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Yet Another Central American Vacation!
So there I was sitting at home on my comfy couch enjoying the afterglow of my Costa Rican Adventure. It had been great fun riding around the Nicoya peninsula on a motorcycle with my friend Paula in tow. The food was good, the people were cool, the scenery was beautiful but then there was one aspect of the trip that really didn't sit well with me. The quality of diving that I had done. Sure it was fun but the water visibility was poor and the wildlife rather sparse. Hmm, so where could I go to get some quality diving in? Belize! So I immediately began putting together plans to head for Belize in the New Year. I really had no idea what to expect and where to go. I just knew that the longest barrier reef in the Northern Hemisphere was located there and that years ago my cousin had spent 20 minutes underwater diving alongside a whale shark. So I arranged my airfare and then waited for the months to pass. Funny thing about trip planning, sometimes things pop up out of nowhere that help guide you to where you really want to go. About three months prior to my departure I spied an email on my BASK email list talking about a group going to Belize and in particular to some place called Glover's Atoll. Hmmm, checking out the website I was immediately stricken with the desire to go there! So I did! Also prior to my trip I ended up chatting with a couple of folks about the area and found out that Guatemala is just a hop, skip and jump away and that there were some amazing Mayan ruins there. In particular Mayan ruins at Tikal. So with that in mind I set out for the tropics with a single backpack, a good friend (Jennie) and a pocket full of cash! Guatemala Flying from SF to Belize was pretty painless. A 3-hour flight to Houston, an hour layover and then a 2+hour flight to Belize City had us on the ground and out of the airport by 4pm. We checked into our Bed and Breakfast (and I use that term loosely), parked our gear and then went for a walk. Many people had warned us about the seedy characters and unsavory behaviors often found there. Reality was a bit different. Sure there were a few beggars around but more often than not we were greeted with smiles, hello's and helpful tips. Not the scary crime-ridden place that had been described to us. We found our way to the Marine Terminal and made arrangements for a bus ride to Guatemala. It was going to cost us an entire $15 US to go there. Darn! We finished up our evening with a wonderful meal of jerk chicken and Belikan beer! Yum! In the morning we hopped on the big bus and headed for Guatemala. We soon realized our mistake. Shoulda taken the small bus. The big bus was more of the "local" variety and not on a strict time schedule. No matter. It was nice to sit back, relax and watch the scenery go by. The variety of people, homes, trees, gardens, mountains, critters and scenery was interesting. It was like watching a documentary of the country with the sound muted. At the border crossing we wandered on through with little effort. It cost us a couple of bucks to exit Belize and then we had to get stamped going into Guatemala. We then had to cool our jets while a couple of little ladies from the bus ate their lunch at a road side stand. Ah well, when in the tropics you switch to tropic time. Soon we were on our way to Tikal. I had to remind the bus driver to drop us off in Ixlu. There we had to hang out on the side of the road until one of the local tourist microbuses came by. We managed to flag down a little bus that was packed to the brim with passengers. We looked at each other in horror trying to determine if we could somehow squeeze in there when a horn shook us awake and we ran over to catch an empty bus that just pulled up. Whew! Tikal is an amazing place. Mayan ruins dating from the 6th century all cloaked in jungle finery and teeming with wildlife. Jennie and I managed to scoot into the park for the last couple of "official" hours before park closure at 6pm. But we had an extra ace in the hole with our hiring of one of the park rangers. Oscar wandered along with us and gave us the scoop on the Mayans, the pyramids, the restoration work and the flora and fauna. Granted my Spanish is pretty weak but I managed to understand most of what he shared. Since he was hiking along with us the park closure time came and went while we continued to wander around in awe. So very cool!
