Parting from Belize

I wrote this blog entry as I was waiting in airports and in planes yesterday flying back from Belize.  This is the final shot I have of this odd country that I will find hard to ever forget.

It is hard to sum up the feelings I have from this trip.  The places I went and the things I saw were remarkable. The ruins, the caves, the Caribbean, the country side, all have left a distinct impression.  

I wanted to see the real country, not some tourist facsimile, and I got what I was looking for.   The trash, some burned,  was scattered everywhere.  The mind blowing poverty sheltered in broken buildings while the countryside burned. And of course the incredible humid heat.

It is a developing country in all affects but yet I feel like despite the darkness there was a sense of untapped potential and opportunity. As the country grows, hopefully taking in the lessons about development learned through the mistakes of others.  I like to imagine the roads filling out, the trash put into dumps yet built, and the poverty will decreasing as people travel here to see this amazing land.  

I hope that I will be able to return here and see it then.  And perhaps there is something that the US, with is staggering amounts of laws, could learn about freedom from here too.  Maybe even a trust in its own people to make it all work.  Sometimes the trust fails, sometimes it gets a bit ugly but in return for a moment you might feel alive.  How can you feel anything but that sitting on the top of a Mayan temple overlooking the world after climbing a stone staircase that was properly perilous? 

I think that in the end though, what will stick with me is that smell of smoke, the palm tree over the villa and the little bird with a yellow chest dive bombing the pool for a drink.  The environmental fight for survival, the Caribbean beauty and the energetic vitality in one brief flash.  A colorful spark. 

The Mayan Ruins of Xuanitich

Today is my final full day in Belize. Ashley was able to join me for a visit to the Mayan ruins of Xunantunich. Meaning “maiden of the rock” or “stone woman” in Maya, is situated on the Western Highway across the river from the village of San Jose Succotz and holds the second tallest ruin in Belize called El Castillo.

However, in order to get to it you had to cross a river in a hand cranked ferry. There really is a guy that turns a handle that pulls it along the river.

The most excavated part is group A (there are five) which includes the royal residence, a smaller temple and the larger El Cadrillo coming in at 136 feet tall. That is damn tall. The cool thing is you can climb these ruins. We climber up the mid level range before pushing for the top.

You have to circle around to get up the rest of the way and it allows you to see some of the carved friezes. In order to protect the limestone from erosion they actually cast the carvings and mounted the casting in front of the actual carvings to protect them from the weather.

Finally made it to the tippy top. It was empty except us, actually the whole park was really quiet except the armed guards patrolling. The fog you can see here is not fog but smoke. The amount of burning was stunning.

Looking out a "window" over the valley. You can see where this is in the image with the frieze, it is the triangular openings.

This is the back side of El Castillo. It doesn't look steep but trust me it was.

This is actually a ball court for Mayan sports. Not quite the Pirates Stadium but it is notable that games were held within feet of the temple and royal quarters.

We wandered around to the other end where the royal quarters were. This is looking back toward El Castillo,this city was atoned around 900 AD but it is not hard to imagine people living here.

They also had some smaller carvings in the visitors center depicting rulers doing the whole ruling thing. I forgot to take a shot of the placard so I do not know which ruler this was.

Returning on the ferry, the man hard at work winching us across. A modern system with a very old principle.

This picture is not so obviously related to the others. This under construction home in Belmopan is 9 stories tall, and I wondered when we drove back into town if the owner is trying to finally ankle the tallest building in Belize to surpass the current record holder, the Mayan temple in Caracol.

I will close out with the panorama I took from the top. It was odd to sit on such an old structure while watching the hills around it burn. An odd moment. We came back to Belmopan for wings at an outdoor bar where they played dub step. What an odd, fascinating country. >

A Trip to the Island of Ambergris Caye and San Pedro

Belize is home to a bunch of islands called Cayes. today Ashely was able to join me in a trip to San Pedro on the Ambergris Caye located north of Belize. To get there you have to take either a boat or a plane, we choose the boat, longer trip but cheaper and it was a beautiful day for it.

It took some traffic magic to get to the water taxi launch because Belize City is a complete mess. It beats Boston for one-way street madness. However, soon we were on our way across the warm water headed toward the island.

One of the many islands along the way, honestly I have no idea which one. It was all very pretty and equally indistinguishable. We also stopped at a private island to drop some packages and at Caye Caulker.

