august_2009_belize_trip

Back August 2009 Belize Trip

(2009 Trip Giveaway)

by Greg Vandiver

This trip was the 2009 Trip Giveaway, in which I had a drawing here on my website back in September 2008. I accepted 50 names for the drawing and offered 3 different trips to whomever the winner was. The winner had the option to travel with me to Guatemala, Belize or Honduras and could also choose a particular week of the year to go on the trip. They would receive from me: one free roundtrip flight, six nights lodging and $500 cash for spending as needed while on the trip. The lucky winner was Greg Brink of Oregon, who was a total stranger to me and I could not have chose a more friendly and appreciative recipient. The country he and his lovely wife Mariah chose was Belize so I would make arrangements for them as needed, so they could go there and spend time with their family at Glover's Atoll a week before I would arrive to join them. The account of the trip was as follows:

Day 1 - I flew from Atlanta to Guatemala City on Delta Airlines and met my good friend Steve Ballor outside the airport where he was waiting for me. We decided to eat lunch in Zona Viva at Restaurant Casa Chapina. After the nice meal we decided to go to the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology there in Guatemala City, but when we arrived Steve and I found it was closed for the day. So, we instead went to the La Aurora Zoo. They had a nice collection of animals there, which surprised me. After visiting the zoo, Steve and I went back to the airport to catch our next flight to Flores with Taca Airlines. I had to check my backpack, due to the fact one of the security agents would not allow me to carry on the plane two small bottles of mosquito repellant I had brought with me for the trip. They were well under the 3 ounce limit too. I find that while traveling in the Maya World sometimes, I tend to run across the stupidest security agents a person could possibly imagine.

So after checking my backpack as needed, Steve and I made our flight which arrived to Mundo Maya International Airport. Once arriving there to Flores, I was happy to be greeted once again by my good friend Lente, who was waiting for us at the airport exit. We checked into our hotel rooms at Hotel Mirador del Lago for $15 USD per night. Afterwards, we walked down to Cafe Yaxha where some friends (Merlina and Dieter) would be waiting for us to have dinner with them. We talked about the arrangements for the site we would visit the next day together.

Day 2 - We left Flores in a 4 wheel drive truck driven by Lente and would visit the Maya ruins of Naranjo for the day. Along the way, we stopped to pick up Raul Noriega who waiting for us on the side of the road at the entrance of the National Park (Naranjo, Yaxha and Nakum). Raul would be our guide for the day and I could not imagine going to visit Naranjo with a better person, since he knew the site so well from working there as a architect in the past. We took the back road from Melchor de Mencos and did not have very much trouble at all when we came up on large muddy spots and the dreadful bajos. Even though it had not rained in the past few days, we knew it could at any time while we were there which could make things very interesting, since it was the rainy season.

Raul gave us the grand tour of the site and even talked to the archaeologist and lead architect who were currently working at the site, for allowing us to see things there at the site which most tourists are not allowed to see. I did see a gray fox walking across one the the plazas there, but could not get a photo of it. After we had seen probably 90% of the site, the skies began to darken and we could hear thunder in the distance. Before we could get back to the truck it came a very hard rain. After deciding to leave the site while we could, we had some trouble getting back out through the muddy roads and even had to clear a fallen tree from the road with a machete. The ruts in the muddy road were pretty bad at times but luckily we made it back to Melchor de Mencos.

Once there, I told Lente to drop Steve and I off at the Belize border so we could go onward for the remainder of our trip. We told everyone bye and walked across the border as needed. After a aggravating experience with a smart ass border agent, we were finally granted permission to enter Belize. Steve and I hired a taxi driver for $30 BZ to take us to Cahal Pech Village Resort in the city of San Ignacio for checking into our hotel rooms as needed. Once there we met Greg and Mariah Brink in the hotel lobby for the first time in our lives. I decided to eat dinner at the hotel restaurant with the Brink's while Steve went into town for a pizza. I got acquainted with The Brink's while we ate and we had a lot of fun talking.

Day 3 - I had made arrangements for the four of us in the group to visit the Maya ruins of Caracol on this day, but Steve decided to just hang out at the hotel and do whatever he wanted to for the day. So, The Brinks and I went to visit the site with our driver and guide; Bruce. The long road to Caracol is pretty rough, but was just as I had expected it to be, since I had previously been there before. Upon entering the site, there were other tourists who had arrived just behind us. Also, I did notice that a man there had a pet baby black howler monkey named Jack. Apparently, the baby monkey fell from a tree at the site and was taken to a local veterinarian for treatment. The man told me that Jack received some broken ribs and a bruised head from the fall. After he had recuperated they tried to re-introduce him into the wild, but none of the local monkey families would accept him. So, he is a pet there now and everyone who visits the site enjoys handling him. One day though when he matures into a adult, he will be quite a handful to deal with I am sure.

