Exploring Belize

My wife, Renate, and I traveled to Belize, Jan. 16-31, 2008. All arrangements for this trip were made through companies found on the Belize Tourism Board’s website (www.travelbelize.org; click on “Places to Stay”). The site offers hundreds of hotels, resorts, etc., and we were really lucky with the ones I mention and recommend them.

We spent the first three days at the Embassy Hotel & Mission House (Airport Ring Road, Ladyville, Belize; phone 011 501 225 3333, www.embassyhotelbelize.com), right across from the airport.

Managed and owned by John Collier and his wife, Judy, this hotel serves mainly mission-connected persons. (Sometimes they have youth groups from the U.S., but during our visit there was a Methodist group from Iowa working with prison inmates, a Cuban pilot whose plane was in repair and a Canadian looking for a place to establish his business in Belize. We had fantastic conversations late into the night.)

The rate was $49 per room plus 9% taxes. Breakfast cost $5 and dinner, $10.

Mr. Collier was very helpful and arranged our tours. First we took a trip to the Mayan ruins of Lamanai. To get there we had to use a boat, which cost $40 per person to travel along the “New River.” Our captain talked about the many birds, iguanas and crocodiles along the shores.

1,000 years ago about one million Maya lived in Belize; now there are fewer than 300,000 residents, about 11% of them Maya. Lamanai was the longest-inhabited Mayan city. After a good lunch, included in the tour price, we walked through these once-magnificent ruins, above us a troop of howler monkeys expressing their disgust at our visit.

Before returning to the hotel, we visited the ruins of Atun Ha, a well-kept historical site.

The next day we visited the museum in Belize City and Old Belize. Both places are very informative.

Our next stop was the Iguana Creek Resort (Milepost 56 1/2, Cayo District, Belize; phone 505 865 6622, www.iguanacreek.com), owned and operated by Dr. Larry Johnson, a retired chiropractor from New Mexico, along with his wife, Sunny. Including tours, etc., eight days here came to $1,501 for two, with a senior discount (I’m 81).

We were the only guests during this one-week stay, and Larry took extremely good care of us. His place has several hundred acres and includes some Mayan ruins and a herd of 19 Arabian horses which can be used by guests.

One of our goals was to visit Caracol, the once-mighty Mayan kingdom that could defeat even the mighty city of Tikal. We had missed it on previous trips when visiting Tikal, Copán and other Mayan sites.

The conditions of the road to Caracol were terrible, and heavy rains the day before made it even worse. Our jeep, driven by Dr. Johnson as a favor to us, broke down and we had to walk the last stretch. No wonder tour prices to these remote sites are so high! But it was an unforgettable day.

Visits to Cahal Pech (Place of the Ticks) and Xunantunich the next day were much easier and on better roads; we even rode a hand-cranked ferry. Both places were well kept.

The last Mayan site we visited was El Pilar. Again, the road was in such terrible condition that we had to walk the last two miles. This site had very little excavation and was a good example of how most of these sites looked before being rediscovered.

We spent the next four days in the All Seasons Guesthouse (P.O. Box 251, Dangriga, Stann Creek District, Belize, Central America; phone 501 523 7209, www.all seasonsbelize.com) in Hopkins.

Owned and operated by Ingrid Stahl, it is a nice, clean place just a little over 300 feet from the ocean. Rooms started at $39 plus 9% tax.

Hopkins is a small community, and most residents belong to the Garifuna tribe. Unfortunately, the beach in Hopkins was not the cleanest, but nearby beaches and of course the cayos offered divers and snorkelers the best opportunities to experience the wonders of the world’s second-largest coral reef.

On our last full day in Hopkins we boarded a private catamaran in Sittee River Village for a day of sailing. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

Ingrid Stahl had recommended Captain Alan Stewart (phone 501 606 4590 or e-mail bocaturabank@yahoo.com) and his very comfortable boat, Toucan Play. The price of $50 each for this 8-hour trip included a good meal, snacks and drinks. We felt it was a bargain.

We spent our last night at the Embassy Hotel again.

Because of the Mayan legacy and the reefs, we found Belize an interesting country.

I.F. HARDER

Ashville, AL