Arrival, the house, Monkey Village

Friday (Dec 20):

We met up with Alex and Allison at the gate in Miami for the two hour flight to Belize.

Arriving in Belize City, we got our giant van, found a place to have conch stew for lunch and saw some of the city.

BELIZE CITY

Stopped in a grocery store, then out the Western Highway to the Hummingbird Highway. The views and sites along the trip were amazing. We were stopped at rifle point a couple of times to show ID (what was that about?), saw Mennonites in their wagons, amazing little villages and plenty of pedestrians.

We eventually made our way to the isthmus of Placencia. It was dark, and I mean about DARK. We finally managed to find our place. An AirBNB called “Decked Out House.” It has a lot of decks. Also a lot of room. And views!

At 7:45p the one eatery we found was out of everything but fried chicken and hotdogs. So we all had fried chicken except Ree who had a hot dog. Everything comes with rice and beans and coleslaw here, we learned as the week went on.

First (not last) Belikin at the diner the first night in Placencia.

Saturday: In the morning we took our bicycles into the Village to sort out our dive plans and discovered the wonderful little village and its myriad shops, alleys and restaurants. We settled our diving plans, and then went to lunch. Once again a fantastic meal even with multiple drinks (seriously delicious frozen coconut concoctions) running about $10 / head. We made arrangements to take a boat ride to the Monkey River, then up the river including hiking through the jungle.

After that we were back at the house so we broke out the kayaks and the canoe. We swam in the clear shallow water at the dock, too. Tony abstained, so we had Rhiannon and Alex in kayaks, Adrienne, Aristotle and I paddling the canoe and Allison as coxswain. It was a riot. We are so bad at canoeing! But we had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs! After hanging around a while longer (see the circle of Adirondack chairs on the dock), we cleaned up and walked into the village this time.

We had dinner at a place that was recommended in the Lonely Planet (Omar’s Creole). My three offspring had massive lobster tails for US$20 each. The rest of us had the snapper – offered with a variety of sauces but I think we all chose coconut curry. Tony had it grilled with no sauce. Of course with coleslaw and beans & rice.

Sunday: Picked up early (7a) at our dock by Darrell (accent on the second syllable) for the high speed journey across the lagoon to the Monkey River where we slowed to a meander. Docked and took a one hour hike through the jungle to see howler monkeys and so much other nature. Our guide, Darrell (accent on the 2ndsyllable) is a 61 year old native of monkey river village, knows all—even how to call the monkeys.

It’s a lot of pictures, but seriously, look at them.

We took the boat back to the Monkey River Village for baked snook with, of course, cole slaw, beans & rice, and the national beer. An afternoon stroll around the Village followed.

Then the high speed boat race home, slowing for a while to look for manatee. And you know, to “have a ree.”

The boat dropped us off right at our own dock. We played around in the water and with the kayaks again and swam in the lagoon. Alex and Aristotle invented a game that they enjoyed for quite a while where they toss the hat like a Frisbee on to each other’s head.

Our plan was to bicycle up, head back to the village to get a shave ice from a little shack we had noticed. Unfortunately they are closed on Sunday, so we swung through to the back of the village, the beach side and went to the very colorful Barefoot Bar where we had some corn chips with the most fantastic jalapeño bean dip and salsa that we’ve ever (ever ever) had. We had a lot of frozen sweet drinks (because we were in the mood for a Hawaiian shave ice!) and then wheeled drunkenly home, stopping off at the grocery for a few essentials.

Monday: We are up early preparing to go to the barrier reef for a day of diving.

Second entry

We have created some interesting Christmas memories this year, here in Belize. Since you heard from me last we went on our long dive day – had to be at the dive shop at 5:30a. It was a two hour boat ride. Most of us motion-sick prone folks did well on our Dramamine. Rhiannon felt ill for a while but it passed. We had three dives – this was the first time that even Tony and I had ever gone on three dives in the same day. It was fabulous. Most everyone had a little trouble here and there on one or the other of the dives … ear trouble or not enough weight. But for the most part it worked out well for everyone. Aristotle got his ‘quickie certification’ on the first dive, separately, in the shallows near one of the cayes. He joined us for the other two dives but was just supposed to stay up at 30’, which he mostly did. The third dive we all stayed at 25 – 45 feet so he was pretty much in the thick of things. Allison had ear / sinus troubles but got through them and by the middle of the 2nd dive was right down with the rest of us. It was fantastic to have the underwater camera. I selfishly gave that to Tony for his birthday.

They fed us lunch on the boat and the day was glorious as I’m sure you’ve seen on Facebook.

