Placencia Day #3

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Today we decided to get up at the crack of dawn & attempt our own self guided tour to Red Bank where supposedly there is a large concentration of Scarlet Macaws. The local tour groups wanted $120 US for a half day trip, too much$$$. So we caught the 6 am bus out of town & began our adventure. We had to transfer busses at the junction on the highway & then we were dropped off at the end of the dirt road that led to Red Bank Village. We were told it was a 4 mile walk down the road to the village. We started our walk....& hoped that someone would drive by & we could hitch a ride. Didn't happen. So we walked. The terrain in the area reminded us of Eastern WA & even looked like there were pine like trees & flat desert dry ground. Thankfully the sun stayed behind the clouds for a good chunk of the walk because when it was out it was on super charge hot mode.

After about 45 minutes of walking we made it to the entrance of the village & stopped it at a little house that said "information inside." We met a local couple who gave me a cup of coffee & told us (in Spanish) that we still had at least a good hour walk ahead of us, up hill, to the area where the Macaws might be, if we're lucky. Suerte! We hoped we were lucky & met up with a local farmer & his son who walked with us out to the lush jungle in the Mayan Hills. (Apparently the Mayan Hills are the oldest mountain formations in all of Central America because they weren't formed by volcanoes). They are beautiful & lush & green & we saw some of the largest palm trees ever. Florentino, a local Mayan farmer who lives in Red Bank, walked with us & talked about about his farming & his 1500 acres that he farmed in the area. We walked by his Cocoa trees, his Plantain trees, Banana trees, black bean patch, & corn fields. He talked with us about how they farm all the different plants & the different seasons that they harvest. It was quite the lesson. We made it to the area where the Macaws normally fly but he didn't seem very hopeful by the time we made it out there that we would see them. He said that you could hear them from far away as they were flying & it was peacefully quiet. So, we ate our ham sandwiches, drank some water & learned that bug spray doesn't last through dripping sweat. We were getting eaten alive by the many bugs out there. I watched this one scary looking little black fly bury his nose into my leg & just start sucking. I swatted him away & he left a nice little already coagulated spot for me to itch the rest of the afternoon. Thank goodness we brought more bug lotion. Oh, the jungle will be a treat...

After waiting for awhile & beginning to dread the thought of our walk back, we left. Florentino was sad for us, but what can you do. Like he said, the birds are wild animals & they don't always follow the plan you created for yourself. We didn't see any other birds along the way except for these cute little bright maroon/red- headed birds that kinda looked like a large sparrow. Florentino told us the names of all the plants & trees we walked by. By the time we headed back we'd been walking for about 2.5 hours straight in the really hot sun. A short distance into our return walk a car drove by & it had the guide & a tourist (that we could have paid $120 to be a part of) who had been there since sunrise & hadn't seen a Macaw. That made us feel a bit better about our long walk budget tour. Although their AC'd minivan was looking really good then. Florentino told them that we hadn't seen any Macaws either but they went on ahead to attempt to see. And we continued our walk.

Another 20 minutes passed & the van returned & Florentino talked Basilio into giving us a ride! Yippeee!! We asked him to just get us out to the highway so we could catch a bus & get home. AC had never ever felt so good to me. Wow! I think I sweat like 5 pounds of water. We were sad to leave the AC & the minivan but the company was kinda crappy. Apparently Basilio grew up in Red Bank, but was running for Belizian Congress (while still conducting tours & Geoff thought he already seemed to forget that he was going to be representing his people) & the woman he was trekking around that day was a recent divorcee from Colorado who never stopped talking about money & how she wanted to move to Placencia to open an art gallery to represent the local artists. I'm not sure if she had walked around much but there are already about 8 local art galleries in Placencia all full of local artists' work. Just an observation.

