For once, I took the advice of a travel guide and rented a four-wheel drive vehicle when planning to tour the interior of Belize. It was a last minute decision, I had originally planned to walk to the main road from the airport and use the country’s public transport system. I was on vacation; there was no rush. I could get there when I got there, I thought, about all the places I planned to visit around the country.

Well, the flight must have tired me because when I looked down the main road and saw only open space, I decided a car might be best after all. I rented a small four-wheel drive Suzuki pickup. The rental car agent said, “You’ll be sorry, when I looked at the little economy cars.” At the end of that first day I was grateful for the book and the man.

Near Guatemala, I found a camp just before dark. I settled into the living room talking and snacking with the owner and several other guests. By the time I felt like pitching my tent and calling it a night, it was completely dark, and dark in this part of the world meant dark. The man in charge said, “Go up the hill, I’ll meet you at the top and show you the place to camp.” Fantastic. Well, I was used to driving trucks but not in a strange place in the dark. I went up the hill, felt a bit of softness under my tires and hit the throttle harder. At the same time I stopped abruptly, I heard my new friend scream and saw him waving his arms in the air. My beefy car was sunk and good.

“Didn’t you see me, didn’t you hear me?” He said, obviously irritated.

“See you now,” I said meekly.

“It’s been raining a bit, it’s pretty muddy in there; I tried to steer you to the left.”

“Grab your backpack, leave the car and follow me,” he grumbled.

We walked about 100 meters to my house to spend the night. I was glad the moonlight was showing through the trees so I could pitch my tent, I wouldn’t be using my headlights like I had planned. That night, on the way to the bathroom, I ran into the night manager. He took me for a walk with his flashlight pointed at lots of interesting wildlife. There were a lot of tarantulas roaming the ground, which didn’t make me very happy.

Early the next morning, I saw how deeply my tires had sunk into the mud. Good thing I had this four wheel drive, I dumped my bag and got ready to head back east towards the zoo. I didn’t know what I was doing, so I strained my eyes to read the instructions for the four-wheel drive. No, it wasn’t happening. It got deleted and I pretended to myself that I could figure it out.

Beaten up, I knew I would have to go find my friend and ask him for help. I found him having breakfast, he was in a better mood this morning; he gave me some toast and eggs and offered me his help. It didn’t take him long to get the car out of the mud. He let me take a picture of him and his dog and sent me on my way.

The roads were questionable at times, but my off-road driving is what got me into trouble. Just in case, rent an SUV in Belize.