On the road to Placenctia

Waiting for the boat to Placencia at Mango Creek
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As it would turn out, somehow we got an hour ahead of ourselves and the 7am bus direct to Placencia was really the 6am bus to Belmopan (the capital for those of you who remember 6th grade geography). From there we took another bus East to Belize city and from there another South to Mango Creek. The languages and ethnicities of Belize are complicated to say the least and riding the bus through basically half of the country side (mainly dense jungles and rainforests) gives an accurately represented cross-section of the population. Mayans, Mestizos(mixed euros), Creoles, Rastafarians, Garafuna (direct descendants of African slaves) and of all people the Mennonites (similar to the Amish) and they all speak English to top it all off! One thing that sets Belizians on busses apart from Guatemalans is they really speak up on the bus, "Le's geht dis boos a moobin' I's Fookin' Hot!" in a thick creole rasta accent. They also yell and haggle the driver on when he makes too many stops or lets more passengers on... So, we finally make it to Mango creek and take a taxi down to the docks to catch the boat to Placencia (it's a small strip of land right off the coast). This is our first encounter with "The Ganja Farma" song. We're in the cab and the driver cranks up the music and asks if we've ever heard of this Ganja Farmer?  As it will turn out this must be the #1 song in Belize and we will hear it many many more times throughout the country on busses and blaring out of pretty much everyone and their grandmother's radio.

The languages and ethnicities of Belize are complicated to say the least and riding the bus through basically half of the country side (mainly dense jungles and rainforests) gives an accurately represented cross-section of the population.