Drumming with Jabbar

About 1.5 hours later bus driver yells out Hopkins Junction and we jump off the bus.  We are in the middle of nowhere on the highway.  After talking to a couple who appeared to have broken down on the highway, we learned that Hopkins village at the beach was actually about 4 miles down the dirt road.  Of course with the luck we have, it took no more than 4 steps before we were picked up.  Two very scary looking guys in a van pulled up and asked if we needed a taxi.  Darn.  I guess this one won´t be free.  For 10 Belize they would take us as far as their restaurant called Kings.  We piled in on top of their eggs, veggies, and other supplies.  We  soon learned this was the most happening spot in town at a prime spot in the village.  They told us to come by later that night for some drumming.

Very close to Kings were some very nice cabins on the beach.  A nice woman named TC let us check hers out as there was no one working there.  This seems to be common in Belize.  Open a business then don´t really hang out there to do business.  This place was fancy and cost $40 US.  Way out of our budget.  We strolled down the long street for what seemed like a hopeless attempt to find anywhere else to stay.  Then a nice woman told us about Jabbar.  She found him for us and he escorted us way down the road to his place... Lebeha Drumming Center and Cabanas.  Jabbar appeared to be a little drunk as he filled us in on how respected he is in the community because he teaches kids about the Garifuna culture so that they don´t lose it.  What a find when we got to the place!  He gave us his ¨honeymoon suite¨at a discount from 40 Belize to 30 Belize.  It had an enclosed porch with a hammock and nice chair.  It had ranch doors, a ceiling fan, an electric cooler for food, a coffee maker, apple soap, lots of towels, hangers, a bug net, and a condom that had expired in 2005!  They went all out to make this a nice room.  We learned that every room comes with a condom that expired in 2005.  Interesting.  He let us use the bicycles they rent for free.  Heck, this place was so far down the road, they had to. 

Took a stroll down the beach.  The water was the temperature of a bathtub.  The shore had lots of trash that had washed up on it.  During our walk which was probably about 300 meters or so, we counted exactly 30 single shoes or sandals washed ashore.  How funny is that?  Abandoned shoes everywhere.  We thought this might be a good business here.  Collect shoes on the beach, match them up, and resell them.  I laughed so hard and uncontrollably I cried when later we went into a grocery store and on the floor they had a box full of individual shoes they were selling!  Luis decided that whatever business he opens up, he will call it ¨The 31st Shoe.¨

The people here are great.  Smiles.  Could be because they are very drugged out.  As expected, when Jabbar was escorting us to the cabanas a local kid told him to be sure to tell us where we can get the good weed.  We hopped on the rickety bikes to go to King´s for dinner.  The special was shrimp and fish skewers with cocnut rice and veggies.  Loved it!  It cost 25 Belize, but it was enough for us to share.  The bugs were biting hard or else we might have stuck around for the drumming and musical entertainment.  As with every restaurant here, it takes a while to get the attention of the staff to bring you a bill and allow you to pay.  Unfortunately during that wait, a very drunk couple from Santa Cruz who had recently bought land here decided to join us at our table.  They were very strange.

When  we got back to the Cabana, we were pleased to find Jabbar and some local kids playing drums, guitars, maracas, turtle shells, dancing punta and other forms of garifuna music.  It was great.  They were very talented.  They sometimes get to travel to entertain others.  They tried to teach us a little on the turtle shell. We tipped them a little and they were nice enough to allow me to video Luis jamming with them. 

So glad that we stopped here.  It was good to see a little of the Garifuna culture.  But, we needed to move on.  We learned that the only bus that comes all the way down to the beach (instead of having to walk 4 miles up the dirt road to the junction) comes at 7AM.  We put our packs on and walked to Kings where we were told it picked up.  We soon learned that the bus goes up and down the long street where our hostel was twice to pick up people before leaving the area.  We could have saved ourselves 30 minutes of sleep and a little walking.  Oh well.  It is nice that the locals get a warning when the bus comes by the first time and then they can run out when it comes by a second time. 

The only bad thing about Hopkins was the bugs.  Apparently, I am very allergic to the bugs here because I woke up with a swollen eye socket.  The kind of reaction that they tell you if it happens when you are stung by a bee that you must get to a hospital right away.  My solution was to put on a hat and sunglasses.  I later noticed a similar reaction on my leg.  A portion of my leg about 6 inches by 3 inches was swollen and red.  Within in 3 days both reactions were gone.

Our bus was headed to Belize City.  We made a stop in Dangringa (our original destination) and were so glad we didn´t go there.  It looked like a dirty developed city.  By 11:15am we were in the developed city of our choice....Belize.

Leaving San Ignacio, we hopped on a bus to Belmopan, then changed busses and headed toward Dangriga along the very beautiful hummingbird highway, getting off at Blue Hole National Park. We got off at the first entrance you come to as you're coming from the west, which is the entrance to St. Herman's Cave. The park seems to be run by the Audubon Society - the guys working at the visitor center there and down the road are great, they can tell you about all the birds in the area and where to look for them.  It was only a short way to the cave, so we headed off. The cave in unlit, so you need to bring your own flashlights.  It was nice and dry inside, not slippery at all, and very beautiful. Outside of the cave I kept hearing explosive little noises, like caps going off, then I saw the little birds making the noise - collared manakins! 

it was here, outside the cave, that the mosquitoes were voracious. I decided that the manakins were so beautiful that the bites were worth it.  However, after I got home I noticed that one mosquito bite on my scalp wasn't healing. It had turned in a hard and oozing bump. Two or three weeks passed, and the bump started feeling twitchy, and periodically, like a cigarette burning me. It finally realized that I had a botfly. After a week and several failed attempts using vaseline and superglue to draw out the little bastard, we stuffed a piece of tobacco in the whole, and that killed him overnight - my husband was then able to squeeze the body out. Yecch! A most unpleasant experience.  When I return to Belize from now on, I will use tiger balm or alcohol on my bites as soon as I get them to kill the little maggots before they can dig in. No more souveniers for me!

