OverlandSphere
Overland Travel, Expedition & Adventure Information for 4x4, motorcycle and truck overlanders
I was taken aback immediately to my school days when I saw the first old Blue Bird school bus rolling through the Belizean countryside. With their bright colors, roof racks, ladders and souped up engines and transmissions these old buses will get you just about anywhere you need to go in the county. It’s funny after carting thousands of US…
“Five passengers set sail that day for a three-hour tour. A three-hour tour. The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the” … I was trying to shake the theme song from Gilligan’s Island from my head, but it was not working. You see normally I’d like to kind of have a…
The Belize dollar (BZD) is Belize’s national currency and is pegged at the U.S. dollar at 2 BZ$ to 1 US$ since the 1980s. U.S. dollars are generally accepted throughout Belize because of this peg. It is considered a waste of time to exchange USD to BZD. Belize dollars are also easily accepted in towns outside but close to the…
“Oh my, what the heck is that ?” The hair on the back of our necks stood up as we sat there in amazement trying to figure out was it a Howler Monkey or a Jaguar. I mean they (Howler Monkey’s) really sound pretty menacing. But, here we were, we had finally made it down this bumpy, rutted six mile…
Lets see, there is diving, fishing, snorkeling, jungle river excursions, caving, bowling……..” Bowling” I said in disbelief ? ” Pardon me ” I said to Scott. ” But did you just say bowling, you want to go bowling?” Yes he said affirmatively. For some reason it never dawned on me that in the entire country of Belize there could be…
Well kinda sorta almost! You see there are not many roads in Guatemala to start with and if you’re heading east out of the country there is only one road you can take, CA13 which becomes the western highway once you enter Belize. So, being very familiar with Belize and enjoying ourselves a lot while we were there, we took…
After we loaded into the Landrover, we had one more stop to make. Natalie, Mckinley’s wife was flying in to Belize City from work to join us on the expedition. We will be traveling for three weeks through Guatamala and then back into Belize for another week. The airport is small,so finding her was a breeze. We loaded her luggage…
We decided to have Easter dinner in Cancun Mexico. the weather was beautiful, the temperature was right, and we were feeling especially thankful for the true meaning of Easter. The plan was to purchase ADO bus tickets for a straight through drive from Cancun to Belize city, where we would meet up with Mckinley Pritchard, a new found friend who…
We hadn’t planned on going to Belize but it made sense to head through Belize to get to Guatemala. The border crossing between Mexico and Belize went pretty well. Thanks to LifeRemotely for step-by-step instructions. Belize is an English-speaking country but many people speak Kriol (33%) or Spanish (46%) as their first language. We didn’t have to exchange money because…
Hatchet Caye Until now I though places like this only existed in my dreams. Nope, but here we are on the private island of Hatchet Caye, Belize ! http://hatchetcaye.com/ Snorkeling, Scuba Diving, Reef fishing we did it all. Interested in joining us on our next expedition? Call or email us now for a tour.…
Go Scott Go! …
We are happy to report there is little traffic here. Stay tuned for updates. Thanks…
After driving thousands of miles through Mexico on both coast and through the middle of the county we were excited to get into out first Central American country, Belize. After checking out of Mexico and crossing the bridge into Belize we felt a little relief, well actually a lot of relief. For one we knew that we were entering a…
Placencia, Belize Where I stayed <divclass=”” style=”padding-bottom:7px”> Lydia’s Guesthouse Placencia (Placencia hotels) PLACENCIA, BELIZE 27th January 2013 N16° 31.241′ W88° 22.155’ Were we glad to get out of Guatemala City! Without being unkind, it really is a horrid place. If it had some interesting places to visit, some attractive old buildings, a park or two to stroll around these might…
Unfortunately, when trying to come up with a unique title for this blog, this was all I could come up with. Oh, Journey, what have you done to me? (PS- I know you are all singing this song in your head now- catchy, ain’t it??) After paying our import tax for the second time at the Mexican importation office…… wait…
Abschied von Hopkins Kati: Auf unseren Aufenthalt in Belize haben wir uns schon lange gefreut. Das Land ist komplett anders als seine Nachbarn und das bezieht sich nicht nur auf die Sprache. Mit einem 30 Tage Visum wollten wir uns alle Möglichkeiten offen halten. Doch unser Start hier war alles andere als relaxt, denn wenn Montezuma zuschlägt, sieht es…
