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.
Tiadora and Eero
queen of the howler monkeys--they are a martriarchal society
Eero, Kaylon, and Clifara
Eero and Ale
