Dangriga is a town on the central Caribbean coast of Belize. The people there have really cool hairstyles, being masters of braiding and dreading.

Mark and I decided to go there for a night to check things out, and we had an excellent time there. We checked out a few places as we drove along the beach, and we settled by renting one of Ruthies Cabanas right on the beach.

You gotta love being on the beach where you can just walk around barefoot in the sand everywhere. The water was nice and warm and the sand felt great.

It was mid-day and we cruized through town looking for some lunch. We’d just got into town and were hungry. Ruthie had given us directions on how to get to a nice cafe, so that’s where we headed.

The sun was blazing and we were hot, but we found the cafe as refuge from the sun. When we asked for menus the girl just said “All we’ve got left is Rice and Beans, or Vegetable rice”. So I ordered the vegetable rice and Mark ordered the vegetable rice with shrimp. Add a couple of Belikin stout beers and we were good.

We checked out the market, but didn’t see much of interest. So we went and bought some alcohol to enjoy on the beach. Mark got some 1 Barrel rum and water, and I decided to be experimental and try the Campari Jamaica herbal liquor.

Wow, good choice it was. That’s a fine drink straight or watered down a little. It looks a crimson red and tastes kinda bittersweet. When we got back to our beach cabana, we sat on the beach with our cameras, drank our drinks and got pictures and video of the many birds.

Pelicans were the biggest entertainment as they flew back and forth diving into the ocean to catch fish. Again and again right in front of us. There were about 4-5 other types of birds that flew by, some little and some really big. I didn’t get good shots of all of them, but it sure was entertaining.

Click Here to Check out the Pelican Video on YouTube!

We went for Chinese food and then when we got back to the beach we met a group of Garifuna kids drumming and singing Garifuna music. We joined them on the beach because their music was fabulous, and then they started doing flips. Back flips, forward flips, spinning flips. These kids were incredibly talented. They did most of their flips off of a tire that was propped up on a piece of wood at an angle.

They sang and drummed while doing flips and I was just in utter amazement. They said they started by practicing in the water, then on the beach sand, and now they can do it confidently on cement.

It was an incredible display, and we watched them until a parent came out and told them it’s time for bed. Mark and I spent some more time lounging on the beach and then went to bed.

The next morning Ruthie made us breakfast of scrambled eggs, coconut bread, and jam then we left back to San Ignacio.

~Jambhala

Mark, Charlotte, her daughter Kelsea, and I, all went to check out one of the local Mayan ruins called El Pilar. This site has a long forgotten history, and is mostly burried beneath the jungle, with many of the temples still awaiting excavation so that the history and culture of this grand Mayan civilization can be re-discovered.

We headed out from San Ignacio in early afternoon. Since the site is just outside of San Ignacio, it’s not even a day trip, just a part day trip. The road to get there is not far, but it’s a bumpy road with ruts and potholes. The Jeep drove it well, but it was slow going.

When we arrived at the site, there was just a small booth to check in to and pay for our tickets. We soon started walking the trails and checking out the Mayan ruins. The first small ones we got to were mostly excavated but were very small.

After that we walked along and didn’t even realize for a ways that we were walking both on the ruins and around them. Most of the temples were so un-excavated that they looked just like hills in the jungle. Once you figure that out, you start to see them.

They are definitely temples and Mayan structures, because the plazas are generally flat, and then surrounded by these pyramid shaped mounds that are perfectly lined up and in rows in the way that only Mayan architects would do.

There were a few really cool structures that were excavated enough to see the masonry and doorways. There was also a little passageway that led underneath one of the pyramids. We had fun exploring it with my keychain LED flashlight. Check out the pictures of this thing.

There was also a great view from the top of one of the burried temple structures. It allowed us to see far across the jungle.

The whole area didn’t take us very long to explore. Since most of it is cov ered in lush jungle, there’s not a lot of detail to look at, but it certainly is magnificent for what it is. To see it so hidden by jungle with trees growing all the way up the sides of the temples is really incredible. It certainly gives it a time stamp of being truly ancient.

Here are some three videos I took of the El Pilar Mayan Ruins:

El Pilar Mayan Ruins - Hidden Beneath Jungle 

El Pilar Mayan Archeological Site 

El Pilar Temple Mounds

I highly recommend this trip to any visitors to Belize, Cayo District. However, I would have to also recommend that this not be the only site you visit. The more excavated sites like Tikal, Caracol, Lamanai, and Xunantunich have so much more to offer when it comes to the detail of the Mayan art, architecture, and history of those civilizations.

