Banana Trucks

by FERENC IVANICS
There's only one major port in Guatemala, and it's Puerto Barrios. And there's only one major road leading to this port from the inner regions of the country. Guatemala is a world leader, at least in banana production. The world's most important banana companies are all here: Chiquita, DelMonte and Dole. We're talking about millions of tons of fruits here.


It all meant that we had to walk some 100 miles in extremely heavy traffic. We've seen long truck convoys. Sure, they were speeding, passing each other wherever they could (and I mean, in unbelievable places). I suppose a faster ride means more money for the driver.


First we were a bit scared seeing all those "almost-crashes", but later we got used to the action. Still, walking along the side of the road we had to keep all our eyes open.

Boat Trips

by FERENC IVANICS
From Punta Gorda, Belize to Livingston, Guatemala we traveled by a motorboat. First we though that 50 Belize dollars for the crossing (which takes less than half an hour) is a bit costly, but when we realized that the trip lacks any comfort we felt that it was indeed, expensive.


The vessel was a traditional fisher boat converted to a passenger boat. The seats were rock hard, and it wouldn't have been a problem if the water were still. But the boat practically rallied through the waves of the Caribbean.


First it was almost funny, but after fifteen minutes we were sitting on our hands to ease our bottoms. We left the boat in Livingstone black and blue... And we were so happy, we were finally on the road, in Guatemala. But the custom officer put us off. It was impossible to go on from Livingstone, but by boat, again.


There were two options: an express boat for 50 quetzals (some 7 USD) or a collective boat for 30 (4 USD). We chose the latter, and thanks to the help of James Jr.'s mom, we could afford it (if we didn't have that money, who knows what would have happened). Later we found out that the express boat is nothing faster, it just has a more frequent schedule. Hurray, we were finally able to start walking, from Puerto Barrios.

PeeJee

by FERENC IVANICS
Our last stop in Belize was Punta Gorda a.k.a PG as locals call it. We had only a few days left of our so called visa. The only way to leave Belize is by boat. You have to pay for the boat and you have to pay a leaving-fee. So, it was 25 bucks for the boat and 20 for leaving the country. That's 90 for the two of us.


If you stay longer than 30 days, that's 25 bucks more. We haven't seen anything like that so far, it's a pretty unfriendly way to say farewell to the tourists. We were simply broke when we arrived to the border. We were expecting some support, but it became obvious that it wouldn't arrive in time. We were stuck in Belize.

So, we went to the competent office to explain our situation. The officer told us that he was only a pawn, that he wasn't able to help us. That we should go to the capital, Belmopan, and talk to some kind of a minister. Really. Explained something about jail and deportation if we wouldn't do anything to resolve the situation. Wasn't really convincing.


While we were stuck in PG we had to sleep somewhere. We were exploring the place when we saw lots of coaches parking in a nice, grassy yard. We started to chat with a woman, and she sent us to the house of his son. James Jr. had an even bigger yard and lots of coaches, too. He is an entrepreneur with a large coach fleet.


The story is quite amazing, they transport people all-over Belize, and it started with James, the father and with a single coach. He had a single trip every week to the capital (Belize City, back then). But later he bought another coach, and another one. Right now they have lines in every corner of Belize. James' mother kept us well, and they organized our trip to Belmopan and back, and right before we left, James' mom gave us 50 dollars. The whole stay at James Jr.'s place was a positive patch to ease our somewhat painful and struggling stay in Belize.

Breadfruit: A James Cook Fail

by FERENC IVANICS
Well, here's another fruit. Lately we've mentioned a lot of fruits and vegetables on our blog. My apologies to those who find that boring, but we think that it's interesting to see what there's to eat around the world. And it's definitely interesting with the eyes of a gardener. There's a lot more to try, but the ones we present here are the most important plants. Such cool tropical plant is the Artocarpus or Breadfruit. It was the famous Captain James Cook, who tried to spread it on the American continent (to provide high-energy food for slaves).


Its fruits are huge green balls, rich in starch. In Belize they fry it and they fry it; and it tastes good. Its flavor reminded us to roasted nuts. It's quite tasty and nourishing.