51. BELIZE – Spanish Lookout and Clarissa Falls

The two nights staying at Bill and Cathy’s helped to forget the bone shaking experience on the road down, though I can’t say that I was looking forward to the drive-up journey. Particularly the one hair raising bit of it. But I guess the rest, good company, walks and chill helps John too to relax about the drive so that morning after a good night sleep, fresh as a daisy we made it back swiftly on to the main road with no problem and sooner than I remembered the way down.

Road condition to Barton Creek November 2013

Road condition to Barton Creek
November 2013

Spanish Lookout is a main Mennonite town, a hard working, no-shop-front, high quality, agricultural epicentre of the Mennonite productions throughout the country. It is still a small town with their own one brand (but great quality, organic food) supermarket. It did feel very tidy mid East US, strangely. It is also more modern than the countryside farmers, in terms of general living and dressing -they drive cars and agriculture machines, they wear T-shirts and jeans, they even eat hamburgers! We rolled up here in the hope to find a mechanic or a shop where we could get our issue addressed. After a little scooting around town we got the name of the guy we needed. It was the end of the day so we went to find a place to stay.

Because these people are honest, they are trusting so it wasn’t an issue to find a place. It took a little chatting to Tim, a timber merchant, to get ourselves a nightspot behind his shop. We watched the nice little kids, photocopies of each other, playing and climbing on top of the big truck next to us. Then, as they told us earlier the town shuts down after 5, we had an early night.

Spanish Lookout November 2013

Spanish Lookout
November 2013

The following day, we learned, was bank holiday but we went to see the guy anyway. Although the shop wasn’t open for business that day he kindly had a look at the problem in question. He told us to come back the next day by 7AM. He let us stay at his shop, which was a bonus for us.

Spanish Lookout November 2013

Spanish Lookout
November 2013

The following morning Cornie and his right-hand man were there spot on 6.50 ready to start the job that involved lifting the back of the box, some serious MIG and TIG welding (John could tell you all about it), laser cutting and all. I thought I leave the boys to play and found myself a nice little cafe with wifi. The rest is history. 5 hours later John found me and told me that it was all done, perfectly and that he was very impressed with everything Cornie’s done. After celebrating with a nice little buffet lunch at the cafe we moved on.

We knew one RV park (Inglewood) on the Western Highway but we found it unreasonably pricey so left. In a few miles we saw a turn off to a dirt road with signs of three different resorts, even an airstrip. Usually airfields, resorts/hotels are a good bet for park-ups but these weren’t. They were far too posh and weren’t interested in an RV parking up on their 300 acres land for a night so we had to leave. As we were driving back to the paved highway we were thinking that our only option (considering the time) was now to go back to the pricey Inglewwod RV park.

Just half a mile on our turnout we spotted a sign for Clarissa Falls “Food & Room” 1 mile. So off we went. We arrived to a nice green park with a river, trees, cabanas, farm animals (+ two of the cutest puppies I’ve ever seen!), a little restaurant and a sweet lady, Chena who welcomed us to Clarissa Falls, let us know the price and that we can help ourselves to the fridge for any drinks just put it down in the book and pay later so we stayed. And we stayed for 5 days.

Clarissa Falls Campsite BELIZE 2013

Clarissa Falls Campsite
BELIZE
2013

Clarissa Falls Campsite BELIZE 2013

Clarissa Falls Campsite
BELIZE
2013

Clarissa Falls Campsite BELIZE 2013

Clarissa Falls Campsite
BELIZE
2013

Clarissa Falls Campsite BELIZE 2013

Clarissa Falls Campsite
BELIZE
2013

It was really lovely being there so day after day we decided to stay one more. Went to visit the Xunantunich ruin (3 miles from here) one day which happened to be the same day when Scott and Angela from Placencia went as well with friends, so we met them there. Clarissa Falls is a very friendly, family run place with toucans coming to the feeder, excellent cooking (best Christmas cake), entertaining farm animals (turkeys, geese, ducks, Guinea chickens, horses, kittens, puppies) They hung out around our vehicle keeping us amused. All together, we meant to stay here for a night but instead we stayed 5 days. It was lovely and had a chance to get ourselves ready for the board crossing.
Next, Guatemala border crossing and Tikal.

50. BELIZE – Barton Creek

John, as always, did the research what’s next. We were heading up north-west towards the capital, Belmopan and we had two options to stay, The Blue Hole or Barton Creek.