~Jambhala

A group of us (Total of 8 ) got in Matt and Arlene’s motorhome and headed to Placencia. Placencia is a peninsula on the mid-southern coast of Belize. It’s a place of sandy beaches and lots of tourism.

We started early and some of us slept along the way. It wasn’t that far, but it took awhile to get there, particularly since the last 20 miles were unpaved pothole-filled roads. The Motorhome had to go really slow.

Upon arriving to our destination, we were greeted by the shops, tourists, and restaurants that line the main road through. We drove to the very end of the peninsula where Matt and Arlene could park their RV.

We had reserved rooms at the Sea Spray, so we took are gear and went looking for it so we could check in. Placencia has a really cool walkway that avoids the main road, and follows along down the peninsula in amongst all the little tourist shops, restaurants and beachside guesthouses. It’s really quite beautiful and fun. You can feel safe to walk barefoot wherever you go.

After asking a few folks for directions to the Sea Spray, we found it, and still had to wait while they cleaned our rooms. We had arrived just after checkout time. We went to the beach and enjoyed a round of beers.

The sand was quite coarse, but felt great to sink your feet into, and the ocean breeze and beautiful view into the Carribean Sea was incredible. Here’s a picture I shot of the Sand, Sea, and Sky.

After relaxing awhile, our good travel friends MC and Jess showed up. They had just arrived back in Belize after having flown to Panama and bussing up through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. After catching up a little we all split up in groups; checking out shops, lounging on the beach, having some drinks, and just enjoying ourselves.

For dinner we all met up and ate Lobster and Fish. We then went out to check out the Happy Hour at the Tipsy Tuna. A few drinks and some dancing, followed by wandering a bit until Nic, Ana, MC, and I discovered some live Punta Rock (A Garifuna genre of music). It was very dancable with tribal African drumming singing, and even some turtle-shell drums. We danced for quite awhile, and I purchased one of their cd’s. Fantastic music.

Just about ready for bed, we headed back to the beach for a little relaxing, small chat and some running around in circles until we’d fall in the sand. Jane and MC decided to go skinny dipping in the still warm waters. Beautiful water it was.

Sleep was good, and we all had a relaxing morning and afternoon which I spent mostly lounging on the beach and swimming in the wonderfully warm ocean waters.

By mid-afternoon we caught up with the motorhome to head back for an evening Birthday party thrown for Jess. We had a pinata and delicious food, music and I did some fire-dancing. I can’t forget to mention the delicious Margharitas that Jane made us, MMmmMMMmmmm. What a way to spend a weekend!

~Jambhala

Mark, Nic, and I decided to go on an exciting Cave Tubing adventure. We’d heard good reviews from others about Ian Anderson’s Cave Branch Adventure Company, so we went to check it out.

We got there early in the morning and began by signing waivers and introducing ourselves to the other members of the tour.

Our guide Ching, briefly explained what we should take, and what not to take (Basically take as little as possible). Those with Cameras, such as Mark, were given the use of a dry sack to bring along and keep the equipment safe from damage. We needed to be wearing shoes, because the trip involved hiking through the caves. If we didn’t want to get our shoes wet, they had plenty of shoes to rent at a reasonable price. I decided to get my shoes wet, but Mark rented a pair which he claimed were very comfortable.

After everyone was ready, we all loaded onto a bus and drove a ways down the hummingbird highway, turning into an orange plantation. We drove quite a way into it and then pulled over to get equipped.

Ching handed out tubes and headlamps to everyone, and then we walked along a line of orange trees to the river that awaited us.

We were all a little surprised when we were told that we were going to tube upstream. Luckily the flow wasn’t strong and it was a very short distance to the cave entrance. Ching gave us some instructions before we entered the cave, and then in we went.

We paddled our way up to some shallows, where we got out and hiked in further watching the bats flying around, and learning about the cave eco-systems. Ching pointed out the many formations of crystals, stalactites, and stalagmites. It was an incredible site to see, just take a look at these pictures:

We also saw and learned about the role that the caves played in the Mayan culture as places of worship and ritual. We discovered many shards of ancient Mayan pottery and stones, and Ching talked about the blood letting rituals, furtility rituals, and vision inducing plant rituals that would go on in these caves.

One of the coolest things we saw was a little ledge in a large cave opening that had a clay formation of the Mayan monkey god. There were fire pits formed around the area and places where incense would be burned. Another area had a giant clay pot that was still fully intact with etchings on the side symbolizing human sacrifice.

