Avoiding bandits
Unfortunately, security is unable to accompany us to Chiquibul which is the largest national park in Belize. Their vehicle had broken down, but our driver and tour guide from
Yute Expeditions explains that he is confident he can get us to the Maya ruins at Caracol unharmed.
“Bandits haven’t been a problem here recently. You’re no more likely to get kidnapped here than anywhere else in Latin America,” he says.
We look at each other just to confirm that we’d heard what he’d said correctly. I spend most of the rest of the journey trying not to imagine being kidnapped at gunpoint for ransom. The UK’s position on payment is noticeably clear, they do not pay. Nor do I have a family wealthy enough to scrape together a few million US dollars.