Zip Lining at Bocawina in transit to Orange Walk

Today we were basically driving from the southern point of Belize to the northern point. Belize is only 68 miles east to west and only 170 miles from north to south, so it's not that far in terms of distance. However when you factor in the road condition, add a trailer to your van, and adjust for "Belize Time", it's a full day of travel. As I got my things together I noticed the river had greatly receded and there were actual steps going down to it.

We had breakfast and kicked back for a bit on the deck.

Scott did a great job of cleaning up after the fire ceremony, in fact it looked like it never happened.

They hooked up the trailer and we were on our way. We were on Belize time so our 8am departure was closer to 8:30 ~ 8:45.

They said it would be around two hours to get to Bocawina, which means four hours. If fact I would find that it mostly takes four hours no matter where you are going. But Bocawina was a nice place to stop and stretch our wings as we flew through the jungle canopy zip lining. We just had to cross this suspension bridge to get there.

While not as long and fast as Whistler's course the tunneling effect of the jungle made for a great ride.



You might notice that there are two cables, and this was because you had to implement your own brakes by pulling down on the second cable while wearing a leather re-enforced glove.

After showing us up on the dance floor the other night, Sergio, 82 years young, showed us how to ride the cables. If you look closely, underneath him you will see his cane that he had tied to his harness. Truly an inspiration to all.

We had lunch and I was really starting to enjoy black beans. It's amazing how much better stuff tastes when it comes from the jungle instead of a can. It was another two hours to get to Orange Walk, so two hours later we stopped at the half way point to use the restroom and get some locally made ice cream. It's amazing how much better stuff tastes when it comes from the farm instead of the store.



It felt like one of those free vacations where they try to sell you a timeshare when I saw sign after sign like this, and it was just to get a little ice cream.

As we entered Orange Walk I noticed a police car that had the American flag on it and was confused. Turns out that the United States was kind enough to donate a fleet of police cars to Belize in 2014. However in typical insecure U.S. fashion they wanted everyone to know "American is number one" and put the American flag on them.

It was kind of ironic to see U.S. police cars when the Chinese own everything here, in fact it was hard to find a super market not owned by the Chinese.

No one knows the origins of the town's name. They used to grow oranges here but the soil became infertile and they all walked away. So its safe to assume "Orange Walk" is the short version of what happened. The hotel was basic with few amenities beyond a single bar of soap. But really air conditioning and a few Belikin beers was all I needed.

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