We got up early to catch the 7am bus out to Dangriga. It was pivotal that we catch this bus or we'd be hitching on some hick's 2x4s again, just to get to the highway. I thought it would be smart to get back into town anyway to catch the bus at it's starting point rather than trying to fight onto an already-full bus.
We caught the bus on time and it quickly filled to comic proportions. There were 3 to a seat in spots, 4 if there were kids, and the aisle was shoulder to shoulder with sweaty Belizeans. Jes and I hogged a full seat to ourselves. Not a lot of option as I take up a lot of spaced with my legs spread wide to fit behind the seat ahead of us. As noble as it would be to volunteer my seat to an older citizen, I'd have to hunch over, ear to the ceiling for the entire bumpy 30 minute ride. Not happening.
We paid the fare with the last of our Belizean dollars, so my first order of business was to get some cash which I did after a BZ$10 cab ride into town and back. There were no direct buses to Plancencia for a couple hours, so we decided to take the next one to Independence, just across the water. Placencia is on the tip of a little peninsula so the bus routes don't frequent it as often. We would jump on the water taxi from Independence and be in Placencia before the scheduled departure of the Placencia bus from Dangriga, plus we'd get to see a new stretch of road, so we went for it.
In Placencia, we walked straight in off the dock to the sidewalk and accepted the first room that was offered to us by a kooky but friendly Canadian woman. At the mere utterance of the letters A and C strung together we were sold, as I was sweating profusely in the tropical heat, which seemed decidedly hotter on this day. Upon closer inspection, we realized we may have made a hasty decision as this place was a bit of a dump, but it was too late. We dropped our packs off and cooled off for a while in front of the air conditioner before setting off to book a whale shark trip.
We went back to Placencia Dive School, the company who had told us to come back closer to the full moon when we visited them during our first stay in Placencia.
It was 11:30 and there was no one available until after lunch, so we decided to find some grub and try them again later. Jes and I stopped into the Kozy Korner for lunch and ordered a chicken burrito and bbq chicken dinner, respectively (with beers and a delicious nutmeg-infused banana milk shake). Neither us were prepared for Jes's order to come out and cover the entirety of her plate. The burrito was colossal, the kind you would expect a note under on the menu offering it as a free meal if you can finish the whole thing. I've packed on at least a couple pounds on this trip and it's thanks to orders like that. Jes would struggle through half and then, not one to waste such tasty cuisine, I'd take over, AFTER mowing down my gigantic chicken dinner. The oceanside ambience was great and the prices were low for a tourist joint, so it was a pretty good lunch stop.
We went back to the dive shop and there was still no one around, so we decided that these guys didn't have their shit together and we'd find someone more competent. We went to the end of the sidewalk to a company called Splash who said they had their first April whale shark trip going out tomorrow. We didn't have a lot of options as our flight was on Monday at noon, which left Sunday as a travel day back to Cancun. We had to sign up for the Saturday trip. We plunked down a deposit, signed up and were told to be at the shop for 8:15 the following day. We were going to see whale sharks!!
We had some time that afternoon to scout out some souvenirs as this would be our last chance in Belize with the dive day tomorrow and a long travel day back to Mexico the following day. Jes talked a wood-carver into parting with one of his seracote salad bowls for a mutually agreeable price (don't ask how much).
We had some drinks and food and listened to some bad loud music at the Tipsy Tuna. Jes finally got to try some conch, in ceviche form as an appy with nacho chips. She enjoyed it, but had to choke back the rum punches to keep up with my Beliken-crushing. An awkward interaction with one of the servers was enough to send us outta there and back to the hotel for the night. Visions of whale sharks were set to dance in our heads....
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