By Rupert Parker
Mayan Cave Adventure
I left Belize City on a “chicken bus” bound for the highlands.  On the radio, the President was giving his Independence Day address and his theme was peace and love.  He was pleading with Belizeans to stop killing each other and, more important, to leave tourists alone. And he had a point. With nothing to export, the country’s main income is tourism and the government has set up a vast network of national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and archeological reserves stretching from the Caribbean coast to the …

By Rupert Parker – Part 2 of a series
Caribbean Barrier Reef
What most people come to Belize for are the Cays, coral islands that run the 150 mile length of the country, rivaling Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. After a couple of sweaty days in Belize City I was ready to exchange the hustle and hassle for something slightly more laid back.
Caye Caulker
It’s a 45 minute ride by water taxi to Caye Caulker and you pass several other smaller Cays on the way.  Size isn’t an issue here, and Caulker itself is …

By Rupert Parker – Part 1 of a series
Belize City
Belize wasn’t top of my list of countries to visit but I had to get out of Cancun, an ersatz Vegas on Sea without the gambling.  So I decided to hop on the bus and find out what it was like.  If fact it takes a couple of buses, the first, modern and air conditioned, hurtles down the freeway to Chetumal in about 5 hours.  Then it’s all change to a Belize “chicken bus”, which, in a former life used to …