Belize and Guatemala 2010
For my 40th I wanted to take a trip so Belize and Guatemala were the choice. We fly into Belize city then took a smaller plane to the island San Pedro. Smaller planes can be a bit scarier, you really do get the feeling of flying. The whole time I could see the water and how clear it was. The first day we get our place, a nice two bedroom unit with a living/ dining room and two bathrooms with a deck that overlooked the beach. We spent the rest of the day looking about town and finding were our tour company was, it turned out to be right down the beach. We get dinner then hit up a bar on the beach but I was getting tired and went to bed early.
Day two, Sailing and snorkeling. After a great breakfast we meet up with our group, eight in all, and jump on a catamaran and head out to sea. This really is my first experience with sailing and first time snorkeling as well. It was fun just to lay back and relax and take in the sun and water. After a bit we hit the first stop, Belize has a massive coral reef, the second largest on the planet. So into the water we go, I will give Kymm credit, for someone who doesn't,at the time, know how to swim she jumped in, with a life jacket on. As I have said before this is the first time I have snorkeled, I will admit I struggled at first, it has taken me many more time to feel comfortable with doing it. Despite this I did have fun, tons of fish and a few sea turtles. After an hour we get back on the boat, were I made a mistake. You have to shower off the sea water before putting sunscreen back on, as I found out as I got a bad sun burn in spots. We stop on Ambergris Caye for lunch and a bit of shopping. We head out to shark/ ray alley next,as the name implies it is full of sharks and sting rays, which are drawn to the boats engines. I got to hold on to a shark and have him pull me along. After this we head back and have dinner.
Day 3- We go with the same group and go to a set of Mayan ruins called Lamanai. We take a boat over to the main land, the have to drive to another boat on a river. We go up the river and the guide points out of the wildlife and plants. One of the things that will stay with me forever happened here, a monkey jumped on the boat and one of the guide gave him a banana, at that time I smelled a strong oder of sulfur and noticed the guides grab their rain jackets. I did the same and the sky opened up with the most rain I have ever seen. I was sitting on a river in Belize in a thunder storm with a monkey sitting next to me. We have lunch at the ruins then get to view them. They are not as well preserved and a European in the 1910 destroyed some of the ruins looking for gold. The locals killed him for doing this. I did get to climb on one of the temples.
Day 4- travel to San Ignacio. We take a boat again to the main land a then a shuttle service across the county. We do stop a the Belize Zoo, which is made up of strays. We pay extra to go in the Jaguar cage, we get to feed him and he licked my forehead. We rented a house in San Ignacio which had AC in only one room, but was comfy. Kymm and I go up to the Iguana conservation project. Poor guys nearly got hunted to extinction, they bred them and would only release adults back into the wild. We spend the rest of the day exploring the town.
Day 5- ATM cave- We meet up with our group and head out into the jungle, we have to hike for a few miles and cross two rivers to get to our destination. We end up on a hill in a small valley that goes down to a river that is coming out of a cave. We all put on hard hats with head lights and jump in the river and swim into the cave. Some of the time we were swimming other time with water up to out knees then others time we are crawling through a hole in the ground. We end up at a sheer rock face which we have to climb up. We we get to the top we have to take off our shoes and then we go back to were the Maya did sacrifices. We still had to scramble around at one point we had to go up a ladder. One of the most different things I have ever done as well as one of the most fun.
Day 6- Same tour company, we head into the hills. Most of this area is limestone but one place a massive chunk or granite pushed through and it changes from jungle to what we find up here in the north west. We hike and visit another cave and then on to a bunch of massive water falls that we get to swim in. The day ended at a resort near another water fall the ends in a lake. If I ever go back I would stay out here.
Day 7- My birthday!! We head to Guatemala to visit Tikal, the largest Mayan city. It takes several hours to drive there, Guatemala is way prettier than Belize. Due to the peace agreement from the civil war the government has been upgrading the infrastructure,so there was a ton of construction. Tikal is mind blowing, 3000 acres and built upon an artificial platform the is 50 feet high. There are structure everywhere, some so massive that they boggle the mind as to how they were constructed. The largest is the Temple of the Twin Headed Serpent, upon the top of this is where I turn 40. A side note this is were the scene from Star Wars A new Hope is filmed from, the scene of the rebel base. Our guid has a PHD in this city so he very informative and answers all questions. After lunch we head back to Belize and pack up as the next day we go home.
