So we left the San Ignacio area and headed toward the beach town of Placencia.
First we took a bus to Belmopan, the capital of Belize but a city that isn't too intriguing... at least not from a bus. As usual, the bus was an old school bus with room for some bags on an above-head rack, a driver, a conductor taking money and giving change, and people getting on and off whenever they needed along the highway. Kids sat on our laps to make room for everyone.
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| Before things got very crowded |
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| People in flux constantly on the bus |
We got off the bus in Belmopan, expecting to have a few minutes at the bus station, but right away directed to another rainbow coloured bus (James company). There were in fact two rainbow coloured buses, and one pulled out just ahead of the other. We weren't totally sure if we were catching a bus to Dangriga and then changing to a third bus to go to our destination of Placencia, or whether our bus went all the way to Placencia, but when the conductor came around, he charged us for Dangriga and told us we would in fact change buses to get the next one to Placencia.
The bus ride from Belmopan to Dangriga was a bit more hilly and curvy and the bus went FAST! I didn't read or look at anything that might make me sick, although there wasn't a lot of extra room to get comfortable anyway. Things on this bus were also crowded. I sat with Rachel and Ava in one seat, and Jason squished in with some others on a seat behind us. We were happy when someone sold us hot corn on the cob at one point, but we opted not to cover it in some sort of brown powder like the locals did.
The culture of the locals getting on and off was changing slightly. In the Cayo district, many of the locals looked more Spanish and spoke English and Spanish and it was difficult for us to tell if someone was from Guatemala or Belize based on their looks. But now we were starting to see more of the Garifuna culture - African-influenced Caribbean style folks. Some with awesome dread locks and music and rhythm and a creole language I did not understand.
We knew we were getting close to Dangriga, so I was telling the girls to gather their things and make sure we had our stuffed animals and notebooks and sunglasses and water bottles. As I was starting to gather all of these things and looking forward to a moment to stretch out or find a restroom in Dangriga, we pulled over at a gas station. Another bus pulled in as well, and soon we learned that passengers for Placencia were to get off our current bus and move to the other bus. So we hurried to grab all of our belongings and rush to the next bus, eager to get a seat and avoid standing or being too squeezed in.
Rachel and Jason ended up sitting further back and Ava ended up with me mid-bus, and then our bus was off, heading in the opposite direction as the bus we were just on.
After a minute or two, I felt a tug on my arm and saw Rachel standing in the aisle.
Rachel: "Mommy, do you have the orange backpack?"
Me: "Daddy's orange patagonia backpack? ... No... I don't. Uh-oh...
I grabbed one bag and Ava and Ava's stuff but I didn't get Daddy's second bag... uh-oh..."
Jason could tell by my face right away that we had just left the orange backpack on the last bus. In our scramble to make sure we had stuffed animals and seats, we happened to have left our most important bag on the bus... and our passports, Jason's wallet, and a large amount of money were in that backpack now heading in the opposite direction.
I gathered my things and readied ourselves to halt the bus and jump off, hail down a taxi, and chase down the bus with the orange bag.
Jason calmly walked to the front of the bus and discussed the matter with the conductor, who got on the phone and called the other bus. "No problem. Your bag come on the next bus." - spoken with about half the syllables we might say in Canada and calmly and casually like it was no big deal at all.
And then we proceeded to sit on the bus for almost 2 more hours, stopping often to let people on or off all along the coast as we passed fancier resorts and beach shacks and had glimpes of water here and there on both sides of our road. Placencia sits at the southern end of a long strip of land - to the West is a lagoon of water between the strip and the mainland, and to the East is the Caribbean sea.
We arrived and walked from the bus stop to our hotel. We had basically been sitting on a cramped bus for over 4 hours with no time to use the toilet or stretch out. Our guest was an enthusiastic lover of Canadians and cannabis who had done a lovely job creating rooms for rent and a communal kitchen around his family home. He was friendly and gracious as we checked in (maybe 2:15pm) and told him we didn't have our passports or enough cash to pay right now, but if he could just wait until our bag showed up on the next bus, we would happily pay him then.
His response "Sure. No problem. Make yourselves at home. Here is your room key." (He was not Garifuna and spoke English very much like we do.)
The actual names of our hotel may have been the Placencia Hostel but is now called the Garden Lodge, and it was basic but fine, and safe and clean enough in the rooms. (The kitchen could use a little cleaning!)
Jason spent a while waiting at the bus station while I unpacked, supervised the kids swimming in our small cold pool, got some food to make supper, and tried to trust that our bag would come and that it might actually, hopefully still have our passports and money inside.
Remember that wallet we found on the bus a few days ago, and we handed it in, hoping it found the right owner? Karma, right?
The bus that was supposed to arrive came at about 4:45pm and no bag.
"No problem. Next bus." Jason was told.
I panicked a little. Jason stayed calm, and returned to spend more time at the bus station getting to know everyone hanging around. I made supper.
Shortly after 6pm Jason came back to the hotel, carrying his orange backpack. I was shocked and thrilled when we opened it up and all of our items were inside, totally untouched.
No problem.
Let's go swimming!
We caught the bus out of Placencia on Dec 23, which apparently was a busy travel day as many locals were finishing up Christmas preparations and shopping prior to Christmas with family. Our bus ride was going just fine until we heard a loud shot of a sound out the window. The bus calmly pulled over and the driver, conductor, and many passengers went outside to change our flat tire. It was hot and we all waited patiently. We had a fun interaction with a local family in combined English / Spanish as we tried to teach their children how to play "Spot It" with our girls. The first round was hard but by the third round all the children were pretty into it and playing together!
