Day 10 - Banana crisps

“This tax is illegal and you don’t have to pay it, however if you try and refuse to pay it and get held up at the border the bus will have to leave you behind” - bus guy.

Today we were leaving Caye Caulker and heading to our next destination, the small island town of Flores in Guatemala.  We would get a water taxi to Belize City and then catch a bus that would take us over the border and straight to Flores.  Our first stop was Belize City.

I had heard rumours about Belize City, describing it as rough, dirty and unsafe.  Looking at the city through the bus window it would appear the rumours were true.  Belize City was rows upon rows of rundown buildings, alleyways and shifty looking individuals.  Gangs of hooded youths patrolled the streets on BMX bikes.  Although the roads were straight the bus had to swerve from side to side to avoid huge pot holes.  The somewhat modern air conditioned bus seemed out of place in this city.

After a very bumpy half hour we left the city and entered the countryside.  The countryside here was very flat and plain with large open fields.  There were a lot of cyclists along these quite country roads those they weren’t the gangs of hooded youths you get in Belize City but guys dressed in brightly coloured tight lyric riding on skinny go faster racing bikes.  Maybe long distance cycling was a popular hobby in Belize, or maybe there was some road race stage running through Belize.  Either way they too seemed out of place.

After a few uneventful hours the countryside started to change from flat fields to hilly jungle.  We were approaching the Guatemalan border.

No, you pay

Before we reached the border the guy on the bus told us that the border staff may try and charge us an entrance tax.  “This tax is illegal and you don’t have to pay it” he announced to the bus.  “However if you try and refuse to pay it and get held up at the border the bus will have to leave you behind”.

We all got asked to pay this entrance tax at the border.  The border staff seemed to be able to speak English however when you try and argue about the entrance tax they suddenly lose the ability to speak English.  “I was told this tax was illegal” I said feeling somewhat quite irritable from the long bus journey.  “No, you pay” the woman replied with a stern look on her face.

To be honest I wish the guy didn’t tell us the tax was illegal.  It was only 15 Guatemalan Quetzal (2 US dollars) and not worth an argument.  I just hated the idea of being taxed illegally.  After a short stalemate I just paid the $2, stepped out of the line and watched the other people from the bus unsuccessfully try and argue the tax.  It wasn’t about the money I guess, it was the principal.

Welcome to Guatemala

Guatemala looked very different compared to Belize.  The flat open fields had been replaced with dense green vegetation and hills.

There were an unusually large number of speed humps along the road we were travelling down through Guatemala.  Next to every speed hump was some local stood brandishing a bag of banana crisps.  I tried some of these in Caye Caulker, I believe they are crisps (or chips if you’re not from the UK) made from fried banana peels and they are the blandest thing you could ever eat. 

However this didn’t stop everyone in this part of the world trying to sell them to you.  Every few minutes we would pass a speed hump with at least one local holding up bags of these things.  I guess the idea was since the bus had to slow down this would be the best place to try and sell stuff.  After going over at least 5 speed humps within a few minutes I began to think that most of the speed humps were actually put down by the locals so they can sell their flavourless banana crisps.  Some had even set up little shops by the side of the road, only selling banana crisps.  It seemed illegal to sell anything else.

However it did seem that if you lived by the side of a road in Guatemala you legally had to own at least 3 dogs.  Dogs were everywhere, casually trotting across the road in front of the bus.  I am surprised the locals hadn’t trained the dogs to stand on their hind legs at the side of the road holding bags of banana crisps in their mouths.  A missed business opportunity I think, or perhaps it was the sleep depravation talking.

As we approached Flores we stopped off to pick up some local guy.  He was a local tour guide and was trying to sign us up onto some trips.  “We only have 2 spaces left, you must book now!” he said looking at Myles and I.  We hadn’t even arrived at the hostel and we were already being pressured into buying stuff we didn’t want. 

“I only have 2 spaces left guys” he said again, “go give those 2 spaces to some other people then” I replied feeling irritable from the long bus journey and the border crossing.  When we did finally get off the bus he quietly followed us into the hostel and hung around for a bit, I guess he was hoping we would change our mind.  I didn’t trust him and I had a feeling I would see him again soon.  At least we were finally at the hostel and this place, was something special....