Hitchhiking Tales #2 - From Belize City to San Ignacio, the border with Guatemala

There I was, without knowing what to do. I spent $10 US more in a ticket ferry I lost. I couldn´t spend $1o more in a bus from Belize city to San Ignacio. People told me I should NOT hitchhike in Belize because it´s not safe, at all. But hey, I´ve hitchhiked in southern México so would it really be more dangerous in this unknown Country for me? 114 kilometers is a long way to go in a Belizean highway, at some parts it gets bumpy and it is a two way road with just space for one car in every direction so that means no more than 80 km/h.

The hell with it. Let´s do this, I thought.

But it wasn´t that easy. To get to a good spot to hitchhike I had to walk like 8 km to the highway and from there another km. In order to get picked up you have to be in a spot where people traveling to another state will be for sure, that´s  why I had to walk to the highway. The thing is, for someone to pick you up they have to think they are your only option therefore I had to get away from the bus stop.

I got picked up from an unknown guy. He just told me to jump on the cabin of his pick up truck. So after a second of doubt I jumped up. 

He was going to Hattievile, just 25 km southwest of Belize city so when we got there he just stopped, got his head out and told in a broken english "Tis where Im going, see ya". So I assumed I had to get down. I didn´t even got say thank you because as I was walking to his window he drove off.

Well, this is new, I thought. But hey, he got me closer to my destination.

I took my shirt off. The sun was at its peak and I was sweating like a pig. I kept walking on the highway and it was just the same drill. After ten minutes a pick up stopped. This time I got to tell this random stranger I was going to San Ignacio. He responded in Spanish "Voy para Belmopan, ahí te dejo - I´m heading to Belmopan, I´ll drop you there" while pointing his pick up truck cabin. Im glad he picked up a random shirtless dude on the highway.

So up the cabin again.

Some cows we ran into in the road :D

I thought to myself: This is pretty dangerous. Isn´t it illegal to drive at 70-80km/h with a person in the back? Any small accident and I´m good as dead. But yeah, I couldn´t spend money on transportation due to being a doofus and losing the ferry ticket.

I got to Belmopan and there I met Nina, this German girl who happened to be waiting for the bus. We started speaking and in 10 minutes I convinced her to hitchhike with me. She had already done it before so it wasn´t something new to her.

We got picked up by Amir and his son Tevin. Amir has mexican parents so we got to speak in spanish. Nina lived in Nicaragua for a year so she jumped in the conversation. Tevin all the way kept firing at us with his water-less water gun.

We got to San Ignacio. Safe and Sound. And thirsty, very.

 

This was very different from my first hitchhiking experience but I learned a lot. I guess that after a few more posts like this I´ll make a "Tips for hitchhiking post"

Safe travels my friends.