The Nitty Gritty: 13 Days in Belize
Day 1: Our Adventure Begins! (11/19/2010)
True to form, we tortured ourselves by working a full day followed by a 12:15am flight out to Houston. This was capped off with another flight to the Belize International Airport. By 11am we were on the ground and dashing through a tropical downpour to the terminal. Welcome to Belize, touristas!
We got through customs without too many problems. The officer I spoke to was interesting--he seemed very suspicious of my claimed profession (engineering), and held me up for several extra minutes glaring at me while asking me detailed questions about what exactly I did, who I worked for, where the office was located, etc. Maybe he was just being extra thorough....?
We were met at the airport by Lloyd, the driver who would take us to Belize's western Cayo district. Our plan for our vacation was simple: about a week at an eco-lodge in the jungles of the Cayo, followed by a week on Ambergris Caye exploring the eastern islands.
Lloyd was an extremely pleasant driver. While making the long drive out west, he told that for the last few years he was responsible for much of the Belize Botanical Gardens. He'd just moved on to a new position at a nearby up-and-coming lodge, but was clearly proud of his work on the gardens and advised us to check them out.
The landscape we drove through was very interesting. There are several small towns on Belize's Western "Hummingbird" Highway, most notably Hattieville--the onetime refugee camp for those fleeing Hurricane Hattie in 1961. It is now a thriving town, if "thriving" can be used to describe any mainland community in Belize. The people we saw wandering around there looked, in a word, desperate. The houses were brightly painted hovels, and trash littered the ground everywhere.
Along the way we also passed the Belize Zoo, closed for the rest of 2010 due to Hurricane Richard. The swath of destruction from this storm was still visible, but strangely very selective--a mile-wide ribbon of broken trees bisected by the highway, and bordered on both sides by unaffected vegetation.
The highway itself was also interesting. The Hummingbird Highway is paved--a rarity for Belizean roads--but very thoroughly floods in places during periods of rain. It also has extremely high speed bumps in sometimes random locations. The locals call these "sleeping policeman", and boast that thanks to them there's no need for any stoplights or speed traps on the highway. They ain't joking; if you drive in Belize, please be wary of these, because they will absolutely flip your vehicle if you hit them with any speed.
Eventually, we passed through the bustling town of San Ignacio and turned off the main highway onto a heavily flooded and rutted dirt road. This 7-mile track led off into the jungle, ending at our lodge. We got very familiar with this guy during our stay in the Cayo. Riding on it was like being on the "Indiana Jones" ride in Disneyland. To make it more fun, nobody in Belize wears any seatbelts (in fact, they didn't work in just about every vehicle we rode in), so we were basically bouncing around like lottery balls for about a half hour while we made our way up to the lodge.
Finally, we arrived at DuPlooy's Eco Lodge, our base for the next week. DuPlooy's is an isolated jungle lodge deep in the forests of the Cayo on the banks of the Macal river. It is a unique place that was so completely different from anything we'd experienced before. It didn't take us long to come to truly enjoy staying here. Click here for my review of DuPlooy's Jungle Lodge.
Once we'd gotten settled in our bungalow, we decided to take Lloyd's advice, brave the rain, and wander the Belize Botanical Gardens. Hot, humid air absolutely smacked us in the face as soon as we stepped outside into the drizzle. However, it was worth it: we really enjoyed our self-guided tour of the gardens. For details, see my writeup on them here.
Eventually, the rain strengthened and forced us back to our bungalow for a quick dry-off before dinner.
Dinner at DuPlooy's was very good, which turned out to be the norm during our stay--for more, see my review of the lodge here. We hit the bar afterward for some drinks and to use DuPlooy's internet (wireless in the jungle via satellite, very cool) to send some notes from Mary's iPhone. It was completely deserted; DuPlooy's was almost completely empty for the majority of our stay. We found out later that this worried the staff quite a bit, as the previous year had also been very lean.
An hour later and we could barely keep our eyes open. We fell asleep to the heavy tattoo of tropical rain on the roof of our bungalow.
Day 2: Guatemala and Tikal (11/20)
We rose early into the gray morning light of yet more rain. After some fruit, breads, and tea, we grabbed a ride to the Guatemalan border to visit Tikal, one of the largest Mayan excavations in Central America.
I've written up the details of our trip to Tikal here, but in short: this was quite a trip. The ruins were spectacular, but just as eye-opening were the differences between Belize and Guatemala. Our Guatemalan guide took the time to show us how Guatemalans live. Our van took detours through through back roads where folks did their laundry in the lake, animal stock ran free, and hovels leaned on one another. It was sobering, and this--we were told--was a relatively well-off portion of Guatemala, where the residents found jobs in the tourist industry, or crossed the border (legally) to work in Belize.
