Tobacco Caye - Another stay in Paradise

Palms were waving in front of our window, the sea was just a spit away and the sun was smiling - daylight on Tobacco Caye. We were surprised how small the island is. 200 + 300 meters, walked around it in 2 minutes. Crystal clear water and the Reef in the back made it a perfect place to hang out. Just a few very colourful houses and cabanas streches along the sandy island. Millions of conch shells surrounding nearly every coconut tree on the Island.

It didnt take long till we know everybody on the island and get along quite will with the - maybe 20 - inhabitants. There is not much to do here - but thats what you are here for. Sunbathing, snorkling, diving and drinking coconuts were just a few of these exhausting activity´s on Tobacco Caye.

We decided to go diving on a closer Reef - the South Water caye. There was just us in a small fisher boat with the dive guide and the captain. Captain Jack. We had an awesome day in the very clear and calm water. We dived very long dives between untouched corals and no other divers at all. There was just no big fish around.. little bit disappointed, except an eagle ray crossed our way..

Captain Jack was the perfect model for us, a crazy and funny Belizian guy.

When we came back, Nigal chopped us coconuts to drink, they were very tasty.. we enjoyed them while watching an amazing sunset.

Last day on Tobacco: sunbathing, snorkeling, Rum & Cokes. We watched Joe cleaning the Conch Shells, tried some of the glibbery part of this delicatesse and had a long talk with the owners of our place.. They were so cute, lovely, fun and knows a lot about Belize. Go Fairweather, to Pandy and Hellen if you once go to Tobacco.

Lots of Eagle Rays appeared on the beach to eat the Conch shells..

It was sad to leave this beautiful place on earth, but this time we had a nice ride to the mainland, calm sea and lots of sun in our faces..

Barton Creek - Belmopan - Tobacco Caye

This day is another history part, the whole was just traveling - but u cant imagine what we´ve gone trough - just to go from the west to the east of Belize. We got a lift with the owner from the Creek Station to San Igancio with a 40 year old landcruiser through the Orangefield packed, breathtaking scenery of the Cargo District.

The day already started with a shock I created myself - I accidently deleted ( me or the virus ) all my pics from my small underwater camera, all the diving and much more .. gone. Grr.
Then we saw the taxi driver again, we thought he will kill us for braking down his car, but he was smiling and waving.. We took the bus to Belmopan, the capital of Belize and catched seats - what a surprise!

Bus driving in Belize is a big adventure - you will love it, or hate it. The colourful old American School Buses wre the main transport on Belize streets. There is just one little problem - you have to fight for a seat. A machete would be very usefull :) The small seats are made for 2 childrens, but in Belize the whole family sits there. So instead of 30 people, there are 60 people in the bus, packed like sardines. people are standing, the bus is struggeling to reach the next hill. Its lots of fun - escpeacially when the sell people are coming trough and chickens in the back are screaming..

In Belmopan we behaved too friendly and couldnt catch any seat, so we had to wait for the next one. This time is was good to behave like a german. Just push everybody, ran over the seats and take a big jump to a free seat. I catched one and in the end I had to sit on Marcos knees for more then 2 hours. But we made it.

Along the Hummingbird Highway, wich is absolutly incredible, the bus nearly went backwards cause the hills are high and the bus packed. Millions of Orangetrees and lots of jungel were on our side. The bus stopps for ca 1234554 mio times, there are no bus stations so he´s catching eveybody on the street from the sidewalk.

In Dangrira we went straight to the boat to go to Tobacco Caye, but for sure, the last one was gone 15 minutes ago. Some drunk fisherman told us to hang out a while, maybe something will come up. And yes, we were "lucky" this time. The only thing was that it was getting dark, the tide is low, the boat very small and the sea very choppy... ah yeah, and we had no light on our boat! If you count all this together you can imagine what kind of ride this was. We were jumping and speeding through the big waves, saltwater splashedover us while we tried to stay on the boat. We passed some Mangrove Island, went trough them without seeing anything. Strange lights around the boat came up, very tiny they jumped through the air after we crashed on the waves. lots of them and so beautiful. They were algie´s - but seemed like Aliens.

After 45 min - at least - we finally arrived on the island - totally wet and sticky from the saltwater. Booked into the only hotel where there is no "all inclusive" , which turned out to be the best descision ever. Couldnt wait for the morning to see the full size and shape of the Island..

Barton Creek Area, Belize

I woke up very early and walked around the jungle, watched the sun fighting through the high and tangly jungle with the high humidy covered on the big leaves and the sound of birds in them.

Pineapple and Cookies for Breakfast gave us the power for the coming day. Together with the English couple we took the kayak and paddled to a very sacred cave of the Mayan..

Barton Creek Cave

...this is a holy place, Maya people used to do their sacrifices in it. They found 28 body´s, some of them where kids, as usual. Our guide took us 1 mile in the cave which is 30m in high, full of massive and beautiful stalagmites, pottery and skulls from a couple of thousend years ago. its quite scary, you are not allowed to speak so you just hear the screams of bats (vampire bats! ) Very impressive.

We went back to Barton Creek, had lunch and tons of fun while jumping into the creek from the wire. The sun was perfectly sorrounding the creek, big trees hanging from above and the Rochwall seems almost fake with his huge plants.

The owners are Americans, living here with there 4 childrens. They dont go to the school, they get teached at home. We actually jointed them in the geographic lesson and told them about our countries.

Jungle Hike, Barton Creek

Everybody got excited about this day - a big hike to a waterfall wa our plan. It turned out to be very expensive and we fought with ourselves, to go - or not to go. We descided to go and did a nearly 7 hour return jungle walk to a quiete nice waterfall. The walk was off the beaten track straight through the jungle, creeks and small rivers. Sounds nice, but 3 hours to get to a fuckin waterfall can ve very very long..

We stopped for 20 minutes, had a swim in the waterfall pool - and where wishing that a helicopter will pick us up soon. But we waited vainly..

So we walked back trough the the jungle, couldnt wait to get out of it - I ruined my trouser and collected tons of ticks on the way, nearly walked on a poisonous snake and thanked God as I finally saw the daylight again. We spend the whole day in the fuckin jungle, everybody was kind of pissed off about that crazy heavy walk, but hey, at least we saw a snake in 7 hours in the jungle! huuhuu! :)

Tonite we camped on the creek, sourrounded by many fireflies and amazing stars while we were slowly saying goodbye to Barton Creek in our minds..

Mennonite Community Barton Creek

One afternoon, we did an amazing walk throuh the Barton Creek area wich is full of jungle, vegetable fields, evergreen grass and very simple built houses. They belong to the Mennonites. 25 Familys are living in this area - without electricity , cars, television or any other machines. They work every day, very hard and it felt like you do a walk 200 years ago. Kids are doing the fram work, everybody is dressed the same way and because they dont mix with other people - they all look the same! They came over, mainly from Germany and holland a long time ago and choosed this little beautiful spot on earth - to live there way.

They are quite shy but friendly. They dont like if u take pictures of them (UPS .. :)).
Most of the familys have arround 10 kids who are all working on the farm, planting lots of vegetables, potatos and corn. They also do very good cheese.

All this, the landscape and the Mennonites are so fitting in this area, far away from all worries. We walked for three hours through this very amazing Countryside and loved it so much.

Back home we had a shower in the creek and another beautiful dinner in this unforgettable area... We went to bed early, totally exhausted. I remember i was freeeezing this night, but not very long. thanx to the coconut :)