We got to the Blue Hole area quite early in the day, even though that we met a couple of German bikers who we had ice cream and a good travel-chat with for an hour or so at the famous Mennonite dairy shop by the Hummingbird highway, so we decided to move on to Barton Creek.
I would divide Belize’s population (307,899) to three -unofficially. There are the ever proud Garífuna who arrived 200 years ago to Belize. A smiley, laid back, jolly bunch. The Maya, Mestizos (Mayan & Spanish/European) and Latinos. Some have always been here, some arrived recently. They are a lot shyer and withdrawn than the Garífuna. And there are the Mennonites who arrived from Europe and from the North American communities. Mennonite community is considered the backbone of Belize’s agricultural department. They produce nearly all dairy, meat and veg products throughout the country. They are shy, strongly religious but very friendly people. Many Mennonite communities are still living in the traditional way and dress accordingly. (There are actually a quite large community of Chinese living in Belize and almost all food store/ supermarkets are in their hands.) The main languages they speak in Belize are English, Spanish, Creole and Garífuna but in areas they speak the Mayan Mopan and Q’eqchi and in the Mennonite areas they speak Mennonite German. People we met spoke at least two-three of these. Besides the languages these communities have their own (some deeply traditional) culture and we loved this culture mix in Belize.

So from Belmopan we kept on going towards the Guatemalan border on the Western highway until we saw the sign to Barton Creek. John found a kind of backpackers/campground place where other overland travellers stayed before so we were fairly confident that we can stay there. As we turned off the highway, the route involved 40 mins rattling on a rough road full of potholes then from another turn-off, another good 40 minutes serious of heart attacks on a very narrow and steep road that had size of washouts that swallowed Burt’s wheels until we arrived to a river crossing. Belize had the worst rainy season this year for 20 odd years with so much rain that caused a lot of problems. And we were facing one. The campsite was 100 meters from here but on the other side of the river. The river was too high and too fast to cross. And I wasn’t mentally ready to drive back up on that road. Needless to say that at this point it was rather late in the day.

I know it's not the foot bridge we should've taken... Barton Creek November 2013

I know it’s not the foot bridge we should’ve taken…
Barton Creek
November 2013

Our rattle and diesel engine made enough noise in the neighbourhood for Bill to come down to the river to see what was going on. After a short chat with Bill, we learnt that the campsite we were looking for didn’t exist anymore, he offered to stay at his property. We were very grateful and offered to cook fish dinner for everyone. After we parked up at a comfortable spot we met Cathy, Bill’s wife, a very sweet lady. They also had a dog (besides another and three cats) called Burt! They lived on this property for a long time and they built their own beautiful wood cabin-like house. We spent a very nice evening with them and the next day decided to stay one more night.

Campsite at Bill and Cathy's Barton Creek November 2013

Campsite at Bill and Cathy’s
Barton Creek
November 2013

That way we could visit the Mayan cave we heard about. It was on the other side of the river but there was a wonky foot bridge (damaged by the flooding) we could use. We passed the closed-down campsite, then crossed another river to get to Mike’s Place, the place where the cave’s entrance was. This park was owned by a Canadian big guy who bought this land 20 something years ago with an ancient Mayan cave, a river and hills on it. He built up a sort of adventure park here with zip-lining, canoeing on the river, and of course tours to the cave. We learnt that he isn’t in the guide book (definitely a place that would be in it) because when the Lonely Planet writer came to visit he said he would only put Mike’s Place in if he gets everything for free. How is that for a genuine review? Mike said to him to f* off (his words!) so he never made it to the Lonely Planet. As he describes himself he is an “A”hole but he doesn’t care and he still gets business. It was entertaining talking to him, and after a good hour or two chat (which involved, for Johnny’s biggest joy, showing his water mill which powers the whole park 24/7, 356 days a year) ironically, he lowered the price to the third to visit the cave. We got his best guide (his brother-in-law) though we needed to wait for him for a while which we didn’t mind at all. The tour took an hour and was magnificent. An enormous cave that is 8 km long (maybe more, it might be 8 miles -can’t remember) but the tour is only for the first 5km, and it only can be visited by canoe. The cave was considered a sacred temple for the Maya and they did their shamanic ceremonies here. We saw potteries, bones and human skulls. Our guide was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the subject and we really enjoyed the trip.

