NMdreamin: November in Belize

November in Belize

The highlight of November was a visit by my oldest son and my grandson. It was a long trip down for them. They had to leave before sun up and arrived after dark in Belize. That included sitting for two hours on the ground in Denver while de-icing the wings and what not. After they touched down, got their bags, and went through customs, it was another two-hour drive to San Ignacio. We arrived here a little after 9 PM, unloaded, and walked downtown (literally down the hill). We found a few places open, and they chose a burger place that had its own cat that could be fed leftovers. The one thing you can count on here is getting fresh juice, so Eero, my grandson, had lots of watermelon, pineapple, and orange juice while he was here. He also found a place that made wickedly good strawberry smoothies.

I had great fun with them. Sunday was a fairly quiet day, and we visited a Maya elder and my landlady’s house—her mom keeps parrots. Monday was a holiday—Garifuna Settlement Day. That was a pool day for us. Eero loved the pool. He swam and swam and swam. In fact, almost every day became a pool day. Tuesday was a day trip to the Howling Monkey Pavilion to feed a howler monkey. It rained a downpour, but stopped just long enough for the three of us and the guide to find the howler monkeys. There had been no other customers that day. The forest was thick with mosquitoes. Because of the rain, they weren’t serving any food that day, so we had to go back toward the highway to find a place to eat. This was at the turn off to Burrel Boom. All they had was chicken fingers and chicken wings with French fries. The place is pretty far from any large grocery stores.

After eating, we headed back toward San Ignacio on the Western Highway to get to the Belize Zoo, a place that only houses animals from Belize. So each animal is in its natural habitat. There were no other visitors, and it was raining. We got to see all the animals because most of them came up to the fence, even the jaguars. Wednesday was another pool day with a visit to the green iguana sanctuary. We got to pick them up and put them on our shoulders. Afterwards, Matthew and Eero went back to the pool while I headed home to grade some student papers—it was the last week of class.

Thursday was cave tubing at Jaguar Paw. I got a recommendation from someone, so it was just the three of us and Mario’s nephew Ozzy. He tailored made the trip for us. We had to put on life-vests and helmets with lights and haul the tubes up the mountain. The guys got regular black tubes, and Eero and I had bigger tubes that could be tied together and guided down the river. I didn’t mind, but Eero protested a bit. The upper cave was still flooded, so we got into the river just outside of the lower cave. There were huge groups of people who had booked tours with the bigger companies. Sometimes there was up to twenty tubes tied together with three people guiding the whole bunch down the river.

Mario, Ozzy, and Matthew helped to get Eero and me safely through all the channels. Once inside the cave, we climbed up the limestone—the caves are limestone & there is lots of limestone in Belize)—and left our tubes on top and walked (you need water shoes) over to the entrance to the Crystal Cave. I had already said no to going through here because it contains human remains. I am opposed to parading the remains of indigenous people as a tourist attraction. That cave was full of angry spirits. I wish I had thought to bring an offering. As it turned out, I did lose an earring.

From that cave, we swam back in the dark with just the light of our helmets to our tubes. At the place where we got out, there was a huge rock that overlooked some deep water at about the center of the rock. Matthew, Ozzy, and Eero did the jump two times. I didn’t do it because I don’t like the water rushing up my nostrils, and I already had that experience as a kid, swinging out over the creek and letting go. From there, we got our tubes and back into the water and went through some dark rooms to the end of the cave and down the river. Mario said that we could float all the way to the Caribbean. I asked if there were crocodiles further down. He acknowledged that there were.

Friday was a trip to Cahal Pech, a Maya ruin just up the hill. Because it was already late and hot, we took a taxi. Again, I wish I had thought to bring an offering. It was a good workout for my knees as those steps are quite high. After thoroughly exploring what was left of that village, we walked down the hill all the way to downtown and ate at Matthew and Eero’s now favorite restaurant—Tandoor Restaurant & Bar, where they had strawberry smoothies and chicken strips. I had samosas. They went on to the pool. I had papers to grade.

Saturday, they had waffles made in cast iron waffle irons in animals cooked over a fire by one of the local Chinese families and fresh juice at the market. Eero bought gifts from Tiadora and Ale(jandra), two Mayan ladies who sell handmade items. Ale makes jewelry with sea glass that she collects from her hometown, Punta Gorda, which is further south. Tiadora and her mother make baskets and also sell beaded necklaces and the like. Afterwards, we picked up Clifara and her brother Kaylon and went back to the pool. After a couple of hours and lunch, I had to finish grading papers and posting those grades. I made it back down to the pool just a little while before dark. By that time, the drunks were already out. Most of the patrons of the resort got out of the pool when the sun went down although the pool was well lit. In fact, there was a rotation of colored lights beaming through the water in the pool.

We walked Clifara and Kaylon up the hill to their house. The three of us had our last dinner at Tandoor’s. They ordered strawberry smoothies and the manager walked over with a shot of rum for Matthew—he hadn’t ordered it.

Sunday, we walked down the hill to Ko-ox-ha-na for breakfast. I had a little coffee. I don’t usually drink it, but this coffee (Belizean) tasted really good. In fact, I don’t usually eat breakfast, but since it was our last day together, I tried their huevos rancheros. Actually, the eggs had a really good flavor. They do raise their own chickens and lambs, so maybe the flavor was because the eggs were really fresh. We made the two-hour drive in about an hour and 45 minutes—there was very little traffic on Sunday. Those guys got checked in, and we had some lunch at the airport restaurant. Eero and I had some coconut dream pie—mostly whipped cream. It tasted really good, but I paid for it later with digestive track inflammation. I received a text message from Matthew that they were stuck on the ground in Denver, waiting for a gate to open up. But they arrived safely in Portland on time.

Now, I am getting ready to go down to TumulK’in to take them some materials to use in their Mayan language classes and some donations I collected.

I wish all a happy and healthy holiday season.