We got back from Tikal as dusk deepened into night; it was a very long 12+ hour trip. After some dinner and drinks at the bar, we hit the hay.
Day 3: Xunantunich, Horseback Riding, and Canoeing the Macal (11/21)
Finally, some sun!
We wanted to visit Caracol or the caves of Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) today, but the recent heavy rains made this impossible--the road to Caracol was impassible, and the flooded rivers of ATM too high to cross safely. So, we changed things up, and got to do three amazing activities in the bargain.
After an early breakfast, we met our guide Phillip (whom we'd meet again later for Caracol) to visit the nearby ruin of Xunantunich. While this is a smaller Mayan site (when compared to Tikal or Caracol), it was by no means an insignificant city, with 26 palaces and temples. Unfortunately, only a fraction of these have been uncovered and restored. Despite that, the visit was absolutely worthwhile; for details, see my writeup on Xunantunich here.
We headed back to DuPlooy's for some lunch on the deck, sharing a tilapia burger with some drinks.
Our next activity was one Mary has dreamed about for years: horseback riding. And not just any horseback riding--no, this was the no-holds-barred picking our way through the Belizean jungle on muddy tracks up hills and down into valleys type riding. By the end of the journey (a good couple hours), both Mary and I had a reasonable basic understanding of what I'll call "horseback riding for dummies", including cantering, simple rein positioning, and how to convince your mount that you, in fact, are the boss (this took Mary a while). If you'd like to read more on horseback riding in the Cayo, I've written up the details of our ride here.
After finishing our ride we still had a couple of hours to kill before dinner. So, in the spirit of adventure, we decided to borrow a canoe from the lodge and canoe the Macal River. This proved to be a fantastic to spend the late afternoon--and a great workout for the poor schmuck in back doing all the paddling. See the details here.
The day's activities had given us quite an appetite, and DuPlooy's dinner, as usual, did not disappoint. A few drinks at the bar later, and we were ready to crash.
Day 4: Actun Tunichil Muknal (11/22)
The day dawned bright and clear, and after an early breakfast we finally got our chance to visit Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM).
Seeing ATM was a unique and life-changing experience. I'm not joking; the events of this day put a new perspective on a lot of things for me. It is also absolutely not a tour for anyone with physical limitations, particularly after flooding caused by weeks of rains. Read more about our ATM tour here.
We got back to the lodge in complete darkness, but with time left for dinner. We didn't last long afterward--exhausted and covered in bumps, bruises, scrapes, and bug bites, we crashed almost immediately after walking in the door.
Day 5: Caracol (11/23)
Another day, another adventure! After a short dry spell, the roads had cleared enough for us to visit Caracol, the largest Mayan site in Belize. We reunited with our friend and guide from Xunantunich, Phillip, early in the morning, and away we went.
This trip was eye-opening for a number of reasons. First came the roads--we spend nearly all day bouncing on very rough dirt roads in the back country of the Cayo. It is simply astonishing that people continue to get around and conduct business with these roads in the shape they are. One stiff rain and a village could be literally cut off from everyone without a helicopter.
The roads also have an impact in other ways: there are no school busses in the back country of the Cayo. This became apparent when we stopped to a very young boy and girl to ride to school--they have to walk miles every single day to go to school, rain or shine. I imagine the cost of keeping a bus running through these tracks would be prohibitive. Fuel is very expensive, and most cars get 3-4mpg. Additionally, Phillip told us that he has to change his tires 3-4 times a year. That is incredible.
While heading up to the site, we learned a lot about Phillip and his life in Belize. We passed through his village, San Antonio, and by his house and farm. Phillip told us quite a bit about what day-to-day living is like for the folks of the Cayo. Most of them are either in the tourist industry, or farming--or, like Phillip, both. Phillip had been to America before, and his impressions of Houston were very interesting. He was scared to drive (not sure why, drivers in Belize make Californian drivers look safe and responsible), and the tall buildings downtown were a huge shock. Best Buy, Home Depot, and shopping malls in general absolutely amazed him. His wife adjusted to the latter quickly, however, and as a result they had to check extra luggage coming back. Women are the same the world 'round.
The roads as we neared Caracol were extremely rough, even by Belizean standards. We weren't sure if we'd make it through at some points. However, we made it in one piece. The resulting tour was absolutely worth it. I'll leave the details to my writeup on Caracol here.
On the return trip, we happened upon the same children we gave a ride to school to on the way up. We gave them another lift home. It must take them hours to walk each day; by the time we found them it was almost dinnertime.
We made it back to the lodge, and bid farewell to Phillip. He is a great guide and an excellent individual; if you're ever in the area and need a guide, I highly recommend him.
After dinner and relaxing at the bar, we returned to our bungalow to pack. The next phase of our trip was about to begin.