Mike's Place Barton Creek November 2013

Mike’s Place
Barton Creek
November 2013

Mike's Place Barton Creek November 2013

Mike’s Place
Barton Creek
November 2013

Mike's Place Barton Creek November 2013

Mike’s Place
Barton Creek
November 2013

By the time we got back it was dusk. Cathy and Bill were still out and we decided to wait for them with dinner. This area is a Mennonite community and we met Andrew, a young farmer, who came by to see Bill and Cathy. We invited him up if he wanted to wait for them with us. It was fascinating chatting to this shy but somewhat chirpy and really bright Mennonite guy in his 20’s, letting us know about his life plans. He also had more knowledge about solar power (they aren’t suppose to use any powered machines etc) than a lot of non-Mennonite people we’ve met.

When Cathy and Bill arrived we were ready to cook another nice fish dinner and had yet another very nice evening with them. The following morning we were ready to move on and after a nice, long morning chat (I could’ve stayed longer and chat away with Cathy for ever) we finally said our goodbyes.

Saying goodbye to Burt, the dog Barton Creek November 2013

Saying goodbye to Burt, the dog
Barton Creek
November 2013

Saying goodbye to Bill and Cathy Barton Creek November 2013

Saying goodbye to Bill and Cathy
Barton Creek
November 2013

We have been bothered by a metal clicking noise coming from the chassis when travelling on rough roads (we thought we solved this in Mexico but actually not) and asked Bill if he could advise us where to find a good engineer. Spanish Lookout -He said.
Next, Spanish Lookout and Clarissa Falls

49. BELIZE – Placencia and the peninsula (Part 2) 

After our enjoyable visit to the Banana Farm, which in every way was a left field, well choreographed tour (our tour guide was actually the wife of the owner’s son and I have never seen anyone more enthusiastic about bananas than Evin was) we were entering a new chapter of our Belize travel, Riversdale.

Riversdale is a small, almost insignificant little corner, the first village, of the peninsula. When one drives along this stretch of land towards Placencia, they might not think much of Riversdale “only the first village” they might even think “further towns will definitely be more exciting, more interesting, more palm trees, more …. err something”. A build up to perfection as it were. This is what we thought of it at first too. But we could have not been more wrong.

We were invited to Riversdale, by an American couple Steve and Rhoda, to stay on the piece of land they were parking on with their RV, building their investment house. As we rolled up Steve and Rhoda just arrived back from their weekly shopping from town but that didn’t stop anyone for being ready for the evening with endless food, beers and margarita cocktails. For the evening few of their friends, neighbours joined us too. Steve is also working on the local resort’s swimming pool and John offered his help. Then the evening blurred into one big pink margarita cloud.

Campsite in Riversdale November 2013

Campsite in Riversdale
November 2013

Steve and Rhoda, though are in their late 50’s are a youthful and super fun couple. Steve is a creative technical builder with a good sense of humour and a great passion for what he does and for spear fishing. Rhoda is a wonder woman. She is everything for Steve, his partner, lover, wife, secretary, production manager and all. She is also the mother of the village’s youngsters. Most of the kids in town, whether they’re in their teens or thirties, call her Mama. Rhoda is delightful, she is unstoppable, full of energy and does everything for everyone. Particularly to Aussie an eleven year old brother of many (not to mention all his nephews and nieces) from the top of the village, a super cute and bright kid who adores Rhoda and everything she does. He is almost always around, helping watching, learning. At the same time he is also “teaching” Rhoda about all that an American woman should know about Belize and taking everything in a Belizean kid could know about cooking and baking! It’s a match made in heaven and I really enjoyed hanging out with them.

Rhoda and me Riversdale November 2013

Rhoda and me
Riversdale
November 2013

The following few days it was constant rain and the mud flooded half of the village. The only thing we could do is chat all day long or drive down to Placencia for shopping, cooking and baking all the delicious fresh fish and lobster we got everyday from the fishermen or from the boys then it was late afternoon again and the “bar” opened. Everyone were gathering at Steve and Rhoda’s place and the drinking started again.

Each night, after a couple of glasses of cocktails all seemed great and fun and we agreed to stay one more day. And another. and another. But in the morning light all seemed slightly different. Of course, the lovely hospitality of our new friends was hugely appreciated but we are here to Travel and felt that it is time to move on.

