After getting back from Europe’s busy Christmas Markets, we
changed our original plans to go to Mexico for Carnival, to going to Belize for
a quieter vacation. Our friends Don and
Diane join us, even though they were coming from Yellowknife, Canada, where
they had gone to see the Aurora borealis.
From -20F to 90F!
I had been to Belize around 1981 with my dad and his
girlfriend, shortly after the country had gained independence from Britain. It is a small country with a population of
only 416,000 people (smaller than the population of Atlanta, GA!). They have maintained a parliamentary government
with a democratically elected National Assembly. Currently the major threat is that Guatemala
claims sovereignty over Belize. The case
has been in the International Court of Justice for decades.
We arrived at Belize’s small international airport around 2:30pm on an American flight from Dallas. Don and Diane arrived just a few minutes before on a flight from Houston. For some reason our flight did not have the customs declaration form on board, and we were handed the form as we got off the flight. There was a pileup of people just inside the terminal as everyone had to fill out the longish form using the few pens and flat surfaces available. Our forms were summarily scrutinized, passports stamped, luggage collected and scanned, and we were out the door into the warm, humid tropical air. Across the small airport parking lot like a string of car rental agencies, and Budget had our SUV ready and waiting.
We got on the road to Hopkins, about a 2 hour drive south,
quickly learning about the “sleeping policeman” speed bumps that are not always
signed and are wicked in their steepness.
Hopkins is a small town with a large Garifuna population, a Caribbean Afro-indigenous
culture. At the southern end of town,
separated by about a half mile from the main town, are newer vacation homes and
resorts. Many houses were still being built
on a thin strip of dry land between the beach and a river. Nicer homes are built of cement blocks with
tile floors. Next in rank are the wood
homes built on stilts, allowing form more air flow, less risk of flooding, and
a shaded space under the house. The poorest
homes sit on the ground are made of wood, sometimes mixed with corrugated metal.
The main town has a nice wide beach and presumably fairly
clean waters, although we did watch a woman go dump her was tucket in the
surf. The town has 2 main paved roads. In theory they are each one way in different
directions, but everyone ignores the signs.
There are also a couple of of dirt roads that parallel the main road and
create connecting roads. The center of
town has a long, low cinderblock school
with a big playing field out front.
There are quite a few small restaurants along the beach with
outdoor tables, all very casual. We had
our first dinner at Maximos, ordering small snappers cooked in different ways –
grilled, blackened and with jerk seasoning.
Another day we had ice cream on the beach at Nice Ice. I was a little puzzled as to why they didn’t
have more tropical fruit flavors, but my coffee caramel ice cream was delicious. We also had lunch at Frank’s on the north end of town on
the beach. A very good fried fish
sandwich for Jake and a smoked chicken quesadilla for me. On our end of town we
also ate at the higher end Rob’s, where the food was good, but not
extraordinary. Better chairs
though! We also had lunch at Barracuda where the sign said kebabs
and pizza – but it turns out they only do kebabs and pizza on weekends. They had good frozen drinks with or without
alcohol. We ate Garifuna food at Ella’s
on the main road. Both dishes we chose
were fish with a coconut broth basically.
Mine had a mash of green and ripe bananas to mix in, along with a few pieces
of tender and not at all slimy okra.
Diane’s had a mix of fish, conch, and lobster, and more spices in it.
There are three grocery stores in town where you can buy the
basics. All the meat is frozen and there
are very few fruits and vegetables at the markets. There are stands during the week though that
have a much better fruit and vegetable selection. Prices seemed pretty high, although about the
same as US prices for many items (except gas costs about $7/gallon!). The Belizean dollar is pegged to the American
dollar at 2:1. You can use either currency
in stores. We also found Katrina’s
bakery on a dirt side street. Katherine,
the American baker has been there 22 years and makes bread, muffins, cake-like
brownies, and other goodies. She also bakes
bagels that can be found at Kat’s Coffee, on the dirt road parallel to the main
road. The bagels are very good and we
can also recommend the waffles and fresh squeezed orange juice at Kat’s.
We were so enamored of sitting on our porch overlooking the
ocean, that we did very little around town.
We took the house’s kayak over to a nearby mangrove fringe, swam, and
walked along the beach (apparently it is fine to walk through other people’s yards
as long as you stay close the beach area).
On our last day, we chatted with one of the caretakers who
was raking seaweed off the beach. He is
Mopan Maya and speaks English, some Spanish, and 2 Mayan dialects. He married his wife when she was 14 and he
was 19, and they now have 15 children and 30 grandchildren. He’s now 71.
It seems like most people in Belize speak at least 3 languages. English is taught in school, but many
children learn Mayan, Spanish, creole, or Garifuna, depending on the ethnicity
of their parents.
If we had been looking for more activity, we probably would
have hired a boat to go out to the reef to snorkel, kayaked or canoed on the
nearby river, or done a night boat trip to the bioluminescent lagoon, or spent
more time at Mayflower Bocawina National Park, about 20 minutes from Hopkins.
On the day we traveled from Hopkins to Cristo Rey in the interior, we did drive to the National Park. About 3km off the main road down a bumpy dirt road, you reach the Park’s parking lot and helpful attendant who can recommend trails. He sent us another few km down an even worse road to the trailhead for Lower Bocawina falls. Since we hadn’t planned to spend much time, it might have been better to park at the main lot and walk one of the trails that starts there, but who knows. The trail to Lower Bocawina is not far and passes through interesting lowland tropical forest to a lovely waterfall where one could take a dip if so inclined. We think there’s a second waterfall nearby, but we decided to get back on the road.
