Hello fellow Steemians! This is part 2 of my series about Guatemala and Belize. If you haven't read the first part, you can read it by clicking here.

After we took the chicken bus from Punta Gorda (Belize), we were dropped off at a junction
2 kilometers from Hopkins. Most busses don't actually go to Hopkins but stay on this "highway" to go to Dangriga, Belmopan and ultimately to Belize City. But have no fear, it's pretty common to wait for a local pick-up truck to pass by and jump in the back.

Beach at north Hopkins

Hitchhiking to Hopkins

Hopkins, with its population of approximately 1.000 people, is situated in the middle of the country on the coast (which is the east side). It's quiet but also vibrant at the same time. Like Livingston in Guatemala (see part 1), Hopkins is also a Garifuna village. For some, it's even considered to be the cultural center of the Garifuna population that live in Belize. Anyway, the inhabitants are really friendly and most of them earn their money by either farming or fishing.

In Hopkins, we had already booked some accommodation which was located in the northside (called Baila). After a firm walk, we checked in and grabbed the bikes from the guesthouse and headed back into town. We still needed money since no ATM seemed to work for us. Even with our Mastercard we still had issues. The ATM thought it would be wise to abort the transaction due to a lack of response for a certain period whilst it was actually busy with the transaction itself. Result: two withdrawals executed on paper and still no money... After a tip from our hostess, we tried our luck at the local supermarket. It was no problem there to just pay for the amount you want and not even buy anything. Too bad they charged 8%.

Happy with our money we biked around the town a bit and relaxed on the beach for a few days. Hopkins has a few restaurants and they serve mainly seafood. Belize is a bit more expensive than Guatemala, especially food. I think the food is around three times more expensive and accommodation around two times. We figured out we wanted to go to Caye Caulker from here. Since we wanted to save as much money, as possible we figured we tried to hitchhike as far as possible, at least to Belmopan (since all the buses that go to Belize City go through Belmopan first from our direction). The guy from our guesthouse brought us to 6-mile, a junction near Dangriga. There we waited a bit. Luck was by our side that day. A big Dodge pick-up truck stopped for us and agreed to take us along. It got even better when he told us that he was going to pick someone up in Belize City. With his big truck, he took the old route to Belize City along the coast. Buses can't drive that route since it's a dirt road. That's why they have to go to Belmopan first which lengthens the trip to Belize City with a couple of hours. Flying over the road with 100 kilometers per hour, the Dodge had no problem what so ever.

Hitchhiking is pretty common in Belize. It's way better than public transport. A lot of drivers are willing to take you along. Think about giving them some kind of a small fee for their troubles so they will also take you along another time.

From Belize City, we took the ferry to Caye Caulker which is an island slightly off the coast. As soon as you hit the docks in Caye Caulker you are welcomed by the crystal clear waters, white sand and friendly locals.

Caye Caulker

Go slow

The motto of Caye Caulker. And they're proud of it. You will find it written in many places. This little car-less island practically lives by this motto. Wooden cocktail bars, Golf carts, waving palm trees and endless sundowns. It doesn't get more laidback than Caye Caulker. The locals are friendly and every hour of the day you're allowed to take a rum punch. It's not a very big island. Especially since 1961, when Hurricane Hattie separated the island into two parts. At the place where this happened (ironically called the Split nowadays) they created a nice place to relax. There is a bar with music and you can also play volleyball or football with the locals between your dips in the water.

View near the Split

Further out in the sea near the reef

There are quite a few options on the island regarding accommodation, but you might want to consider booking ahead it the more popular seasons. There are also enough restaurants to choose from, although it can be a bit thougher for vegetarians to find a meal that will suit. They serve mainly chicken and seafood but also a small variety of meat. Oh, and they love to barbeque it.

Of course, the main reason people come to Caye Caulker is the underwater world. With 256 kilometers of length, the barrier reef of Belize is the second largest reef in the world. Ergo, a huge magnet for divers and snorkelers. You can choose between half day or full day trips which will take you to different diving or snorkeling spots. Also, there might be some manatee spotting involved. During their mating season, they will come closer to the reef to find a partner.

A manatee we saw

Here's another shot

The most famous diving spot in Belize is, of course, the Blue Hole. Since Jacques Cousteau descended this natural wonder, the 124 meters deep hole (which can be seen from space) has been a wet dream for many divers. You will dive to 45 meters of depth where you will dive between massive stalactites and stalagmites. Also, you might spot different types of sharks like nurse sharks, hammerheads, and blacktip reef sharks. Because of the depth and such, it's described as a difficult dive. But we've met a lot of people who don't even have advanced open water and still did it.

My girlfriend is not a certified diver so we booked a full-day snorkeling tour. I think we visited 6 places which 4 or 5 where actually snorkeling stops and the other was a stop where we could possibly spot a manatee. The snorkel spots were really nice. We already saw so many different species by just snorkeling, so don't feel bad if you're not a diver. Snorkeling is a fitting alternative! We saw turtles, stingrays, nurse sharks and.. yes.. even a manatee! The hurricane(s) sadly did a lot of damage to the reef. They are rebuilding some parts so you cannot swim everywhere. In my opinion, compared to Asia, the coral looked a bit pale like it was not in it's best shape. Hopefully, it will get a chance to restore itself in the near future.

Our snorkeling tour

Stingray

Nurse sharks

Apart from the snorkeling, we did absolutely nothing else. Just hung around a bit and enjoyed the sun, the water and the atmosphere of Caye Caulker.

Watching the sun go down never gets bored

In my next part, I will take you further on our trip where we will take the bus back to Flores in Guatemala and visit the ancient Maya site Tikal. Here's a little of what you can expect:

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Cheers, Stephan

If you’re interested in any of my previous work, feel free to check it out:

• Travel tips for Guatemala and Belize part 1
• Weekend trip to London
• Relaxing and shopping in the UK. Leamington Spa and Birmingham in a nutshell
• Old castles and Shakespeare's birthplace. The UK at its best
• My personal experience with studying abroad in the UK for a semester
• Massive snowdump in the Alpes in Europe and I went snowboarding
• Malaysia: visiting the Mossy Forest and Tea plantations in the Cameron Highlands!
• Visiting the ancient temples of Ayutthaya in Thailand

!steemitworldmap 16.864161 lat -88.284953 long Hopkins d3scr