That evening we chatted about our day over ice cold rum drinks in the restaurant of the Jaguar Inn. We had also made arrangements for the next morning to get up at o-dark thirty to go to the top of Pyramid IV to watch the sunrise so we cut the evening short and hit the sack. Sitting up top of a pyramid in the wee hours of the morning I am rewarded with a sky rich in stars, planets and not quite yet full moon. Off in the distance the fog has shrouded the jungle in a cool blanket of moisture insulating the wildlife and people alike from the slowly waking day. As the sky changes color I can see more and more detail of the pyramids and city that is Tikal. Soon the sky is light enough to see upwards of a hundred miles to the East, the vast stretch of land known as the Yucatan Peninsula. It's an awesome view! As the sky begins to brighten even more the jungle critters stir from their sleep and announce to the world that they exist. The howler monkey troops each start to shriek their strange call. Birds of all sorts begin to squawk and flitter between the trees. Even us humans with our digital cameras and thermos' full of coffee begin to yawn and stretch in anticipation of another day.
After the sun came up we spent our day wandering the ruins and enjoying the scenery. There is much to see in Tikal and just having a day and a half to see it all isn't enough. Unfortunately that's all that we had so we made the most of it. By day's end my legs were sore from climbing all of the pyramids and wandering through the park. There's a lot of ground to cover here... View from the top of a pyramid (vid) View from pyramid 4 prior to sunrise (vid) Sunrise with the birds in the background (vid) A view of one of the plazas (vid) Glovers Atoll From Tikal it was bus ride after bus ride after bus ride. Each bus successively bigger than the last. I've got to say riding the public bus in Belize is a riot. Picture a typical American style school bus with some bright colors added on the outside and a rippin' reggae tape going nearly full blast on the inside. Yeah, that's about what it was like. Add in an interesting mix of people varying from the diminutive Mayan descendants to the gregarious Garifuna folks as well as everything in between. After 4 hours of travel we made it into Dangriga. There we grabbed some groceries and then caught a taxi to the Sittee River Resort for Glover's. To be honest I was a little disappointed in the accommodations at the Sittee River location. There were two very small cabins downstairs with a dorm room upstairs. I found out later that there were better places located just down the road in Hopkins. Ah well, live and learn. At least I had fun getting to know the various folks who were there for the trip to the island. Dinner that night was tasty and we all hit the sack pretty early in anticipation of our trip out to the island. Beware the Small Craft Advisory! In the morning it was apparent that the weather had turned against us. No trip to the island today. Our hosts were gracious enough to provide an additional layover day at no extra charge, another dinner on the house and a free taxi ride up to a local park for a nature walk. You sure won't find that in the states! Our nature walk was at Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Jaguar Preserve. A long name for a large tract of land set aside as a nature preserve and hiking area. We spent the day wandering the trails up to an incredible waterfall and then further up to a fantastic view at Ben's Bluff. Watch the leafcutter ants at work! (vid) On the water! In the morning the weather was cooperating with us to the extent that we had a beautiful cruise from the mainland out to the island with light winds and moderate seas. It was fun to wander around on the catamaran enjoying the fresh salt air and the occasional splash of water in the face. It took roughly three hours to motor on out to the island passing a few inner islands and reefs as we traveled. When we finally reached the island it was all that I had read about and more! For the next week it was wake (see the sunrise between my feet out past the doorway to the hut), eat (excellent meals prepared by Becky and company), dive (two tanks a day from the boat with Breeze as our dive master), eat again, nap in my hammock, read my book (The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa by Neil Peart), eat (Fresh conch, lobster, fish...), watch the sunset, play with the hermit crabs and sleep. Pretty tough life! The highlight of my time on the island was definitely the diving. We went out everyday and dove several spots around the reef including one spot at the very northern end. Typically we would tie up to a buoy or do a drift dive along the reef, the top of which was usually about forty feet down. We would hang out over the wall where the depth dropped to 2600 feet(!) and wander along looking at incredible sponges, coral, fish, lobster, starfish, rays and occasionally a turtle. Jennie was a real trooper and managed to study enough to pass her open water certification while on vacation. Her biggest treat was on our last day