We arrived on the crowded streets of San Pedro, everything you could want from a Caribbean island town. Small streets, mainly golf carts to get around. It had elements of where I lived in Californian, but at the same time completely different.

There were golf carts bike but almost no cars to get around. And an occasional tractor.

There was also a church with this painted sculpture in front of it. Most people do not know that medieval churches were all painted this way, as were the Ancient Greek marble sculptures. The Pantheon? All pastels.

Compared to Belmopan the town was in a lot better shape, and the vegetation much more lush. This was a cool thatched roof house with a cacophony of color.

All around were dugout canoes, but some must eventually be retired from active service, and in this case turned into a planter.

This was the place we got lunch, it was a huge thatched space with a delicious and much needed ceviche. I missed this when I left California, fresh seafood prepared in delectable ways was common and this brought me back a bit.

The view we had while eating was equally enjoyable. You can feel the relaxation seep up from the sand.

Just outside of the eatery there was a group of rusted anchors that must have been pulled up at some point, I like the picture it made.

We walked up the beach, found this collection of conch shells on the edge of the water. The water was such an amazing shade and it was amazing to watch the water break a mile out and have no shore waves at all.

There were a surprising amount of dugout canoes still in use. This is another retired one but as someone that has designed and made my own boats I found it fascinating.

So a large part of this ecosystem is the mangroves. They have been working on restoring and protecting the mangroves here.

Ashley believed that when she was here 10 years ago that these were not here. There were crabs and fish skirting around her feet as she waded in.

There was a dock there to with a door to prevent people from wandering up it. It looked like it had not been used in a while but made a great portal-to-nowhere.

There were these amazing hotels along the beach. When we finally got far enough north it turn a bit worse for wear but it is obviously how much the tourism trade has brought a little more wealth here.

There were tons of painted billboards everywhere. This one specifically caught my attention, something about the face distorting terror that seems to fill her eyes is captivating. Like going for a deep dive and discovering that instead of air they gave you puppies. For a brief second you would think, "Puppies!" But then the water would come in.

The walk back to head home. We ended up not going snorkeling, time was sort and we both felt like it was better to relax and enjoy than rush to try to fit that in. Just means I need to come back when I am scuba certified (looking at you Craig) and dive instead.

On the dock was this boat, at first I thought it was fiberglass but as I looked at it closer I realized it was in fact a dugout canoe covered in fiberglass. It was so insanely heavy and it the literal meeting of the old world and the new.

We took the last water taxi out around 4pm and then negotiated the extremely crowded and confusing streets of Belize City (google maps, thank you. Apple maps was completely useless throughout Belize) and the sky was dark from smoke. The slash and burning of the fields filled the air with smoke. For the first time since I moved to Cali in 2003 I saw a completely red sun, except then it was wild fires that had filled the sky rather than purposeful burns.

It was a wonderful day and I am not too burned from the experience. A final shot of the beaches...

Guanacaste National Park and Artwork

Today was a bit more low key than the last last two. i ended up walking to Guanacaste National Park after a slow morning. It is about 2 miles in 91 degree heat. I was at least smart enough to walk with a full water bottle and a brimmed hat. On the way a watch dog started following me but I put on my Caesar shoes and shushed that dog down. The connecting road wasn't so much a road as a burned trash heap. Such a different place.

Guanacaste National Park is only about 50 acres of thick rain forest with tall trees that host all sorts of epiphytes (plants that live on other plants, like orchids that live on tree limbs). The park was empty, I hung around for five minutes to find someone to give my entry money to (about $2 American). I was already pretty sweaty but it got worse as I went along.

I did run into this chain of leaf cutter ants, they were working diligently and had even cleared a path through the ground debris. One piece of leaf had two ants on it and they were fighting each other to move it, flipping one then the other into the air.

There is a river that ran through the park. It was crystal clear yet the trash the lined the banks made me disinclined to get wet.

The other side of the platform the led down to the swimming hole.

Originally this was a railroad yard, this is the remains of a locomotive engine. In no way shape or form did I hum Indiana Jones theme at any point while exploring.

I also came across a small burn, just one of those spontaneous burns. It was odd to walk through. The palm trees here are huge, some must have been close to 50 feet with fronds around 20 feet long. The scale of everything was so odd, and the thickness of the underbrush incredible.

