Belize!!

Yep, its been way too long since our last blog post. This is mostly because we needed to get around to going through the hundreds of pictures taken in Belize. While we haven't really finished doing this yet, I have enough time sitting in my hotel room in Australia that I thought I'd give it my best shot. Last month Mike and I flew to Belize to meet a handful of friends for a Central American adventure. We arrived in Belize city and met William, our slightly insane driver, who would be taking us 2hrs inland to the Trek Stop in San Ignacio. On the way, William stopped at the Belize City Zoo -- which was quite a treat. This zoo was started years ago to care for animals that had been part of movies filmed in Belize, and that couldn't go back into the wild. Here's a great slideshow of some of the animals that we saw -- it was not like a normal zoo. The animals were literally behind a thin fence in their natural surroundings...no huge moats to keep away the jaguars!



We arrived at the Trek stop a few hours later. Here we experienced Eco-Tourism, we stayed in cabins and experienced rain water showers and composting toilets. Our friends Kim and Nick encountered a tarantula their first night - a bit creepy!


Here's a typical meal in Belize - chicken, rice, and beans. Here's me our first night with my tasty meal at Benny's, a great local spot!


The next morning we all went on a guided tour of Tikal, a mayan ruin site in Guatemala. We were only about 5 miles from the border, but our drive was about 2 hrs into Guatemala. During the drive, we saw many small villages most of which were extremely poor. Pigs and cows roamed the neighborhoods, men rode on horseback, houses were very minimal, etc. When we got to Tikal it wasn't what I was expecting. The ruins were throughout a dense jungle, and only a small portion of the ruins were excavated. Here's a slideshow of some of our pics from Tikal!


On the way back from Tikal we stopped to go ziplining through the jungle canopy. Most people on the trip hadn't zip lined before, so they weren't sure what they were getting into. Turns out we didn't know either...I've never seen ziplines that tall in my life! It was an incredible experience though!


Back in San Ignacio we treated ourselves to some amazing food. Mike and I finished the trip inland by renting a car and driving up to the Mountain Pine Ridge. Our friends had done this before we arrived and recommended seeing the waterfalls and caves in this area. Unfortunately, rain and mud kept us from getting to the famous 1000 foot falls, but we discovered Big Rock falls not too far away and enjoyed the hike and beauty:


Afterwards, we went back towards the Trek Stop. We decided to check out the ruins that were down the road from where we were staying - Xunantunich. To get there you have to first take a hand-cranked ferry across the river.



After leaving San Ignacio, the whole gang headed to Ambergris Caye - an island off the coast of Belize. You can take a 2hr boat ride, but we opted for a quick flight in a tiny airplane. The islands were a sight to see from the sky!


On Ambergris Caye we rented a house (oddly enough called 'Casa de Lisa') on the ocean, complete with private dock.


The island itself was pretty touristy, but the views were amazing. We went snorkeling while some others went diving by the Belize Barrier Reef (2nd largest to Australia's great barrier reef) and saw some amazing fish and coral. It truly was like swimming in an aquarium! The rest of the trip was relaxing - we rented a sailboat and took sailing lessons, explored the island and enjoyed the ocean front bars and restaurants!


All in all - a great trip! It was tough to leave it all behind us and come back to reality!