volcanogirl

The VGs didn't go to Costa Rica this trip! After reading through a number of posts on the board and doing a little research, we decided to give Belize a whirl. Wow, we loved it! Highly, highly recommend for anyone who hasn't been there before. We love Costa Rica so much that I was a little nervous that we would be disappointed going somewhere else, but with all your reassurances, we took the plunge, and our trip was amazing! Thanks to everyone who provided me with ideas and tips. All your suggestions were really helpful, and we really appreciate your pointing us in the right direction. I can't say enough good things about how wonderful Belize is.

Like most people, we decided to do a split between the jungle and beach areas. We decided to do the jungly area first because we thought it might be a little rougher there, and that it would be nice to end the trip by relaxing on the beach.

We got off to a rough start (as usual!) Big storms moved through the area as we were boarding the plane, so we got stuck on the tarmac for about an hour. Huge downpours and big wind gusts that had the plane rocking. We were all pretty happy when we finally took off. Turns out it's only a 2 hour direct flight for us, and they don't do Daylight Savings Time in Belize. The clock only showed one hour had passed when we landed. We were excited to land and get going - just had to go through immigration/customs/get luggage etc. The airport is relatively small. We sat waiting for our luggage for a really long time - waiting, waiting, waiting - watching other people pick up their bags and head off. More waiting. Finally someone from the airport came and told us that one of the luggage bins was stuck, and they couldn't get it open. It was kind of funny that such a low-tech problem had us stranded for so long, but they finally pried it open, and we got our luggage - hurrah!

Customs and immigration was a breeze. The woman asked my husband where we were staying, and he said, "First Chaa Creek and then Victoria House." She asked him, "Who planned your trip?" And he replied that his wife had planned it, and she responded, "Your wife deserves a prize! She's picked two of the best lodges in Belize." She didn't know we had the entire Fodor's board behind us helping us decide where to go! After getting the thumbs up from Ms. Immigration, we were even more excited to get going and discover this beautiful country. It's funny how little people know about Belize. We told people we were going there, and several didn't know where it was; a few even asked what country it's in! We think Belize needs to up their P.R. budget, or maybe they just want to keep it a well-guarded secret! My luggage got inspected as usual. I must have a suspicious look about me. People always comment on how wholesome I look, but for some reason those inspectors never trust me! We got the all clear and walked outside ready to start our adventure.

We were greeted by our driver from Chaa Creek. He was holding a C.C. sign in his hand, so he was easy to spot. Very friendly driver. We saw an interesting woman on the way out - she had a long red dress on and a white head covering, found out later that there's a big Mennonite community in Belize, and that all the woman wear that distinctive style of dress. I was kind of surprised to see her at an airport since I thought they shunned technology, but our driver told us they actually embrace technology and run several successful businesses in the area.

The drive was nice - about 2 hours, and it started off with very flat, scrubby land and got increasingly more hilly and lush. We passed shrimp and tilapia farms, teak orchards, and a number of small towns. Lots of soccer fields. A number of businesses with Chinese names like Chang's Grocery, etc. Our driver said there's a fairly large Chinese population there as well. It was fun to be discovering a new country. I hadn't realized that Belize has such diversity.

Our driver alluded to the fact that we would get a free butt massage during our trip. We kind of laughed and wondered what that was about. Well, towards the end of the trip, we turned onto a really bumpy dirt road, the road to Chaa Creek that's off the main highway. "Time for your free butt massage" proclaimed our driver! And we started bump, bump, bumping along! Really bumpy!!!! The funniest thing about that road is that someone has erected speed bumps on it! Seriously! This is about the bumpiest road I've ever seen, and there are several signs that warn "Caution Speed Bump." The driver said that someone lives along the road and didn't like all the dust stirred up by the people driving down the road, so they hired someone to come in and build speed bumps there!

