Belize | The Lone Trail Wanderer

Sixteen months on the road is a long time. During that time I covered quite a distance and did many things. While I’ve been ‘resting’ in the United Kingdom, I’ve put together a step by step rundown of my trip including maps.

South East Australia

In a van called the Pointy Brick I…

drove 3 days from Brisbane, stopping for the night in Coonabarabran and Hay on the way to Adelaide.
hiked the 3-day Yurrebilla Trail through the Adelaide Hills.
ferried to Kangaroo Island for 3 nights.
drove to Naracoorte for Adventure Caving.
drove to The Grampians for three hikes: Major Mitchell Plateau, The Pinnacle and Mt Gar – Briggs Bluff Traverse.
drove to Bacchus Marsh to hike the 3-day Burchell Trail in the Brisbane Ranges National Park.
drove to Melbourne where I visited the tip of Mornington Peninsula and the Organ Pipes National Park.
ferried to Devonport, Tasmania.
drove around the east coast to Freycinet National Park where I climbed Mt Amos.
drove to Hobart and climbed Mt Wellington.
drove to Straham on the west coast and walked to Montezuma Falls.
drove to Mole Creek for Adventure Caving.
drove to Cradle Mountain and walked The Overland Track in 7 days.
ferried back to Melbourne for New Years.
drove to Foster so I could hike around Wilsons Promontory for 3 days.
drove to Snowy River National Park for the Bachan Caves Tour.
drove to Mount Beauty township and hiked the 3-day Mt Bogong–Big River circuit.
drove to Tumut and hiked the 2-day Bogong Wilderness trail.
drove to Canberra for 2 days.
drove to Jindabyne for a week-long convention.
returned to Canberra for a 4-day convention.
drove up to Sydney for 2 nights with family.
finally drove for 3 days, stopping for the night in Port Macquarrie and Coffs Harbour on the way back to Brisbane.

Antarctica, Chile and Argentina

From Brisbane, I flew to Auckland and spent 3 weeks with family before flying to South America where I…

got culture shock from my three days in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
flew to Ushuaia, Argentina, stayed for 9 days and climbed to Martial Glacier, hiked through Paso de la Oveja on an overnight trek and up to Lago Esmarelda.
cruised to Antarctica for 12 days: Across the Drake Passage, Along the White Peninsula, Into the Antarctic Circle and Back to Civilisation.
bused to Punta Arenas, Chile.
bused to Puerto Natales, Chile.
hiked around Torres del Paine NP for 9 days.
bused to El Calafate, Argentina.
bused on to El Chaltén, Argentina.
trekked the 3-day Mt Fitz Roy Triangle.
bused back to Puerto Natales with a stop for the night in El Calafate.
ferried for 4 days through the Fiords on the Navimag Ferry.
arrived at Puerto Montt, Chile.
bused to Osorno, Chile, and stayed for 3 nights.
tried to hike up Volcán Puyehue but the police had shut Puyehue National Park for a search and rescue.
bused to Pucón, Chile, for 2 rainy weeks before finally climbing Volcán Villarrica.
bused to Bariloche, Argentina, for a 2 week spanish course.
climbed both Cerro Lopez and Cerro Catedral while I was there.
bused to El Bolsón, Argentina.
bused 19 hours to Mendoza, Argentina, for a week of adventures and lots of red wine.
bused to Córdoba, Argentina, and walked in Quebrada del Condorito National Park.
returned to Buenos Aires (Take 2) to hang out for 10 days with a group of locals.
popped over to Colonia, Uruguay, on a ferry for the day.

Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador

From Buenos Aires I…

bused to Puerto Iguazú and visited both sides of Iguazú Falls.
bused for 24 hours across Brazil to Rio de Janeiro for ten days of adventures.
bused back across Brazil for 24 hours to Campo Grande for a couple of days in Brazil’s Pantanal.
crossed into Bolivia and bused to Santa Cruz.
bused overnight to La Paz, where I stayed for 10 days.
rode on a bicycle down Death Road and then hiked the El Choro trek.
bused south to Uyuni for a 3-day Salt Flats and High Plains tour.
bused back to La Paz then north to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca and Isla del Sol.
bused into Peru to Cusco.
trained to Aguas Calientes and climbed to Machu Picchu.
bused to Arequipa.
hiked through Colca Canyon.
bused to Ica and Huacachina Oasis and sand boarded down massive sand dunes.
bused to Lima for a few days.
bused to Huaraz for the 4-day Santa Cruz trek.
returned to see a different side of Lima (Take 2).
bused north to Mancora for 4 days at the beach.
crossed into Ecuador to the capital, Quito.
flew to the Galapagos Islands for adventures and then a 4-day Galapagos Islands cruise.
returned to Quito and bused north for 2 days of fun in the rainforest around Mindo.
bused south to Riobamba for the 3-day El Altar hike.
bused further south to Cuenca for more adventures.
bused back to Quito.

