Our bus, which was supposed to pick us up at 10:00, didn't end up arriving until noon, so we spent a couple hours talking with Gina, who is in charge of the "station" (really just a bare office with two chairs out front), and her husband, Elias. They were great and were able to educate us on various aspects of Belizean life, including education, the health care system, and race relations. (We'll share more about this later.) Here's Lisa waiting for the bus.
LISA: While we waited we observed many people pass by, a vast majority of whom Elias and Gina knew. One of these was Leopoldo, a renowned Mayan healer. Elias introduced us to him and I spent some time listening to part of his amazing story. He explained that he had recently worked with researchers from the University of Connecticut and The New York Botanical Gardens, sharing his knowledge of medicinal plants. I was very excited and grateful to have met him and I hope that I can return to San Ignacio to learn from him. Here is a picture of us with "Polo" as he is known.
LISA AND GREG: When our bus finally came, it was full -- no seats. Apparently buying an advanced ticket does not guarantee you a seat. So we had to wait some more. Finally, another bus came and we took the last two seats, in front of a family of Mennonites from Canada. About 40 minutes later, we stopped at a small village and there were about 15 college-aged backpackers from Belgium and other European countries waiting by the side of the road. Their bus had broken down, so even though we had no seats on ours, they had to cram on because ours was the last bus of the day. Most of them sat on the floor. It was crowded, but everybody seemed happy to be getting closer to Belize City, where we would take a water taxi to our destination, Caye Caulker.
About 20 minutes later, we heard a big crash. Lisa saw the front window of the bus shatter and a lot of the glass landed on several of the passengers in front. What happened was that a big rock from a passing pick-up truck had flown out and crashed into our windshield. The bus driver pulled over and we all had to get off in the middle of nowhere to apply first aid to those who needed it.
For a couple minutes we weren't sure how, or if, we were going to continue to Belize City, but when Lisa asked the bus driver, he informed her that there would be no other buses coming, and no national rescue squad dispatched, so we had to clean up as much as we could of the glass and then keep going, at a reduced speed, minus one windshield. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt. It could have been a lot worse than it was.
We got to Belize City and luckily caught a water taxi right away for the 45-minute ride to Caye Caulker. The door to the suite we're staying in literally opens right onto the Caribbean -- we're only a few feet from the water's edge. Here's the place and the view from our front porch.
LISA AND GREG: We haven't done much exploring yet, but we're looking forward to tomorrow. A full moon tonight provided a beautiful backdrop for a walk on the beach. Here's Lisa's moon salutation.
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