Road Trip to Cayo - Belize Zoo and Lunch Break in the Capital
I met my driver Dion in the lobby at about 9am, and we headed out of Belize City by way of the Swing Bridge (last of its kind in the world - it is swung open manually every morning by 4 or 5 guys to let boats and ships through!) and downtown. The Belize Zoo was the first stop - they didn't so much create the zoo, but rather just "fenced it in"... it's pretty authentic and looks more like a wildlife reserve than a zoo, as the natural habitat of these animals is just that - their natural habitat, just fenced so we could see 'em better!
I tagged along behind a group of people who a guide and kinda listened in a bit as we went through the different animal exhibits. I've always loved the tapir, so it was cool to see them... until Scotty peed on me!!! It was like someone shot a watergun at me, I was like "what the hell??" and then I see the sign posted AT THE END of the exhibit.
After the zoo, we were on our way to Belmopan. Everyone says there's really nothing to do in Belmopan, but being the capital city I was determined to see it, and hopefully find something of interest. While it's true it wasn't the most exciting city, it was cool to see. It was a very spread out and sparsely populated place, with the main market and government plaza in the center. We drove around and saw the old government buildings, with the parliament built to look like a Mayan pyramid, but in a very 60's concrete style... it looked a little dated, but you could get the idea.
On the way out of the city, we passed a lot more of those stilt houses again that I mentioned in the Belize City blog... almost all the homes were built that way, no matter how far inland you go, it's very interesting to see. Well, that was it for Belmopan, and it was time to continue on to the Cayo District and Xunantunich, which was definitely one of the major highlights of the trip!
