Wow! What can I say that will explain the great time we had in Belize. If we had our two youngest with us we would have stayed longer. Here are some of the highlights of our trip.
{Thursday January 15th}- Heading to Belize
We left SLC airport at 6:50 am. We barley made our flight and if we had been 5 mins later we would have missed it. We had just got in the air about 10-15 mins when Easton said "Look its Belize". We knew it was going to be a long flight.
* The Boys at the airport in Houston. This picture is for you TEXAS!!!!
We arrived in Houston TX and were able to eat lunch before boarding for Belize City. The pilot was very nice and even let the boys go up and see the cockpit. Which is very rare now days.
We arrived in Belize to find Rain, and more Rain. Cahal Pech (where we stayed in San Ignacio) was beautiful.
Here is the Cabana we stayed in.
It has rained everyday thus far. However the boys have had a blast (you know boys and puddles).
* Easton sliding into the puddle at the park. All the boys loved this!
Grandma has had to wash their clothes several times already. We were so excited to see Grandma and meet the aunts and cousins.
* Cousins (Lt-Rt)Trey (8yrs), Easton (5yrs), Kianna (5yrs), Dillon (6yrs), Dion (2 yrs), & Kadisha (8yrs). Grandma Stephens behind them and Aunt Kimberly (21 yrs)in the door way.
* Jim and the two girls. They loved Jim and he was so good with them.
Riding Bikes in Belize.
This is La Loma Luz Hospital (Mundall Hospital) This is the area Nate was born. The hospital was not built yet, but the mobile van (where Petronila had him) was located here.
Most of the houses here have no glass in the windows. The are just open with shutters you can open and close. They say it never gets that cold here so they don't need the glass. The groceries here are outrageous. However other items are very cheap (to have a baby $30.00). The average monthly income here is about $1800.00 and hardly no one owns a car. We will be spending the days visiting Grandma until our excursions start on Monday.
{Saturday January 17th}- Farmers Market & Spanish Lookout
In the morning we went to the farmers market and it was great. Fresh fruit and vegs everywhere.
* Aunt Nicole at the farmers market
* Dillon & Easton enjoying a cupcake at the farmers market
* I had to take a picture of the bathroom lady
She sits outside the restroom and you have to pay her before you can enter. She has a little bundle of toilet paper she hands you as you go in. Of course one kid has to go and they all have to go. It was a good thing we had extra cash. After drinking straight from the coconut we left the market and headed over to Spanish Lookout (where the Mennonites live). They are similar to the Amish. It was very beautiful there and their ice cream was excellent.
{Sunday January 18th}- Grandma Stephens 54th Birthday Party!
This morning we finally woke up to sunshine. The weather has been very wet and raining. We were told this type of weather was very unusual for Belize this time of year. We had breakfast and went to church at the local Branch here in San Ignacio. It was very interesting to see that even though you can't understand very much (it was in Spanish) the spirit feels the same. The members were very kind and friendly. It was not until after the meeting that we learned their was another branch close by that was English speaking. We ran into the missionaries and one was from Bluffdale Utah so he was excited to see some Utahans. After church we headed over to Grandmas for a BBQ and Birthday Party.
The cousins were waiting for us patiently. We had a great time with lots of yummy food, games (Lime Races, Musical Chairs, Red Light-Green Light), and of course cake.
{Monday January 19th)- Xunantunich & Bartons Cave
Today was a beautiful day here in Belize. We started our excursions today. In the morning we went to Xunantunich. This is an ancient Mayan Ruin. It was amazing how big and high they built this structures.
This is the ball field. They had two hoops several feet high and a ball that weighed about 9 lbs. You could not use your hands or feet, but had to use your shoulders and hips to launch the ball through the hoop. It is similar to basketball only much harder. Some people say this is impossible so they believe someone held the hoop and tried to catch the ball threw it instead. They believe one of the teams died after the game. They are not sure it was the looser, or the winner (since it was considered a honor to be sacrificed).