Steve and Rhoda said they would organize a boat for the four of us to go out snorkelling and spear fishing in the next few days. So we decided to go away for a couple of days to visit the jungle and come back for the boat ride.

So off we went to a small national park in the jungle not far from Riversdale. We arrived after closing time, though the gate was open, but discovered that there was a resort/ hotel/ restaurant in the park, hence the open gate. So we rolled up at the restaurant and asked if we could stay there for the night. It was OK. The next morning we moved over to the park’s camp area and paid a small fee for camp a night. We spent the day hike up to one of their beautiful waterfalls. It was exceedingly humid and hot with millions of blood suckers so that took away the shine of the otherwise really lovely hike. Though as a reward, at the top, there was a stunning fresh, cool water natural pool of the waterfall so we cooled ourselves in it which made a lot of difference for the hike back. We also did a short hike to another waterfall but it got dark on our way back which made me a bit nervous as all we hear is to be careful with the snakes and spiders!

Campsite Mayflower November 2013

Campsite
Mayflower
November 2013

We really enjoyed this little park and all it offered to us. It was raining heavily over night and in the morning, before we left we laid down our sand ladders before we would’ve gotten stuck on the slippery grassy mud. It was a good move and very much needed and just about got out of the grass land. Said goodbye to the nice guy at the park and headed back to Riversdale.

We arrived in the early afternoon hours and everyone seemed to be just as happy to see us again as we were to see them. Needless to say we had a celebratory dinner and cocktails that night bearing in mind our boat ride in the morning. The following day by 9AM we gathered all our snorkelling and fishing gears, packed some lunch, drinks and off we went to meet Manuel, our captain.

Riversdale November 2013

Riversdale
November 2013

Riversdale November 2013

Riversdale
November 2013

Manuel took us out first to the reefs where we snorkelled for a while, the boys were warming up for fishing and generally enjoying the stunning underwater wildlife. If you’ve seen Finding Nemo and remember the opening scene…. that was what we saw there. Then we headed to an island where Manuel introduced us to his mate, an unhinged, young US couple (plus 1 year old toddler and two dogs) who bought this mangrove island 10 years ago, not having an actual land they built a wooden path system all over it a couple of casitas and a restaurant. Dustin (the husband) goes out every day, catches the fish, lobster and all that his wife cooks and serves at their restaurant.  An absolutely brilliant and well designed, hand built place that is not advertised yet always busy, right in the middle of the Caribbean. It was very inspiring to see it.

November 2013

November 2013

November 2013

November 2013

We did some more snorkelling and fishing for the whole afternoon. At the end of the day, on our way back to the mainland, I don’t know how, Manuel managed to get a dolphin family appear. It was an unexpected surprise and we all got stunned to see these wonderful creatures play around our boat for a while. This was a perfect ending of a perfect day, of a perfect week.

Spotting dolphins near Riversdale November 2013

Spotting dolphins near Riversdale
November 2013

For the last time, that evening I hunted Roy down, the fisherman and friend of Steve’s and got some more fresh fish from him to fill up our freezer.

We really had a great time here in Riversdale. People like Steve and Rhoda are the point of our travel.

We said our heartfelt goodbyes to them and Aussie the following morning and headed north-west.

Aussie and me  Riversdale November 2013

Aussie and me
Riversdale
November 2013

Next, Barton Creek, Spanish Lookout and Clarissa Falls

48. BELIZE – Placencia and the peninsula (Part 1)

The following morning we got up relatively early and decided that, before heading to Placencia we might as well visit the “only” thing we came for, the Nim Li Punit archaeological site (the one we found closed last night arriving a little late) We spent a couple of hours there. Not because it is that big but because it has a cute little museum with lots of info about the Mayas’ life, tradition, language, culture and so on with a few display of huge stone carvings, also had a nice long chat with the ranger about the Mayan life and all, but besides all the site itself was so peaceful. I felt it was made up for us for the series of unfortunate events yesterday.

P1120568

Nim Li Punit archaeological site

Nim Li Punit archaeological site

Nim Li Punit archaeological site

Nim Li Punit archaeological site

Nim Li Punit archaeological site

It was still before midday when we left and headed to Placencia. We heard about a few places, towns by the beach that are worth a visit and we decided to check Placencia out. The town is located at the most southern tip of a long and narrow peninsula. Not long ago the only way to get here was by boat from the mainland but there has been a paved road built all the way (with countless speed bumps!) The peninsula is so narrow that as we were driving down in the middle, looking both sides we could see the sea on one side and the laguna on the other. Because of its fortunate location, its coco and banana trees and paradise-like features it is well populated by, mostly, northern Americans almost all the way.