We toured the large site with Bruce as he explained the history of the ancient city to all of us. Sadly though, some information he shared with us was not accurate but I did not correct him when needed, and did not do so out of respect for him. Most tourists would not know any different though. I decided to climb the tallest structure there, which is the Caana Pyramid. Till this day, Caana is still the tallest man-made structure in all of Belize. We had a good time visiting the site and went onward to visit Rio Frio Cave. The cave there is quite large and nice, but is not my cup of tea, so to say. We also made a short visit to Rio on Pools, but only saw it from a distance. I don't know how the Brink's felt but I was happy to get back to the hotel for a much needed shower after the long day in the hot sun. Once there to Cahal Pech Village Resort, we made plans to go into town for eating dinner at Ko-Ox Han-Nah Restaurant. The food there was excellent and was fairly cheap as well.

Day 4 - Today we would be visiting the Maya ruins of Lamanai and Altun-Ha and our guide would be Bruce once again. We went to Lamanai first and I let Bruce read a excellent book which I brought with me for the trip as we rode to the site. The book is one of my favorites; The Chronicles of the Maya Kings and Queens. It lists the chronological order of all of the known kings from certain important Maya cities, of which one is Caracol. Since it has so much information in it about each site AND since he did not get his facts straight when he was our guide at that particular site, I gave it to him with hopes that it would make him a better guide than he already is. He had told me that he never seen that particular book before and I was happy to give it to him, since he had been so nice to us.

Most people go via the New River by boat to the site, but we went by SUV through a large mennonite community called Shipwreck to get there. It was neat seeing all of the horse and buggies, as well as the mennonite men dressed in their overalls and wearing a cowboy hat as we drove through the community. After finally arriving to the site of Lamanai, it brought back memories for me from when I went there for the first time in April 2004. Lamanai was the 3rd Maya site I ever visited. I noticed upon arrival to the site that they had made a lot of changes to the area where tourists enter as well. We did hear a black howler monkey at the site but could not get a glimpse of him due to the thickness of the leaves on the tree it was sitting in. Also, we did see three small snakes which I tried to take some good photos of. I do not know the name of them but did know they were not poisonous.

After leaving the site, we went onward towards Altun-Ha, and did so by a narrow road I was not familiar with. The road was extremely rough at times and our driver drove faster than he should have. Thankfully after a miserable ride, we arrived to Altun-Ha. It was nice to tour the small site once again and we had the entire site all to ourselves. Bruce waited for us at the entrance and had a few sodas with our driver as Mariah, Greg and I toured the site for about 20 minutes. Altun-Ha was the 4th site I ever visited, for those interested. After a long day we finally arrived back to the hotel in San Ignacio and I was ready to eat too! We met up with Steve for dinner and he told us all about his trip to ATM Cave with a famous tour guide while we drove there. We would eat dinner at Serendib Restaurant, which Steve and I had eaten at before. It is a Sri Lankan restaurant and they have pretty good food.

Day 5 - After a good breakfast at the hotel restaurant, we decided to visit the nearby Maya ruins of Xunantunich and Cahal Pech, before going onward to the Island of Caye Caulker. I had made arrangements with Cahal Pech Village Resort for round trip transportation only to visit Xunantunich for the entire group and it only costed $25 USD for doing so. The driver took us to the site and we toured Xunantunich for about thirty minutes or so, while he waited for us at the entrance. This was the first site we had visited on the trip so far, that either of The Brink's (Mariah) had ever visited previously. After we left the site, the driver dropped us off at Cahal Pech. I absolutely love this particular small site and am always glad to go back there anytime I am in the area. If a person stays at Cahal Pech Village Resort while in San Ignacio, I suggest that they exit the front of the hotel and walk down the road about a quarter mile to visit the site which is on the right hand side of the road.

I remember that when we all paid the $5 entry fee to the attendant there, he asked us all what our names were so he could print them on our entrance ticket, which he did so by way of a computer and printer. Steve Ballor (being the comedian he is at times) told him his name was Osama Bin Laden. The attendant typed it in and grinned really big while he was printing the ticket for him. We all had a good laugh over that one. I did notice there was an artist at the site who was drawing one of the structures while we were touring the site. We all went back to the hotel and settled up with the manager there, on what we all owed them. I must say that I always get excellent treatment when I stay there, although their free internet service is quite slow most of the time and at times they can get a little confused about what a person owes at the time they check out. All in all though, I give the hotel two thumbs up on my personal rating system and I look forward to my next stay there.

