Crossing the border

We wake early as we are catching a 7 o'clock bus to Belize. At 3am this morning then room next door was still partying until Bobby banged on the wall. We're already packed so just head to the pick up point which is just across the square. The bus is quite full but because we're leaving early hopefully the border won't be too busy. Bobby manages to grab a coffee each and we board the bus. Our first stop is the transport office in Chetumal where we fill in our immigration forms and board another bus. . There's hardly anyone at the border but when I go into the mexican immigration they tell me I need to pay the exit tax. When I booked the bus yesterday Kassandra said I wouldn't need to as it was included in my flight, but immigration say different. They send me to the back of the queue while she calls her boss. When I get to the front of the queue I go into the office and once again show my passport and flight details. After a lot of toing and froing I stick on and they stamp my passport and say this time only. That's just saved me £40. It's always complicated at borders and I was so close to just saying ok I'll pay it but glad I stood my ground. We drive a little further into a quarantine zone where the bus is sprayed down and we travel to the Belize immigration. Once again we're lucky as there is hardly anyone there but they are very strict here and seem in no hurry. Don't they realise I fly home in 8 days. As I exit there is a guy exchanging mexican for Belize, so I exchange £50 so I at least have a little cash. It takes a good hour for the 10 people to get through but eventually we are back on the bus. We've bought a multi stop ticket and our first stop is orange walk which is a short one hour drive. We've booked in at a private room but I'm quite shocked at how rough it is here. We arrive at Rickys at 1030 and he lets us check in straight away. We enquire about the tour that we want to do but it starts at 8am so we book it for tomorrow. We drop our bags and walk through town to find food. Everything is closed but we walk down to the river and find this oasis. The birds here are amazing. Stalks as big as eagles sweep across the fish laden river. We spend a few hours here as it's ridiculously hot and the river breeze is so cooling. An afternoon siesta is needed. In the evening we try the other end of town to get a bite to eat and wander for over half an hour until a guy pulls up on a Harley and asks if he can help. He points us to the food court and after beer and pizza head back to the hotel to get an early night.Read more