The stairs were very steep and no railings to hang on to. I was very nervous for our adventurous boys who keep getting to close to edge. Every 52 years they build on top of the other structures so they are several bottom layers that have not been dug out.
The view on the top was beautiful and you could see both Belize and Guatemala. It was very interesting to learn of the cultures and how this Mayans lived hundreds of years ago.
These are called horse balls and they are used as glue. It is like Elmers glue you would use in school.
This is an allspice tree. You break off a leaf and smell it and it smells like something different every time (cinnamon, clove, sage etc).
This is a known as Mayan spinach or Mayan spaghetti. It grows on a tree and then you break it open and eat the little corn looking things on the inside.
This is called a tourist tree because it is red in color and peels.
This type of tour was not the boys cup of tea, and they lost interest quickly. For the afternoon we headed to Barton Creek and did cave canoeing. It was great. The boys loved this activity and had a wonderful time. Jim, Easton, and I were in one canoe and Trey went with one of the guides (Bruce) and a lady for Washington. We all had a great time.
There was a little spider monkey who stole Jims glasses. The boys were laughing so hard. I wish I had my camera ready because when Trey first walked up to the monkey it streached its arms out and gave Trey a big ol' hug. It was very cute.
We had to take a back way into Barton Cave because of all the water on the main road. It was beautiful country back in there. On the way home we tried to take the main road and had to drive through the water. It was very deep and the boys thought that was a so much fun. We had to have 4-wheel drive and the water came all the way up over the hood of the vehicle.
{Tuesday January 20th} Horseback Riding & Belize River Canoeing
Today was another great day here in Belize. The bugs are very bad and for some reason they really love me. The boys have a few bites, but I have a ton and have faithfully applied bug spray. We even bought some 100% deet (the strongest their is). I am the only one who has used the 100% and I still got bitten. We had our breakfast and headed to go horseback riding. It was fun, but nothing we can do at home. It was very neat to ride through the jungle though. We have only been desert and mountain riding never jungle riding. We saw parrots, Iguanas, and cat tracks (probably mountain lion or cougar) they were to small to be Jaguar. We had a good time and enjoyed the views.
After a quick bite to eat we were off to float the river. The river is very dirty because of all the rain. It normally does not look like this. But we had a nice gentle ride and we saw about 100 Iguanas. Some were high up in the trees and Jim keep trying to get to close to them. It would scary them and they would try to run down the tree. Sometimes they would loose their grip and fall into the water. I am sure he was trying to get one to fall in our boat. I told him if one lands in the boat I will flip it over. The Iguanas here get very big. The boys had a ball and Easton kept having poor Bruce (our guide) row by every piece of litter in the river and he would pick it up. Trust me there was a lot. After our canoeing adventure we headed back to go swimming at the pool and enjoy some more sun.
{Wednesday January 21st} Caracol and Mountain Pine Ridge
Today we went to another Mayan site called Caracol. It was very big and really interesting once again. It was thought Tikal in Guatemala was to have ruled, but now they know that Caracol actually defeated Tikal. These sites are trully amazing. A massive ceremonial pyramid called "Caana" stands 140 ft high and is the highest manmade structure in Belize. The average height of these Mayans are 5'2". The steps are crazy steep for this short of people. This was a defense tactic to slow their opponents down.
The boys were acting out a sacrifice on the alter, when we were instructed to get them off. Ooops!
Another gentleman with us was really disgusted with Easton steeping on all the ants. We had to pull Easton aside and tell him not to do that. Some people are offended by him doing that. Easton got into some fire ants and it was bad news. The gentleman said see that's what you get for killing their cousins.
Their was an injured Toucan that had gotten attacked by a Harp Eagle and it was in bad shape. We saved some fruit from our lunch for it. The boys were really sad and want it to get better.
* Harp Eagle this is the type of Eagle that attacked the Toucan and it is huge. It reminds me of something out of Harry Potter.