We left San Ignacio with the same driver who had taken us to visit the two sites earlier in the day and he was to take us to the water taxi station in Belize City for $100 USD. That's not bad at all for four people to split between them, for a private taxi service of that distance, in my opinion anyways. By the way, we had made those arrangements through the hotel as well. I asked our driver to stop at the roadside restaurant which is frequented by tourists in the area, so we could eat a late lunch and we bought our driver lunch as well. The Amigos Restaurant always has great food, as well as a nice atmosphere. They have very funny bumper stickers all over the interior walls there.

Once we arrived to Belize City, we had to wait for around forty five minutes to catch the San Pedro Express boat to Caye Caulker. San Pedro Express has the fastest boats of all the agencies in Belize City which make trips to the Islands in the area. I bought my one way ticket to Caye Caulker for $30 BZ and after thirty five minutes after departing Belize City, we all arrived to the Island of Caye Caulker and checked into our hotels as needed, which were right beside one another on the beach there. After cleaning up a bit, I did get to meet Mariah Brink's father and mother who were already there on the island and staying at the same hotel as we were. They were very nice people and we would all eat dinner together later in the evening at a famous "restaurant" (if that's what a person could call it) on the Island called Jolly Roger's. Jolly Roger's is recommended highly in a lot of guide books.

While Mariah, Greg and I walked through town to see what all they had there, Steve decided to venture out on his own. He was on a mission from God, it seemed, to find supposedly the best "fishing on the flats" guide in all of Caye Caulker, so he and I could hopefully go fishing in the next couple of days while we were there. Steve asked a golf cart taxi driver if he knew Porfilio "Piggy" Guzman and he told Steve that everyone knew him on the island. The driver took Steve to Piggy's house and his wife said that he was not at home at the time, but that he might be at The Happy Lobster Restaurant. Steve had the driver take him there, but Piggy was not there either....but luckily his brother was at the restaurant. Piggy's brother called him on his cell phone and he then came to meet with Steve at the restaurant to make arrangements for Steve and I to fish with him on the next day.

We later had dinner at Jolly Roger's as planned, and it was cheap ($12.50 USD each) for eating lobster tails, mashed potatoes, rice and beans and the weakest rum and orange drink a person could possibly imagine. However, the majority of our group agreed it was not worth all the hype it receives, but none of us left there hungry at all. We did not even wait around to eat our cake which was included as our dessert. A suggestion I would have for others who might go there sometime; be sure to take your own large bottle of water or soda with you there, because the drink cups they provide are really small and getting refills is really slow.

Day 6 - Steve and I ate a quick breakfast and met Piggy Guzman at the dock for going fishing with him. We were using light spinning rod and reel combos and small jigs. Piggy had told the two of us the day before that the price for 1/2 day fishing with him on the flats was $200 USD and that if we did not catch anything, we owed him nothing. Piggy Guzman is my kind of guy....very confident in what he does. We tried the first fishing spot he stopped at and caught nothing. I though it might be possible we could be fishing with the wrong bait at first, but at the second spot he stopped at, we caught twelve pompano and red snapper. So, I found out that the particular baits he chose for Steve and I were enticing to the fish and there was nothing wrong with them at all.

There were a couple of sting rays that were scouring the area we were fishing in and catching the fish seemed to slow down a bit. So, we tried a few more places, searching for some more fish to catch. Finally we found a spot where they were biting again. In this spot, I caught the next (and last) three fish we would catch and two of them were bone fish. Those bone fish fight like everything! So, we ended up catching fifteen fish in all and I was pleased with the short fishing trip we made with Piggy Guzman. cell number: (011-501-2)-601-9694.

We later found The Brink's and decided to have dinner that evening at Rosie's Restaurant. The restaurant is different than any I had ever eaten at before. As a person shows up at the front of the restaurant, they ask everyone to choose from an assortment of fish and lobsters they have displayed on a large table and what they want as their side dishes to complete the meal. They do this before seating anyone! I chose the largest hog fish they had and the rest of the group had lobster, if I remember correctly. I think everyone in our group was pleased with their meal. I know I was!.

Day 7 - On this day, I would make two scuba dives on a local reef and the others in the group went snorkeling with manatees, sting rays and nurse sharks at Holchan Marine Park. I had a great time diving with 3 open water students and their instructor (Abel) from Frenchie's Dive Center. We all decided later to eat dinner at Wish Willy's. The food there was very good and it was quite tranquil there eating on the picnic tables situated in the front yard of Willy's house (yes...I said his house). It was a good trip with some old friends and new and I look forward to traveling with them to Maya lands once again someday.