We also passed a huge, beautiful home on a hill. Our driver said it was owned by "The Toilet Paper King of Belize" - apparently that's a good business to be in! It was still light out when we made it to Chaa Creek, and we were taken to reception. Wow, the property is beautiful! I don't think the pictures really do it justice - it's hilly and pretty with a nice open air restaurant and bar and a beautiful pool. The cottages are all different styles. As we were taken to ours, we walked pass hummingbirds, beautiful flowers, and clouds of white butterflies. Apparently the butterflies are seasonal, but it looked like something out of a Disney movie where Snow White has little birds and butterflies flitting around her head. There's also a river that runs along the edge of the property.

We were taken to our cabin, and we thought it was gorgeous. It had a large private deck, two hammocks, an outdoor seating area, a king-sized bed, couch, nice high palapa ceiling, lots of pretty wood, a desk, and an armoire. It was warm and muggy, so I was glad to see the big ceiling fan, and a huge electric fan that we could plug in. Lots of nice amenities like robes and a blow dryer, one of those shampoo and soap dispensers that you see in CR, and the room was decorated with tropical flowers. The housekeeping staff had made a towel sculpture of two swans, and they were decorated with fresh hibiscus flowers. So even though we were "roughing it," it wasn't very rough! Interestingly, there are no keys, a la Bosque del Cabo; there's a lock for you to turn once you're inside the cabin, but if you're outside it remains unlocked. There is a safe if you decide to use it, and we tucked out passports into it.

We decided to shower and change and then head off to dinner. I went into the bathroom and discovered that I had Osa hair! I have not seen my hair look like that since the Osa Peninsula, and I think it's good that I don't live there full time! My husband starts calling me jungle girl. The bathroom is pretty big with a nice shower. After all the traveling, it was nice to finally be able to sit down and just relax. My husband and I joke that we'll probably fall asleep by 9:00p.m. Despite staying up late at home, it seems that the jungle always wipes us out, and we fall asleep way too early.

ShellD

Brings back memories! Love Chaa Creek! And love Belize! I'm looking forward to reading about your adventures there!!!

volcanogirl

Shell, you were one of the reason we picked it! And we were pretty thrilled with the choice!

I forgot to mention that we bought our Chaa package on Luxury Link. We bid on the package, and no one else bid on it, so for under $800 we got 4 nights in a great cottage, breakfast included every day, a dinner for two, a $100 activity credit, plus free birdwatching, etc. I'd definitely use Luxury Link again. Big thumbs up for them!

So on to dinner. Chaa is set up so that you can dine anytime from 6:30-9:00p.m. Most people eat their meals on the property since the lodge is rather isolated. Each day they leave a little newsletter in your room that shows the night's menu choices, usually a beef, a chicken or fish, and something vegetarian. The meals are set up as 4 course meals, but you don't have to do all of them if you don't want to. We never wanted soup the entire time we were there. It was just too hot outside to consider eating soup, although I'm sure it was delicious. The first night my husband had lamb with veggies, and I had seafood stew with coconut rice. I also had a yummy salad with balsamic dressing. Everything tasted very fresh and homemade. Each night they started us off with a little surprise appetizer and awesome homemade bread. Tonight's little teaser was a single nacho topped with fresh veggies, beans, and surprisingly Parmesan cheese - never saw cheddar the entire time we were there. The food was really good. I've never been a big fan of "hotel" food, but this was great, delicious in fact. We had our first Belekin, the Belize version of the classic Imperial. We were starting to feel at home. The dining room is open air and filled with candlelight. Nice setting, and once the sun goes down, it starts to cool off. We decide to split the chocolate cake with ice cream - cake wasn't that great, but the ice cream was wonderful. Nice way to wind down and relax.

All of a sudden, there's a very high-pitched whistling sound, almost like an alarm. They tell us it's locusts. We have locusts back home, but I've never heard anything like that! The jungle always brings a lot of intriguing sounds. We head back to the cabin and as predicted, fall asleep at 9:00p.m. sharp. The bed is really cozy. I had move the giant electric fan to be right beside the bed, and it does a good job of moving the air around, and it's actually pretty comfortable. We're off to Guatemala in the morning to explore Tikal.

janenicole

Off to a great start! Love reading the details.

