Dangriga

Dangriga is mainly a stopping off point on the way to the Southern cayes. There isn't much to see or do, though if you like getting barked at by lots of aggressive dogs then it's the place for you. We stayed one night, I wouldn't stay any longer - if at all.

Where we stayed

We stayed at Hotel Chaleanor. There is a main building that has the more expensive rooms and then some huts out the back which are the "economy" rooms. They came with a fan and a bed and that's pretty much it.

Food and Drink

• Islands Bar & Grill - This seemed to be the only worthwhile place. The food was surprisingly good and cheap. Kate got the beef fajitas, and I got the burger. We would get both again. 

Top Tips

• I'm not sure I would say a stay in Dangriga in necessary, if you can make it to Hopkins, or even better Placencia it would be time better spent. It's about thirty minutes to Hopkins and two hours to Placencia.

Journal

We arrived off the water taxi from Ragga Caye just after 4 o'clock. We said our goodbyes to everyone off the boat as they headed off in various taxis to get to the bus station. Some were getting the bus to back to Belize City, others on to San Ignacio on their way to Belize. We had decided to stay a night in Dangriga so we didn't need to rush off anywhere and risk arriving at night, which we like to avoid where possible.

The dock in Dangriga

We walked about three hundred metres to our hotel, Hotel Chaleanor. By this point my leg was very uncomfortable from the rash and I was finding it painful to walk, I was very glad when we made it to the hotel. Hotel Chaleanor is quite dilapidated and we had a cheap room out back which was more of an outhouse. There was a shared bathroom but we appeared to be the only ones there. We made contact with the outside world after several blissful days off the grid and also showered to get off 3 days worth of sun cream, salt and sweat off us. It felt good to be clean!

For dinner we decided to walk down to the sea front to check-out island bar and grill which seemed the only good option in town. It was starting to go dark already and we didn't particularly want to be walking around a strange town in the dark. As we walked down the street we found that every house had dogs really to bark at us with several seemly very aggressive. It confirmed that we wanted to get back before dark to avoid the inevitable packs of dogs that always seem to congregate after dark.

We got to the restaurant which is an open beach hut type affair only to be told that we'd need to pay in cash. We asked for directions to the nearest cash point which the woman told us was over the bridge and up the road. We followed her directions and soon found ourselves in a very quiet, and mostly closed part of town with no cash points to be seen. My leg was very painful by this point so I didn't want to do any more extra walking.

Eventually we turned around and went in the opposite direction to the woman's directions and quickly found a very nicely air-conditioned cash point. We got some cash and headed back to the restaurant where I got a burger and Kate got beef fajitas which were both really tasty and not to mention cheap. They also had a DJ playing some reggae songs and it had a very nice vibe. We left as soon as we had finished however, though it was dark already and walked quickly home keeping an eye out for the dogs. Luckily none caused us any particular trouble and we made it back to the hotel safely.

In the morning we grabbed some breakfast, bizarrely we got some chicken fried rice as we thought it would be safe, quick and cheap. It did the job! We went back to the hotel to pick up our bags and then walked up to the bus station to catch the bus to our next stop of Hopkins. It was only about thirty minutes away so we weren't too worried. When we got to the bus station we were told by a taxi driver that the next direct bus wasn't until 5:30pm which was a while away. He said we should be able to get the next bus towards Placencia and get off at Hopkins junction.

When the bus arrived there was a lot of commotion as everyone was pushing and shoving to get a seat on the bus. We pushed our way through but had to put our bags in at the back of the bus so we were worried we'd miss out on seats. Luckily there were still some left when we made it in the bus. It was crazy hot, so we were sweating a lot and ready for the bus to move. When it did move there was a lovely breeze to accompany the views out of the window.