Day 6: Traveling to Ambergris Caye (11/24)
We got up early, breakfasted, settled the bill, and bid DuPlooy's a fond farewell before taking a van to the water taxi terminal on the eastern coast.
We drove along the same Hummingbird highway we hard traversed to come out to the Cayo. It went just as quickly this time: our driver, Noel, was a very cheerful and interesting individual. He'd just finished his house, and happily told us all about it. I found the conversation fascinating enough to recount here.
Noel's house cost him 75k BZD to build, which he saved up for over 4 years by setting aside a part of each of his wages. He built it mostly himself (with the help of many family members bribed with rum), using contractors for things he didn't know how to do, like pouring the foundations. He chose all contractors by word-of-mouth reputation: Yelp or even the yellow pages don't exist in Belize. In the small villages, your reputation is everything.
I asked him about roofing, as I'd seen a wide variety of roof materials in Belize and Guatemala (tile, tin, shingles, thatch, etc). Noel told me that tin sheeting is by far the cheapest and most durable roofing material, provided one uses screws with rubber washers to put it on and not nails (otherwise, enjoy your leaky roof). Thatch in particular is incredibly expensive, and requires trained professionals to tuck the leaves in right. Each palm leaf is about $15, and even a small house would need more than 30k of them. Further, as we learned from our Guatemalan guide in Tikal, the leaves have to be cut only during the full moon. This is because a larva lives on the leaves while they are growing in the jungle. If a leaf is cut with the larva still on it, the bug will continue to eat, causing a leaky roof within a couple years. However, for some reason the larva is absent during the full moon, so leaves cut then will last over 20 years. How the Mayans figured this out I will never know.
Two hours later, we reached Belize City. All the guidebooks say there is absolutely no reason to stay in this town, and I have to say I agree: it is a sticky, stinking mess of narrow streets mixed with hovels. The traffic is beyond crazy--I would NOT want to drive here. However, Noel got us to the water taxi terminal in short order, and an hour later we were on a boat to Ambergris Caye.
The water taxi pier is in San Pedro, the main town on Ambergris Caye--and in fact sprawling over much of the island. I'll write more about the town later. Soon after landing, feeling shell shocked, we stumbled on to the beach and into town. We were waylaid by a rather. . . unique. . . taxi (the Christmas Cab!), hitched a ride to our hotel, and checked in.
Our base on Ambergris Caye was the Banana Beach resort. In short: meh. We made good use of the kitchen in our suite, but the resort is so far from town that realistic dining or nightlife options are very limited. Breakfast is included, making it an overall reasonable value, but I don't think we'll be back. For details, see my review on it here.
After checking in, we headed over to El Divino for some dinner. El Divino is the restaurant and bar at the Banana Beach. Overall, the food there is reasonable, albeit overpriced. The service there, however, was uniformly horrible. Click here for a thorough review.
Feeling the need to walk off dinner, we decided see just how far from town Banana Beach truly was. On the map, it's more than 1.5 miles. We started trudging north through the steamy evening. We felt fairly safe doing so; there are streetlights and a fair amount of nighttime traffic along most of Coconut Drive, the main drag up and down the island that becomes Front Street in San Pedro. There are a few sketchy sections where drunken locals consistently catcalled us, but for the most part we arrived in San Pedro without incident.
San Pedro is a dusty town that has the feel of a sleepy backwater that is still adjusting to it's newfound status as a tourist magnet. The narrow roads are a mix of dirt and cobblestones, and are lined with all manner of restaurants, souvenir vendors, bars, and massage parlors. Golf carts--the main method of transportation on Ambergris--pack the streets, mixing (poorly) with taxi minivans, trucks, bikes, and pedestrians. There are no stoplights in San Pedro, but it won't be too much longer before they'll start needing them to prevent traffic deaths. San Pedro is growing quickly, with more condos, businesses, and tour companies opening there every year.
We walked through most of town, browsing those shops still open and peeking into various bars. Eventually, everything (except the bars) started to close up, and we started heading south towards the resort. It turned out that our map didn't lie--it was a long walk.
Day 7: Exploring the Beaches of Ambergris Caye; Happy Thanksgiving! (11/25)
Ahh it was nice to sleep in for a change after all those early mornings in the Cayo.
Today we thought we'd head over to Caye Caulker after breakfast. However, thanks to sleeping in and a leisurely meal, by the time we got to the water taxi terminal we realized that there was no way to get there and back in time for our Thanksgiving dinner reservations. Oops.
So, we made the best of things by spending the day wandering San Pedro some more, including lunch at Fido's (an well-reviewed eatery) on the beach.
After the long walk back, we had Thanksgiving dinner at El Divino at Banana Beach. It was surprisingly good, and gave us enough leftovers for a few meals more thanks to the kitchen in our room.
An evening of drinks and unwinding capped off an otherwise uneventful day.
