Trips, Pics, and Tales

As we pulled away from Chaa Creek, and the jungle, the rains began.  It was rainy season after all!  But we had a flight in a tiny plane and rain and tiny planes were not somthing that I was really too thrilled about.  As a matter of fact, I just wasn't going to think about it at all.  Once again, we had a wonderful driver who talked enough to keep the hour and a half ride to the airport, in the rain, interesting.  But who also gave us enough quiet time to enjoy the ride and reflect on the vacation we'd just had. As we got closer to Belize City, the sun came out!  Rain doesn't last long in Belize for the most part, just showers here and there...but it was raining hard when it did rain!  We were lucky though.  During our whole time in the Cayo, inland, that was the only real rain we had. We got to the airport and waited for out flight. We were flying on Tropic Air, a flight that was arranged by our destination hotel and the flight would be a me...

It was time to leave Chaa Creek.  We had five amazing days there and would return in a heartbeat!  We didn't have to leave until noon, so we wanted enjoy our remaining time there and not just wait around until our transfer.  We had one last wonderful breakfast and then headed up to the pool.  The pool at Chaa Creek was one of our favorite spots.  So peaceful and a great spot for sharing the days experiences with other guests.  There was an area to the side where you could get a massage right out there, which was on my list of things to do that I didn't get a chance to do but heard it was fabulous!  Oh well...next time!  I was feeling a bit sad to leave this bit of paradise in the jungle...however - our vacation wasn't over!  We still had five more nights to go!  Some final thoughts on our visit to Chaa Creek  - it was an amazing and beautiful ecolodge, however it's expensive.  I did feel that it was a value worth paying for tho...

The Actun Tunichil Muknal cave...this was a day I was so very much looking forward to!  How often do you get the chance to explore a cave?  Let alone a cave that was once used for Mayan rituals thousands of years ago?  And one that still has fully preserved artifacts, incuding human skeletal remains in it?  I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I was expecting a great day! Francisco from Pacz Tours picked us up and this tour was part of our package at Chaa Creek.  Again, I can't say enough about what a great package we had.  It allowed us to do so many great things!  We headed back out to the Western Highway and Francisco just talked about everything  from the country, Belizean history, his family, past tours he'd been on.  We were the only two people on the tour with him, so it was an ideal day.  Our own private excursion!  After about thirty minutes on the main road, we made a quick stop for Francisco to pick up a sandwich ...

On our third full day in Belize, we decided to do a half day excursion.  This would be between our two full day trips.  Tikal was a long day and we had another full day excursion coming up.  So, we spent the morning at Chaa Creek.  There really is an awful lot to do right there and we actually had every intention of going horseback riding when we originally planned our day, but when it came to Saturday morning, we just didn't feel like it.  We could have taken the canoes and gone out on the river as well...but again, not in the cards!  So, after breakfast we decided to take a walk up to the Natural History Center and Butterfly Farm that is right there on the property.  At Chaa Creek they have a small museum about the history of Belize and the Mayan culture.  They also have a small exhibit about the native animals in the region as well as their efforts at helping to increase the Howler Monkey population in the country.  There is...

Tikal ...when I think about Mayan ruins and history, Tikal is one of the first things that comes to my mind.  K and I have been to Mexico many times.  We've been fascinated by the ruins there.  We've been to Chichen Itza, and were some of the lucky ones who were there when you could still climb the Great Pyramid.  Although I chickened out and only K made the climb.  I regret missing out on it now though!  We've seen the beauty of Tulum sitting on the edge of the sea.  We've climbed the tallest pyramid in Coba, the relatively unexcavated site in the jungles outside of Cancun.  But Tikal...that to me is the ruin of ruins!  Tikal isn't in Belize, it's in Guatemala.  But from where we were staying, it's a day trip away.  There are many great ruins in Belize, Guatemala too for that matter.  Those countries were thriving in the Mayan period.  Millions of residents.  Many more than live there today.  Our jou...

Sleeping in the jungle, waking up in the jungle.  It's a beautiful thing!  But ya know what?  It was darn hot!  Over and over the staff at Chaa Creek kept telling us "this is the rainy season, it's not hot - you haven't felt hot yet!"  Well, it was about 95 degrees with 93 percent humidity and no air conditioning.  I can handle it during the day.  I don't mind it when I'm outside, especially if I have water to drink and there's shade nearby.  But sleeping in the heat - that's another story.  We survived though and by the second or third night I must have adapted, or we must have figured some method to keep our cottage cooler because sleeping came much easier.  Or maybe we were just exhausted! Our first full day...after a long day of travelling, we decided that this day would be mainly a day of relaxing and getting to know where we were.  No planned activities.  We'd hang out, maybe do some hiking and relax at the pool.  ...