As we drove on to the peninsula there was a sign for a fishing village, Riversdale. We decided to check out the tiny village. It had a very nice atmosphere with local fishermen and a handful of expats, lovely sandy beach with parked fishermen boats, palm trees and local kids playing around. We bumped into a delightful US couple, Steve and Rhoda who are living in an RV on the site where they are building their house. They kindly invited us to park up next to their RV and stay for a few days. We wanted to check out Placencia first but promised we’ll be back in a couple of days.

After driving all along the beach and some extraordinary (sometime ridiculous) houses, hotels, marine clubs etc we arrived to Placencia. Very soon we found out that the only place we allowed to park up for the night is a public car park, in front of the local police and fire brigade station. It was about 50 meters from the beach but there was a footpath and houses between us and the sea. Didn’t mind that too much but minded millions of sand lies that infested Burt inside. (the little buggers come through the mozzie net)

Campsite in Placencia November 2013

Campsite in Placencia
November 2013

John became friendly with the local firefighter on duty, called Lennon (which created a little giggle when the two introduced themselves to each other) John was fascinated by their right-hand drive Volvo fire engine, and Lennon loved showing John in and out of the vehicle talking about all the err…. water pump things. For Johnny, it was like fun park for children. In the meantime I went for a walk trying to find fresh fruit and veg and some essentials.

Placencia November 2013

Placencia
November 2013

“Fresh” food is expensive and not so fresh (except oranges, bananas and coconut) All supermarkets (and all around Belize) are in the hands of Chinese, and to me, they seem quite dishonest how they price generally everything and handle fresh products, such as milk, yoghurt, eggs etc. but even some dry product. (when you buy sugar, for example, open it outside of your house and don’t get surprised if you find ants and all sorts in the package) Sorry, I had to get that off my chest as I felt cheated every time we bought something and was off already.

It seemed we attracted some attention that afternoon/ evening and we met, Sam the local Swiss baker and three Americans who are in the process of opening the first and only RV park on the peninsula. Burt caught their eyes and stopped for a good chat. The couple, of the threesome, Angela and Scott had travelled through Mexico, Belize and Guatemala before and were so in to overland travelling, other travellers’ blogs and seemed to know a lot about current affairs on who’s travelling where and which websites are the best to read. Along with David, the third party, exchanged some stories and knowledge, showed them around inside our home and, having a bit late by now, we arranged a dinner date with them for the next evening.

We spent a lazy day the next day, spending a couple of hours at Sam The Baker’s shop who was sleepily suggesting us a few places to visit in Belize, then walking around the small town, soak in the sea for a bit (it isn’t even near as nice as the Tulum beach was in Mexico). To be honest we weren’t too blown away by Placencia. A little “too” Westernised (having more westerners live in town than locals – at least felt that way) therefore the locals’ attitude a little worn out and some of the prices are around the same as in the US. Though it has some facilities that comes handy; Some good baked products, wifi, a couple of fun cafes and bars, I’d like to say a couple of restaurants but though the seafood is fresh it is, again, expensive.

After having a pleasant evening with Angela, Scott and David we had another bug-infested night. We decided to leave. We thought we’d pop in to Riversdale to see if the invite, from Steve and Rhoda is still on so could stay for a night or two there. Also we saw a Banana plantation on our way here that advertised tours on the farm as Bunches Of Fun! It did sound just The Thing to me. We mentioned this to our new friends last night so they could book in too for a tour with us. We packed up, filled up with fresh water and headed to the Banana farm. On our way, coincidentally we met Steve and Rhoda, they waved us down and said that their invite is indeed still on, and hoping to see us later. So that was sorted.

As we arrived to the Banana Farm, Angela, Scott and David were already there along with our lovely and super knowledgeable tour guide, Evin. We watched a video about the history of the fruit and its trading -so fascinating. Then she took us out to the farm  where there were guys waiting for us to demonstrate the stages of the handling the plant and its fruit. Did you know that one banana plant brings only one bunch of banana its lifetime? Then it has to go, but by then it has “daughter’ plants growing beside it, amongst which the skilful farmer chooses the best, most promising plant and get rid of the others.

