Create your Trip Journal [click here]The beginning of our trip and an all day/overnight travel time. Carolyn and Dave live in Victoria, BC, Canada and our 2 sons, Geoffrey and Colin live in Vancouver, BC, Canada. This was a chance for all of us to get together and reunite on a family trip together. We leave Victoria BC. Canada in the early afternoon and arrive in Belize City early the next morning, with stops in San Francisco and El Salvador
We arrive at our hotel, the Biltmore Hotel in Belize City. Ahhh, the tropical smells, warm breezes, and laid back attitude of the Caribbean. After the hustle and bustle, security checks and grumpy travelers on the way here it is nice to be treated like you are coming home,,, and we were treated that way from the moment we arrived at the front desk. Since we did not get much sleep on our 21 hour trip, we tried to make up for that by soaking up sun by the pool, enjoying the local beverages and having some quality snooze time until supper time. Then we took advantage of the Belizean fare of local fish and fresh fruit and vegetables. An early night as we travel to the Belize Zoo and Pook's Hill on the morrow.
We arise to a wonderful breakfast at the Biltmore and then meet our guide and driver Denny. He takes to the Belize Zoo. A fabulous experience. Most of the animals of Belize are represented here. We experienced high fiving with a Jaguar and received a wonderful hug from the resident boa constrictor. Well worth the trip and I would recommend it to anyone visiting. Leaving the zoo we stopped for a lunch at a local restaurant. Very pleasant and service was good, Then on through Belmopan and Teakettle where we turned off the main road into the bush. A few miles along some rudimentary roads and we came to paradise, Pook's Hill. Wonderful thatched cabins, a great bar and meeting area, with decks and a dining area. Hiking trails, archeological digs on site, swimming holes, river tubing, and just great people. We explore the bush trails and visit the local swimming hole in the river. We enjoyed a huge meal and some of us enjoyed a night nature walk.
We are up early, eat a hearty meal and are off to St Ignacio. We canoe up the Rio Macal looking for local wildlife. We spot many iguanas, bats, and birds. We return to St Ignacio for lunch at a local restaurant. We try gibnut (a large rodent) and Geoff tries the local pickled habanero peppers. BIG MISTAKE!!!! Mouth on fire. It took a little time and lots of liquids to put out the fire.(Our local guide thought it was funny(he was eating the same thing), but I was grateful as I was about to take a HUGE bite of the same thing just after he took his. Thanks Geoff!! Our travels to Xunantunich include crossing a river with a hand cranked ferry. It took only one vehicle at a time. We climbed the hill to the ruins and then climbed to the top of the ruins. We were close to the border here and could see a long way into Guatemala. As we departed we were serenaded by howler monkeys. We drive back to Pook's Hill in time for another fabulous supper. Some of us then went for a night nature walk. All sorts of creatures that you will not see in the daylight are out. Scorpions, snakes, spiders, bats and much more.
Up early to another hearty meal. Hector our guide drives us to the trail head where we begin our hike into Actun Tunichil Mucknal cave. We cross the river 3 times along the way before we enter the river once again to swim into the mouth of the cave. We travel some distance following the river, swimming part of the way and climbing over rockfalls, until we reach the cave system. As we are early we have the cave to ourselves. It holds many artifacts and some skeletons dating back almost 1200 years. Stalagmites, stalactites and awesome limestone formations everywhere. After swimming and climbing our way in we return the same way to Pook's Hill. Some of us take to the Roaring River for some river tubing, while others decide to visit the lounge area. A delicious supper with great company. Ray entertains us with stories of the area. We take more nature night walks before we retire.
This morning we leave for Guatemala. Ray drives us into town where we pick up Lenny, who will be with us during our trip to Guatemala. We drive to the border where there is a long queue to go into Guatemala. Fortunately, our new driver knows someone who knows someone at the border and we pass through very quickly. Then a very scenic trip through the countryside where we make a few detours through some villages and lakes. Lenny provides us with a comprehensive historical, cultural and biological background of the area we pass through. Almost no traffic. We arrive in Tikal and meet with Antonio who will be guiding us through the site. He is a very knowledgeable guy with a great sense of humour. Fortunately we are arriving at the solstice and a lunar eclipse. An important time in the Mayan calendar. We visit many of the buildings, and wind up on top of one of the ruins waiting for the sun to set. When it goes down wend our way back stopping to watch the coatimundis dance around the offering pit where the Mayans leave there offerings for the gods. Back to the hotel where we partake of some local foods... mmmmm.
We have a few hours before we depart and visit the museums at Tikal. There are no fences here and all of the area surrounding the ruins are protected parks area so we see a lot of wildlife and many birds, especially turkeys. Our ride to Flores is a beautiful one, along the lakes with many colourful villages along the way. We arrive at our hotel just outside of Flores (St Elena). Brand new, friendly staff and a cool swimming pool overlooking the lake. Lenny takes us out for lunch in Flores and then arranges a boat ride on the lake. After the boat ride we part company to go shopping in the old town of Flores and pick a spot for supper. Return to the hotel for a swim and the supper and the night life of Flores.
Our last meal with Lenny is breakfast. He has coffee and breakfast with us and then sees us off at the airport. Tropic Air gives us a great ride to Belize City and then on to San Pedro. Mar at the Corona Del Mar has a cool rum punch waiting for us and we make ourselves at home very quickly. We explore the beach and surrounding area, then out to Shark Ray Alley, Hol Chan Marine Reserve. We swim with sharks, rays, moray eels, turtles, wrasse. groupers, squirrelfish, and many more. We return to a fabulous meal of fresh seafood at a local restaurant and watch a beautiful moonrise.
All of us took turrns in the water or shopping all day. Carolyn who has sight problems , let her guide Stephan know about that and he was certain to guide her close enough to see turtles, rays, sharks,tarpon, and other underwater sights. Supper was a combination of seafood chicken and local veg and fruit.
One of the local tour companies worked out a price for us to go on an all day tour, fishing, snorkelling, beach BBQ, and unlimited refreshments. It was a good deal so we said OK(we always barter). We snorkelled and caught conch and octopus for lunch, reef fished and caught all kinds of reef fish for lunch, visited a flats area and caught bonefish (catch and release), walked the beach, caught some rays(as in sunshine), and had a fabulous time. Upon our return, we went to the Crazy Canucks Bar for a nightcap.
Up early to start the day. This will be a great experience as we are going deep sea fishing outside the reef. Dorado, wahoo, sailfish, marlin, grouper and many other species either inhabit this area or migrate through. We meet our boat driver who lets us know what local fish are running. We set our lines and head north to Mexico. Geoff, Colin and Dave catch tuna, and barracuda. A wahoo had a run at our splasher but did not strike our bait. Oh well, next time... he will be bigger. We take our catch back and have it cleaned. We take it down the beach and have it cooked at a local restaurant. Most excellent. We even had some tropical drinks as the sun went down. A fine ending to a wonderful vacation.
A last wander on the beach and downtown to spend our last Belizean dollars. Some goodies for folks back home and a farewell Belikin beer at the Hangover Bar take care of that. Then on to the airport and the long trip home (searches and all).
