Sunset in Placencia
Jeremy and Jonattan came for Christmas, and the two weeks that we spent together was absolutely wonderful! They were such great travelers, always ready to experience another adventure, frequently going to places that Dave and I had never seen so could not recommend! What fun! Time has flown by since the visit, and without pictures, I would have a difficult time remembering all of the experiences that we had.
Of course we went to the Belize Zoo, which was another great trip! As we were there in late afternoon, I was able to see the nocturnal animals out and awake for the first time! Here's a little owl, who was very interested in studying me!
As we would be on the road on Christmas Day, we celebrated with an "Almost Christmas" dinner and opening of gifts.
Here are a couple of photos of Christmas gift-giving!
(Dave received a Go-Pro so that he can learn to do movies from the airplane!)
The four of us climbed into the car and drove south towards Punta Gorda. Dave and I had ventured as far south as Placencia, but had not taken the Southern Highway to Punta Gorda. We stayed at a beautiful place, The Lodge at Big Falls, on the Rio Grande River. (Big Falls is the name of the village, though there are no actual falls there.) We had two casitas, and a visitor was already staying in my bathroom!
Dave was able to escort him to the deck, unscathed.
Here is our casita with a river view.
The first adventure was a short visit to Laugh Out Loud Children's Home, seeing Melissa Fisher at their beautiful site outside Punta Gorda! A new counselor had just arrived, and of course, her name was Pat! LOL (no pun intended)!
We then went on down the road to Ixcacao
for lunch and a tour of how chocolate is harvested and made. Mmmm...what a great place! We had chocolate pork and chocolate chicken, with calaloo and hot chocolate!
Everyone had bowls of cacao beans that needed to be shelled, then ground with a metate and mano.
Jeremy discovered that a friend of his in San Francisco purchases cacao from this small grower for specially crafted chocolate. We had a great time buying the finished product!
We next drove to Rio Blanco Falls that were lovely. The walk through the jungle led to falls falling into a deep pond!
The drive through the villages was interesting, as the people of the south, in Toledo District, seem to use more thatch than what we see in Belize District. I called them "Thatch Subdivisions!"
The four of us were interested in finding the Mayan ruins of Uxbenka. These ruins are not excavated much, so it was a little like seeing ruins as the larger, more developed tourists sites may once have been. We asked a woman and her children if we were on the right dirt road, and she said that we were and that the villagers collect money that is given to the city council for the upkeep of the site. Not knowing if this was an innovative way of begging or not, we gave them some money for the information. We then saw a man on horseback who also directed us to the end of the road and who also said that the village collects donations for the upkeep of the site. He was fine with our telling him that we'd already donated, and he gave us a bit of a tour. The site was interesting, and here is a moss covered stella.
Christmas night was spent in the Lodge bar with the owner and a friend. Great fun celebrating with new friends!
The following day we went to another Mayan site, Lubaantun. The road was unbelievably bad to get to the site, but the place itself was great!
We did go through Punta Gorda, the major town of south Belize. Hmmmm...
From Punta Gorda, we drove to Placencia, which sits on a peninsula. We stayed at Robert's Grove, a large resort with beautiful beach.
Dave and Jeremy and Jonattan went snorkeling on one afternoon while I stayed to sit on the beach or poolside for a day of reading and relaxing! We also spent an afternoon walking through Placencia, which is pretty place.
The big adventure from Placencia, and a primary purpose of our visit there, was to take a tour up Monkey River. It is a beautiful river that we reached after a long boat ride through mangroves. We headed up the river, watching the birds fly and crocodiles lie on the sandbars! We then took a walk through the jungle in search of howler monkeys, who were quiet in the trees that day. Lunch was in the very small village of Monkey River. We saw manatees on our way home. I did not know that they breached like a whale!
After returning to Belize City, Dave flew the the air ambulance as a taxi to take Jeremy and Jonattan to San Pedro for a couple of nights. The day was beautiful, and we took a flight over the famous Blue Hole! The Barrier Reef was stunning, and the Blue Hole was an odd scene in a sea of blue!
Jeremy and Jonattan had a wonderful time snorkeling at Hol Chan and swimming with sharks and rays in Shark and Ray Alley! They also explored San Pedro for a couple of days, and enjoyed their time in San Pedro and stay at Ramon's Village.
Jeremy, Jonattan and I had one last adventure, going to San Ignacio for a day. We toured Xunantunich. The Howler Monkeys were very noisy in their greetings for us!
Jeremy and Jonattan climbed the highest temple!
Though I have no pictures, Jeremy and Jonattan also enjoyed visiting the Green Iguana Project, playing with iggies!
The trip was incredibly enjoyable, I hope for them as it was for us! Since Dave and I have decided to stay another year, I am hoping that they will be able to visit again!