Banana Farm near Riversdale November 2013

Banana Farm near Riversdale
November 2013

Banana Farm near Riversdale November 2013

Banana Farm near Riversdale
November 2013

Banana Farm near Riversdale November 2013

Banana Farm near Riversdale
November 2013

 

Banana Farm near Riversdale November 2013

Banana Farm near Riversdale
November 2013

After the farm tour we went to visit the prepare and packaging area where about a hundred men and women were washing, selecting the most attractive bunches then packaged them carefully, and getting the boxes ready for shipping.

Banana Farm near Riversdale November 2013

Banana Farm near Riversdale
November 2013

Banana Farm near Riversdale November 2013

Banana Farm near Riversdale
November 2013

Banana Farm near Riversdale November 2013

Banana Farm near Riversdale
November 2013

After the whole tour (which took about 2 hours) we were treated with delicious fried bananas and had a little more chat with Evin before we said goodbyes and headed to Riversdale for the night.

Next, Riversdale.

47. BELIZE – Southern Belize and Punta Gorda a.k.a. PG

From the zoo, the next day, John was keen to travel south to Punta Gorda. Not many overland travellers go to the southern beach town but he wanted to check it out visiting a Mayan archaeological site along the way.

This area is the least visited are in Belize. I don’t think for any other particular reason than it is just out of the way. Punta Gorda or PG, as they call it here, is surrounded by Mayan villages.

As we were travelling, for some reason I flipped out and half way I decided I’m actually not keen to go to the town but rather only to the Mayan site. I don’t know why. We had a disagreement. John thought we came this far so might as well check out the town and its villages.

It was around 3 PM when we got to town only to found there was not much to it. We parked up -which first seemed complicated as people had problem with us parking “near” their properties or businesses… Once we found a place, we walked around town only to found there’s really nothing to it. I was keen to move on. Finally John agreed but by this point we were pressured to find a camp spot for the night as it was getting late in the afternoon.

On our way out, at the edge of town we saw a green area near the water. We asked a couple of people if there was OK to park up. They weren’t sure, suggesting we should go back to town and ask in the town centre! I thought “naah, we’ll find something else”. It was after 4 PM at this point and decided to drive back, a reasonably long way to one of the archaeological sites (there are two) and park up there. In Mexico this was usually a sure bet. We knew it closes at 5 so we had to push on.

We got to the one which was closer at 5.06 PM and the gate was closed. At this point it was getting dark and we both, in our own unique way, were getting agitated. We remembered spotting a no-man’s-land by the side of the road not far back so we turned around and drove back. I jumped out to ask someone at the nearest house if there was OK to park up for the night. The man wasn’t sure, he didn’t want to take “responsibility” for this decision and suggested to wait for his father -who is the leader of the community, to ask him. He was expected to return home hours later so we decided to drop it but we were getting more agitated now.

There was a village few miles back south, I remember seeing a sign, by the side of the road, for a lodge or something. I thought we should ask them for camping in their car park. At this point John and I weren’t communicating, let’s put it this way; in a civilised way but not having any other options, he agreed and drove back to this village (the 3th time that day). It was completely dark by now. We didn’t find the lodge, instead we found a mill or a factory-like building. Also, by chance, the guy John found to ask permission from happened to be the manager of the rice mill. In the dark everything seem spooky, strange or unsure so first he said “no” but after a 10 minutes conversation he warmed up and let us stay only to asked us to leave by around 8 in the morning. His name was Jim and was actually a very nice man.

Finally we parked up, tucking ourselves away by the side of the building next to a little swamp that the heavy rains in the rainy season created, and as always, nature finds its way to grow and expand, it was heaving with wildlife. With this moment John and I, both calmed down. We had just the right amount of chilled beer in the fridge too. Put some mozzie repellent on, climbed up on to our roof top and spent a very quiet evening watching the stars, enjoying the balmy cool air and listening to the gig the frogs and crickets put on for us.

Next, Placencia and the peninsula.

