Belize....
We arrived in Belize on the 30th January 2018...I think....lol.....we crossed the border at Chetumal, Mexico...a very easy border. Watch out because at some point I'll be writing up border crossings.
Our first port of call was 'Crooked Tree Lodge', recommended by a Northern biker from England, Dazzer Mitchell who'd stayed there on a previous motorcycle trip. Thanks Dazzer.....Mick's place was great. We managed to get a cabin, the weather was 'peeing' it down but you can camp here as well. Once off the main Belize highway the road turned to hard packed dirt and gravel so if you're on a road bike it's fine but a bit slower riding down to the lodge than the off roaders. The food is home cooked, cabins or camping by the lake......loads of different birds if you're a 'twitcher' and trips on the lake if you want them.
I'd add the link to 'Crooked Tree' but at the time of writing this blog the site is down so I'll have to edit at a later date.
After 'Crooked Tree' we headed South to Hopkins. Thankfully the road was paved all the way to the cabin that we'd rented for a week on the beach. Sandpiper Cabinas run by Wuanita and her husband. If you book here go for the cabin actually called 'Sandpiper' as it's right on the beach.We came to Hopkins intending to have a go at paddle boarding and some more snorkeling. Unfortunately for us the weather almost all the time we were here just rained with only an hour or so to do anything outside. Time for jobs then....indoor ones....we felt a little 'cabin fevered' here with the weather but the locals were friendly, very much a Caribbean influence down here and we kept trying to watch the Six Nations rugby on the phone.....ha,ha....not easy.
In the last days of our visit here we met a Welshman......yes a Welshman living across the road who was most disappointed, as we were, that we were moving on the day of the Wales v England match. We'd been invited to watch it with him...imagine the banter...lol.
Moving on we headed further South to Punta Gorda, just for a couple of days. This was the furthest we were going in Belize. You can cross the border into Guatemala by boat from near here to Livingston or Puerto Barrios but not really with a motorcycle, well not a heavy one anyway. With our bikes we would be heading back up and through the capital, Belmopan to San Ignacio.
Not much to report from Punta Gorda. Very much Caribbean, the locals were friendly, a very laid back atmosphere.....quite a bit of rain again. We'd only come down here for a bit of a nosey....like you do.
From here we headed back up the Southern Highway, as mentioned before to San Ignacio. This highway links you back onto what they call the 'Hummingbird Highway' which is another of the four main roads in Belize but probably the prettiest. For those of you wondering about roads in Belize who maybe planning a trip check out the little video below.
So that's what the main roads look like. Anything off that is hard packed dirt and gravel. One thing we did notice about Belize was that the roads were not actually that busy and apart from the 'chicken buses' traffic was generally slower than in Mexico.
We enjoyed the ride up to San Ignacio despite the fact that we'd actually started the day with waterproofs on.....the sun came out eventually.
Our home for a few days was 'Parrots Nest Lodge', just outside San Ignacio.
We were hoping for better weather to try and catch up with a few activities. This was a lovely place run by Theo, she was so helpful with things and the food here, home cooked is amazing. Vegans and vegetarians all catered for. If you're travelling round you can also get your washing done here. We'd planned to go tubing here but the weather let us down again. There had been so much rain in Belize at the time we visited that many trips were cancelled because of water levels in the rivers and caves so you had to check every day to see if anything was open. Theo was great assisting in this.
We eventually hit 'potluck' and with Theo's recommendation we booked a trip to the 'ATM Cave with 'River Rats'. This was a fantastic adventure, very 'Indiana Jones' kind of stuff accentuated by the fact that water levels were high.
I cannot recommend this trip highly enough. We were collected, taken to site, short walk, river crossing.....you have to hold onto a rope as you cross......as the water was high it was a case of swim or if you were tall the water was almost up to your neck. More walking tasting things along the way, listening to a guide full of knowledge, another couple of shallower river crossings and then you're there...the mouth of the cave. You swim in and it's like a mix of scrambling and pot holing in the water before you reach caverns, climb up a ladder and are treated to the archaeological remains of the site.
Despite it being very adventurous to get there and masses of fun if you like that kind of thing the ATM Cave (Actun Tunichil Muknal) is an important sacrificial site for the Mayan people so if you visit please remain respectful. At this point in time cameras and videos even 'Go Pro' have been banned by the National Institute of Culture and History since 2012 after damage to a skeleton allegedly caused by dropping a camera onto the skull.If you love photos and making videos this is a definite blow....we so wanted to share our experience with you but all I can say is to Google 'ATM Cave' or click on 'River Rats' mentioned earlier on.
We had been lucky with our visit, rain resumed the next day and prevented us 'tubing' down the river so instead we got a lift up to San Ignacio town, had a walk round and went to visit the Iguana Conservation Project at the San Ignacio Hotel. We'd seen so many iguanas since Mexico we were quite excited at the thought of actually handling them. This little visit is about half an hour with a talk from the guide about the conservation and an explanation of how to handle the iguanas.
No ban on cameras in here....yey....
And the rain continued....
And that was that, our time in Belize was over. We've really enjoyed it apart from the weather spoiling several planned activities. Not to worry I'm sure we'll get chance some where else.
WHERE TO NEXT ????