Day 8: North Ambergris Caye (11/26)
We had purposefully left Friday unplanned to give us a day to relax. However, for some reason or another, we decided to walk north on the beach past San Pedro to see what else is on Ambergris Caye. Nothing is more relaxing than eight miles of walking, right?
We started our beach trek right after breakfast and liberal applications of sunscreen and bug spray. This turned out to be an interesting hike; north of San Pedro, the beach becomes almost another road for locals, complete with large ropes used as speed bumps for golf carts.
Continuing on, we came to the bridge marking the end of San Pedro. Crossing over, we came upon what I'll call the "condo" area of Ambergris.
By now it was incredibly hot out, and we were in desperate need of some indoor thirst quenching. Passing a large condo complex, we were stopped by some tourist-trapping Belizeans giving out free game cards. It turned out that these cards promised amazing prizes. . . provided you came into the complex and sat through a 90-minute presentation.
Well, as it turned out, Mary got lucky with her card, so we decided to bite. Ninety minutes of presentation later, she was awarded with a certificate for a free 7-day stay at the condo complex. Unfortunately, after seeing it, neither Mary nor I had any real inclination to come back to stay there. Oh well. At least it wasn't a total waste: my card gave us free drinks at the bar. We used that right then and there.
After wasting so much time at the condo complex, we decided against walking farther north and began the long trek home. On the way down the beach, we came upon a beach-side bar offering lobster tacos. Putting something like that in front of Mary is like waving a red flag in front of a bull, so we just had to get us some of that action. The name of the joint was the Mojito Bar, and I wrote a review of it here.
We finally reached Banana Beach, and hit the pool to cool off. Dinner was leftovers and a pizza delivery, after which we collapsed into a stupor in front of the TV.
Day 9: Reef Fishing on Ambergris Caye (11/27)
We got up early for a quick breakfast before heading out to the pier. We'd been looking forward to today ever since arriving: time to do some fishing on the open ocean!
We were fishing on the reef and beyond for the entire morning. The results? Nine and a half large fish (damn sharks). We took several fillets home for consumption over the next couple days--we ended up having enough for several meals. A full description of this outing can be found here.
After fishing we realized we needed some supplies in order to take advantage of our newfound bounty. A quick trip to the grocery store up the street fixed us up.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing around the pool. Dinner was pan-fried snapper sandwiches. Delicious, even though our apartment smelled like fish for the rest of the trip.
A few drinks later and we were ready to crash.
Day 10: Snorkeling Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley, Red Ginger (11/28)
Another day, another early morning. We grabbed our snorkeling gear after breakfast and headed out to the pier.
Snorkeling at Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark Ray Alley was an absolutely amazing experience, and I describe our outing in detail here. We spent the entire morning on the open ocean, coming back exhausted and with bloody feet from our poorly fitting flippers. Word of advice: while rental snorkel gear isn't too expensive in Belize, you get what you pay for. Consider bringing your own if you plan to snorkel much.
After snorkeling we had a quick meal of fish and settled in on the beach for relaxing.
A few hours later, we cleaned up and caught a taxi into town for dinner at Red Ginger. Located at the Phoenix condo complex, this is billed as one of the better restaurants in San Pedro (and by extension, Belize). It was also almost completely empty. The meal we had was enjoyable--and generated an entire extra dinner's worth of leftovers--but not spectacular. For a full review of Red Ginger, see my writeup here.
We took our time walking our meal off heading back to the hotel, which included stopping by what became our favorite place on the island: DandE's Frozen Custard. Delicious.
Stuffed, we stayed up watching food network in our room before crashing.
Day 11: Relaxing (11/29)
We got up early today with the intention of taking a sailing lesson. After a quick breakfast and dashing up the beach, we learned that Monkey Business Tours (the office at Banana Beach we used to book all of our activities) hadn't paid attention to the business hours for the sailboat venue: they were closed on Mondays. Oops. We re-booked for the following day.
We spent the rest of the day swimming, napping by the pool, and reading on the beach. At 5pm we headed to the snorkel office to get ready for a night snorkeling excursion we had booked. . . only to learn that the visibility was terrible that day. The diving experts recommended we re-book for the following day.
So, that was that: an unintentional day of relaxing. Oh well, we're on vacation to kick back, right? Instead of snorkeling, we hit happy hour at El Divino (always a plus). After a quick dinner of Red Ginger leftovers, we crashed for the night.
Day 12: Sailing, Night Snorkeling at Hol Chan, Hidden Treasure (11/30)
We spent the entire morning learning to sail, and then riding the winds around the sparkling Caribbean sea. It was absolutely fantastic and another first for us this trip--neither of us had ever been sailing before, much less managed our own sailboat. Scary at times, but exhilarating. Read more on this outing here.