Tuesday we slept in, then went out for breakfast at ‘Wendy’s’. We had breakfast burritos and ‘fry jacks’ which are like sopapillas, served with an mango puree. Really yummy! Then we piled into the van for the two hour drive to the ruins. We did not see a gas station the entire time. Nary a one! When we got to the first of the two ruins sites we asked the ranger and he told us where we could get fuel – just a couple of miles out of our way. In a way that was a big relief, but in a way …well, wait for that story. Anyway, we visited Nim Li Punit – these are smaller, not entirely excavated ruins of a mostly religious site. Then we went down the road for fuel, then visited Lubaantun, a much larger site. Both were very interesting and beautiful and deep in the rainforest. Lovely to walk around and learn about the people who built them and lived there 2000 years ago. The ranger there is a direct descendent of the original inhabitants, but his family fled to Guatemala during the ‘spanish invasion’, then came back several generations ago. He was a part of the excavation and restoration of the site back in 1970. He was a very nice man who told us a lot about the site. I have so much more I could share about the sites but I’m sure it wouldn’t be as interesting to you guys reading it in this email so I’ll control myself. The sites are well off the beaten path – the 2nd one more particularly. Seven miles down a rough, steep, pot-holed dirt track. We did okay getting there, but it rained a bit before we headed back and we had to pull to the side when another truck passed us on our way out and suddenly we were stuck in the muck! We struggled with it for a time, Tony cranking the manual jack, stacking rocks under the hitch and trying to fill in with rocks under the tires. Adrienne was convinced that she could engineer a dam that would get us out. We really weren’t accomplishing anything except amusing the natives that passed by on foot, bicycle and occasional small vehicle. They would laugh and smile and wave and drive on by. Finally after about an hour - and recognizing that this was all made worse BECAUSE we filled the gas tank - our ranger friend came by in that big diesel truck that you saw us piled into on Facebook. He has clearly solved this problem before. We waited while he went back for his chain, then it was clip, clip, everybody jump on the truck for weight and there we go, done. Whew! We handed him what was left of my BZ$, thanked him profusely and piled in, soaking wet and covered in mud for the two hour drive back to Placencia.

Plotting our next restaurant meal occupied some of our conversation on the way home. There are just about enough intriguing restaurants in Placencia that we can try a different one each day. But meanwhile, Rhiannon had been complaining of a headache all day. None of us had anything to give her unfortunately. She didn’t complain much but it bothered her all day. Finally, about a half an hour from home she was in so much pain she was doubled over crying and could not speak! Terrified I’m trying to figure out what medical facilities are available (not much). Adrienne had to carry her into the house, she literally could not move or walk. We were pretty sure it was a sinus problem but we were still terrified. We gave her Sudafed, Advil and an ice pack and laid her down on the couch. Adrienne rubbed her sinuses and explained what causes a sinus headache, to calm her down and finally after about 45 minutes she was feeling better. She and I stayed back while the others went out to eat and brought us back some food. I had to suffer through the lobster burrito (lobster burrito!) that they brought me. J Rhiannon had a few bites of her grilled cheese and went back to bed. I’m waiting to see how she feels this morning but we really don’t think she should dive again. If she’s feeling up to it she may go on the boat with us and snorkel. If she doesn’t feel up to that, I will stay back with her and the others will go on the dive trip. I will feel a little sad to miss the dive trip, but it is a small price to pay for her to be feeling better.

Third entry

Wednesday – Christmas Day!As usual, I’m up first. I get up and make the coffee and sit here at the 2ndfloor deck and watch the sunrise while catching up on news and email. I could get used to this. The house we are staying in can be broken up into about six separate living spaces and sometimes she rents out sections as longer term rentals. We’ve met so many people that escaped to here and opened ice cream shops or restaurants … it is tempting. J

Yesterday we went on our second dive trip – this time to the Silk Cayes. A little closer so we were able to start a bit later. Plus we only had two dives, then a bit of a snorkel at a place well known for turtles and rays – I saw the turtle but I missed the ray but I think everyone else saw it. Rhiannon went on both of the dives even though she really was thinking about sitting out. But she couldn’t stand it. She did okay and hasn’t had a recurrence of the terrible headache. This time we saw a lot more large fish for some reason – including a nurse shark that was as big as Alex. Tony couldn’t get a picture of the shark and Alex together … tried but the camera doesn’t have a lot of range.

After our two dives and before our snorkel they dropped us off at that tiny little caye that you hopefully saw in Alex’s Facebook album. If you didn’t you must go look – an amazing tiny little dot of sand and trees in the middle of a turquoise sea. We ate our Christmas dinner there at a picnic table and I’ve never enjoyed Christmas dinner more! We were all ravenously hungry and it was just the BEST meal! Another group on the boat with us was spear fishing lionfish and they got something like 50 of them. Pictures in Alex’s album. One of our hosts/dive masters cleaned all of them off the back of the boat on the way back. He had quite a large sack of filets when he was done! The kids all sacked out as we motored home – I’ll post a picture of that.

We stopped off in the Village for another seaweed shake. We love them plus we love the couple from Oregon who have opened that coffee & smoothie shack. They are expanding and doing well and they just make a great story. We will all independently go give them a trip advisor review and we hope it will bump them from their coveted and recently achieved #2 position to NUMERO UNO. Then we went home to wash our gear and ourselves. Everybody sprawled out for a bit, then finally we mustered up the energy to pull out the bicycles and pedal back into the village to eat at Rumfish, a truly elegant place with an amazing menu. We had two kids of ceviche (both very good) and most of us had the lobster cannellini that was on special along with the Christmas Rum Punch. Pumpkin Pie cheesecake for desert.

