dark. It gets dark here at around 5:30 and it can be a real pain in the butt if we are traveling long distances.