After a mix of hiking and tubing and hiking and tubing, we found an area where Ching setup a picnic blanket and served us delicious tortillas with plenty of veggies, cheese, and hot sauce, and delicious juice or refreshing water.

When we had explored the cave as far as we were going to go, we hopped back on our tubes and let the current float us back out. It was incredible just floating through the cave at a relaxed pace while shining our headlamps around to see all the beauty of the cave walls and bats.

One of the guys in the tour hit a rock and his tube burst, but luckily Ching had a spare tube to share.

When we got back to our initial launch point, we were in for more excitement as Ching led us around to a jumping point where we could jump into the river from quite high up. All the brave ones took the jump. Here’s a picture Mark shot of me jumping.

We walked back to the bus, ate some oranges, and headed back to the Caves Branch Jungle Lodge.

What an amazing experience. I highly recommend checking out the Tours from Ian’s Caves Branch.

~Jambhala

An adventure out to the land that will become my new home in Belize. There will be a home in between, as this land is still all raw jungle. I plan to move into Benque Viejo before my jungle home is built. Benque Viejo is closer to the Eco-community land than San Ignacio where I’m currently staying.

So we ventured out to the land in a team of 6 with 2 machete’s and some video and camera equipment. It was a hot sunny day, so the jungle shade was much appreciated.

We drove in, parked the cars near the main trail and found 3 dogs there and some big bags of corn. Not sure why this is here, but we do know that there have been squatters farming some of the land for bananas and other fruits. Perhaps the dogs and corn bags belong to the squatters.

We hike down the trail, with me in the lead. Then as it turns out I went the wrong way, but everyone followed me. We got down to the Macal river in a beautiful little spot that was very refreshing to dip our heads into.

John and Matt who were carrying the machetes decided to start hacking a trail along the river in the direction of the property. We weren’t sure whether we were still on it at this point.

The rest of us hiked back up the inclining trail which had seemed a lot easier going down. When we got back to the turn-off we should’ve gone on, Arlene was finished, and so Mark stayed with her, as we wanted to remain in groups of at least two while trekking in the jungle.

Jane and I decided to go down the trail to see if we would meet up with John and Matt who we believed to be hacking a trail along the rivers edge.

As we headed down the trail it became more and more beautiful. Definitely nicer than the previous trail we had headed down earlier. This seemed to be thicker jungle with a variety of plants and trees. We soon came across the small fruit plantation where the squatters had setup a thatch lean-to.

We continued on and discovered leaf-cutter ants and some a field of strange short big leaved plants. I’m not sure exactly what they are and wether they’re crops or not.

Further along the trail we found another squatter plantation of bananas and such, with a small thatch hut. Inside is a bed and some jars. They have left some garbage around the area but all in all it’s not bad.

Soon after going past a little ways we decided to head back before the darkness came.

When we got back, the others were waiting and had been waiting a long time for us. There were two more bags of corn left there, and the dogs were gone. Mysterious.

We headed home and got some rest. Pretty cool trek though. I see a lot of potential for the area when we get some homes built and some infrastructure setup.

~Jambhala

The trip from San Ignacio to Guatemala’s ancient city Tikal was absolutely incredible. This Mayan sacred site is a must see for anyone travelling through the area or near it. It’s an ancient city which is still being excavated and has numerous tall towering temple structures that look over the high canopy of the tropical jungle.

Here you will find incredible wildlife in the preserved rainforest jungle, and beautiful sacred geometrical architecture masterminded by the highly advanced Mayan empire.

The actual site location is strategically placed in a position of great energetic power that matches the natural energy ley line crossing points on the earth. There was no natural water source located there, so the Mayan’s engineered an elaborate system of aquaducts and resevoir pools to bring water from afar and keep the city with a readily available supply of water.

The temples have also been built to match up with star constellations, and earth cycles that are recorded and held sacred within the Mayan calender.

Our guide Louis, was an amazing Guatemalan medicine man/Mayan Timekeeper. He was just a wealth of knowledge on the traditional ways of the Mayan people, their spirituality, and how the Mayan ways match-up and interconnect with spiritually advanced cultures around the world. We couldn’t have had a better guide, he was teaching us about plants and animals as well, spotting them and pointing them out to us when we would’ve otherwise just passed them by. Amazing!

We saw Howler monkey’s in the treetops and a coatimundi, which is essentially a jungle racoon. I caught them both on video which you can view on YouTube by clicking on the following links:

Howler Monkey Video

Coatimundi Jungle Raccoon Video

The main plaza of Tikal was an incredible site to see. The harmonics were incredible. Louis informed us that the temples structures had been specifically designed to create harmonic amplification so that the king or whomever was speaking to the people in the plaza could easily be heard by all participants. A single clap of the hands would echo and be heard all around as though it were coming from all directions.

