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Published: September 7th 2022
Note: Our original blog from Belize (below), which had formatting problems and in which we couldn't download photos, has now been updated and republished below (Previous Entry).
The 90 minute trip from Ambergris Caye back to the mainland in the water-taxi occurred under threatening skies but fortunately the thunderstorms held off. We had arranged a rental car for the remainder of our trip, but somehow retrieving our luggage from the ferry and signing up for the car lost us another 90 minutes. So we decided to take in a good lunch and then make our way directly to San Ignacio (a 90 minute trip) instead of stopping off at the Belize Zoo midway as originally planned.
Interestingly, given my somewhat derogatory comments about rubbish last blog, the main highway that straddles the width of Belize was in remarkably good condition, with few potholes; the countryside, mainly low trees and palms, was attractive, and we saw no rubbish whatsoever on the side of the road. We came back to earth on arrival at our
rented property in SI however, with the 500 metre uphill road off the main drag one of the roughest I’ve ever travelled on, with numerous potholes interspersed with rocky humps. The initial sighting of our Airbnb rented house came as a surprise to say the least. There were no pics of the outside of the house on the Airbnb website and we could see why as it looked pretty shabby, and I could see that Joan was giving me one of her looks! But inside were 3 floors of luxurious fittings across 5 huge bedrooms, 3 equally large bathrooms, 2 balconies big enough to play football on etc. Apparently house breaking is prevalent in this area and the suggestion was that you don’t need the outside of your house to look glamorous and make you a tempting target.
First excursion here was to the Xunantunich Archeological Reserve. Access to this Mayan site is via a short hand-cranked ferry trip across the Mopan River. Apparently the ferry used to be mechanised but somebody stole
the motor! This major ceremonial city dates back to the years 700-1000, when it was growing while surrounding areas were declining. The core of the site has four main buildings, the highest of which by far is El Castillo (The Castle), which towers almost 40 metres above the plaza, offering outstanding views over the Guatemalan border. It also has carved friezes on the east and west sides. An added bonus for us came just as we were leaving with the sighting of a black spider monkey in one of the large avocado trees, showing off once it knew it had pulled an audience.
Keeping our cultural pursuits going, the next day we visited the local site of Cahal Pech. While smaller, this site is much older than Xunantunich, dating back as early as 1100 BC. It contains the oldest carved stela (an upright stone slab) found so far in Belize, dating back from the Late Preclassic Period. Unfortunately, our tour there was cut a bit short when we were hit with a torrential
thunderstorm and heavy rain that only those that live in tropical areas would comprehend.
The icing on the cake of the Mayan ruins was to be a day long organised tour over the border into Guatemala to visit the world famous Tikal site. However a visit to the far less demanding and much closer Xunantunich convinced Joan and myself that a 5 hour there and back drive, combined with significant walking and climbing in 35+ degree weather, was not that smart, given Joan’s vision shortcomings and my current mobility limitations. Damon and family made the trip however and said it more than met all their expectations. I have included a couple of their pics below for interest, but regretfully they were not taken by me.
It had been our plan for all the family to participate in cave tubing and ziplining at the very popular Nohoch Che’en Caves Reserve, but they were closed as the river levels were deemed too high. With recent memories of the plight of the Thai boys soccer
team in flooded caves, we thought this was a pretty sensible precaution. Instead, we changed from tubes to canoes and took off as a family for the Barton Creek Cave. This followed a creek for around a kilometre through a cave that varied in height from around 30 metres to as low as having to duck your head as you progressed. In the cave were many impressive stalactite and stalagmite formations, along with the occasional sign of human remains and artefacts.
One of our interesting sightings en route to the caves was a series of horse and carts transporting local members of the Mennonite community. Apparently this German-Dutch religious sect have had a presence in Belize for around 60 years, during which time they have contributed significantly to agriculture, including cattle and dairy products, poultry and vegetables. The Mennonites are pacifists and they wanted to live in a country that didn’t have compulsory military service and where there were free to practice their faith uninhibited, both of which were apparently agreed to by
the old British Honduras government.
Our final visit, on the way back to Belize City, was to the Belize Zoo. I guess the good news is that the environment there was relatively animal friendly, resembling where possible how they might live in the wild, but the bad news is that that often made it difficult to actually locate the animals. Among those animals we did get a good viewing of included their national animal, the tapir, peccaries (local jungle pig), howler monkeys and a couple of cats, the ocelot and the jaguar. We also saw some great coloured birds, including some bright scarlet macaws and my absolute favourite, the rainbow-billed toucan.
All in all, it was a very successful visit to Belize and it’s not always the case that 6 people can complete a 10 day trip to a developing country with a mishap of some sort, so for that we were very thankful. While the weather was often hot and humidity high, it didn’t limit any of our activities, and nor did the occasional short torrential downpour. The mossies were prevalent however, especially at
dawn and dusk, but nothing that copious supplies of personal bug spray couldn’t limit. In summary, a great holiday.
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Ocelot
Magnificent. I have posted this pic in our "Animals with character" thread in the Photography Forum. Check 'em out.