Hopkins - the village in Belize with Caribbean flair ;-) (Day 183 of the world trip)

05/03/2020

Yup - as planned, today was the "lazy day". That means we didn't go on a trip, but we still walked for over 2 hours ;-) :D

On our third day here, we took the time to explore the village itself, which was pretty cool :)

In the north, there is a lagoon, and we walked through half of the village, which consists of only 1 to 3 parallel streets where everything happens^^

Eventually, the village center ended, and we walked along a gravel road that leads past a cemetery and two gated communities with really fancy villas right on the beachfront to the lagoon.

I also found a house made of shipping containers interesting :O At first, I thought they were just parked there, but then we saw that there were windows and a motorcycle parked in front of the complex. Then we saw curtains and finally a resident.

Anyway, the further you are from the center of the village, the more colorful and unique the houses are, like an Inuit skyscraper.

The lagoon itself was quite beautiful, and we could see mangroves and hear some bird species on the shore. There was no one else there <3

Oh, and on the road, there was a termite road that had built its way there, and what I found particularly impressive was that the path was a tunnel, it had a ROOF :O I had never seen anything like it^^

After visiting the lagoon, we headed back and turned onto the road that leads out of Hopkins to photograph the wetlands there. We had already passed by there with a taxi and buses, and each time we found it quite beautiful but never had the opportunity to take photos, which we made up for today :p

We saw a nicely-looking iguana on a lamppost :O Another small highlight of our walk ;-)

As we looked over the wetlands, we saw high flames in one of the gardens behind a house. Of course, we were curious and Jonas wanted to go there right away because obviously, a whole tree was burning there.

Maybe it was (controlled) deforestation, but it looked a bit worrying!

As we turned onto the street that leads to this house with the burning tree, we found the village entrance sign, on which the flag of the EU is also depicted. The EU apparently supported Belize with money to expand the road system and water supply. Then there was something about bananas, so maybe it was a win-win situation :D

Near the burning tree, we heard loud music, and since we couldn't see the flames anymore, we assumed it was under control...

After a total of over two hours, we were back at the hostel, where we were both hungry and completely sweaty :D :D

After a little snack, we spent the next few hours walking along the road to the beach <33

Just like the previous days, there was a shaded spot thanks to a palm tree, so it was alternately hot, cold, and wet but always pleasant. This is how I imagine the perfect beach day - not with blazing sun and renting a sun umbrella :p :D :D

We really lucked out and booked a place with real luxury here, and we are super grateful for that! :)

In the afternoon, we walked along the water towards the south to make sure we had explored the "whole village." The sight wasn't that varied, with the sea on one side and the beach on the other, but at the beach, there were always small points of interest like colorful huts, hammocks, or a row of fishing boats that had just returned with their catch.

At this point, some birds circled quite close to the water, probably hoping to get a share of the catch - which actually happened and was a cool spectacle somehow :-)

We walked along the beach for about twenty minutes or so and then turned back because the sun side was already burning :D :D

After showering, we went to another restaurant for dinner, which we had seen on the morning walk. It was a bit of a walk, but it advertised vegan and vegetarian options, so we stopped by Fred's Lime Tree <3

The menu wasn't very big, but it was perfect for us. With more than 10 dishes, it takes unnecessarily long to decide anyway :D :D

Jonas had risotto with olives and mushrooms, and I had a vegetable plate with rice in soy-ginger sauce. It was delicious, but unfortunately, for more than double the price compared to the previous days, it was also much too little as a portion :(

Well, at least we had maybe quality food^^

The staff told us that we were a cute couple and was super friendly and invited us to come and watch free drum lessons at 6:00 p.m.

But first, we went to the horror ATM that we constantly find in Google reviews, which doesn't dispense cash. However, it is the only ATM in Hopkins, so after the surprisingly expensive meal, it was our only opportunity to get enough cash for the park tomorrow :D :D

And... tada! To our surprise, it worked smoothly, and we immediately rewarded ourselves with some Oreos from the supermarket next door.

As we had seen in a YouTube video, Oreos are actually vegan! :O <333 We are saved on our cookie journey! :p :D :D

With the sweet dessert in our stomachs, we went back to the restaurant to watch the drum lesson, but what we found was a copy of what we had already seen on Tuesday evening.

Two men and a teenager were drumming for the audience as entertainment. There was no mention of drum lessons, and then a younger boy joined in, accompanying the drums with rattles...

After about fifteen minutes, Jonas and I, as non-(re)paying guests, vacated our table since there were only four tables in total, and we didn't want to take up space for others.

We left a small tip and said goodbye to now chill here a little before the alarm clock rings again at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow.

Hoping that the second national park works out tomorrow, we will enjoy our last day in Hopkins before moving on the day after tomorrow :)