What an experience!

After an early start and a long trip via Belize city, I got to Caye Caulker at last. The hurricane Wilma was a big topic on the mainland and so I asked around for the situation at the boat terminal and the lady said it was all cool and that no warnings had been issued......so I made my way to the caye. As soon as I got to the hostel, the owner looked at me in a strange manner and asked what the hell I was dong there, as THEY HAD JUST EVACUATED THE PLACE THAT MORNING!!!!! He said I could get the next boat out to the mainland but i said that I would take the risk and stay on the island. I was the only person in the hostel until later on, when i was joined by a few Canadians and a German. This made me feel more secure. The truth is that the marine terminal in the city should have known better. We all went out for a drink and discussed getting off the island the next morning. The next morning, however, Wilma was starting to gather force and all boats to and from the island were cancelled......the warning had now been issued!!! The hostel's water was not running as a result of the floods of the night before (strange isn't it?). This is the period when I went without a shower for almost 3 days!!! Good thing was that as a result of this, we didn't have to pay for our accommodation for that night!!! Especially since Belize is so expensive and overpriced!!! So all of Thursday morning and afternoon was spent helping the owners prepare for the hurricane and chilling on the verandah reading and chatting. It was fun. That afternoon and evening we saw Wilma approaching steadily and speedily, and then it finally hit big time. The waves were enormous and more than half of the docks on the beach were washed away. The palm trees were also being uprooted. That night we went out and chilled with the locals for a bit......all creole speaking guys......very caribbean sounding.....and then went back to the hostel where we had a live private performance by a local reggae artist. Good fun. The next day I helped clear some of the debris the Hurricane had left on the beach, and then got the first boat back to the mainland in the afternoon. I was supposed to make my way down to the south of Belize and get a boat to Honduras from there, but the seas were supposed to be too rough for that. So I had to cut my trip short and return back to Flores in Guatemala.

“In the face of Hurricane WILMA!”