There was a limestone river bed there that had all these cool holes worn into it. The bridge I was standing was not confidence inspiring so I did not try to get closer.

One the filthy hot walk back on the shoulder of the road (I have massive respect for those that have to walk, although I was the only one that seemed to be sweating, so...) I went past this. I think it is a per enact structure for a huge tent, any other guesses?

I spent a good chunk of the day painting too. Here are the three I did today, first one inspired by the burning I have been seeing everywhere.

This is another view out of the place I am staying, the black bird was screaming his lungs out on top of that pole.

This is a lot of the Belize roadside, poverty with bright pains and sad children while the fields burn behind them. I have a great respect for this country at this point but it really gives perspective on what I actually have.

Belize Zoo and the Blue Hole National Park

When I was in Burlington exchanging a pair trail running shoes the cashier at Outdoor Gear Exchange had just returned from a trip to Belize. He recommended the Belize Zoo and today I decided to do just that.

The Belize Zoo was originally started as an animal rescue and then grew from there. Today it serves to promote the importance of saving local wildlife and habitat. It was also mostly populated by American tourist groups. I went wherever they were not. The first cage I went to was the Red-lored and White-fronted Parrots. It looked empty but this huge bird dive bombed the cage inches from my face.

We spent a little time staring at each other and making odd noises back and forth. Once we had cleared the air he seemed content to climb and squawk at me if I tried to go away.

The next bird was equally inquisitive. This was a Toucan, and like the parrot it was happy to get as close to me as possible.

And closer.

Then I met the Collared Aracari Toucan, who was so friendly it was startling. Again, inches from my face.

Or maybe it was that he thought I looked tasty.

I saw a huge bird of prey, called an Ornate Hawk Eagle, which seems to be bragging a bit. The I ran across the Ocelot. Maybe 3 feet long and not very high, but just seemed to glide across the forest floor.

Next stop was the Puma, there were two cages and the two Pumas were pacing up and down the shared wall.

There was an excitable River Otter, who wanted to do a staring contest with me (I won). Then a Black Panther, just chilling in the shade. Actually most of the big cats where pretty mellow in this heat.

The Coutimundi cage had both the regular and two albino ones. This guy was nose deep in the ground and quite happy about it.

In case you felt your life was incomplete without crocodiles they had those too, bot the American and the Morelet variety. This guy was just waiting for his opportunity.

A very curious Great Grison was in the next cage. Again so friendly it was like be would not have minded coming home with me (note: there are armed guards there, do not attempt).

Next came the Paya (I think) it looked to be about the size of a house cat but a nearby tour guide said that they are very viscous and are double jointed in the paws to they can climb down trees as well as up.

Next in line, the Jaburi Stork. All 6 feet of him. He just stood there looking at me disdainfully, if he could speak I imagine it would have to be in an English accent.

Harp Eagles were impressively large, the sign explained that despite popular belief there are no reports of them taking babies away. They guys were the size of osprey in Vermont and a huge wingspans.

Jaguar...mundi was the next one, a small brown cat with a quiet way about him.

The last one I will talk about is the jaguar. They were feeding him a mid day snack and I got to take some pictures from inches away. He looked at me a couple time I think hoping I had food but alas.

Amazing creature.
There were Tapirs and monkey and deer and wild pigs as well but it was hard to get good pictures of them. Okay, so after all of that I then went to the Blue Hole National Park off of hummingbird highway. There is both the Blue Hole, a collapsed cave which now is a pool of water 25 feet deep, and then there is St. Herman cave where Mayan priests in training would go. There was a decent hike in but the cave was amazing.

I was the only one there, so I got the cave to myself. This is the view back out, I had brought my own flashlight so I could go in 200 yards but after that I would need a guide. It comes out on the far side, a through and through.

I went as far as I could go, turned off the flashlight and just listened. It was a wonderful experience.

Then I hike up and down many hills to get to the other mouth of St. Herman's cave. there also was Crystal Cave, where you can only go in with permission. It was a sharp dropped.

Finally rounded up to the top of the ridge to climb a sketchy firepower to take a wonderful panorama. One of the steps may have cracked in half when I stepped on it.

Finally went to the actual Blue Hole. Actually I was really beat at that point so I went to the other side where no one was and there were fish and dangled my feet.

The steps out and my final return home for more water and a badly needed shower.