All that work on the ocean gave us a healthy appetite, which we addressed by visiting Rico's Bar and Grill on the beach outside of the Banyan Bay resort complex. We'd considered going here a couple times, but were warned off by the price and our guide book. In this case, the guide book was wrong: this ended up being the second best meal we had on Ambergris. Drinks were pretty good too. For more details, check out my Rico's review here.
After lunch we swam, lounged around, and napped on the beach. Finally, it was time to catch our boat for night snorkeling at Hol Chan Marine Reserve.
We gathered our gear and headed out to the pier as dusk fell. Then, for some reason, we were suddenly and viciously attacked by an amazingly dense swarm of mosquitoes. This came as a HUGE surprise. We'd been out walking around at dusk several times and had no problems whatsoever. However, for some reason--perhaps the incoming storm front?--the bugs were out in force, and boy did we pay for forgetting insect repellent. Mary ended up getting bitten around 30 times in a very short period, and I was covered in lumps that night too.
Our boat finally arrived, and we were off into the gathering dark to snorkel. This turned out to be an amazing and scary experience--and another first for both of us. I don't know if I'd do it again, but it was definitely worth trying once. Read more about it here.
After a short swim to get the salt off, we ran indoors to escape the bites and got ready for our final dinner on the island. We also bathed in DEET.
We enjoyed a fantastic late dinner at Hidden Treasure. This restaurant is in a residential block far (two miles) to the south of San Pedro, which made it conveniently located for us. However, even if you're staying up north, it is absolutely worth the trip. Best meal we had on our vacation, hands down. Read my review here for the details.
After lingering late into the night at Hidden Treasure, we returned to our room and regretfully started packing for our trip home.
Day 13: Return to the States (12/1)
We picked the right day to leave: the weather came with breakfast, and it never left. Riding a small water taxi boat back to the mainland in pouring tropical rain was a real experience.
It took a taxi, water taxi, another taxi, and two plane rides to get from Ambergris Caye to the states. Total travel time was around 18 hours--we were exhausted when we finally got home.
However, it was worth it. This trip was amazing in every respect. We both learned so many new things about Belize, new skills we'd never tried before (such as horseback riding and sailing), and about ourselves. Will I return to Belize? I don't know. But will I forget our experiences there? Never.
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| 36 hours awake will do this to you. |
We got through customs without too many problems. The officer I spoke to was interesting--he seemed very suspicious of my claimed profession (engineering), and held me up for several extra minutes glaring at me while asking me detailed questions about what exactly I did, who I worked for, where the office was located, etc. Maybe he was just being extra thorough....?
We were met at the airport by Lloyd, the driver who would take us to Belize's western Cayo district. Our plan for our vacation was simple: about a week at an eco-lodge in the jungles of the Cayo, followed by a week on Ambergris Caye exploring the eastern islands.
Lloyd was an extremely pleasant driver. While making the long drive out west, he told that for the last few years he was responsible for much of the Belize Botanical Gardens. He'd just moved on to a new position at a nearby up-and-coming lodge, but was clearly proud of his work on the gardens and advised us to check them out.
The landscape we drove through was very interesting. There are several small towns on Belize's Western "Hummingbird" Highway, most notably Hattieville--the onetime refugee camp for those fleeing Hurricane Hattie in 1961. It is now a thriving town, if "thriving" can be used to describe any mainland community in Belize. The people we saw wandering around there looked, in a word, desperate. The houses were brightly painted hovels, and trash littered the ground everywhere.
Along the way we also passed the Belize Zoo, closed for the rest of 2010 due to Hurricane Richard. The swath of destruction from this storm was still visible, but strangely very selective--a mile-wide ribbon of broken trees bisected by the highway, and bordered on both sides by unaffected vegetation.
The highway itself was also interesting. The Hummingbird Highway is paved--a rarity for Belizean roads--but very thoroughly floods in places during periods of rain. It also has extremely high speed bumps in sometimes random locations. The locals call these "sleeping policeman", and boast that thanks to them there's no need for any stoplights or speed traps on the highway. They ain't joking; if you drive in Belize, please be wary of these, because they will absolutely flip your vehicle if you hit them with any speed.
Eventually, we passed through the bustling town of San Ignacio and turned off the main highway onto a heavily flooded and rutted dirt road. This 7-mile track led off into the jungle, ending at our lodge. We got very familiar with this guy during our stay in the Cayo. Riding on it was like being on the "Indiana Jones" ride in Disneyland. To make it more fun, nobody in Belize wears any seatbelts (in fact, they didn't work in just about every vehicle we rode in), so we were basically bouncing around like lottery balls for about a half hour while we made our way up to the lodge.
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| Our home in the jungle! |
Once we'd gotten settled in our bungalow, we decided to take Lloyd's advice, brave the rain, and wander the Belize Botanical Gardens. Hot, humid air absolutely smacked us in the face as soon as we stepped outside into the drizzle. However, it was worth it: we really enjoyed our self-guided tour of the gardens. For details, see my writeup on them here.