Here’s a link to my video mix of various temples at Tikal including the main plaza.

Tikal Temple Video Mix

Here are some pictures below that were taken throughout the site.

Until next time, Peace & Prosperity,

~Jambhala

I went on a trek with Mark and some other tourists we met in town a few days previously. Our journey was to the Rio Frio caves and to some secret waterfall spots.

It took a lot of driving on dirt roads and ended up raining too so things were muddy. The rain slowed down when we got to the jungle path to start our hike to the caves.

The hike wasn’t very far, but we took our time exploring the jungle’s flora, and Max (Our Mayan guide) taught us about the medicinal plant and trees, and even handed out some herbs to chew on while we journeyed.

He showed us an ant hill of leaf cutter ants which are huge! They seemed quite docile in general though, just heavily focused on working. Max also showed us how to eat termites, and taught us that each type of termite has a different flavour. The ones we found tasted like carrots.

It was amazing to see how abundant the rainforest really is. There is such a diversity of plant life. There’s supposedly a real diversity of animals as well, but so far I haven’t seen too many. I guess they were laying low in the rain.

When we got to the Rio Frio cave we were very happy, because it just started to rain harder as we took cover in the cave. We didn’t stay too long before going around to the other side of the cave. It was beautiful. Take a look at the pictures of the cave with the river flowing out of it, and also the texture of the cave walls.

We also went to a few waterfall areas where the rocks were very slippery when wet. Both of the girls that had come on the trek ended up falling a few times, and one of them hurt herself quite badly when she fell on her wrist and pulled a muscle or something.

All in all it was a very good trek, and I had great fun, but I’m still looking forward to some sunny days in the jungle and to see some animals,

Max suggested that we go with him to the Chiquibul forest reserve to camp in hammocks and watch the wildlife. I think I’m going to take him up on that offer at some point.

This Sunday I’ll be going to Tikal, the giant mayan city in Guatemala. That’ll be fun.

Peace,
Jambhala

I’ve been here in San Ignacio, Belize now for over a week and I’m enjoying myself immensely.

Ok, so I must admit that I haven’t done a lot of exploring yet or anything. My first few days were spent trying to get our internet working to speed, and finding a work-around to get Skype working (It seems the telecommunications company BTL, blocks the use of any VoIP systems so they can keep charging high rates for their services). With a bit of patience and effort, we got our internet working, and I found that using a free VPN software called HotSpot Shield allows you to have an encrypted data tunnel that lets you use Skype without BTL being able to block it. It slows your connection speeds down a little, but at least we have Skype working now.

Once I got that internet stuff configured and working, I’ve been online a lot catching up on business work. However, I have been able to enjoy nice warm weather, and using my laptop outside on the back porch. Definitely a much better office than being inside during cold Canadian winter weather. No offense to those who still must deal with such a climate.

It’s actually been quite cold here according to the Belizeans I’ve talked to. I was wondering why they were all wearing jackets and hoodies when we first got here. It was raining a lot the first few days, but I was happily walking in the rain wearing a t-shirt, while the locals were saying these are some of their coldest days.

I guess it’s all relative to the temperatures you’re used to. It’s probably a good thing though, because it’ll allow me the time to adapt more gradually to the really hot temperatures that are assuredly on the way.

As for the Eco-community, we’re still working on pre-selling some of the homes so we can get the infrastructure setup. I went with the team a few days ago to the site, but it started pouring rain when we got there, so we didn’t do too much walking around, in fact we just drove through and then left.  We’ll be heading back there again on a sunny day to do some real exploring and take some pictures and video.

~Jambhala

Jan 5

In the morning after a great sleep, everyone felt refreshed and ready for the day. This is the first day that we’re not travelling anywhere out of town.

We got up to see 3-4 toucans in the trees at the back of the beautiful San Ignacio Hotel. I finally had a moment to appreciate in daylight the beauty of the jungle and the hotel was incredible as well, with a beautiful pool, pillars, and a back patio with a great view into the trees.

We had some more Belikin beers for breakfast, met up with Brigitte, our Belizean ecologist on the team, and then went to the Saturday market to get groceries for the party we were planning that evening.

The market was fabulous, filled with fresh local vegetables, fruits, spices, fish, shrimp, and many other things as well. There are also many stores downtown with just about everything you could ever need, including lots of Chinese markets.

