Belize: Altun Ha

We quickly became aware of the terrible inefficiency that prevails in Belize. Although the country is very small, it is incredibly inconvenient to travel around the country using public transportation. For example, the Altun Ha Maya site is only about 40 km from Belize City. However, it is almost impossible to go there and back on the same day by bus. Not to mention traveling directly from there to another place. You would have to take a guided tour from Belize City, but it costs about 60 USD per person, as I said, everything is incredibly expensive.

There were some places in Belize that we wanted to see, but we also didn't want to stay in this rather unpleasant country longer than necessary. In addition, bad weather was forecasted for the next few days. So we decided to rent a car for a week. Considering how expensive all the accommodations were, it didn't make much of a financial difference because we could save half the time by using a car that we would otherwise have needed.
We chose Crystal Car Rental, which we read good reviews about online. We got a Kia, which was really affordable. We were really satisfied with the car rental service. They picked us up at the hotel and also brought us back after returning the car. In addition, we received a complimentary local cell phone so that we could contact the company in case of emergency. We also received a short driving lesson where they explained the local peculiarities and what to watch out for in traffic. For example, when turning left, vehicles behind you have the right of way. That means if you want to turn left, you have to merge into the right lane, stop and let all the vehicles behind you pass first. It takes some getting used to, but fortunately there isn't too much traffic in Belize, and there are only three fairly usable highways, so this situation doesn't occur too often. We were also informed that there are single-lane bridges in some places, so you should always stop and let all oncoming traffic (and preferably all the cars behind you) pass before safely crossing the bridge. Our "driving instructor" was a 70-year-old German who constantly complained about Belize, saying that they are all idiots here, nothing works here, everything is bullshit. Oh. He came here because of a woman, what else. Oh.

And so it began, us with our Kia. Soon it became apparent that there were other challenges to overcome. For example, you would be driving comfortably at the maximum speed of 55 miles per hour (about 90 km/h) on the highway, only to find yourself in a huge field of massive potholes a second later. In addition, there are so-called "sleeping policemen" speed bumps everywhere, especially at the entrance and exit of each village, on the road. Most of them were marked with signs, but not all of them, so you really had to be incredibly careful to brake in time.
And the German was absolutely right: the Belizeans drive like idiots. EVERYTHING that is even a little slower MUST be overtaken IMMEDIATELY. Whether it's in the middle of a curve, on an incline, at the most unmanageable spot you can imagine, and of course always at top speed. And since I consistently drove at most the maximum speed (typical Swiss novice driver), I was constantly being overtaken. One time, a Belizean behind me apparently lost patience and passed me on the left at a speed bump in order to overtake me after the bump. As soon as he was over the bump, he floored it. Unfortunately, he didn't notice that there was already another bump about 50m ahead, so he drove into it or flew over it without braking. There was a loud crash as the front bumper hit the ground, but he was still able to continue driving and quickly disappeared. I didn't have much sympathy, but I was really scared, I don't think I will ever forget the sight of the flying rear end of that car.
In fact, for my taste, the maximum speed was sometimes massively too fast, at least if you wanted to avoid constantly bashing through potholes that felt knee-high. And so it was inevitable that our car (unfortunately still quite new) had a few more scratches than at the beginning when we returned it. Every time we were overtaken or passed, gravel flew around, and every time I heard it crunching on the body, I got goosebumps. I really had no chance. Accordingly, we sweated blood and water when returning the car. But they took it easy there, the check took 1 minute, nothing was objected. Phew.

Where were we again? Exactly: Altun Ha. So on our first day we went to Altun Ha, another Maya ruin. We were lucky in three ways that day. 1. We came with our own car. 2. It was still raining. 3. There was no cruise ship today either. And so we were really all alone in this archaeological site, which is considered a highlight of Belize. Only the two of us, Jörg and I. Well, I forgot: after our arrival, a cute dog joined us, which apparently wanted to act as our guide and accompanied us through the entire complex. It was truly magical. Although the ruin itself was nothing incredibly special, the atmosphere was definitely something else. Hard to surpass.