Colombia, Central America and Mexico

From Ecuador I…

crossed into Colombia for 3 days in Cali.
bused to the capital Bogotá for over 2 weeks with a great group of local people.
bused to Medellin and stayed for a week.
bused north for 3 days of crazy heat in Cartegena.
bused around the coast to the beach town of Taganga.
trekked through the jungle on the 4-day hike to Ciudad Perdida – The Lost City.
bused back to Cartegena for 3 days.
cruised through the San Blas Islands to Panama.
spent Christmas and New Years in Panama City.
bused west for 3 days to the beach town of Bocas del Toro.
bused south to spend several days in the mountain town of Boquete.
climbed Volcán Barú starting at midnight.
crossed into Costa Rica for adventures out of San Jose and Liberia.
crossed into Nicaragua to the beach town of San Juan del Sur.
ferried to the twin volcano island of Isla de Ometepe.
climbed Volcán Concepción.
taxied to Granada.
bused to Leon and went volcano boarding.
bused through Honduras and El Salvador to the Guatemalan city of Antigua.
taxied to San Pedro La Laguna for adventures around Lago Atitlán.
bused to Flores and visited Tikal.
crossed into Belize and ferried to the island of Caye Caulker.
ferried into Mexico and bused to Palenque and visited the ruins of Yaxchilán.
bused to the city of Merida and visited the ruins of Uxmal.
bused to Valladolid and the ruins of Chichén Itzá.
bused to Tulum for the final ruins.
bused to Cancun for my final days.

The Full Map. May take some time to load.

The World Wanderer

Belize is a small country on the edge of the Yucatan peninsula. Unlike the countries that surround it, where they speak spanish, Belize’s primary language is english. After a year in spanish speaking countries where I couldn’t fully understand the everyday conversations around me, on arriving in an english speaking country it was a little overwhelming. It was like suddenly being able to read the thoughts of everyone around you.

As I’m nearing the end of my Latin American journey, I’ve chosen to spend only three days in Belize and all of that time on the island of Caye Caulker. Thirty kilometres from Belize City by water taxi, Caye Caulker was made popular by hippies travelling through the area in the 1970s. Since then the tourism industry along the coast has blossomed.

On first impressions, arriving in Caye Caulker feels like arriving in Jamaica. There’s a strong reggae groove, plenty of locals with dreadlocks wearing rastafarian style clothing and that familiar accent: ‘yeh mon,’ and ‘want some gunga mon.’

One end of the eight kilometre long island is criss-crossed with white sand roads while the other is still claimed by mangroves. There is an estimated 40 hotels, hostels and boarding houses on the island, with fresh fish on the menu of the many waterfront restaurants.

One of the more popular activities in the region is diving with divers hoping to swim in the infamous Great Blue Hole, an underwater sinkhole 300 metres across and 124 metres deep.

But as I don’t dive, I chose to snorkel along the Great Barrier Reef and in Shark Alley. So, booking a tour, I set out with a group of fellow snorkelers for a day in the sun on a boat. And what a day it was… We began in Hol Chan marine reserve where the fish knew our arrival meant feeding time. Schools of large fish swum around the boat as our guide took us on a swim around the reef, spying a lone barracuda, sea turtles and even managing to lure a Moray Eel out from its hole in the rocks.

Along shark alley the Nurse sharks came looking for food. There were probably a dozen of them, some more than three metres long. We were able to ‘pet’ one of them although their scales felt hard to the touch. Then came the Eagle Rays, allowing us to write our names upon their back.

A german girl in a bikini, I mean, a friendly three metre Nurse shark swimming past.

Back on the island, there are several ways to get around. Most people hire cycles and ride around the unsealed, potholed sandy roads but I chose to hire a golf cart, the only powered land vehicle on the island.

With my ‘wheels’, I toured the quieter end of the island where there were only a few secluded homes and hotels among the plentiful mangroves.

Overall, Caye Caulker is a great place to spend a few days if you like water activities, seafood, partying or just hanging around with well-tanned beach clad people.

Next I head into Mexico, my final Latin American country as I follow the trail of the Mayan Ruins.

The World Wanderer

The Lone Trail Wanderer

Tag Archives: Belize

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Caye Caulker, Belize – Impressions

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