Eventually, the rain strengthened and forced us back to our bungalow for a quick dry-off before dinner.
Dinner at DuPlooy's was very good, which turned out to be the norm during our stay--for more, see my review of the lodge here. We hit the bar afterward for some drinks and to use DuPlooy's internet (wireless in the jungle via satellite, very cool) to send some notes from Mary's iPhone. It was completely deserted; DuPlooy's was almost completely empty for the majority of our stay. We found out later that this worried the staff quite a bit, as the previous year had also been very lean.
An hour later and we could barely keep our eyes open. We fell asleep to the heavy tattoo of tropical rain on the roof of our bungalow.
Day 2: Guatemala and Tikal (11/20)
We rose early into the gray morning light of yet more rain. After some fruit, breads, and tea, we grabbed a ride to the Guatemalan border to visit Tikal, one of the largest Mayan excavations in Central America.
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| Mary in front of the Grand Plaza |
We got back from Tikal as dusk deepened into night; it was a very long 12+ hour trip. After some dinner and drinks at the bar, we hit the hay.
Day 3: Xunantunich, Horseback Riding, and Canoeing the Macal (11/21)
Finally, some sun!
We wanted to visit Caracol or the caves of Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) today, but the recent heavy rains made this impossible--the road to Caracol was impassible, and the flooded rivers of ATM too high to cross safely. So, we changed things up, and got to do three amazing activities in the bargain.
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| The crumbling ruins of Xunantunich. |
We headed back to DuPlooy's for some lunch on the deck, sharing a tilapia burger with some drinks.
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| What has four legs, enjoys rolling in dirt, and smells like it enjoys rolling in dirt? |
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| Paddling upstream is fun. |
The day's activities had given us quite an appetite, and DuPlooy's dinner, as usual, did not disappoint. A few drinks at the bar later, and we were ready to crash.
Day 4: Actun Tunichil Muknal (11/22)
The day dawned bright and clear, and after an early breakfast we finally got our chance to visit Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM).
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| One of the many artifacts in ATM. |
We got back to the lodge in complete darkness, but with time left for dinner. We didn't last long afterward--exhausted and covered in bumps, bruises, scrapes, and bug bites, we crashed almost immediately after walking in the door.
Day 5: Caracol (11/23)
Another day, another adventure! After a short dry spell, the roads had cleared enough for us to visit Caracol, the largest Mayan site in Belize. We reunited with our friend and guide from Xunantunich, Phillip, early in the morning, and away we went.
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| The "road" to Caracol--and this was the easy part. |
The roads also have an impact in other ways: there are no school busses in the back country of the Cayo. This became apparent when we stopped to a very young boy and girl to ride to school--they have to walk miles every single day to go to school, rain or shine. I imagine the cost of keeping a bus running through these tracks would be prohibitive. Fuel is very expensive, and most cars get 3-4mpg. Additionally, Phillip told us that he has to change his tires 3-4 times a year. That is incredible.
While heading up to the site, we learned a lot about Phillip and his life in Belize. We passed through his village, San Antonio, and by his house and farm. Phillip told us quite a bit about what day-to-day living is like for the folks of the Cayo. Most of them are either in the tourist industry, or farming--or, like Phillip, both. Phillip had been to America before, and his impressions of Houston were very interesting. He was scared to drive (not sure why, drivers in Belize make Californian drivers look safe and responsible), and the tall buildings downtown were a huge shock. Best Buy, Home Depot, and shopping malls in general absolutely amazed him. His wife adjusted to the latter quickly, however, and as a result they had to check extra luggage coming back. Women are the same the world 'round.
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| A small temple plaza at Caracol. |
On the return trip, we happened upon the same children we gave a ride to school to on the way up. We gave them another lift home. It must take them hours to walk each day; by the time we found them it was almost dinnertime.
We made it back to the lodge, and bid farewell to Phillip. He is a great guide and an excellent individual; if you're ever in the area and need a guide, I highly recommend him.
After dinner and relaxing at the bar, we returned to our bungalow to pack. The next phase of our trip was about to begin.
Day 6: Traveling to Ambergris Caye (11/24)
We got up early, breakfasted, settled the bill, and bid DuPlooy's a fond farewell before taking a van to the water taxi terminal on the eastern coast.
We drove along the same Hummingbird highway we hard traversed to come out to the Cayo. It went just as quickly this time: our driver, Noel, was a very cheerful and interesting individual. He'd just finished his house, and happily told us all about it. I found the conversation fascinating enough to recount here.