Anyway, next we walked about a mile (very hot!) to the blue hole for a much needed swim. The only other people there was a bird-watching couple and their guide, which we rather, I'm sorry to say, glombed onto - they had an excellent spotting scope they let us look through, I hope we weren't being pests! :-)  The water was lovely, but the birds were incredible! 

18 Birds seen at Blue Hole National Park:
Olive throated parakeet
Rufus-tailed jackamar
Blue-crowned motmot
Black-cheeked woodpecker
Lineated woodpecker
Social Flycatcher
Royal Flycatcher
White collared manakin
Ridgeway's Rough-winged swallow
Brown jay
Yellow green vireo
Clay colored thrush
Magnolia warbler
Yellow-rumped warbler
Black and white warbler
American Redstart
Blue Gray Tanager
Long-tailed grackle

After the blue hole, we caught a ride with a very nice gringo named Scott, and we spent the night at his homestay on the Sittee River.  The flies were biting but we treated to the sight of collared aracaris nesting in the tree outside his house!

We started our trip by flying into Belize City and taking a charter plane South to Dangrigra. I definitely recommend this, as the charter plane does not fly very high so you are able to all see the amazing scenary Belize has to offer. From the Dangriga airport we took a 20 min. taxi ride to a little town called Hopkins and stayed at the Tipple Tree Beya. The Tipple Tree Beya is a small inn that offers beach front cabanas and is run by the sweetest British woman named Trish. She is wonderfully accomodating and gives you extremely useful advice as to what to do when you are there. We spent four days there and did a multitude of things. Our first day we rented bikes and rose to Sitee River which was beautiful, but HOT! If you decide to do this choose an overcast day or go early in the morning or later in the afternoon. The next day we went snorkling with the local guide, Noel. He took us to 2 destinations, Whale's Shallow and Sting Ray Garden off the coast of Tobacco Caye. Both spots were extremely clear and worth the 45min. boat ride out which provided nice company. The next day we travelled to the Coxcomb Nature Reserve with a guide named Gregorio who had grown up on the reserve itself and was very knowledgable about all the reserve had to offer. He showed us jaguar prints, tapier prints, iguanas, all kinds of birds and of course the multitude of plant life. At the end of our day there he hiked us up to Ben's Bluff Waterfall where we got a chance to swim under the waterfall and cool off. This was spectacular and a perfect way to end the day. We got back to Hopkins mid-day and was able to spend the rest of our last day sitting in hammocks and watching the ocean. Food there is pretty delicious, the highlights being the Indian Food restaurant called "Taste of India", the "whispering (or whistling...i don't remeber) seas" and when we went to eat traditional Garfuna food at Theresa's house (you can set that up with Trisha and it is really good and interesting to talk to the locals). There really isn't any night life in Hopkins, however if you are looking to get a couple cocktails on the beach "Windchief" is a beach bar owned by a couple of Germans guys who are really fun to hang out with for a night! If you are looking for a place that is relaxed and has a lot of culture go to Hopkins!

So, how to sum up Hopkins?

Dull just about covers it.

Anyway we got off the bus and saw the signs for Kismet Inn at the crossroads. '10 minutes this way' it told us.

Lie.

It took ages in the baking heat!!

Oh well, on arrival we were greeted by Elvis, the Garifuna lover of Trisha, the owner. Trisha is probably best described as eccentric but she made a good host and cooked us a lovely meal both evenings. Fresh fish followed by fresh shrimp. An ex-New York-restaurant owner, Trish knows how to cook! The only down side was David, the village idiot who turned up uninvited, drank Trisha's rum and crunched his way through my leftovers...a fish-head...and eyes.

The second night's shrimp dish was the best... no crunchy head, no eyes, no David. Tonight's entertainment was Trisha regailing Elvis' bedroom ability. Nice. Try imagining your grandma telling you about her new found wealth of sex-life.

The constant positives were the view, the peace, the breeze, and Czar the black Labrador. He was lovely and always wanted to sit with you and cuddle. He was quite sad when we arrived as his best friend had recently been snatched from the banks of the lagoon (a mile up the beach) by a crocodile. As he witnessed the whole thing he was obviously traumatised and sat staring at the sea for long periods.

If you decide to go to Kismet please bring Trisha the latest Clive Cussler Dirk Pitt novel!!!

Kismet Inn - The cheapest, most chilled out restaurant/bar/place to be in lovely Hopkins. If you want to fall asleep to the sounds of the softly breaking waves with a Caribbean breeze keeping you cool, come to Kismet Inn. Trish, the owner, prepares fresh dishes to order, to your taste and budget! Her Garifuna partner, Elvis, strides into the waves daily returning with fresh fish or if you're lucky, lobster!! We had fish in a sauce of ginger and garlic among other spices which was the best! Trish makes the wonderful Kismet Inn loaf - fresh, homemade bread served hot from the oven with freshly ground coffee...my favourite breakfast in seven months!! Kismet Inn is 10 metres across soft sand to the Caribbean and you can't fail to be relaxed in one of the hammocks!! And there's also Czar, the black Labrador who will keep you company on the porch as you relax to the sounds of beating waves and sizzling dishes in the kitchen! Hopkins (about 40 minutes - depending on driver - on the bus from Dangriga) is sleepy and laid back in the extreme and consists of about 3 significant streets almost entirely for the use of the beachcruiser bikes which Trish has for your use at the Kismet Inn - free of charge!! We loved relaxing at Kismet