Belize Revisited, An Intro

Well, not "revisited" in the sense of already having been there, because except for Kate - who explored and kayaked then-newly independent country (aka British Honduras) 37 years ago - neither I nor our friends Sarah and Jim had been to Belize before.  But "revisited" in the sense that we had planned this trip for March 2020 ... yes, THAT March.  We cancelled just a week before Belize shut down its international airport.

Our 3-week trip took us from Belize City [#1 on the very high-tech map below] to Lamanai Outpost Lodge [#2] (named for the 2000+ year old Mayan site nearby) in the NW to Caye Caulker [#3] (NE of Belize City) near the northern section of the 150 mile-long barrier reef to Table Rock Lodge [#4] near San Ignacio and the Guatemalan border to Placencia on a 20-mile long isthmus [#5] on the southern coast and finally to Hopkins [#6], a Garifuna (mix of Caribbean and African people and culture) settlement, and back up toward Belize City.


We spent our first night at a very comfortable bed-and-breakfast in Belize City a couple of blocks from the Caribbean shore.  We strolled the shore walk and took the requisite selfie...

 

... saw our first Belizean birds, a handsome Royal tern and an Anhinga drying off...


... and had dinner at just about the only restaurant open that night, because it was a national holiday, a Chinese joint called "Friendship."  We ate next to group of eight south Asian young men and had our first (very tasty) Belizean Belikin beers!

As you'll read in this series of blog posts, we had fun adventures - snorkeling, night-time jungle walks, incredible tours of ancient Mayan population centers, a cooking class - and saw lots of amazing birds.  But not just birds: howler monkeys, spiders, crocodiles, and iguanas, too!

More to come...


 

Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 7, 2025 at 8:03 AM

    Look forward to more... We traveled to Belize in 2004 and had a similar itinerary. The snorkeling was amazing, also Tikal in Guatemala. We spent a week near Placencia on an Episcopal medical mission to the Garafuna and Mayan people. Fascinating.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousApril 7, 2025 at 8:16 AM

      I was in Tikal on the previous visit Aaron mentions in 1988! We were able to climb up
      into the ruins at that time which I understand is no longer allowed .Don’t know why but these comments come thru as anonymous so it would be appreciated if you would leave your name.

      Delete
    2. AnonymousApril 7, 2025 at 9:33 AM

      Ha! Even me, Kate

      Delete
    3. AnonymousApril 7, 2025 at 6:53 PM

      You can climb on at least some of the structures at Lamanai. Aaron

      Delete

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