Noel's house cost him 75k BZD to build, which he saved up for over 4 years by setting aside a part of each of his wages. He built it mostly himself (with the help of many family members bribed with rum), using contractors for things he didn't know how to do, like pouring the foundations. He chose all contractors by word-of-mouth reputation: Yelp or even the yellow pages don't exist in Belize. In the small villages, your reputation is everything.
I asked him about roofing, as I'd seen a wide variety of roof materials in Belize and Guatemala (tile, tin, shingles, thatch, etc). Noel told me that tin sheeting is by far the cheapest and most durable roofing material, provided one uses screws with rubber washers to put it on and not nails (otherwise, enjoy your leaky roof). Thatch in particular is incredibly expensive, and requires trained professionals to tuck the leaves in right. Each palm leaf is about $15, and even a small house would need more than 30k of them. Further, as we learned from our Guatemalan guide in Tikal, the leaves have to be cut only during the full moon. This is because a larva lives on the leaves while they are growing in the jungle. If a leaf is cut with the larva still on it, the bug will continue to eat, causing a leaky roof within a couple years. However, for some reason the larva is absent during the full moon, so leaves cut then will last over 20 years. How the Mayans figured this out I will never know.
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| Looking down a small street in Belize city |
The water taxi pier is in San Pedro, the main town on Ambergris Caye--and in fact sprawling over much of the island. I'll write more about the town later. Soon after landing, feeling shell shocked, we stumbled on to the beach and into town. We were waylaid by a rather. . . unique. . . taxi (the Christmas Cab!), hitched a ride to our hotel, and checked in.
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| Best. Cab. Ever. |
After checking in, we headed over to El Divino for some dinner. El Divino is the restaurant and bar at the Banana Beach. Overall, the food there is reasonable, albeit overpriced. The service there, however, was uniformly horrible. Click here for a thorough review.
Feeling the need to walk off dinner, we decided see just how far from town Banana Beach truly was. On the map, it's more than 1.5 miles. We started trudging north through the steamy evening. We felt fairly safe doing so; there are streetlights and a fair amount of nighttime traffic along most of Coconut Drive, the main drag up and down the island that becomes Front Street in San Pedro. There are a few sketchy sections where drunken locals consistently catcalled us, but for the most part we arrived in San Pedro without incident.
San Pedro is a dusty town that has the feel of a sleepy backwater that is still adjusting to it's newfound status as a tourist magnet. The narrow roads are a mix of dirt and cobblestones, and are lined with all manner of restaurants, souvenir vendors, bars, and massage parlors. Golf carts--the main method of transportation on Ambergris--pack the streets, mixing (poorly) with taxi minivans, trucks, bikes, and pedestrians. There are no stoplights in San Pedro, but it won't be too much longer before they'll start needing them to prevent traffic deaths. San Pedro is growing quickly, with more condos, businesses, and tour companies opening there every year.
We walked through most of town, browsing those shops still open and peeking into various bars. Eventually, everything (except the bars) started to close up, and we started heading south towards the resort. It turned out that our map didn't lie--it was a long walk.
Day 7: Exploring the Beaches of Ambergris Caye; Happy Thanksgiving! (11/25)
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| I can think of worse places to be! |
Today we thought we'd head over to Caye Caulker after breakfast. However, thanks to sleeping in and a leisurely meal, by the time we got to the water taxi terminal we realized that there was no way to get there and back in time for our Thanksgiving dinner reservations. Oops.
So, we made the best of things by spending the day wandering San Pedro some more, including lunch at Fido's (an well-reviewed eatery) on the beach.
After the long walk back, we had Thanksgiving dinner at El Divino at Banana Beach. It was surprisingly good, and gave us enough leftovers for a few meals more thanks to the kitchen in our room.
An evening of drinks and unwinding capped off an otherwise uneventful day.
Day 8: North Ambergris Caye (11/26)
We had purposefully left Friday unplanned to give us a day to relax. However, for some reason or another, we decided to walk north on the beach past San Pedro to see what else is on Ambergris Caye. Nothing is more relaxing than eight miles of walking, right?
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| The river bordering San Pedro on the north side. |
Continuing on, we came to the bridge marking the end of San Pedro. Crossing over, we came upon what I'll call the "condo" area of Ambergris.
By now it was incredibly hot out, and we were in desperate need of some indoor thirst quenching. Passing a large condo complex, we were stopped by some tourist-trapping Belizeans giving out free game cards. It turned out that these cards promised amazing prizes. . . provided you came into the complex and sat through a 90-minute presentation.
Well, as it turned out, Mary got lucky with her card, so we decided to bite. Ninety minutes of presentation later, she was awarded with a certificate for a free 7-day stay at the condo complex. Unfortunately, after seeing it, neither Mary nor I had any real inclination to come back to stay there. Oh well. At least it wasn't a total waste: my card gave us free drinks at the bar. We used that right then and there.