The Hummingbird Highway leads from Dangriga on the coast
inland. It’s a very pretty road, running
through rural farmlands and citrus groves.
Eventually you cross the Maya Mountains, which still seem to be heavily
forested, although mostly with second growth.
There are basically 3 or 4 major roads in Belize, all of which are paved
and 2 lane.
Our next stop was at Lalaina Chocolate. I thought they were going to have sandwiches, but they only serve beverages. We had some hot chocolates that were okay, but did enjoy sampling and buying some of the chocolate nibs, teas, and chocolate bars for sale. They also offer tours of the process of making chocolate if you call ahead. At least stopping there we also caught our only glimpse of howler monkeys with their eerie hooting.
The next place we found for lunch was in Belmopan, the
relatively new capital city of Belize.
It was called Simple Life, and turned out to be a modern, very air-conditioned
Asian restaurant specializing in dumplings and wontons. It was nice to have a change from rice, beans,
and fish.
We reached Santa Elena/San Ignacio after 4pm and found The Bluffs, a nice open air bar with picnic tables, where we were to meet our host’s caretaker, Cecilio. The house we rented is two stories and Cecilio lives on the first floor with his wife Rosa. Rosa can cook meals for the AirBnB guests, and she also cleans and has an amazing green thumb. There are many small and large pots of plants around the house and a large greenhouse area off the property. The house in on a 5 acre lot within the Macal River Estates development (https://macalriverestates.com/). Currently it seems to be the only lot someone has built on. Cecilio said there are 10 lots ranging from 5 – 15 acres. There’s a wide grassy road lined with full size palm trees leading past the lots and a cement and pebble long walkway with steps that goes down to the Macal River. The entrance to the development is about a ¼ mile from the tiny town of Cristo Rey.
Cristo Rey is large enough to have its own school, 2 small
open air restaurants, a bar and an ice cream store, and 2 tiny convenience shacks. There’s another resort known for its birding
next door, Crystal River.
From our deck we could see toucans, redstarts, brown jays,
and other unidentified birds, as well as agoutis at dusk and one squirrel. Cecilio suggested canoeing on the Macal, so
Jake and I did that one morning while Don and Diane explored one of the nearby
Mayan ruins. It was a peaceful river
with a few little riffles. Nothing super
exciting, but nice to be on the water.
We put in in Cristo Rey and Cecilio met us in San Ignacio after about an
hour and a half. Don and Diane said the
ruins were quite interesting. They found
a very knowledgeable guide and it wasn’t too crowded. Apparently Wednesday is the day a lot of
tourist companies come in with busloads of people.
On Saturday, Jake’s birthday and our last day in Belize, we did an amazing tour to the ATM, a cave, about an hour from San Ignacio. We did the tour through MayaWalk Tours (https://www.mayawalk.com/), meeting them in downtown San Ignacio at 7:45am. Our guide, Juan Carlos, had studied archaeology and volunteered at several sites in Guatemala before becoming a licensed guide. He’s been guiding at the caves for 22 years. To get to the caves, you cross a small river three times. The first crossing was up to my chest, and the next two only ankle or knee deep. In between you walk along a mostly shaded path through 2nd growth forest. Once at the cave entrance, you have to swim through a narrow gap and then wade upstream. There are several pretty small passages, but as our guide was at least twice as wide as me with worse knees, I figured if he could make it I could! They are also one of the few companies that offer helmets and life preservers, and I’m sure I would have banged my head several times were it not for the helmet. The life preserver also added some padding.
The cave has some spectacular examples of flowstone,
stalactites and stalagmites. Apparently
the Maya would deliberately break or chip some stones to make silhouettes of
human or animal heads that would dance in torch light. At the far end of the toured part of the cave
you climb up to another chamber, remove our shoes, and walk in socks through
some areas where Mayan religious ceremonies and sacrifices took place. There are several human skeletons and skulls where
you can see the flattened heads indicating higher status people were sacrificed. Unfortunately, 2 skulls were damaged by
tourists dropping their cameras on them, and now all cameras and cell phones
are banned. Generally, anthropologists
think that during these rituals everyone would be under the influence of
hallucinatory drugs which reinforced the impression that the caves were part of
the sacred underworld. On the way out,
our group opted to walk a small distance in complete darkness, holding onto the
life jacket of the person ahead with the guide leading. We also opted to return
via an alternate route that involved going through several rock chutes with
water flowing through them. Very exciting!
Saturday is also market day in San Ignacio- we took a quick
walk through the market when we got back, but most stalls were shutting down. We had intended to go out for dinner for Jake’s
birthday, but two places had no reservations available, and Jake wanted non-Central
American after several meals of rice, beans, and meat. So we ended up getting pasta and sauce and a
locally made sausage at the supermarket and cooking that at home. Don and Diane had gone to great lengths the
day before to get a birthday dessert and candles, so we had a festive last
dinner in Belize.
On Sunday we packed up and headed for the airport, about a 2
hour drive. A note about the airport –
the airport has 2 terminals. The quiet
terminal seems to be the one for more local airlines and it has a restaurant
before you go through security on the second floor. We first went to the international terminal
to check in and one of the staff said there were more food choices past
security. There are, but it is extremely
crowded and loud and there is only one pizza place that has tables within a
restaurant space.
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