Tony and Rhiannon and I pedaled straight home, the four A’s were thinking of bar hopping but I’m not sure how long they stayed out and about. I was asleep before my bicycle was properly perched in its kickstand.

Thursday: This morning we will get out of here by around 8a for the 1.5 hour drive – North this time. We will visit a national park where they let you rappel down the waterfall and also have ziplining. After we do that we plan to try to get a factory tour at Marie Sharp’s … hot sauces that you get EVERYWHERE here and that we like. There are many varieties but we have mostly only tried the one that you find at restaurants. We hope to correct that situation by visiting the small factory which is near where we are going today. We will then head home, return the one bicycle that we rented (the place had six, but we needed to rent one), probably get dinner in the village again, then start packing up for the trip home tomorrow. Friday will be a tough day because our flight is at around noon and it’s a solid four hour drive up there. With allowing for “issues” and leaving time to return the car, we figure we better leave here by 5a tomorrow morning.

Fourth entry

Our last full day in Belize we ‘slept in’ a little bit, and then drove North to the Dangriga area to visit Mayflower National Park where ‘Mama Noots’ has some eco adventures.We rappelled down the face of Bocawina Falls (100’).Everyone did pretty well but most of us struggled with it a bit.I felt as though if I could have tried it again right away I could have done much better.Still, it was a fabulous thing to do.And hanging out in the swimming hole at the bottom was nice, too.The walk through the jungle was set at an aggressive pace by our guides, but was a beautiful jungle trail with many interesting sites and sounds.After hiking up to the waterfall, rappelling down it and then hiking back down to the lodge area wehad lunch in their on-site restaurant.The food was good but the portions were too small and we had to wait a long, long time for our food.So that was the low-point of the day. Everyone was very nice, though, even at the restaurant.After lunch we trudged up the hill to where the zip lining lodge was located, geared up again and tromped up into the rainforest to the first zip line station.Zip lining was very fun.Every one really enjoyed it.We zip lined down a long way, 12 stations. Beautiful views, very fun.We got lucky and had Jesus as our guide.No, really.The guy’s name is Jesus and he is the most highly reviewed on the trip advisor site.We understand why. He was incredibly strong and competent while being relaxed and funny.We really enjoyed our day.The only real downside is that we were all massacred by mosquitos.We are still all furiously taking and applying Benadryl.My legs from where my capris pants stopped to where my shoes started are simply covered in mosquito bites.Still, would I do that again?I would, yes.

The whole adventure took longer than we expected – which was fine except that it kept us from visiting the Marie Sharp hot sauce factory and we really kind of wanted to do that. Still, Aristotle bought some hot sauce to bring home at one of the gift shops. We bounced home – Aristotle and Alex were very amused to count all of the speed humps along the way, particularly the 30 (thirty!) that lead down the Placencia isthmus. Once home we rested, cleaned up, then headed back into town. I had to turn my rented bicycle back in, so that meant I was on foot – slowed things down. Probably weight too heavily in our decision to try the closest to home restaurant. It actually turned out to be okay – most of us had snapper, I think. It just wasn’t as exciting as some of the other places and it took them a very long time to feed our hungry crew.

Everyone ran around furiously packing and getting ready for our very early start the next morning.We actually managed to get out the door at 5:22a with all our stuff.We wanted to leave margin time for the four hour drive and to make sure we caught our noon flight.We got to Belize City in plenty of time so we stopped to fill the tank and then followed our noses to a fantastic little barbecue place along that street.They probably thought we were odd to have our lunch at 9:30a, but we were happy that they had it ready.They didn’t have any rice ready so we just had coleslaw.Then off to the airport, return the very muddy van and then check-in.Tony and I had to shuffle stuff to get all our bags under 50lbs.Two of our suitcases were just the scuba gear and now since it was all a bit wet it weighed more.We juggled stuff and had to keep re-weighing the bags, but we did it.We still had some time to kill inside the gate, but we were glad that things went so smoothly and we had time to kill.

The flight home is wonderfully brief. Tony went to get the van (we left it at his workplace) and then off to pick up Grandpa. That was a very crowded ride home but we survived it. Thankfully we had Mikal’s van or we never could have done it! (Thank you, Mikal). We hung here at the house for a bit, ordered pizza. Then the four A’s and Grandpa went to check in at the Beachcomber. In the morning the kids and Grandpa had breakfast together. We all turned up about 1p to hang out but it was a cold, windy day and everyone was exhausted and we were all still taking Benadryl. So we had a couple of drinks and some snacks and then everyone just said “Nap time!” Tony and I drove home, Grandpa went to his room and the four A’s stayed in their ocean front room. Later the young folks met up with some of Alex’s friends down at Las Olas. We didn’t go. I guess I figure Alex had a few birthday dinners in Belize. J And it was a young people’s kind of gathering. I always feel ancient down in the Las Olas area anyway.

Now it is Sunday morning and all that is left is to go pick up the Als and Grandpa, drop the Als at MIA for their flight back to Virginia and drop Grandpa at home. Then I will come home and later this evening take Adrienne and Aristotle to FLL for their flight home to LA. And then the whole adventure will just be a memory. But a pretty awesome memory!