Guanacaste National Park - Belmopan, Belize
Guanacaste National Park was our decided destination for adventure. It’s a small National Park reserve that is easy to access right off the highway beside Belmopan. We’d seen it many times before, but decided it was time to check it out.
We left in the early afternoon, and decided to take the sscenic route through Spanish Lookout just for fun. Spanish Lookout is the area of Mennonnite communities filled with farmlands. The Mennonites are a unique and appreciated addition to Belizes cultural diversity. They farm the lands and provide good healthy locally grown food.
They’re a hardworking and honest people. Some of the groups are more traditional and conservative, still following the old ways of farming with horse drawn carriages & plows. They’ve got long beards and look very much like the Amish sects of Mennonitism.
Other groups have evolved with the times and are now using computers, driving vehicles, shaving their beards, and running their own storefront businesses. They provide many products and services to Belize that would otherwise be unavailable (Including importing and installing satellite internet dishes). They’ve also discovered a very high grade of oil in the Spanish Lookout area, and Mennonites have setup oil wells, pumping the stuff out which is so pure that the crude oil can be used in engines without even being processed first.
There are two ways in and out of Spanish lookout, and for the route we were taking we went in via the hand cranked ferry and out via the bridge. It’s just across the Belize River and a small hand cranked ferry comes goes back and forth bringing over 3-4 vehicles at time. If you arrive at rush hour, you may have to wait a few ferry runs, but in general there is not a long wait.
Check out my video of Spanish lookout showing the hand crank ferry, rolling farmlands of Spanish Lookout, and a pumping oil well.
After leaving Spanish lookout it didn’t take us too long to get to Guanacaste National Park. This park is approximately 50 acres of preserved second growth tropical rainforest under the care of the Belize Audubon Society. It holds a lot of diversity of plants, animals, and unfortunately insects.
We arrived to be greeted by a friendly Belizean guy who showed us the maps and gave us a good explanation of the area and trails to be explored. We payed our $5 BZ entrance fee each and then ventured into the park.
The beauty of this place is incredible. It gives you the full jungle feeling with the site of rich tropical foliage everywhere, the sounds of crickets, cicadas, & birds, as well as the smell of flowers. The trails are well made and clear so you don’t have to worry about accidentally stepping on a viper (Which can be a very real danger in Belize when treking through jungles).
Are biggest dislike which we soon realized was the insects biting us. It seemed to be a bad day for bugs with high humidity and little to no wind. We decided to just walk faster because it’s only when you stop to look at something closely that they’d bite you. After covering much of the park area, Mark couldn’t handle the bugs anymore so we went back. The Belizean park host informed us that it’s not usually so full of bugs. It’s because of the recent rains that many more bugs are back in season.
We’ll perhaps go see the park again another time at a slower pace, but here’s the video to give you an idea of what this beautiful park has to offer.
Peace & Prosperity,
Jambhala
