hopefulist

I'm just beginning to plan but there are a few things that keep surfacing. I'll probably travel with a group in tow for part of the trip; I think we'll study Spanish and volunteer and hike in the Boquete area for 2 weeks. They'll fly home and my husband will spend the rest of the time with me (or maybe we'll do that part first). I'm a diver but haven't figured out if I'll hit Bocas or splurge on something on the Pacific side. We'll likely rent a car to take in the Azuero Peninsula (there are some folk festivals that interest me, especially one in Ocú in July) and the Veraguas province where our son was a community service worker in 2004-05 (we want to meet his friends and family there). We'll probably spend a few days in Panama City and a few in Kuna Yala. Whether we hit more places will depend on how much time we have - may 5 weeks total for both parts. Happy trails!

Patty

Sounds like a nice trip. I've just started researching too. We'll have much less time so I was thinking of concentrating on the central areas easily accessible from Panama City. Time to read more trip reports. Happy planning!

volcanogirl

Patty, your pictures are beautiful. Thanks for posting them. I'm a CR girl, but Belize is on my radar.

Patty

Thanks, volcanogirl!

Linda137

These ARE great photos! A rope to hold onto at Lamanai is new (to me) and much needed in my opinion. The howlers are so cute and plentiful there. Lamanai Outpost looks great - your photos are better than those on the websites promoting them.

Can't believe how much Caye Caulker has changed. The place you stayed at looks great but there was nothing like that when we were there.

We loved the sand streets and golf carts when we were in San Pedro. We stayed 3 miles north so renting a golf cart to go find some action became our routine. Each crossing on the hand-drawn ferry (not there any more) was an experience. In town, we never knew how many little kids would jump on the back of the cart when we slowed down for corners. My boyfriend would try to drive fast and swerve to get a reaction out of them but they would just giggle and eat up the attention. Those were some of the most happy, trusting children I've ever encountered.

Patty

Thanks, Linda! How long ago were you last there? In 1995 we only stopped at Caye Caulker on a day trip so didn't notice as much of a change. One thing we didn't remember seeing before were the vendors set up on the side of the streets this time.

Leely2

Patty, I found this via the Africa board. Beautiful pictures and I'm sad to hear about the deterioration of the coral reef. Also, I didn't know about Bunnie and Clyde. Sometime I will have to tell you abut the horrible Faye Dunaway incident I had last year.

Great trip and of course another wonderful, well-edited, informational report! Many thanks.

Sincerely,
Leely
Emeritus, Cheap Trips Gang

Patty

Good to hear from you, Leely! I thought you knew about B&C? Didn't I threaten to give them to you? I remember something about stewed rabbits in Madeira sauce too

The cheap trips gang needs to come out of retirement. Glad you enjoyed the photos and report and I need to hear that Faye Dunaway story.

RAC

Bookmarking this one--we'll be looking out for that tayra when we visit the LOL in February.

Great report

Patty

Have a great trip, RAC!

juansebastiangaviota

I stayed at Thatch Caye in southern Belize a few months ago (it is very close to South Water Caye) and my wife and I found some of the snorkeling areas very pristine with bright and healthy coral while some others, especially the shallow water ones, were somewhat more stressed but still filled with life and great beauty. The small area right around Tobacco Caye channel is bleached to some extent but since the channel is the main entryway for fish to go in and out and since it is jam packed with sting rays, we did not mind. The guides at Thatch Caye were top notch and they told us that corals all along the barrier reef are suffering for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to,an el Ñino warming of Pacific and Caribbean waters event that happened about ten years ago, industrialization and pollution of carbon into the atmosphere where it gets sequestered into the oceans and forms carbolic acid which ruins the ph levels for corals and actually creates an acidic eating of the coral surfaces, overfishing of grazers by spearfishermen like the parrot fish which is still consumed in Belize, siltation from rivers where development of huge citrus farms, shrimp farms, and large hotels and condos have taken place, and overuse of reef areas by careless tourists and fishermen who break and touch corals with startling regularity.

So, all in all, I would say that southern Belize is in much better shape than many of the areas up north, but it is starting to feel the stresses of development and natural degradations that are world wide in their scope. I was interested to hear that one of the owners of Thatch Caye is on the committee to protect the South Water Caye Marine Reserve and that he is fighting a lot of the old ways and habits of development in the Caribbean and trying to find a different solution based on ecotourism for that area. May he succeed and may all of us plan our vacations to areas where degradation of natural areas is not a secondary effect of hotels and tourist traps not having any vision for their development.

Patty

juansebastiangaviota,
Thanks for your comments on the reef conditions around Thatch. We're actually heading there the first week of Jan so this gives me an idea of what to expect.

joeyi

I just found this and also want to thank juansebastiangaviota for his report as I too will be at Thatch with Patty and Mark in Jan.