After wasting so much time at the condo complex, we decided against walking farther north and began the long trek home. On the way down the beach, we came upon a beach-side bar offering lobster tacos. Putting something like that in front of Mary is like waving a red flag in front of a bull, so we just had to get us some of that action. The name of the joint was the Mojito Bar, and I wrote a review of it here.
We finally reached Banana Beach, and hit the pool to cool off. Dinner was leftovers and a pizza delivery, after which we collapsed into a stupor in front of the TV.
Day 9: Reef Fishing on Ambergris Caye (11/27)
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| Mary showing off her Red Snapper. |
We were fishing on the reef and beyond for the entire morning. The results? Nine and a half large fish (damn sharks). We took several fillets home for consumption over the next couple days--we ended up having enough for several meals. A full description of this outing can be found here.
After fishing we realized we needed some supplies in order to take advantage of our newfound bounty. A quick trip to the grocery store up the street fixed us up.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing around the pool. Dinner was pan-fried snapper sandwiches. Delicious, even though our apartment smelled like fish for the rest of the trip.
A few drinks later and we were ready to crash.
Day 10: Snorkeling Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley, Red Ginger (11/28)
Another day, another early morning. We grabbed our snorkeling gear after breakfast and headed out to the pier.
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| We interrupt this blog to bring you a picture of ... my ass. |
After snorkeling we had a quick meal of fish and settled in on the beach for relaxing.
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| The interior of Red Ginger. |
We took our time walking our meal off heading back to the hotel, which included stopping by what became our favorite place on the island: DandE's Frozen Custard. Delicious.
Stuffed, we stayed up watching food network in our room before crashing.
Day 11: Relaxing (11/29)
We got up early today with the intention of taking a sailing lesson. After a quick breakfast and dashing up the beach, we learned that Monkey Business Tours (the office at Banana Beach we used to book all of our activities) hadn't paid attention to the business hours for the sailboat venue: they were closed on Mondays. Oops. We re-booked for the following day.
We spent the rest of the day swimming, napping by the pool, and reading on the beach. At 5pm we headed to the snorkel office to get ready for a night snorkeling excursion we had booked. . . only to learn that the visibility was terrible that day. The diving experts recommended we re-book for the following day.
So, that was that: an unintentional day of relaxing. Oh well, we're on vacation to kick back, right? Instead of snorkeling, we hit happy hour at El Divino (always a plus). After a quick dinner of Red Ginger leftovers, we crashed for the night.
Day 12: Sailing, Night Snorkeling at Hol Chan, Hidden Treasure (11/30)
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| All I need is a Jolly Roger. |
All that work on the ocean gave us a healthy appetite, which we addressed by visiting Rico's Bar and Grill on the beach outside of the Banyan Bay resort complex. We'd considered going here a couple times, but were warned off by the price and our guide book. In this case, the guide book was wrong: this ended up being the second best meal we had on Ambergris. Drinks were pretty good too. For more details, check out my Rico's review here.
After lunch we swam, lounged around, and napped on the beach. Finally, it was time to catch our boat for night snorkeling at Hol Chan Marine Reserve.
We gathered our gear and headed out to the pier as dusk fell. Then, for some reason, we were suddenly and viciously attacked by an amazingly dense swarm of mosquitoes. This came as a HUGE surprise. We'd been out walking around at dusk several times and had no problems whatsoever. However, for some reason--perhaps the incoming storm front?--the bugs were out in force, and boy did we pay for forgetting insect repellent. Mary ended up getting bitten around 30 times in a very short period, and I was covered in lumps that night too.
Our boat finally arrived, and we were off into the gathering dark to snorkel. This turned out to be an amazing and scary experience--and another first for both of us. I don't know if I'd do it again, but it was definitely worth trying once. Read more about it here.
After a short swim to get the salt off, we ran indoors to escape the bites and got ready for our final dinner on the island. We also bathed in DEET.
We enjoyed a fantastic late dinner at Hidden Treasure. This restaurant is in a residential block far (two miles) to the south of San Pedro, which made it conveniently located for us. However, even if you're staying up north, it is absolutely worth the trip. Best meal we had on our vacation, hands down. Read my review here for the details.
After lingering late into the night at Hidden Treasure, we returned to our room and regretfully started packing for our trip home.
Day 13: Return to the States (12/1)
We picked the right day to leave: the weather came with breakfast, and it never left. Riding a small water taxi boat back to the mainland in pouring tropical rain was a real experience.
It took a taxi, water taxi, another taxi, and two plane rides to get from Ambergris Caye to the states. Total travel time was around 18 hours--we were exhausted when we finally got home.
However, it was worth it. This trip was amazing in every respect. We both learned so many new things about Belize, new skills we'd never tried before (such as horseback riding and sailing), and about ourselves. Will I return to Belize? I don't know. But will I forget our experiences there? Never.