Altun Ha and More

Though many days have passed, I'm picking up from the last post.  When we arrived home from Blancaneaux Lodge, the rain was falling, but Dave still had the day off!  We decided to go to the nearest Mayan ruins, Altun Ha, to see how far it was and what it was like.

The first challenge was the hour trip there, as the roads were flooding in several places.  We passed horses in the road, and a lovely, big thatched roof house!

Altun Ha roughly means "Rockstone Pond" which was also a later village in the area.  As it was raining, I took pictures from under my umbrella.  We did not go all the way to the main pond as the mosquitos were eating us up despite having insect repellant on!  With all of the recent rains, the ponds were full.  The area was large and vibrantly green!  The temples were not as high as those at other Mayan ruins we've seen, but it was very beautiful!  Below are pictures of the Sun God's Tomb, the view from the top of the Sun God's Temple, and the path toward the pond.

Once it started to rain, it has persisted!  The country is flooded in many parts, delaying the harvest or transport of the ripe sugar cane.  The streets are completely destroyed!  One evening on the news, a picture was shown of an SUV with a broken axle, nose down in a pothole on Bayman Avenue, a major street three or four blocks from us!  We had just driven through that same hole on that same evening!  Much of our time is spent searching for a new route to the Radisson where we work out.  At this point, no street is without a major section washed out!

Fortunately, the rain subsided for a couple of days, enough time for me to work on the house and de-mold it!  Mildew grows spontaneously.  Dave reached into our file cabinet and pulled out a fuzzy logbook!  I have been reluctant to mop the tile floors as it is already so wet in the house.  I was glad to have last weekend to clean the blinds and mop the floor!

Tuesday, November 19, was Garifuna Settlement Day in Belize, a national holiday.  Businesses were closed.  Most of the celebrating goes on in the south of Belize where the Gariganu people landed over 200 years ago in dug-out canoes, escaping slavery.  Much of the Garifuna culture is maintained, and I just love the Garifuna dresses!  People proudly wore their Garifuna clothes at work on the days preceding the holiday.

For us, the special significance of the day was having Jack and Linda Loye visit!  They were on a cruise ship that docked at Belize City.  Since they weren't on an organized tour, they arrived mid-morning.  Dave and I had arrived at the cruise ship dock fairly early as we did not really know where we were going or what the routine was.  Well, it is an experience all its own!  Two cruise ships were in town, so people were spilling out of the dock terminal and onto buses!  Many artisans were open in their small huts.  And taxi drivers and horse carriages were there to take people on city tours!  It was a warm and sunny day, and Dave and I stationed ourselves in different locations to be on the lookout for Jack and Linda.  We were offered all kinds of tours, and we want to get T-shirts that say in big letters, "We LIVE here!"  Everyone was very friendly, and I laughed a lot with the locals!

Dave and I took Jack and Linda on a drive through south Belize City, across a couple of the bridges and into north Belize City.  They saw where we shop and work.  And they were able to experience first-hand our streets!  After a brief stop at our house, we drove out towards the Zoo.  Due to time limitations, we had to skip the Zoo and instead ate at Cheers Restaurant.  The drive was nice, but I think I would have skipped that in hindsight.  We didn't arrive back to the terminal in time for Dave and me to go out to the ship.  I've never been on a cruise ship, and I would have enjoyed that.  We wanted Jack and Linda to experience a little more of Belize, but time was limited.

Here are pictures of the four of us at the cruise ship terminal, and a picture of Linda and me, 52 years after we met!  Now that makes us sound very old...but really, we're not!

We are now anxiously awaiting Nathan and Megan's arrival in just a month!  And Judi and her friend, Mary, will come in January.  I think that Debbie and Chuck will come in February.  We love having people visit!  Book your tickets and your room at the Brown Bed & Breakfast soon!

Blancaneaux Lodge

Blancaneaux Lodge is a Francis Ford Coppola resort in the Mayan Mountains of the Cayo District in Belize.  And what a beautiful place!

Dave had to "work" so we were "forced" to take a couple of days off and go to the remote lodge for a little R & R!  (Thank you, Yvette!)  We flew the BERT plane to Blancaneaux's dirt airstrip so that Dave could test the runway, see the lay of the land and meet with the Dutch Army, who are doing maneuvers in the area.

