Caye Caulker: Day 1

Jesus welcomes me to Caye Caulker on his yellow Huffy ten speed. If that doesn’t tell you that you are in for a weird day, i don’t know that will.

jesus and I walk and talk for a while, and it turns out that he is from the same town, Corraza (I think), that jaime in Belize City is from. Jesus tells me of his pastimes on the island which include “helping you so you can help me.” We discuss interesting issues like the presence of hot water, beds, and golf cart taxi lap times on the jaunt down the beach. carrying the 40+ pounds of backpack I have on, doesn’t let me appreciate the near equatorial heat, humidity, and sunshine as much as I would like. Jesus takes me to Ignacio’s that is owned by Rueben, and the fun begins.

The place is perfect. Roughly 12 x 12 feet, my cabin is a wooden stilted construction that might give cavement pause. It has a shower (cold), and a toilet that will not process toilet paper, hence the warning sign directing newcomers to use the trash can. The toilet is lucky, since there is no toilet paper in the bathroom anyway.

I’m a little weirded out today, so I sit in my new cabin for about an hour before I force myself to go mingle. First on the list is booking a scuba trip for the following day to Blue Hole. Success. The owner of Big Fish Dive Company gives me “Special Deal, for you buddy” of $350 BZD, roughly $175, to go on a three tank dive to Blue Hole the following morning. At 5 am.

My main goal for coming to the island paid for, I decide to walk around. I have been walking. Alot. I wrecked my R6 pretty badly about 2 years ago and damaged my ankle pretty sincerely. What with martial arts 4 days a week and more motorcycle crashes since then, it still manages to complain a bit more than it should. Today is one of those days. I’ve walked the length of the caye (20 minutes one way) about 8 times today.

On one particularly ill fated trip to The Split, a segment of the caye where the ocean has cut it in half, i rented a snorkel and fins to go take some underwater footage with my neat HD Flip. So, in the process, I managed to lose my ATM card and my room key in one fell swoop. Not the best start to an adventure on an island.

For those of you keeping track; yes, this IS the ATM card that I cause a near crisis before I left raleigh as it had to be fedexed to me to make it in time. Looks like we are in for some more fedex action. But how does one hit a moving target like me with an international delivery of such delicate nature when not even the moving target knows where it is going to be at any given date?! Not easily, it appears.

Since the cell phone I have for Belize has a limited amount of credit on it, i doubt it will last very long internationally, so when jumping on the WIRELESS INTERNET, god forbid, at my cabin, I have the delightful surprise of seeing my friend Janette online. A quick IM later and she has the schwab guys calling my Belize cell phone, since incoming calls are free, this is a dream come true.

I have to hand it to both Rueben of Ignacio’s and the Schwab guys, neither was fazed by my awesome display today. Rueben just told me to take his key and sent me off to make a copy, and Schwab told me to fax them a release so they can send my card south of the border. Normally, I would scoff at the idea of faxing from the Atlantic Ocean, but I’m the guy using wireless internet and talking on a cellular telephone to a bank in another country. I’ll make it happen.

Gigantazon, my brother in Madrid, is doing what he can to pull strings for me in the upcoming journeys, and a number of other people have sent me contacts to look up folks in countries south of here. Thanks to all of you. Now if I could just stop shooting myself in the foot long enough to actually have a crisis free day.

The single bulb overhead flickers from time to time, but I certainly won’t complain. the windows let in the amazing ocean breezes and after the lights have all gone out on the island the stars are shining overhead in a way that makes me feel like a primitive; like some slack jawed neanderthal imagining what magical beings hang over my head and watch me make an idiot of myself. 🙂

It’s late ande i’ve got an early dive tomorrow. time to sleep.