Katie_Valk

Cicadas, not locusts. Chaa Creek is one of my favorite places in Belize. Enjoy.

hipvirgochick

vgirl -- I haven't been following the Belize forum. I didn't even realize you left and returned! Did you go while I was in CR? Loving the report so far...sounds wonderful! In CR there are both locusts and cicadas...so I imagine the same for Belize depending on the time of year?

volcanogirl

Thanks, guys - hip, you and I were traveling about at the same time. Seems like we do that every year! We'll have to trade notes - Belize for Ylang Ylang!

So, for day 2, the birds started chirping at 5:00a.m. on the dot. Very hard to sleep late in the jungle. I had set up a tour to Tikal with Pacz tours because the prices were a lot more affordable than Chaa. Our guide was set to pick us up at 7:15 and arrived really promptly. Since free breakfast was included in our plan, the lodge packed up breakfast in a box for us. I love those - you never know what you'll get in that little white box! This time we got little loaves of banana bread with delicious fresh fruit like pineapple and papaya and mango. Chaa has big mango trees that grow all over the property. Good stuff. Here's a link to the tour that we did.

http://www.pacztours.net/pages/tours/tikal.html


I'm excited to head to Tikal because we'll get to see a little bit of Guatemala. The drive there is pretty uneventful. Our guide handles the border crossing and payments. A Guatemalan driver greets us on the other side. I ask to use the restroom before we head off to Tikal. The bathroom is clean, but there's no toilet paper in any of the stalls. There's an odd sign in there, "Please do not flush toilet with your feet!" It's not the first time I see a sign like that on our trip. Is that a common problem?!

On our tour, we are joined by another couple and a woman who has a thick Easter European accent who spoke little English. We're joking with the other couple that the best thing about these tours is riding in the air conditioned van! That seems like such a treat! We pass several beautiful lakes on the way to Tikal, and we stop at a neat little shop where you can buy crafts, coffee, etc. We pass a Mennonite community, and our guide makes reference to the "Millionites" that live there - earning the nickname because they're so successful in their business ventures. We pass a national park of some kind and see signs that indicate jaguars crossing - wish we could be so lucky, but no sightings for us. Our guide tells us that he has seen them crossing the road in the area so apparently it's a good spot for a sighting. A girl can dream!

We have to pull over at a police checkpoint and wonder what that's all about. Once we reach the other side of the park, we have to pull over again. The driver said that this is how they check to make sure you're not exceeding the speed limit. They actually write down what time you enter and leave and can thereby calculate how fast you were going while you were driving - good way to check speeds with very little manpower!

While we are pulled over, I glance in the back and see that the Eastern European woman riding with us is wearing a full-on windbreaker parka with hood and she has the hood on her head with the little strings pulled tightly under her chin. Only her eyes are visible. Apparently she doesn't like the air conditioning as much as the rest of us! I turn the a.c. down, but boy, was it good while it lasted!

After about 2 hours, we arrive at Tikal. It's a huge complex, really interesting with impressive architecture. You really get to explore quite a lot here and climb the pyramids. There are beautiful views, and still several areas that aren't excavated where you can see the tops of pyramids peeking out from under the vines. Our guide tells us that he has to have 100 hours of continuous education each year to keep his license. He really has an in-depth knowledge. He shows us each of the buildings, and it's amazing how you can climb all over these ancient structures. One of them is closed because tourists have died climbing it - very steep with no handrails whatsoever; you definitely would never see anything like this in the states. Too much potential for lawsuits.