There’s a reason it seems, why we don’t make plans on this trip. I remember how our old vacations used to emerge. Me doing hours of research, outlining the best options to jen, us choosing a destination and timeline together (usually 10 days) and then me booking every day’s itinerary, complete with downtime. The unfortunate downside of being a seasoned…
If you’re thinking about touring Mexico and Central America and want to camp along the way but are uncertain if it’s smart or safe, then you’re like us and likely haven’t found any much information on the subject. And because of that the little information we could find led us to the conclusion it just wasn’t the best idea. We…
Checking/cleaning connections and testing voltage. Thats what my day looks like. Less than exciting, but i’m painfully aware that there could be worse backdrops. We could easily be stuck on the side of the highway, or alongside one of the lots outside of every town where the residents have decided to dump their trash so that the already litter filled…
We say our goodbyes and are excited to start exploring new territory. In this case, Guatemala. We cant believe our tour of Belize is so short, but there is very little coastal exploring to be done without a boat, and we cant find a resort willing to let us stay on the cayes with a dog. The first real drawback…
Throughout the day on New Years Eve friends from the Rally roll into town. Tad and Gaila actually arrived last night and had left a note on the bus while we were away. Nate/Sarah rolled in early morning and Matt/Isabelle surprised us all just as we were heading out to dinner. We had gotten some local insider knowledge from someone…
We wake up with the sun and the soggy grass we are parked in heats/steams up quickly. We try to fill our almost flat tire again but our air compressor has decided to stop working. A few banana pancakes by the river and i have enough fuel in me to tackle the repair. Start taking the compressor apart but its…
The dog’s head slowly bobs up and down under its own weight. His eyes are shut and he is asleep but still managing to hold himself upright, at least for now. He is almost menacing. Wrinkled forehead and crooked jaw with the odd tooth sticking out from under his boxy nose. All the appearance of a guard dog but without…
Backpackers Paradise might be paradise for some… but we are starving for the ocean. We wake up in the parking lot of backpackers paradise and jack the bus up to tighten everything after our dirt road jitters. The transaxle mount is by far the worst of it, although several other nuts have loosened and our rear safari is delaminating at…
Day 3 in Belize turned out fantastic, starting with a 1.5 hour ride from San Antonio Rio Hondo to Lamanai ruins. Every road we’ve taken is dirt because that is all there is – no pavement to speak of so far. They’re hard packed dirt with good size potholes and our BMW GS’s are lovin’ the action! Between dodging whoop…
First, I will take a moment to say Thank god for dual sport bikes! Within a few miles of entering Belize, we’ve been on are densely packed dirt roads with gazillions of potholes – and that’s the main road! Not sure what to expect for the rest of Belize, but if this is any indication, we’ll be getting plenty of…
Leaving Mexico was a somewhat chaotic as you have to ‘check out’ of Mexico before you can enter Belize. The border was a zoo (surprise!) with traffic jammed in every which direction (not unlike almost everywhere else in Mexico!) We planned to cross all borders early, but lollygagged too long at Chetumal, the last Mexican town before crossing, so we…
We finally decide that our lack of a plan is the perfect plan for touring belize and make a run for the border. We wake up early, say our goodbyes to Nate/Sarah and Enrique and head south. We stop en route for a final roadside mexican meal and bid our farewell to Mexico and our favorite cuisine. At the border…
A figure strode deliberately down the hill toward us, the machete hanging from his belt to his shins swinging ominously back and forth. We were deep into the Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve west of San Ignacio, Belize. I handed Ken the hand-drawn map we had used to navigate to this private property on the river. This was our inadequate indication…
Sailboat, don’t mind if I do. Snorkeling with nurse sharks, sting rays, and thousands of other fish, don’t mind if I do. Shrimp ceviche, don’t mind if I do. Free-flowing rum punch, don’t mind if I do. Middle-aged Italian women bumping and grinding to some reggae, not particularly enjoyable, but it’ll do. Stuck on a reef in a sailboat full…