In general, if your parents ever plan a trip to a tropical country which promises sunshine, sand, and surf instead of bitter winter break blues, it's best to ask no questions and go along for the ride.
So begins the tale of our family's lovely trip to Belize this winter break, a trip which was all of our Christmas presents combined and prompted by a mix of an empty-nester impulse from my parents and our general wanderlust.
Belize is a small country on the coast of the Caribbean bordering Guatemala, as the signs on the highway proclaiming "leave us alone, Guatemala," never failed to remind us.
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| A bit of context. |
After a long flight and layover in Houston, we landed in Belize City, the capital, and rented a sturdy Jeep. The plan, per my dad's extensive research, was to drive directly from the airport to Placencia, a small city by the coast, spend four days there, then drive to San Ignacio in the interior of the country to explore the jungles and Mayan ruins before driving back to Belize City for the journey back.
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| More context. |
The three-hour journey from Belize City to Placencia took us on one of the country's only highways, a two-lane road which is shown in yellow on the map winding through the middle of the country, called Hummingbird Highway. There's not much going on in the way of skyscrapers or city lights. For the most part, we drove through mountainous jungle and rust red soil until we finally reached the ocean, a thinnish strip of pale sand and beautiful, endless surf.
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| Sunrise over the water. |
We stayed in one of the many condo-like residences along the beach, a mere minute's walk from the ocean, whiling away our hours sitting on hammocks or deck chairs by the water, taking long walks on the sand, and trying to swim in the somewhat chilly water (winter in Belize is a relatively cool 70-80 degree range).
Probably the long morning and evening walks are what did it. The sand fleas, I mean. To skip ahead a bit, a few days after arriving back home, all four of us erupted in red itchy bumps all over our legs - itchy bumps incomparable to mosquito bites, which had been our primary concern. Unfortunately for us, we thought that there wouldn't be any mosquitoes along the coast and failed to use any sort of bug spray on the sand. We were right about the mosquitos, but also spent the week after our vacation suffering from our breezy attitudes, sporting legs that looked like they needed a touch from Jesus himself to heal. But at this point of the trip, we were still blissfully unaware of all the trouble these little bugs were going to give us down the road.
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| Sand fleas are most active at dusk, which is why I'm probably being bitten in this very photo. |
Moral of the story - don't underestimate bugs in a foreign country. Wear long pants at the beach at dusk and dawn, as a couple from Colorado who had been living in Belize for a few months advised. And bring witch hazel.
Another highlight of our few days by the beach: going into Placencia and eating Christmas dinner on the town.
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| The water in downtown Placencia, the day after Christmas. |
While in Placencia, we also took the opportunity to drive up to the Cockscomb Basin Forest Reserve, where thirty minutes of jungle hiking rewarded us with a fantastic view of the basin and also, undoubtedly the highlight of the hike, a welcome dip in a cool, clear, waterfall. We washed off our sweaty bodies and liters of bug spray (remember the days when we thought mosquitoes were going to be our biggest problems...) in the water while feasting on ham sandwiches.
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| Grant, my dad, and I elected to take a dip while my mom took pictures. |
The second part of our journey took us to San Ignacio, a pleasant city near the border of Guatemala, from which we could explore some of the Mayan ruins and nature spots in the country's interior. We stayed right outside the city, but ventured in occasionally for some of the best meals of the vacation.
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| Tacos from Ko-Ox Han Nah, which means "Let's Go Eat!" We went here twice it was so delicious. |
Over two days we saw two different Mayan ruins: Xunantunich and Cahal Pech, both very close to San Ignacio. We went to Xunantunich first. I don't know what exactly I was expecting - something like the Parthenon, maybe, where you walk around the structure but God forbid you step on it. Surprisingly, Xunantunich was beautifully preserved and visitors had the freedom to climb all over the steep steps and presumably ancient stones. Climbing up the tall pyramid was honestly exhilarating.
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| My parents at Xunantunich. Grant and I are climbing up the steep stairs in the back. |
I personally preferred Cahal Pech. When we went there was virtually no one else there and roaming among the tunnels and nooks and crannies of the sprawling palace complex was ridiculously fun. We didn't hire a guide, so I'm not sure how much of the site is original (especially because here, as in Xunantunich, no one stopped us from climbing all over anything) but it's incredible to think that we can still see ruins from thousands of years ago.
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| My dad posing at the end of a tunnel in Cahal Pech. |
While in San Ignacio, we also took a day to explore the Mountain Pine Ridge forest reserve. We explored the Rio Frio caves, the Rio On pools, and a beautiful waterfall pool where we let little Doctor Fish nibble on our toes. Apart from a memorable wrong turn which got our poor Jeep rattling along a non-existent dirt road (we had vivid premonitions of flipping over when we started driving over deep gorges in the road), it was a very relaxing day in nature.
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| Rio On Pools |
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| What kind of wildflower is this? |
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| Waterfall swimming and fish nibbling. |
As for the rest of the trip, well, we stayed in a small hotel run by that couple from Colorado right outside of Belize City, and in the layover in Houston ran into an old couple from Texas (also coming back to Belize) who were most likely our second or third cousins. They had the same last name, after all.
And that was the trip!