diving. We dropped down the anchor line to the sandy bottom in 30 feet of water. There we encountered a turtle hanging out on the bottom eating grass. We sat on the sand and watched him for a few minutes before he finished his snack and swam off. Then while nosing along the wall we were passed by two spotted eagle rays who went out and back right in front of us, beautiful creatures! Toward the end of our stay on the island a few members of the island society decided to spice things up a bit with the Saturday Night Crab Races! For $2 Belizian you could enter your hermit crab in both the speed and obstacle challenge races. I did some serious research on racing crabs and found my guy. The first race was a flip of the bucket into the middle of a circle in the sand that was approximately eight feet in diameter. The first crab to go beyond the edge wins. No contest. My guy zoomed right on out of the ring and into the jungle never hesitating or looking back for a minute. Can I pick them or what? Unfortunately he was built for speed and not agility. In the second challenge race he failed to negotiate the climbing wall and thus lost to another crab. What's a guy to do? Ah well, I took my winnings and wandered on back to the hut. It was time to hit the sack since we were due to leave the island in the wee hours of the morning. Our ride back to the mainland was pretty quiet. I think we were all pretty sad to leave our island paradise. I had definitely shed a great deal of stress simply by living a quiet life on the island. Wearing nothing but shorts and a smile it was fun to leave work, cell phones, computers and headaches behind. Returning back to the mainland meant that vacation time would soon be over... Watch the sunset at Glovers (vid) Caye Caulker After reaching the mainland it was time to head back up to Belize City. We knew the bus ride would be an adventure and it was...reggae mix and more all the way back. As we were riding in the bus my travel partner and I discussed our options. I have to say the Belize City is nothing to write home about. It was Sunday afternoon and our flight wasn't due to leave until Tuesday afternoon. Could we pass a day or two in BC? Then I whipped out the guidebook and scanned the section on the Northern Cayes. Turns out some of the islands were only a short boat ride away. Water taxis leave every couple of hours to head out to Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye. Hmmm, an idea hatches in my head and as soon as the bus lurches to a stop we jump out, hail a cab and head for the dock. As luck would have it the water taxi was just about to leave for Caye Caulker. Whoo hoo! Caye Caulker is about 18 miles off shore of Belize and is halfway between the bare necessities of Glovers and the extravagant luxury of a place like Cozumel. Within a half hour of walking we managed to find a nice clean room for $60 a night. There were two double beds, a hammock out front and hot and cold running water. Across the courtyard was a funky little bar that rarely saw much action. The perfect spot to slowly acclimate to civilization. Wandering the island you find a few nice little restaurants sandwiched between the main street (Front Street) and the beach. My favorite became Rasta Pasta with it's 2-4-1 rum drinks and jerk chicken. There were rental shops beachside with boats, snorkels and other items/events available. I was happy to simply walk along, check out the locals and take it easy. I managed to read a few more chapters in my second book of the trip (The Best American Travel Writing, Jamaica Kincaid-Editor) while swinging in the wind in the hammock. Over the course of our stay I met a couple of the locals and had some interesting exchanges. In particular one gentlemen lamented the fact that he visited California for a few years thanks to his infatuation with a blond-haired, blue-eyed gal. Later he ended up fathering a child with a Norwegian gal (presumably blond-haired and blue-eyed as well) who ended up leaving for Norway with his child. Still, he seemed to be a happy go lucky kind of guy who ran a tour boat business on a rather interesting (read rickety) water craft. Despite his troubles he sang the praises of island life and commented on how good things were even though some of the bigger tourist businesses were impinging on his tour boating. As with all good vacations it was soon time to go. Jennie and I had had a great time wandering around Belize (Nothing can stress a friendship more than traveling and yet both of us came out of this alive and still friends!) but it was now time to catch the boat back to the mainland and head for the airport. We stopped to shop for a couple of small items before hitting the airstrip and flying home. I must say Belize is a wonderful place to visit and I definitely plan to return. This time it's for two weeks on Glover's Atoll with more diving and more hammock time and more fish and more sand flea bites (Oh wait, I think I'd like to skip that part!) and more relaxation time!
In Loving Memory of my friend Jennie Bettles 1963 - 2007 Craig
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