We do see a lot of wildlife in the park. First off, we spot wild oscillated turkeys that have gorgeous blue, green, and red feathers. Never seen those before. As we stop to buy a cold drink at the little drink stand, we spot an Aracari feeding her babies in a hollowed out tree. Little beaks keep emerging from the opening in the tree. Later we spot spider monkeys swinging overhead. I'm so glad we got to see monkeys; they're a favorite of mine and so fun to watch. I wasn't sure we would see any on this trip! The ruins are impressive, particularly a huge carved stone head that shows their rain god. A little creepy to see the stone where people were sacrificed, but fascinating at the same time. The final pyramid we climb has a beautiful view, and we stop to take some pictures. Very glad we went here and definitely worth doing. It wasn't all that crowded, and we did spot a lot of wildlife, so I'm okay with our decision not to stay overnight.

As we're walking to our lunch spot, we pass a big tree that our guide calls the tourist tree. He asks us why we think it got that name, and we noticed that it has red peeling bark. They think it looks like all the tourists who come over and get sunburned! Belizian humor!

Lunch is good - pretty simple but very tasty roasted chicken with squash on the side. After lunch, we get in the van to head back to Chaa. The driver gets so close to things in the road, but amazingly never hits anything. If there's a dog asleep in the road, he will pull right up to it to get it to move. Same thing with pigs, horses, etc. We can't believe how close he gets, but it seems like all the animals know the drill and get up to move. We spot a coati on the side of the road, and they let us pull over to take pictures. They are too cute! We make it back to Chaa in one piece and head back to our cabin. We see agoutis running all over the property - another lucky wildlife sighting that makes us pretty happy!

JeanH

Reading your trip report is such fun. Wish I could write like that.

volcanogirl

Thanks, Jean - you were a big help with my trip planning. By the way, I meant Eastern accent up there, not Easter accent - lol!

So dinner tonight is filet mignon for me, and snapper for my husband. Later on we learn that if you want two entrees, you can do a split with a smaller portion of each, or you can even order off the lunch menu if you want to save money. Chaa Creek is all about flexibility. We run into one of the front desk operators named Onil and talk to him about doing some tours, and he immediately says, "Okay, Mr. and Mrs. VG in cabin X" - already knows on sight our names and cabin number. To me, that's really what this place is all about - great service and kind of an intimate environment. Love it! The Belizean people are a little more quiet than those in CR, but they are friendly. To me, they almost have a sort of quiet dignity. You don't pay for a thing while you're here; just mention your room number, and it all gets put onto one bill for the end of the trip. I ask Onil about how our free dinner will be handled, and he says, "I just look at your bill and remove the most expensive one!"

Dinner's starter is a piece of sushi - I'm not a huge fan, and this is a little unexpected, sushi in the jungle! I have a great salad with honey lime dressing followed by the filet which is delicious. After years of having chewy beef in CR, this one is more like home. Tonight's bread is beer bread; my husband is nuts for bread, so he's pretty happy. We split carrot cake for dessert. To us, it's a little dry and not sweet enough, but that's probably just our American palates. Everything else is delicious. As we head back to our cabin, we see that one of the night hikes is starting. A dozen people in headlamps are strolling around the gardens. They start running toward us, and I see that's there's a little animal in front of them. They are right on its heels, and it's headed straight for our cabin! I can't quite figure out what it is. At first I think opossum, but as it turns toward us, it has a face with big dopey eyes, like a sloth. What the heck is this thing? And me without my camera! This is where I learned my lesson - never go to dinner or anyplace without toting the camera along because you never know what's going to happen. My husband dashes into the cabin to grab it, and I'm excited that this cute little guy is headed right for me until the guide yells, "Mexican porcupine!" And then I realize it can hurl quills at me. It's really on the run so I'm not too worried. My husband runs back out and I get a great picture of the porcupine's behind as it dashes off into the darkness. Definitely put the night hike on the to do list! We go back to the cabin to relax. I can't say enough about how much we love this cabin. To combat the heat, we pick up a bag of ice at the bar - there are nice metal ice buckets in the rooms, and the ice is actually still there in the morning. I crank up the big electric fan and we drift blissfully off to sleep.

sharie

I love reading your report - it makes me want to go back! I remember there was no cheese whatsoever in Belize, only cheeze whiz (interesting). Looking forward to reading more... do you have any pictures?

volcanogirl

sharie, that's funny about the cheese thing. Our guide also told us that there are no American fast food chains in Belize either. We've seen them all over CR, so that surprised me. We did see a Subway in Belize City, but it had gone out of business. Some issue of the government making them buy their meat in Belize than rather importing it from the U.S. I'm kind of glad not to see them.

