February 10, 2019
We decided to head back to the mainland and start to head south towards Placencia. Before catching the water taxi back to Belize City we took the golf cart out for one last spin.
On our way back we got caught in a monsoon type rainstorm and got pretty soaked. It was fun and the rain was short lived. We packed up and jumped on the water taxi for the 1.5 hour ride back to the city.
Once we got back to Belize City we did our longest walk yet with our packs which was about 20 minutes to the bus station. The bus station was very chaotic and we quickly got shoved onto an “express bus” to the beach town of Hopkins. The bus was already leaving the station when we got shoved on and then stuck trying to move through the aisle since B’s bag was so huge. He couldn’t fit and Taylor got stuck on the first step of the bus trying not to fall out of the open door as the bus driver started racing through the city. Brendan had to get his pack off of his back to be able to fit and we had to climb over it in the aisle trying to make our way to the back of the bus for an open seat. I have no idea what the “express” part of this bus was as it made numerous stops and went the longest route possible to Hopkins. More people would get on at each stop and B ended up standing for about ½ of the 3.5 hour long ride.
When they told us we were at Hopkins the bus was too crowded to get off from the front so they opened up the back emergency exit and unloaded us and our packs out the back in the middle of a highway. Literally in the middle of the highway which was not actually in the town of Hopkins at all but 5 miles away from anything! As we gathered our things from the middle of the road and began to wonder how the heck we were going to make the 5 miles to get to town a car cruised by and offered us a ride into town! This very nice lady who when she asked where we were going and we said the “funky dodo hostel” she responded “oh, that’s me. I am the funky Dodo”. Seemed like it was meant to be and we all felt so fortunate. The funky dodo was out of dorm beds and only had the “honeymoon suite” available. Poor Taylor got an army cot moved into the room to sleep on. Although the cot was not the best situation for her we were all happy and relieved to have a nice, clean place to stay. We all loved the funky dodo from the start. It was right on the beach and had hammocks and cool lights.
It was a very peaceful and welcoming place. We had a great curry chicken dinner recommended by the locals for only $4.50.
To cap the night off we went to a local beach bar called Ellas which was very fun. We made a new friend from Scotland who was traveling by herself and had a great time.