week #5 adventures in belize

Wednesday morning, St Patrick’s Day, we left San Ignacio (after breakfast and a quick internet check) and headed to Belmopan, the capital, to run some errands. We stopped by immigration and found out that our passport stamps had expired 2 days earlier…we thought they were good for 30 days, but the officer said the date selected was at the check-in officers discretion and he/she had only given us 28 days. She didn’t charge us a late fee and renewed us for another 28 days (good until 4/14). We then went to the bank and picked up our Belize Visa cards…they actually had arrived from Belize City and were waiting for us. From there we went to the Belize Zoo under a light mist of rain and spent a couple of hours learning more about the country’s native species. We finally saw a jaguar up close and personal! Next on the agenda was a trip into Belize City to see if our car part had arrived and to get our brakes checked within our 30-day warranty. We got lucky and found the dealership without much searching only to find out our part had not arrived…it was stuck at the Guatemalan border for some unknown reason. We walked to the Riverside Tavern for lunch (DELICIOUS burgers) while the dealership checked our car brakes and then headed back to the dealership to await its completion. We finished our errands around 4pm and decided we had no reason to stay in Belize City (expensive, noisy, crowded). We drove into Orange Walk and found a room at D’ Princess Hotel. We got settled in, walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner (Rick had some amazing ceviche) and then back home for the night.

Thursday we spent cruising the area in and around Orange Walk. The area is surrounded by sugar cane fields so we thought we would see if the rum factory had tours. No luck but we enjoyed our touring. We also contacted Jungle River Tours to arrange for Friday’s adventure. We found a great restaurant for dinner and talked with our waiter, Fred, about what it’s like living in northern Belize. He advised us that there was a new area being built up northeast of Orange Walk in Progresso that we might want to check out…we’ll have to see what it is all about.

Friday we drove to Come and Dine Restaurant for breakfast and then back to the hotel to prepare for our tour. We walked to the tour company and from there we were driven to the dock on the New River. Humberto, our guide, took us down river for 2 hours spotting crocs, spider monkeys, iguanas, countless birds and insects and beautiful flora of the area. We actually got to hand feed bananas to the wild spider monkeys! We arrived at our destination around 11am, Lamanai Mayan Ruins. We toured the ruins with our guide for another couple of hours…some of the findings are incredible, especially the jaguar temple (see photos). After the ruins hike we returned to the picnic grounds and had the lunch that had been prepared for us…stewed chicken, rice/beans, potato salad and green salad. Excellent picnic! We had a few minutes to visit the gift shops and then back on the boat for our return trip home. Along the way we again enjoyed the jungle sites and sounds. We got back to the dock around 4p and walked home. Linda lay down to rest for a few minutes and then didn’t want to get up…Rick cruised the internet and then went to a street vendor across from the hotel for some BBQ chicken dinners. Early to bed after all that fresh air today and plans for an early morning.

Saturday we packed the car (again) and started off towards Corozal near the Mexican border. On the way we took a detour to visit Progresso, as recommended by Fred on Thursday. After a bumpy, dirt road we entered the village on a huge lagoon connected through a river to the Caribbean Sea. We didn’t see anything terribly interesting, so we turned around and headed back to the main road. On our way back we saw a sign for Progresso Shores Development and thought we might as well check it out since we had come this far. We went down a long dirt drive and came across a gorgeous view of the lagoon amid the partially cleared jungle. We came to an open gate and continued through. At the end of the drive was a beautiful private home with a couple of guest houses. No signs were apparent, so we pulled into the circular drive in front of the home to turn around. Suddenly we were joined there by a man who was looking at us skeptically. We told him we were lost and turning around, but he, Ed, invited us into his home to meet his wife and talk about the area. His wife, Dee, was extremely friendly, gracious and welcoming and their home was absolutely beautiful. We spent the next 2 DAYS with them discussing the area, their land, their friends and their lives and being treated to wonderful food, drink, boat rides and lodging (in the guest house). If ever there was a weekend that was “too good to be true”, this was it! They have 20+ 2-acre lots for sale on the lagoon and we have lots to think and talk about!

Monday we packed our stuff, said good-bye to our new friends and headed up the dirt drive that we had off-handedly entered two days before. Scott, Ed and Dee’s friend/neighbor, escorted us to the turn-off for Corozal as he headed to Copper Bank, another near-by village, before joining us again in Corozal (his girlfriend, Cristy, lives there). We arrived back at the New River, crossed it by hand-cranked ferry, reached Corozal and found our hotel just in time for lunch. We hit a Chinese restaurant for lunch and then spent the afternoon walking around town and catching up on e-mail. We had a drink at the Corozal Bay Inn, right on the waterfront, and then headed to Hailey’s for dinner with Scott. We had a great chat/dinner before saying good-bye/good-night to another new friend and then headed back to the hotel for the night.