Day 8- we get picked up and head to Belize city then back to home.
A very fun trip, I got to do a lot of things I would have never though of doing plus I found out I like to snorkel.
Day two, Sailing and snorkeling. After a great breakfast we meet up with our group, eight in all, and jump on a catamaran and head out to sea. This really is my first experience with sailing and first time snorkeling as well. It was fun just to lay back and relax and take in the sun and water. After a bit we hit the first stop, Belize has a massive coral reef, the second largest on the planet. So into the water we go, I will give Kymm credit, for someone who doesn't,at the time, know how to swim she jumped in, with a life jacket on. As I have said before this is the first time I have snorkeled, I will admit I struggled at first, it has taken me many more time to feel comfortable with doing it. Despite this I did have fun, tons of fish and a few sea turtles. After an hour we get back on the boat, were I made a mistake. You have to shower off the sea water before putting sunscreen back on, as I found out as I got a bad sun burn in spots. We stop on Ambergris Caye for lunch and a bit of shopping. We head out to shark/ ray alley next,as the name implies it is full of sharks and sting rays, which are drawn to the boats engines. I got to hold on to a shark and have him pull me along. After this we head back and have dinner.
Day 3- We go with the same group and go to a set of Mayan ruins called Lamanai. We take a boat over to the main land, the have to drive to another boat on a river. We go up the river and the guide points out of the wildlife and plants. One of the things that will stay with me forever happened here, a monkey jumped on the boat and one of the guide gave him a banana, at that time I smelled a strong oder of sulfur and noticed the guides grab their rain jackets. I did the same and the sky opened up with the most rain I have ever seen. I was sitting on a river in Belize in a thunder storm with a monkey sitting next to me. We have lunch at the ruins then get to view them. They are not as well preserved and a European in the 1910 destroyed some of the ruins looking for gold. The locals killed him for doing this. I did get to climb on one of the temples.
Day 4- travel to San Ignacio. We take a boat again to the main land a then a shuttle service across the county. We do stop a the Belize Zoo, which is made up of strays. We pay extra to go in the Jaguar cage, we get to feed him and he licked my forehead. We rented a house in San Ignacio which had AC in only one room, but was comfy. Kymm and I go up to the Iguana conservation project. Poor guys nearly got hunted to extinction, they bred them and would only release adults back into the wild. We spend the rest of the day exploring the town.
Day 5- ATM cave- We meet up with our group and head out into the jungle, we have to hike for a few miles and cross two rivers to get to our destination. We end up on a hill in a small valley that goes down to a river that is coming out of a cave. We all put on hard hats with head lights and jump in the river and swim into the cave. Some of the time we were swimming other time with water up to out knees then others time we are crawling through a hole in the ground. We end up at a sheer rock face which we have to climb up. We we get to the top we have to take off our shoes and then we go back to were the Maya did sacrifices. We still had to scramble around at one point we had to go up a ladder. One of the most different things I have ever done as well as one of the most fun.
Day 6- Same tour company, we head into the hills. Most of this area is limestone but one place a massive chunk or granite pushed through and it changes from jungle to what we find up here in the north west. We hike and visit another cave and then on to a bunch of massive water falls that we get to swim in. The day ended at a resort near another water fall the ends in a lake. If I ever go back I would stay out here.
Day 7- My birthday!! We head to Guatemala to visit Tikal, the largest Mayan city. It takes several hours to drive there, Guatemala is way prettier than Belize. Due to the peace agreement from the civil war the government has been upgrading the infrastructure,so there was a ton of construction. Tikal is mind blowing, 3000 acres and built upon an artificial platform the is 50 feet high. There are structure everywhere, some so massive that they boggle the mind as to how they were constructed. The largest is the Temple of the Twin Headed Serpent, upon the top of this is where I turn 40. A side note this is were the scene from Star Wars A new Hope is filmed from, the scene of the rebel base. Our guid has a PHD in this city so he very informative and answers all questions. After lunch we head back to Belize and pack up as the next day we go home.
Day 8- we get picked up and head to Belize city then back to home.
A very fun trip, I got to do a lot of things I would have never though of doing plus I found out I like to snorkel.