46. BELIZE – The Best Small Zoo In The World

As we were leaving Sarteneja I thought it’ll be an easier ride on that merciless road, because A; there was no rain for 2-3 days while we were in town so the water level must’ve gone down, and B; because we only had to take one third of this super bad road and hoping the rest would be better. I could’ve learnt by now; “do not assume anything”. Surely the few days dryness helped, but the second 2/3 of the road was just as bad as the way here if not worse (minus river ferries) What made it fun though, was that I got to drive Burt. Only if my dad saw me! John had some easy time, no driving and enjoying the view for once, and I got to connect with the mighty machine. It sure was great.

P1120401P1120131 P1120411
The road was rough but wide with potholes swallowing Burt’s wheels. Sometimes approaching to puddles -or ponds more like it, not knowing how deep they would be but had to drive through them with a dynamic speed making Burt’s shock absorbers work for their worth. The road was hugged from both sides by thick jungle also soaked in deep rain water.

P1120094 P1120014

The only community between Sarteneja and Orange Walk Town is a Mennonite village surrounded by fertile lands and corn fields. We saw Mennonite children playing by the side of the road and waving at us as passing by. They are absolute perfect photocopies of each other and their parents, bright blue eyes and golden colour hair cut in the same style, wearing the exact same outfit; dungaree and wellies for boys, long dresses and straw hats for girls and the same for their parents.
After a good couple of hours drive we stopped at Orange Walk Town for a quick shopping. For a reason or another, we changed our plans. We decided not to go to Indian Church -a town where there’s a Mayan archaeological site but to move on to Belize City. We knew about a marina right at the edge of the city where we can park up. There is a reasonable fee they charge (BZ$15 per night) includes electricity. It was pretty much dark when we got there but parked up at the best spot, right by the water, tucked away, having lovely sea breeze. Then popped over to the opposite side of the marina, to the bar/restaurant for a couple of beers only to find out that in about half an hour they were having 70 guests for a 30th birthday party of the mayor’s friend. The DJ was warming up and we freaked out. We rushed back to our spot to see how bad the sound is. We couldn’t be at a worse spot. The water perfectly echoed the blasting music so in the dark we packed up and moved right behind the toilet/shower building, which actually made the trick. John wasn’t happy about this so the next day when he popped over to pay he made his point.

Another quick decision was made during morning coffee which was not to go to Belize City. To be frank, I wasn’t too keen anyway so it was fine by me. Instead, after we packed up, we moved on to our next destination, “The Best Small Zoo In The World”. We weren’t holding our breaths for this title. Since traveled through a big part of the US. In the US the most average things are called “the world’s best”, “The world famous” and so on. Also, neither John nor I are big fans of zoos. But this was different…

This was only a short distance from the marina so we got there reasonably early. The Zoo has an education centre about a mile or so away in the savannah. There are eco cabins with facilities, also a cafe and several trails for short hikes. We parked up and headed to the Zoo. We ended up spending the whole afternoon there till the last minute of closing time.

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The zoo is actually a sanctuary for all the animals there. They are all native to Belize and all of them were rescued or were born there and none of them could survive if they were released back into the wild. The zoo is in the jungle providing natural habitat and climate to the animals who seemed pretty content and happy to me in their large enclosures. Some of them got used to human presence so came up to the fence observing or play hide and seek with us, or in a case of a playful Toucan chew on our camera lens with its enormous beak. Along reptiles and marvellous, colourful birds, there were small mammals, tapirs, spider and howler monkeys, pumas and jaguars. The zoo was letting us know their stories on a display at each enclosure and introducing their species in little rhymed poems.

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The zoo wasn’t busy at all and towards closing time it was just John and me walking along the manicured jungle paths and spending time watching the animals, reading their -sometimes heart breaking stories. We accidentally caught a keeper, with a plastic bucket full of chicken bits, who offered us to go with him and watch him giving snacks to the jaguars. He told us more about them and more about jaguars in general. This was very special.

