Belize on a budget

My family and friends (3 adults & 2 teens) just returned from a Belize/Guatemala trip. Ours was a bit lower budget. We are pretty frugal and willing to skip some amenities. We also went in the rainy season and skipped making reservations.

Upon arriving in Belize City, we took a cab to the bus station and a bus (not express) to San Ignacio. It was a long hot trip with many stops along the way but it was a good experience (and cheap). We stayed at Parrot Nest for less than $50 a night per cabin. No A/C but this was an experience all of its own. There were 10 visitors total and we got together each evening to discuss our excursions. The friendship we shared was one of our highlights. ATM was great and Hodies is a must-eat stop! a local guy in Bullet Tree Falls (Tony Chuc, brother of the cook at Parrot Nest) took us on a great tour, where we cave canoed/swam and a waterfall, where we swam some more.

We took a colectivo to Flores, Guatemala and stayed there for a couple of days. Tikal was great and we were able to take a private tour (of sorts) into a pyramid to see hieroglyphs and bones - Way cool! Our hotel in Flores charged us $55 for a room with three beds, which the 5 of us shared.

Another colectivo to Belize city and a water taxi to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. We splurged there and rented 2 suites on the beach. We were there for 4 days and caught up on our rest. We did, however, take some time for snorkeling (Shark Ray Alley and Hol Chan with Lil' Alfonse as our guide) and sailing a small catamaran with the kids. We flew a single engine prop back to Belize City but not to the international airport (sort of), to the municipal airport. That saved us $35 each. We then took a cab to the international airport for $5 each. The funny thing is we had to stop at the international airport first but weren't allowed to get out.

Great time! I defiantly recommend it. The rainy season means no reservations are required. We have always talked about just showing up but this was our first time to do so. We only got rained on once. It did rain just about every night but not until after we were safe in bed.