So, then began the second part of our adventure. We were hot, sweaty, only had about 2 cups of water left in our bottle & we started walking the long road back to Placencia. Only 24 miles to go! We were dismayed to find that there were no more clouds in the sky, the sun was on fire & there wasn't a tree anywhere near the road to provide us shade at least for the first mile we walked. We had just began to talk about the vultures flying above & wondering if we already looked like we might not make it. We joked about standing shoulder to shoulder next to the power poles to get a little shade for a second. Finally our hitch hiking paid off & we got picked up (we were 0 for 7 at that point with the number of cars who had gone by) but sadly he was turning off the road at 3 miles from where he picked us up. Oh well. He dropped us off at a bus stop that had shade! Woohoo! We sat there for quite some time & a bus came by going the other direction who we stopped to ask when our bus would be coming. He said 30 minutes. We waited 30 minutes & surprisingly no bus (sarcasm anyone?). We got picked up again & taken another 10 miles down the road & sat in the shade on the side of the road with another local guy who was hitching his way into town. We were there for awhile, probably another 20-30 minutes when a couple we had met in Red Bank who owned a restaurant near Placencia drove by. They stopped to pick us up & laughed that we were still attempting to get home. They are a young Austrian couple who told us funny stories about getting their house built in the village they live in & their restaurant & diving & such. They dropped us off (longest ride yet, 15 miles!) in front of their house & we continued to walk towards more shade. During this drive I saw a Jesus Christ Lizard run across the street. It was the funniest thing I've ever witnessed. I laughed out loud. He ran on his back legs & looked like a drunken lizard with his arms out to his sides. I envisioned him yelling the whole way across the street like "aaaaaaa". Still laughing. The Austrian woman said she's literally seen them walk on water. We lucked out again & a woman drove by in a big truck, waved her head no to our request to be picked up, & then suddenly she stopped & was backing up towards us. I skipped happily to her truck, so excited about AC again...She was an American also who worked in Placencia but her husband lives in Moses Lake, WA until he can retire. Small world. She drove us into town & we were probably the happiest we've been the entire trip.

We walked our sunburned, dehydrated, tired, sore butts straight to Rita's (a sign we'd seen earlier attached to a house that offered cheap local food) to buy FOOD! & headed home. Chicken, white rice & stewed beans today with coleslaw. I love how everyone makes their coleslaw so differently. Some are mayonnaise with carrots/cabbage & such, others with vinegar & cabbage/cucumber, such a variety & I love them all. Although I had said in Caye Caulker that maybe coleslaw was the cause of one GI disturbance. I thought maybe I wouldn't eat it again, but that didn't last more than a day..... It's too good.

After eating in the kitchen we walked towards our room. I opened the screen door & said "no way!". Standing in the hall was our friend Ryan (of the Nanaimo's). We laughed & hugged & the best part is they are in the room directly across the hall from us. Just like Caye Caulker. Too funny. Neither of us had even planned to come to Placencia & here we all were at the same hostel, with a lot of different hostels to choose from here... They had just arrived from Monkey Bay & were heading out to eat.

We changed & headed to the Ocean. That was seriously the most comfortable swim I've ever had in probably my entire life. Except for the fact that I put on my snorkel to check stuff out & since the wind had picked up it was a bit wavy & the water was churned up a bit. So, I decided to swim back to shore. With one big stroke & put my arm down by side & clutched a fish between my arm & my armpit & I think I could have walked on water. The poor guy was slapping around under my arm! & freaking out but I screamed underwater, so loud, Geoff said he heard me from the shore about 20 yards away..... I don't know who was more scared, me or the fish.
We downed a few water bottles full of delicious water. Sooo dehydrated! Thankfully Lydia's has a filtered water spigot in the kitchen. It says Culligan & the water tastes fabulous! We're saving $5 with our free endless supply of water!

Back to our room to nap & type & read for a bit. Geoff slept for about 3 hours. Such a good little sleeper! I have ADD & didn't even shut my eyes. 😊

We got up & had some beefcake from John the Bakerman. That's what I named it, I think it's actually called a meat pie. It was spicy & good. Geoff had cereal. Tasty O's. Beefcake!

The Nanaimo's came home from dinner (they had gone to drink "Parrot Piss" at The Pelican...tee hee hee) & went to get some beer & ice & soda so we could make rum drinks. It was so fun to see them, it felt like a reunion of long lost friends even though it had only been 4 days. We talked & drank on the porch for hours. They talked about their trip to the Belize zoo where they petted a jaguar & he licked Erin's forhead! We had good fun talking about everything from the first time we were drunk to religion to snakes & bugs. They shared some of the best tortilla chips I've had from Mr.Wang's market (or was it mr. wong's?). Oh, Geoff told us all a story about how hot it was to sleep the night before & how every time I tried to cuddle with him he felt like he was being wrapped by a "big slimy claw" around his chest (that would be me!). I laughed so hard I cried. I'm like a slimy claw now! Ha ha ha ha....I think we've spent too much time near the ocean already...

Then off to bed where I couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to read a sentence.
We're not sure what we're doing tomorrow, we'll let the weather decide for us I imagine.

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Photos

Biggest
Palm tree Ever!

Cocoa
On the tree.

The Hike
In search of Scarlet Macaws.