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45. BELIZE – Sarteneja

Belize. First impression is very good. As we were crossing the border, there was a fun looking little “welcome” palapa hut at immigration where 2 smiley men informed us about the border crossing process (what needs to be done, where and what docs we need etc) then gave us a Belize map and told us about the main activities you can do in the country. How nice is that! We were and still are endlessly getting the “Welcome to Belize!” greetings. Johnny is especially thrilled, as they speak English here.
We knew where we want to head to for our first day/night after the crossing, which didn’t seem far at all even though that the only official road would take us on a long loop and Samantha (our satnav) found a shortcut, which we thought “Oh great, even better. Shouldn’t take long”. Ahm, it took us 5 hours on a really really bad, deep, slimy muddy and super over flooded road (some hairy moments there) taking two river ferries to get to the town. (we found out that one of the ferries was down the day before so we were actually lucky that both were working, otherwise I didn’t think we could’ve made it back)

On our way to Sarteneja Belize November 2013

On our way to Sarteneja
Belize
November 2013

On our way to Sarteneja Belize November 2013

On our way to Sarteneja
Belize
November 2013

Ferry ride. On our way to Sarteneja Belize November 2013

Ferry ride. On our way to Sarteneja
Belize
November 2013

It was dark when we arrived to Sarteneja, a tiny fishing village. We knew there’s a backpackers place where we parked up for the first night. It turned out to be a bit pricey for us, also super humid and airless in the juggle so the next day we left and just parked up on the beach at a small, family-run restaurant. It was absolutely lovely with the view and the breeze (sooooo hot and humid) and all for free. We found out there’s much to see in and around the village.

Sarteneja camp on the beach. Sarteneja, Belize November 2013

Sarteneja camp on the beach.
Sarteneja, Belize
November 2013

Sarteneja, Belize November 2013

Sarteneja, Belize
November 2013

Camp spot with sea breeze. Sarteneja, Belize November 2013

Camp spot with sea breeze.
Sarteneja, Belize
November 2013

Sarteneja, Belize November 2013

Sarteneja, Belize
November 2013

 

First we visited a manatee and primate sanctuary where we were introduced to the three recovering mammals and a chance to look around and chat with some of the volunteers.

Manatee sanctuary Sarteneja, Belize November 2013

Manatee sanctuary
Sarteneja, Belize
November 2013

Duke the male manatee. Manatee sanctuary Sarteneja, Belize November 2013

Duke the male manatee.
Manatee sanctuary
Sarteneja, Belize
November 2013

Same evening we just finished our fish dinner at our local, made by Richard the owner, when 15 hungry volunteers from the sanctuary turned up. Suddenly the tiny place was filled up and we were lost in conversations with some of these guys, visiting and volunteering from all around the world. Later a couple of them joined us to sit on our roof top with some beers, chat more and watch the starry night sky. It was excellent and we repeated the “midnight picnic” with Louie the following night too. He was really an brilliant value young man to spend our evenings with.

We met a local guide, Rabey who offered to show us around in the village so we stayed for the next day. The following day Rabey took us to the tortilla factory, introduced us to a fisherman -who we can buy fresh fish from, the next morning.

Visiting the tortilla house with Rabey. Sarteneja, Belize November 2013

Visiting the tortilla house with Rabey.
Sarteneja, Belize
November 2013

Visited a boat maker which was fascinating. Then as an over and beyond extra he led us (Rabey lent us his kids’ bikes) to the jungle to see a Mayan cave (thousand of bats!) and a Mayan plaza -slightly overgrown by the jungle. Both were really cool! After these we rode back to Rabey’s house where we picked fresh coconuts and drank its water for refreshment then we just caught the sunset from a pier on the water watching crabs and colourful fish through the clear water and pick sea grapes on the way back.

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Refreshment. At Rabey's garden. He's treating us with fresh coconut milk.

Refreshment. At Rabey’s garden. He’s treating us with fresh coconut milk.

Refreshment at Rabey's place. Sarteneja, Belize November 2013

Refreshment at Rabey’s place.
Sarteneja, Belize
November 2013

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Rabby is such a sweetie. His enthusiasm made us stay and we thoroughly enjoyed his stories and company. The following morning he met us at Burt (at 6.45 – not our time really) and walked us to the fisherman to get fish he just brought back from his net. Then we headed to Rabey’s house again and on his yard, under the coco tree he filleted the fish we got. Rabey used to be a fisherman himself and knows everything about the job from setting up a trap or net, dive, catch, filet the prey and of course, how to cook it with hundreds of receipts. It was a real treat to sit there with him in the morning shade, listening to more stories and watch his skilful hands filleting the fish, making sure we get all the boneless meat. This was my favourite moment.

Early morning prey. Sarteneja, Belize November 2013

Early morning prey.
Sarteneja, Belize
November 2013

Rabey filets our fish. Sarteneja, Belize November 2013

Rabey filets our fish.
Sarteneja, Belize
November 2013