Tuesday, December 24, 2013

This morning we had breakfast during the down pour at the CPVR and then headed out in the rain to find a store --- we need to purchase a few items since tonight and tomorrow things will be closed for Christmas.  We found a Taiwanese grocery store, where the young lady only seemed to speak Chinese.  Then found a couple of others as we drove around San Ignacio.  While in the grocery, the bottom dropped out and we headed for the Green Iguana Conservation Project, located at the San Ignacio Resort.  For $34.50, we took a tour out into the safe, protected area of the property behind the resort.  There we met Gomez, the dominant male iguana, along with George (who was released a couple of years ago and comes to hang out on the outside of the enclosure during mating season…he has his hopes up, but they aren’t ever met) and Oscar and a host of female iguanas and babies.  See the photos.

Then we headed back up the steep hill to the smallest of all the Mayan ruins that have been excavated in Belize.  Cahal Pech.  It’s within a 2 minute walk about 1/8 of the way down the hill from the CP Village Resort.  There we explored the ancient ruins….no one was there when we began, but when we were heading out, there were 3 other families there.  We stopped at the gift shop, a little wooden shack there, and met Patricia and her daughter.  Timothy kept them laughing…trying to convince Glenn and me that he needed a decorative knife….beautiful….think miniature machete…the last thing this boy needs! Then when we finally peeled him away, we headed back up to the top of the hill for a snack --- we are going back to the San Ignacio Hotel Resort for dinner at 6:30 (they have a better selection on their menu)….for now, it’s relaxing by the pool and letting the boys swim.  The storm clouds are brewing again though….there are ominous black clouds across the mountains ahead, beginning to settle into the valley over the town.  It won’t be long….so, I’m packing it up for now!

(A little later....)

We did have dinner at another hotel resort just down the street tonight.  I had Relleno Negro -- a mole soup (that's MOH-lay, not mole like the animal!) with chicken legs, eggs, and meatballs in it served with small corn tortillas.  Glenn had stewed beef (organic might begin to grow on him after all) beans and rice and fried plantains.  Curtis had chicken and cheese quesadillas and Timothy went all out, enjoying Belizean style CHICKEN FINGERS and FRENCH FRIES!  Oh my goodness, what will I do with him?  He and Curtis are both asleep now....the trip is wearing them out.

Tomorrow, it's on to the King's Children's Orphanage.  Please pray that will go well.  We have little idea of what to expect....communication from the director, even in the presence of a multitude of questions on my part, has responded with very little information.  Maybe she thinks we aren't going to show up. I'm not sure, but we'll be there to share Jesus with some parentless children for several hours tomorrow.  What a great way to spend Christmas Day! So looking forward to it.  

Merry Christmas to all...photos will come later.  I can't seem to remember to upload photos and videos, and that's Curtis's department anyway!!! :)

Monday, December 23

We drove from Hopkins up the Southern Highway, got $20 of gas (uh, that was like 2 gallons L) at the Shell station on the Hummingbird Highway.  Full service.  We then made our way towards the Blue Hole National Park, paid the entrance fee, and saw the spring. 

Then we went to the Visitor’s center, rented 4 head lamps, and walked down to the lowland trail to St Herman’s cave.  The boys descended all the way down into the cave as far as unguided folks can go, while I kept watch basically at the mouth of the cave. 

No bats, only a few birds, a river, and mosquitoes.  After they returned, we ascended again and took the Highland Trail back to the Visitor’s Center.  Beautiful overlooking views of the jungle. Curtis and the guys spotted what they thought was a coati, which is a raccoon like animal that is brown with a very long tail.  According to the GPS, there is a geocache located at the Visitor’s Center area.  Couldn’t find it anywhere there, and with the coordinates given and we weren’t about to go back to the entrance of the cave.  We returned to the truck with exceptionally muddy shoes – all of us…until they are cleaned off, we won’t be wearing them again!

We drove through Belmopan, through the area where the Embassies and government offices are located.  We found the very nice and big US embassy compound, found some nice houses, saw the Costa Rican, Salvadoran, Brazilian embassies and/or the homes associated with them.  Filled the truck up to just over ¾ full at the Shell station there on the Ring Road for $80.00!!! We drove on to the Western Highway, headed to San Ignacio in the Cayo district and the landscape began to change into rolling hills, mountains, trees, etc.  Along the way, we stopped at The Orange Gallery – a gift shop that we’ll stop at again on our way out on 12/27…..great woodworking items, jewelry, souvenirs, etc.  Another ½ hour and we were in Santa Elena, then found that the wooden bridge across the river we were supposed to take was out…on purpose, we discovered later, so we continued on til we found the metal suspension bridge.  Then, just like that, we were in San Ignacio. A lot of traffic going across that one lane bridge in both directions.  We got our bearings sort  of….then accidentally found the road that   led us up the hill to the Cahal Pech Village Resort.

We have a family suite with 2 bedrooms and a sitting area for 4 nights.  Older  resort, but overall, very nice! Dinner on the terrace was nice atmosphere, and my food good – Cinnamon Chicken with  curried mashed potatoes and vegetable medley.  Glenn had Chicken Cordon Bleu with vegetable rice. It was also very good. Curtis, on the other hand, had the Bacon Marinara pasta. It wasn’t quite what he expected. So he opted to get some chicken wings…which came with BBQ sauce. That didn’t work out too good either. Timothy had plain chicken wings and hamburger sliders…which had mayo…which didn’t work out too good, either. Lesson learned: food in a foreign country may end up being…foreign.  I've challenged them to each try 5 different things....they are both up to, well, one item...good grief!

