Belize

December 8-13, 2019

 

Ahh, Belize.  The land of steep steps, deep history, beautiful beaches, great dive sites, and friendly people.  This was the third time that we’d tried to visit this country.  A couple of years ago, we were on a cruise with Belize as one of the ports.  However, Margaret got sick and they wouldn’t let her off of the ship.  She was really looking forward to taking a tour on a river to see the Lamanai Mayan ruins.  So we booked another Caribbean cruise for March 2019 that also stopped in Belize.  However, Mike injured his shoulder and had to have surgery that month, so the cruise was cancelled.  Well, this year we have a Southwest Airlines companion pass (wherever Mike flies, Margaret flies free), so we just booked a flight and hotels and stayed for 5 days. 

​

As it turns out, this was a great idea!  We flew from Chicago on a Sunday, arriving in Belize City late in the afternoon.  Our hotel had arranged transportation for us from the airport.  This worked out well.  It was a 2-1/2 hour drive into the remote town of San Ignacio and up a steep hill to our resort, the Cahal Pech Resort.  We’d found it on the internet, and we chose it because was the only medium-priced resort in the area.  We were not disappointed.  We had a beautiful view of the town and surrounding jungle.  The room was comfortable, and the food in the restaurant was very good.  The staff were most friendly and helpful.  The tours that they arranged for us were very, very good, with excellent guides.

​

Monday

​

Up early and enjoyed an excellent breakfast. We met up at 7:30 a.m. with our tour guide and one other traveler, Andrea, who is from Penticton, Canada.  I have relatives who live there.  Really.  It was a delight traveling with her.   We hope to stay in touch.

​

Our destination was Tikal, a World Heritage Site in Guatemala, and a significant Mayan ruin.  It was inhabited from 600 BC to about the 10th century AD.   The ride to the border of Belize and Guatemala took about an hour.  Our driver then walked us through customs and handed us off to a Guatemalan guide, William, who walked us through customs on his side of the border.  It was another 2 hours over narrow, often unpaved roads.  Once there, we climbed aboard the back of an old pickup truck to the starting point of our tour.  You really have to see the photos to believe it.  We hiked root-covered paths, up uneven and irregular steps, and steep hills.  It’s really hard to describe the beauty and magnificence of the ruins.  And to think that this site is just one of hundreds!

​

Back at the hotel, a shower felt really good. A hot meal, some cold local beer, and sleep.

​

Tuesday

​

Up early again.  Today we scheduled a tour to the Caracol Mayan Ruins in Belize.  Joining us was a family from Boston – Mom and Dad, their two grown daughters and a son-in-law. The drive took well over 2-1/2 hours on mostly unpaved roads.  Our guide broke up the long, bumpy ride with a stop at a cave on the way there and a dip in a river pool coming back.  It was definitely a white-knuckle and kidney busting drive.  But well worth it.  Caracol once housed up to 180,00 people and covered 75 square miles.  Again, the photos speak for themselves.

​

Back at the hotel, a shower felt really good. A hot meal, some cold local beer, and sleep.

 

Wednesday

​

The rainy season usually ends in November.  This year, though, was very dry.  Until today.  We had planned to visit the Cahal Pech Maya site.  As you might guess, when we went for breakfast, it began to pour.  And pour it did.  The site is just a short walk from the hotel, so we waited about an hour and the rain did let up.  Once home to a wealthy family, it is unlike the other sites, which were mostly ceremonial.  As we walked around the site and climbed the hills and buildings, we could feel what life must have been like there so many centuries ago.  In some ways, the living areas reminded us of Pompeii.  That was an eerie sensation. 

​

The sequence of tours in our three days in San Ignacio turned out very lucky.  If it had rained on Tuesday during our drive to Caracol instead of Wednesday, our drive would have been longer and more dangerous.

​

At 11:00 we collected our luggage and met up with Andrea again for the ride to Belize City.  We were headed for the water taxi to take us to Ambergis Kaye, she to the airport for a return trip home. 

​

The water taxi ride took a good hour.  The sun had come out, and the sea was not choppy.  On arrival, we were picked up by a taxi and taken to our hotel in San Pedro.  We could have walked, it was so close.  Margaret’s research again proved successful.  Our hotel, the Blue Tang Inn, was right on the water, comfortable, and the staff were very friendly and helpful.  In San Ignacio, the water was not a problem, but here, we were told emphatically to NOT drink or brush teeth with the water.  We are so used to just taking drinking water for granted.  Take a look at the photos, and you will see a lively vacation spot, lots of shops and colors and people.  In reality, the town does not look all that great.  The standard of living is quite low.  But the people are friendly, fairly well educated, and generally happy.  (Only areas of Belize City are risky for tourists.)  We walked along the waters edge to a restaurant recommended by our hotel hosts, and were not disappointed.

​

Thursday

​

The hotel had booked us an all-day snorkel tour on a catamaran.  Mike woke up feeling queasy, and I (Margaret) know it was because of our previous experience on a catamaran in Hawaii.  However, today the weather was nice, the sea was calm, the catamaran was not large, and there were only 10 passengers.  We set off for a reef, the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, where we snorkeled for almost an hour.  Here we saw a giant turtle, several rays, hundreds of fish, and beautiful corals.  Then we stopped at Shark Ray Alley and watched the crew feed nurse sharks and southern stingrays as well as blue tang.   We stopped at Caye Caulker for a couple of hours and lunch.  On our ride back, the crew supplied us with plenty of beer and rum punch.  It was quite a party on board!

​

That evening, we walked along the beach, had another fish dinner, and fell asleep early.

​

Friday

​

Time to pack up and head home.  Rather than take an hour water taxi, then a taxi to the airport, we opted to fly from Ambergis to the Belize airport.  You have to see the photos.  It was a 15-minute flight, uneventful, but an experience non the less.  Margaret was surprised when she was pulled out of the boarding area for our flight out of Belize along with several other mature white women to have their bags searched.  It turns out the new favorite drug smuggler persona is:  mature white women, (who knew)  The other impact of Margaret’s search was that she lost her TSA precheck for the Ft Lauderdale flight. 

​

A long travel day, after changing planes in Ft Lauderdale, we made it home safely about 11:00pm. 

​