This trip was another family adventure and this time we were headed down to Belize. Belize is a small country on the northeastern coast of Central America. With a population of only about 388,000, it is also least densely populated Central American country.
By the skin of our teeth we all made the plane; it was touch and go there for a minute. Belize has strict regulations on minors entering the country without both parents present. My BIL had to change plans at the last minute and would be joining us a few days later. You must have a signed notarized note from the non-traveling parent allowing the child to travel to Belize. Luckily, as most things now days, there’s an app for that and my niece and her mom made it.
We picked up our car from Car One rental agency. They are a local company and they were a pleasure to work with. We were even provided with a free cell phone and cooler. The cell phone worked out great for us as we had rented 2 cars and was much easier to keep in contact.
We finally made it to Maya Beach after a long drive from Belize City. Had an excellent dinner at the resort, but the mosquitoes were an unwelcomed treat.
The next day was our tour of the Monkey river. We were glad we had a tour that day. The hotel informed us that the electric company was going to be doing some work and power would be off until about 2pm. Batista picked us up from the hotel dock and off we went. It was hot and humid, so the breeze created while riding in the boat was a welcome relief. It took us about an hour to get to the Monkey River. Once there, he quickly pointed out animals along the way. We stopped at one point to get out and do a short walk in the jungle to see the howler monkeys. Batista made a howling noise and the monkeys responded in kind. We also learned about some of the plants and trees and their medicinal properties. After our trip up river, it was time for our lunch stop at Alice’s Restaurant in Monkey Village. One thing you learn quickly in Belize is you have to be flexible. Most of the small restaurants cook food that can be sourced locally and is in season. So, in most cases you walk in and they will let you know what they have today. After lunch it was back on the boat for some manatee viewing. There were a number of manatees out and I really enjoyed watching them.
One couple on our tour gave us food recommendations in Placencia. The gelato place sounded great and we put that on our list to try. Back at the resort the power was still out, so hanging by the pool was the way to go. Yes, and that night, we quickly headed out to Tuttifruitti to give the gelato a shot. It is apparently owed by a French couple that lived in Italy for a few years and learned how to make gelato. It was excellent.
We spent the next day just relaxing and hanging out at the pool. The hotel has kayaks and SUP’s available for the guests. Alyssa and I gave stand up paddle boarding a try along with my nieces. Unfortunately, for me, I was only able to master knee up paddle boarding. The others fared a little better. That night dinner was at Mr. Q’s BBQ. We all liked our meal except for Anita who ended up with a skinny chicken.
After a night of rain, we were off to the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, a jaguar preserve. It was a rough ride there because of all the rain, but the Jeep made it and we were thankful that we had the 4-wheel drive. We did one of the waterfall trails. What a welcome relief when at the end you can get into a nice refreshing pool of water. Hiking back we heard a large splash of water and breaking of branches. Could it have been a jaguar? We weren’t sure, but no worries everyone, except Will and I, grabbed a stick (or tree branch) for security. We made it back safely to the visitor center and had our picnic lunch. On the way out of the park, we stopped for a quick walk to see the airplane wreckage. At one time there was an airstrip and the plane was used to track jaguars that had been fitted with radio collars. The doctor and his 2 staff members came out of the crash fine.
That night, we drove back into Placencia for dinner at the Barefoot Beach Bar. The atmosphere and the music were good, the food was just okay. We were really glad that we had checked out that part of town, we hadn’t realized all those shops and restaurants were down there along the beach.
The next day we were off to San Ignacio to spend some time in the jungle. Along the way we stopped for a chocolate tour. Che’il Mayan Chocolate offers 3-4 tours a day of a neighboring cacao farm and their chocolate making process. Julio is the owner of this little company that employs 8 workers plus various cacao farmers. Julio is passionate about his chocolate and we watched as he turned the already fermented and roasted cacao beans into chocolate. It was really interesting and the chocolate was amazing. It is a small operation and is all organic. He then took us over to the cacao farm where the farmer talked about what it takes to grow the cacao trees and the process he goes through to sell the beans. We even tried a cacao seed. You only suck the seed, which has a citrus taste. By far the best chocolate tour I’ve taken and the best tasting chocolate as well. The tour lasted about 2 hours. Call for tour reservations as in the high season the tours fill up fast. We lucked out as it’s the off season and had been raining that morning.