Well, we went ziplining today at Central America's longest zipline -- Bocawina, about 15 miles from where we are staying.  It was so much fun!  8 platforms and 8 ziplines...what fun!  Timothy was fearless, I, Dawn, on the other hand, shed a tear or two when we were told between platforms 6 & 7 that we had to drop straight down on a rappelling rope to get down to the next platform...I didn't like it too much.  But, I did it.  And it wasn't a problem, really.  Anyway, more posts soo

This is Glenn. We have arrived!!! As I type this, I can hear the crash of the waves outside of Jungle Jeanie's by the Sea. We arrived last night after dark – were hoping to arrive before, but…read on.

We arrived on time to Belize City, just after noon. As the plane was taxiing to the gate, there was an ominous black cloud closing fast. We were able to get off of the plane, get into immigration before the bottom fell out. Customs went quickly and we were out of the airport in about 30 minutes.

We crossed the parking lot to Crystal-Belize car rental. They did the paperwork and had standing by a beautiful red Dodge pickup. We were loading the bags when we were informed that the AC wasn't working. To their credit, they had us an equally beautiful white Dodge pickup truck in about 15 minutes.

We finally began our movement out of the airport. 

We proceeded to drive through...well...town -- Belize City? It was... um... an experience. The signs in town, where there were signs, were haphazard. We tried, but in the end, we ended up in some place that made us feel just a little bit nervous. We drove around a little more and finally Dawn got the idea to ask a nice lady how to get to Belmopan. She said "Turn around on this road. You are going the wrong way." Well, it was something like that. We got turned around and ended up on the Western highway, heading for Hopkins. We were tired, but even more, we were hungry. By the time we got to Cheers, we were ready to eat just about anything. I ended up with stewed chicken, beans and rice. Dawn had stewed pork, rice and beans. I didn't know there was a difference. There is!!! We shared with each other and found them both to be quite good. In the hour that we were there, sweet Timothy was eaten up by bugs.  Not itching though so it’s ok! For now.

Being well fed and somewhat refreshed, we continued our journey. The Western Highway is actually a decent road... at least that is my opinion now that I have driven on the Hummingbird and Southern highways. We made the right turns and ended up on the Hummingbird Highway where things got interesting.

I have been around the world. I have driven and/or ridden in Jamaica, Korea, Japan, Germany, Egypt and others that I can't think of right now. Most of my time is driving in the US. We simply aren't used to sharing the road with horses and buggies, bicycles, walkers, big trucks, pickups with 6-8 people in the back, buses... I don't know which was harder: dodging the potholes or dodging the bicyclists. Both working together resulted in much anxiety and more than a few harsh comments.

We continued down the Hummingbird highway and began riding through the mountains and the rain forests. We found out why they call them "rain forests". It began to rain. Hard. Then it stopped. Then it began again. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, it started to get dark. So there we were, in the dark, tired, in a strange country, observing "interesting" local driving habits, in the rain, trying to find Hopkins. Well, we read through the excellent directions that Jeanie gave us, or at least page 1: couldn't find page 2. The instructions took us to "Turn right onto the Southern Highway". Couldn't find page 2 with the rest of the directions. I said "I remember something about going through Silk Grass and turning left. So, sure enough, we found Silk Grass, continued a few miles and there was a (blessed) sign that said "Hopkins" and pointed to the left. So we turned.

On a side note, we have a number of comedians that have made a fortune with the "You might be a redneck if..." jokes. One of them is "You might be a redneck if the directions to your house include the phrase 'turn off of the paved road'". Well, we turned off of the paved road onto Hopkins Road (or whatever it is called). I have driven across farm fields that were not as rough as that "road".  

 There were places where the water crossing it was at least 12 inches deep. We were behind a couple on a motorcycle that blazed the trail for us, showing us exactly where NOT to go. I really started feeling sorry for them, especially when the bike stalled in over a foot of water and the young lady on the back had to get off and walk.

Well, it took us at least 25 minutes to travel the "roughly"--pun intended--6 miles from the Southern Highway to Jeanie's. We were shown to our Jungle Loft at Jungle Jeanie's by the Sea.

There are several units on stilts among the trees just 50 yards from the beach.We got the luggage from the truck, moved it into the room, and proceeded into "town" to get something to eat. We had pizza at Brother's Pizza (yes, Brother’s Pizza) and Italian Restaurant. By this time I was so tired, sore, jarred, jiggled, jostled, bumped and dumped that I was tempted to skip the meal, take 800mg of Motrin and go to bed. But we ate.

We will be in Hopkins through Sunday morning, where we will be departing for the western area of Belize, called San Ignacio. It’s 10 miles from the Guatemala border.

Ok. That is the start. More tonight or tomorrow. We have a few pictures, but nothing to upload yet. We are heading to the beach this morning and then ziplining this afternoon. That’s when we should have some more photos!

We head to Atlanta tomorrow!  Landing in Belize City around 1:30 p.m Eastern Time on Friday afternoon!
Please pray for our safety and for fun!  This should be a Christmas to remember! Merry Christmas to all! Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Preparations in the Making

Well, we are on the countdown!  7 weeks from today will be our first full day in country.  We fly out on 12/20 from Atlanta. Arriving to Belize City at 12:30 p.m local time.  Join us on our journey, right here!  We'll begin in Hopkins Village, on the Caribbean Coast!