Dave and I took off from Municipal Airport and climbed through puffy clouds, darting here and there!  As this trip took us south, I was able to take some pictures overlooking Belize City, including one that captured the Child Care Centre and my office building.  (No one would know that, but me, and that is not the picture shown below, which is of downtown.)  The day was beautiful, and the countryside showed off all the shades of green!  We were able to find the airstrip (great to have a GPS), and landed safely!  Beside the runway was our horse-drawn carriage, ready to take us down the beautiful lane to the Lodge.

Immediately after arrival, representatives of the Dutch Army, including the doctor, arrived to consult with Dave.  We walked up to the runway to study how feasible it might be to land the plane at night without lights!  The Army would set up light cans along the sides of the runway so that Dave could get in for night evacuations,  Besides the challenge of finding a thin strip of dirt in the jungle at night, Municipal Airport, where the plane is based, has no lights.  International Airport does have lights, but the facility is closed after 6:00 PM, so special arrangements would need to be made.  The Aviation Board of Belize would need to approve this challenge, and then BERT's board would have to approve it!  Needless to say, approval was not granted, so Dave is not on call 24/7 for 3 weeks!  The Army will have to evacuate over a BAD road to the nearest clinic.  A helicopter company is providing daytime evacuations.

A prime reason for staying at a Francis Ford Coppola resort is the wine!  Since Dave did not have to fly again until the next day (thank you to Yvette, again!!), we had wine for lunch!  Dave had their fabulous pizza while I had a phenomenal fish salad!  The resort runs an organic farm, providing the most wonderful fruits and vegetables--the best we've had in Belize!

Dave and I walked up to the organic farm after lunch and were given a tour of the beds.  Torrential rains had fallen in the few days prior to our arrival, and the beds were being rebuilt in some cases.  They bring in good black soil.  We walked on up the road to the stables and pet the horses.  I'm pretty sure that Candace will want to stay at Blancaneaux to go on a trail ride in the jungle!  On the road, Dave nearly stepped on a fast moving, thankfully shy coral snake.  If bitten, Dave would have been in serious trouble, given that he is the pilot for medical evacuations!  It was a pretty snake, though!

After our walk, I enjoyed pool time!  This resort really takes care of its guests!  (Of course, I had to have a rum drink, too!)  All of the staff quickly learned our names, and we were "hailed" (Creole word) by our first names.

Our cabana overlooked the falls on Privassion Creek.  The roar of the falls was deafening!  This creek looked more like a river, and the flooding that had occurred a couple of days before was obvious along the banks.  The resort has its own hydroelectric plant, but the flood really destroyed it.  On Sunday, when we attempted a hike to 1000-foot Falls, we talked to the maintenance manager who said that they had to order parts from Canada.  Meanwhile, power was sufficiently provided by generators.

Dave and I went to dinner, walking to the restaurant after dark.  And the jungle is a very dark place!  We again had a fabulous meal with dessert and a bottle of wine!  We took a night hike up the road to the runway, just to experience the jungle night!  Beautiful!

When we arrived back in our room, turn-down service had prepared the bed, and candles were lit on the table.  The cabana, a large thatched building, had beautiful wood and colorful wall hangings.  The open windows let in the sound of the falls.  And if we wanted to call the lobby, we used the "shell phone!"  The shell phone was a shell on a wooden box, and one pushed a button to alert the lobby of a call!

Our Sunday morning walk didn't turn out to be the adventure we'd hoped.  The path to the Falls was so wet from the rains that we knew our shoes would be soaked before getting very far.  So we walked around the grounds, saw the Francis Coppola Villa and the Enchanted Cottage, and looked at the garden and stables again.




On our flight home under cloudy skies (so the colors were not so vibrant along the way), we caught a glimpse of Hidden Valley Lodge Airport.  I'm pretty sure we will need to visit that lodge, too!  It is not far from Blancaneaux!

I believe we flew over mango fields!

Mango season has passed, and I miss them!









Then we returned to Municipal Airport at the end of a wonderful weekend!

Blancaneaux Lodge is definitely a luxury resort and worth every penny!   Heavenly!