We purchased the essentials for dinner and partying, then went back to the hotel to get our stuff and move into the house which supposedly had the bees cleaned out.

When we got to the house, it looked great, with nice hardwood walls, floors, a large back deck with two picnic tables, and a laundry room (much needed at this point in the trip). We started preparing the food, and getting things ready for our party. Matt and Arlene had found an RV park close by, but were coming over later.

We had a vegetable stir fry with shrimp and rice on the side. Delicious, and with Belikin beers, 1 Barrel rum with water and lime, and Tequila on offer to drink. The party was enjoyable as we all felt very relaxed as settling into our new home for awhile, and getting to just chat about our travel adventures on the road.

~Jambhala

Jan 4

Our big day upon us, the day we reach our primary destination Belize. We all got up relatively early, and stocked up on supplies that are unattainable or high priced in Belize. Then we headed for the border. It was easy crossing the Belize border. We first had to check in our vehicle stickers and insurance from Mexico, get our passports stamped and return our tourist visas, then get our vehicles sprayed (costs $10 BZE and is necessary to prevent a disease that kills palm trees), then the process of getting across the Belize border.

As an individual walking over it’s easy. Just go through to get your passport stamped, and your bags searched (If the bag searcher is on duty, which he wasn’t when we went through.

As a vehicle driver, you need to get your vehicle customs papers completed stamped, and then walk all your bags through the border first, so that your vehicle is empty (Leave your bags with a friend). Then walk back across to your vehicle and drive through with your vehicle spray papers, and your customs papers, and insurance if you got it beforehand (There are vehicle insurance booths before and just after the border crossings, and the road checks for insurance are further down the road).

It went smoothly. Mark and I had got our insurance papers before crossing, while Arlene and Matt had got theirs afterwards. We waiting for Matt and Arlene and then they came out with the stickers to put on their vehicles.

That’s when Mark and I realized we never got our insurance stickers. So in a bit of fluster we went into the insurance place there and told them that the insurance guy on the Mexican side of the border forgot to give us insurance stickers. The insurance agent said he couldn’t give us stickers because he worked for a different company. Dang!

So Mark and I, walked back with our paperwork, told the border guys our story, and walked back to the booth that we’d paid our insurance at. When we told them our story, they said that the insurance guy had gone for lunch and would be back soon. Ugh! So we had no choice but to wait by a sign that said “No Loitering”. We waited for awhile talking a bit with the customs broker, and waited and waited. It was probably 45 minutes when we were getting tired of waiting that we asked one of the guys whether we really needed a sticker or not. The guy said we probably didn’t, and that as long as we had the receipt, it should be fine. We agreed, and headed back over the border to drive on.

We went through a check point where the policeman asked for our insurance and explaining the deal, the policeman told us that some insurance companies give stickers and other don’t. Lesson learned.

After that we went to Corozal to drink our first Belikin beers in celebration. MmmMMMmm MMMM delicious. A full-bodied beer that reminded me of the craft beers from BC. After having Mexican beer for the past while, this was a delicacy. We ate some lunch, took some pictures and then got back on the road to continue on to San Ignacio.

Belize is really small, and the roads have very little traffic in comparison to Mexico, so this last stretch seemed a bit easier. Of course their was still some mishaps. I rode with Mark in the Jeep for this last stretch, and it appeared that everyone else volted off ahead, leaving us in the dust. However, we later found out that they got lost while we took the right road onto the highway.

We then got worried as we came up to a bridge toll and neither of us had any Belizean nor US money with us. I had 20 Mexican pesos, and luckily the guy took it and gave me back 1 BZE in change. Then we missed the turn off that provides a short cut past Belize city, so we had to go through it. It was an interesting place to see driving through, but it didn’t seem like any kind of tourist destination. Too many people, and not much of interest, so we just went right through as fast as we could.

Darkness fell as we started entering the real jungle area of Belize. It was getting hard to see, as the rain started and the window kept fogging up. The roads were winding up and down, and the edges of the streets eroded and crumbling away. There also seemed to be a lot of people on bicycles with no reflectors as well as people on foot in dark clothing that would be crossing the street.

We finally got to San Ignacio where we had vague directions to get to the house we had rented. We stopped at the Texaco station which had been one of the reference points, and called Mig. Mig showed up a few moments later and then Jane and Jess. That’s when we discovered that the house had had a bee infestation that was getting taken care of, and that we had to stay at the San Ignacio hotel instead. It was just down the road, so we all went down there got our rooms, and then went for some drinks, dinner, and rest for the night.

~Jambhala