East to Hopkins Village

On Saturday, August 8th we headed from San Ignacio to the Caribbean coast with a few shopping stops on the way, 1 for souvenirs and gifts, 1 for groceries for our meals on Glover’s Atoll. Mariah and Greg flew to Belize City and hopped a small plane to Dangriga where we met them (PHOTO 1) before heading as a group of 9 to Hopkins Village. Hopkins is a Garifuna village, a cultural group with strong ties to Africa. PHOTO 2 shows the beach from our cabin at the Hopkins Inn, PHOTO 3 our shopping stop for fruit, and PHOTO 4 the Holeman boys playing in the warm surf at dusk. We ate a typical Belizean dinner at a diner called Iris’s, then headed to the north part of town for a drumming and dance demonstration (PHOTO 5). The Lebeha Drumming Center is keeping Garifuna music and culture alive for the next generation; we enjoyed their talent and enthusiasm and most of us threw caution and good sense to the wind and took our turns on the dance floor.

We have friends in our hometown who were Peace Corps volunteers in Hopkins Village 20 years ago, before there was electricity and running water. Lucille and Jim Torgerson helped with school projects and installed the first composting toilets. They are very fondly remembered here and Hopkins has a very special place in their hearts. They’ve been collecting books for the library in town and our nephew, Tyler, has been hauling them along this whole trip in order to donate them. The books were donated in the memory of Mary, a special friend and teacher in Hopkins who passed away in December; they will be housed in Miss Bertie’s Library, the project of another Peace Corps volunteer who passed away in Hopkins during her service there. It is currently run by Lois, a Canadian expat. PHOTOS 6 and 7 show Tyler with Lois in the library with the books and the family with Lois in front of the building.

When Mariah, Greg, Mike, and I returned to Hopkins after our visit to Glover’s we celebrated Garifuna culture with a traditional meal served by Terese. PHOTOS 8 and 9 show the food (snapper, kasava bread, lime aid, and banana dumplings) and Terese and her home. PHOTO 10 shows Mariah and Greg by their little cabin at the Hopkins Inn before we left on Sunday morning. HAPPY TRAILS!

Actun Tunichil Muknal: The Cave of the Stone Sepulchre

On Friday, August 7th we spent the day with Francisco, a guide from Pacz Tours in San Ignacio. He drove us east into the Tapir Mountain Reserve where we hiked to the mouth of the ATM Cave (PHOTO 1). With helmets, headlamps, and a collective deep breath we swam into the cave and continued to swim, wade, and scramble our way a kilometer into the earth. Along the way we stopped to admire crystal formations (PHOTO 2) and pots and other artifacts (PHOTO 3) seen now as they were left more than a thousand years ago by the Mayas who used the cave for ceremonies and sacrifice. PHOTO 4 shows the crystallized bones of a young female victim of sacrifice who the guides call their princesa.

Late in the afternoon we visited a Maya ruin on the hill above San Ignacio, Cahal Pech. It sits in a beautiful wooded setting and has lots of layers and stairs and rooms to explore (PHOTO 5). HAPPY TRAILS!

The Cayo District in western Belize

We waited at the bus stop by the zoo for just 5 or 10 minutes before a chicken bus stopped for us. It was a classic Belize bus - crammed with people of many colors, stopping on a whim, music and wind from open windows filling the air, views of the countryside dotted with colorful houses on stilts.

When we got to our nice hotel, the Aguada (PHOTO 1) we enjoyed a swim, then headed through the town of Santa Elena (PHOTOS 2 and 3) to the sister city of San Ignacio across the Macal River. After exploring a bit (PHOTO 4) and confirming our caving trip for the next day, we purchased fruit for dinner at the market (PHOTO 5).

Moving on: the Belize Zoo

We left the Baboon Sanctuary (PHOTO 1) and headed to the zoo by 8 am in order to enjoy the animals in the cooler morning hours and to beat the cruise ship visitors; we knew in advance Thursday was a cruise ship day and our plan worked - we were the only visitors in the zoo until we were ready to leave. The zoo features animals that are native to Belize in natural, jungly enclosures. The signs are hand painted and are often rhymy and humorous as they present facts about the occupants as well as warnings (PHOTO 2). The majority of the animals were born in captivity or rescued from people who thought an exotic animal was a good pet until they became too tough to handle (PHOTOS 3 and 4: toucan and puma). The main exception is problem jaguars that are attacking livestock and pets; they are taken to the zoo to gain health and a bit of poise and are eventually placed in other zoos. I don’t think the cats are happy about it (PHOTO 5) but the alternative is another dead jaguar and the world has seen too many of those.

From there we caught a passing chicken bus and enjoyed the sights and sounds of Belize during the hour long trip to the sister cities of Santa Elena and San Ignacio in the Cayo district. HAPPY TRAILS!

The New River and the Maya ruins at Lamanai

Our 1st full day in Belize we arose to the sounds of black howler monkeys (the locals call them baboons) ROARING in the trees. We had cereal and fresh tropical fruit that we’d purchased the afternoon before and headed north to Orange Walk and our 1st adventure: a boat trip up the New River to visit the Maya ruins at Lamanai. Lamanai means “sunken crocodile” and the river trip lived up to the name with lots of crocs in various sizes (PHOTO 1) as well as lots of beautiful birds, lizards and monkeys (PHOTO 2: Tyler with a new spider monkey friend who came aboard to scrounge bananas).

The ruins were beautiful and shrouded by jungle. This site was inhabited for more than 3000 years, from about 1500 BC until after the Spanish arrived in the 1500’s. We enjoyed a delicious Belizean lunch (Belize Special with a twist) and climbed lots of pyramids (PHOTOS 3 and 4: Mike and Stacey). There were black howlers there, too, and Eli nearly coaxed one down from a tree to try a bite of cookie (PHOTO 5). Before we hopped back in the boat we took the chance to swim in the refreshing, crocodile infested river; the boys and Mike launched themselves off the top deck at the dock (PHOTO 6: Adam). As we headed back down the river our captain and guide, Carlos, passed around Rum punch and pop (PHOTO 7). It was an interesting, eventful day. HAPPY TRAILS!

We arrive in Belize!

Hi, all -
Welcome to the 1st blog post! I arrived in Belize after 2+ weeks in Guatemala, entering the western border with 4 friends from my Guatemala group (PHOTO 1 with the immigration buildings in the background; check out http://liveandlearninguatemala.blogspot.com if you're interested in the blog for the Guatemala part of the trip). We stopped for lunch at my beloved Trek Stop (great budget place) in San Jose Succotz, a few miles west of San Ignacio in the Cayo district. Their Belize Specials (rice and beans, stew chicken, fried plantains) and butterfly enclosure were a nice welcome to Belize (PHOTO 2: owl butterfly).

They headed to the dock in Belize City for a quick visit to Caye Caulker and I stopped off at the airport to meet my husband Mike (PHOTO 3) and his brother's family, separate airlines but flights arriving within 10 minutes of each other. We were shuttled to the beautiful cabins and surrounds of the Nature Resort in the Community Baboon Sanctuary west of Belize City (PHOTO 4). For dinner we had - you might have guessed - Belize Specials (PHOTO 5) with coconut tarts for dessert. The long days and early sun set (around 6pm this close to the equator) slipped us into an early to bed, early to rise habit from the start. HAPPY TRAILS!