After getting caught in a flash flood, we decided to put this leg of our Panamerican adventures on hold. Shipping Big Emma back home forced us not only to deal with cleaning up the situation, but also with the larger implications of the events that had taken over: we were going home.
We had rescued Big Emma from her watery grave in the Sibun River, but now the real work began. Could we save our possessions and our beloved Bus, or had the water destroyed everything? Had we rescued a corpse?
We had left Big Emma behind, alone in the Sibun River in the middle of the night. Come daylight, it was time to try to rescue our travel companion from the flood. But what state would she be in when we found her?
We were completely unsuspecting when we woke up in the middle of the night in rural Belize, surrounded by water. We spend the next half hour stranded between intense chaos and incredible clarity, in a flash flood brought all our plans to a standstill.
Traveling like we do teaches you to change your perspective. Things that were once important don’t always stay that way; other things take their place. Changing your perspective, however, is what makes every day of travel an adventure.
Belize was the most culturally diverse country we had visited. What language should we use to greet someone, and what were our choices in the first place?
You can listen to all the tales you like, but you will never know what a place is like until you experience it for yourself. We spent six months traversing Mexico and now I can say with certainty: I did not feel unsafe.
Cancún and the Riviera Maya are known around the world as tourist hotspots and resort paradises. But under even the thickest layer of tourism, there is a real, local life beneath. We dug deep, and we found it.
Starting this week, we will be resuming our usual publishing schedule. Check in with us on Thursdays for more stories about Mexico and Belize, and every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for new Big Emma Diaries.
Sometimes things happen more quickly than you can write about them. And sometimes rivers swallow your Bus and you need to take care of shit.