This is a Ceiba (Cotton Wood)Tree. It is the tree of Guatemala. This one is 1800 years old and by far the biggest tree I have ever seen. The picture doesn't do justice for how massive this thing is.
After Caracol we headed to a cave and some river pools. The cave was great fun and reminder of the Tom Sawyer movie when the indian is chasing them through the cave. The boys loved running around and exploring.
Then we stopped to the Rio pools and waterfall. It was very pretty there and we could have gone swimming, but it was much to cold.
{Thursday January 22nd} Cave Tubing & Iguana Project
Well we ended up going to Jaguar Paw for some cave tubing. We had a great time. And yes Mat we did tube down the same river that the Lady died in. Our guide showed us where she hit her head. We were also going to zip line, but it just didn't happen. It took a lot longer than expected to finish the cave tubing so we decided to not do the zip line. The boys have been begging us to take them to see the Iguanas for several days so we decided to go there instead. Iguanas are becoming scarce around here due to all the poaching. The people here love to eat Iguana and especially look for pregnant females. The eggs inside the females are supposed to be extremely good. It is because of these and predators that they are becoming extinct. So they started this project where they protect the baby Iguanas until they are about 2-3 yrs and then release them into the wild so they have a better chance of survival. It was interesting to learn about them and how they survive. The little ones are so fast and it tickles when they crawl on you. It was a lot of fun.
Tomorrow we were supposed to be going to Tikal, but we ended up switching to go to the ATM cave. Jim and I wanted to go here, but the kids are to young to go. We were just going to wait and go when we came to visit another time, but we learned that this site may be closing. Grandma has been wanting to see the kids so we decided to leave the kids with grandma so we can go in the ATM cave before it closes. We are looking forward to tomorrows excursions and it should be the highlight of the trip!
{Friday January 22nd} ATM!
Today was the day were were looking forward to. We did the coolest thing ever! We went spelunking in an underground cave system called Actun Tunichil Muknal. You start out with a couple mile hike through the jungle and cross the river three times. The first time it was about to my chest, then got lower with each crossing. Once you reached the opeaning of the cave you had to swim acrossed some water. From here we went about 2 miles into the cave. Sometimes I had to swim inside the cave because I could not touch. We were able to view ruins dated back to about 600 AD in their original places. The stalagmites and stalagtites were beautiful and some of the chambers were huge. This cave was one of the ceremonial sites of the Mayans. The ordinary people did not enter here. We saw ancient pots, skeletons and crystals just to name a few. You sure wouldn't be able to do this kind of exploring in the US because of the dangerous hiking and the sacred archeological content inside the caves. Pots and bones as early at 900 AD were just steps from us. Our guide Carlos was amazing. He was on National Geographic and led them through the cave.
* Jim and I inside the cave Look at the stalagmites on the left. Doesn't it took like the nativity scene.
* These last two pictures were taken by some friends we meet on our trip. Thanks Gayle for letting me post your photography skills.
{Sunday January 25th}Goodbye to San Ignacio and Hello Ambergies Caye
We had a stop at the Belize Zoo and then headed to the Island. We are looking forward to some sun and sand!
* This is a Howler monkey and wow can they make some noise.
We started out staying at the tides, but ended up moving to Captain Morgan. We loved it there. The boys thought the swim up bar was the neatest thing ever.
We also enjoyed snorkeling at Hol Chen and Shark Ray Alley. Here are some pictures at Captain Morgan.
* I love sailboats and next time we come we are wanting to go on a sailboat for a few days.
* These next two pictures are again taken by Gayle. I have not got my underwater pictures developed yet. But we snorkled with Sharks, Sting Rays, Turtles, and many many fish.
* Picture of Captain Morgan pool area.
We had a great time in the pool.
Here are some of my favorite animal pictures I took while we were in Belize.
As you can tell we had a wonderful time in Belize and yes we will be back!
