{"id":15096,"date":"2016-03-21T20:43:58","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T01:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinonthetank.com\/?p=15096"},"modified":"2016-03-22T09:36:47","modified_gmt":"2016-03-22T14:36:47","slug":"you-best-fuckin-belize-it-day-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinonthetank.com\/2016\/03\/you-best-fuckin-belize-it-day-three\/","title":{"rendered":"You Best Fuckin’ Belize It: Day Three"},"content":{"rendered":"

I awoke well before the roosters started crowing and the sun had yet to rise. I snuck out to see what I believe was my first sunrise over the ocean. The Caribbean sea lay flat like a sheet of glass. Very quickly the sun was on the horizon, then I headed back to the hostel to see if Waldo was awake and ready to hit the road. <\/p>\n

\"Sunrise\"<\/a><\/div>\n

We headed north on the Southern towards Dangriga. It was on this stretch that we saw the wildest thing on the highway we had seen all week. We were behind two Old American school buses, which are used for public transportation; the locals call them the chicken buses. Suddenly one decided to pass the other, which seems odd seeing two buses racing, but hey, this is Belize. Then out of the blue, a tiny little Honda blasts past Waldo and I, and attempts to shoot the gap between the passing buses. I was rooting for the Honda, but he soon realized he couldn’t do it, so he hit his brakes, ripped to the left berm, and passed there quickly. Sick moves Vin Diesel. That’s the moment I fell in love with Belizean drivers. Waldo, on the other hand, had a very different opinion. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
\nWe reached the Hummingbird Highway and turned north towards the Cayo District. The first stretch was decently flat that yet again passed through countless orange groves. The smell of citrus punching you square in your olfactory system. I had come later to find out that most of the citrus and fruit grown in Belize is grown by Mennonites. We had seen them on the way in, but had no clue to the extent of their presence. Turns out they own and farm tons of land in the country. Being a central PA boy, I felt kind of at home seeing them. The Hummingbird Highway was moderately busy. They run everything on this road, including full size 18 wheelers. Remember how I said earlier that the highways are what we consider a backroad at best? Throughout the highway the rivers are crossed with one lane concrete bridges. Often times you wait in a line to cross these bridges. The flat lands of the Stann Creek district soon led way to the Mayan Mountain passes of the Cayo district. This is where the Hummingbird came to life. The Meilun\u2019s kept pace a 60mph very easily, except when heading up the steeper uphill climbs. They tend to feel like a moped struggling towards the top even down in 3rd, but they were workhorses and made it up nonetheless. The twists and turns, ascents and descents, led us through the peaks and valleys of the Mayan Mountains. I had smiles for miles. I fell in love with this stretch of road. At certain points you could see the bright white limestone rock peeking out where jungle did not grow. Belize is made up mostly of limestone, which in turn is why they have such a vast network of caves.
\n\"Mountains<\/a><\/p>\n

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A video posted by Formerly Odlaw (@rudi_mentary)<\/a> on