On to day 3, which started with an early morning birding hike. These are free, and you can do as many as you want to. We saw a bat falcon, a crimson collared tanager (beautiful!), a chacalaca, gray-necked wood rails (sound like chickens!), red-billed pigeons, a huge bunch of olive-throated parakeets that are pretty chirpy, rufous-tailed hummingbirds, a golden-fronted woodpecker, a yellow-olive flycatcher, royal flycatcher (this one is really cool!), tropical peewee (isn't that a great name?!), lots of social flycatchers, a sulphur-bellied flycatcher, tropical kingbird, a masked tityra, a yellow-green vireo, brown jays, a band-backed wren, spot-breasted wren, clay-colored robins, a yellow-winged tanager, buff-throated and black-headed saltators, tons of melodious blackbirds that are appropriately named, and yellow-throated and scrub euphonias. Our guide is named Meshack; I'm probably slaughtering the spelling, but he really knows his stuff and is fun to walk around with. We have another couple on our tour. They are much more die-hard than we are and have a lot of birdy knowledge. They ask us if we are birdy nerdy! The woman gets really excited whenever she sees anything - they have life lists and all that. They're fun to tag along with. Meshack also shows us some interesting plants. One is this cool grass that grows all over the ground. He tells us to touch it, and when we do, all of the blades and leaves immediately close up. Sort of magical. We all run our hands and feet over the grass marveling as we watch it move. Looks like something from a Harry Potter movie. There's another plant with big fruit in it, and we ask him the name. "Horse balls!" Isn't that funny? The fruit kind of grows in clusters. A lot of technical names here in Belize - tourist tree, horse balls - lol! We see some big iguanas strolling around the property. We thank M. and head off to breakfast.

This is the first time we'll have a real sit-down breakfast. You can get any kind of eggs, toast, sausage, bacon, fruit, etc. I get the special of the day - Huevos Rancheros with avocado and refried beans. My husband orders French toast. His comes with this incredible mango jam. The server tells me that it's homemade - yum, it tastes like it. Mine comes with a little bowl of sauce on the side. It looks suspiciously red and hot and spicy. I ask the server if it's hot, and he says, "It's not too hot for me..." I dip a fork in and taste it - turns out it's habanero sauce. It is fiery! I eat jalapenos and things like that, but this one has me reaching for my water glass! Breakfast, as expected is good, and we head back to the cabin to relax in the hammocks on the patio. There are two of them, and they are huge, colorful, and really cozy. We have two other hikes scheduled for the day so want to relax while we can. We are really lucky with the weather. No rain. It is pretty warm during the day, and without a.c., we decide that we'll hit the pool for the first time later in the day. Chaa has a beautiful new swimming pool that looks really inviting.

wanatrvl

I'm glad you decided to give Belize a visit but I wondered if you'd like it as much as Costa Rica. Sounds like you had a great time! Hmm...I never saw the signs to not flush the toilet with your feet. Pretty funny. Did you get to take the ATM tour?

Toucan2

I loved Belize. I keep thinking we will make it back but other places have diverted us! I'm so glad you enjoyed your trip.

volcanogirl

wanna, I did like it as much as Costa Rica, but I like different things about each country. I really love the active volcano, waterfalls, and abundant wildlife of CR, but Belize seemed to have more history/culture to explore, and wow, the beach (yet to come!) was amazing. We decided that our ideal trip would be Arenal and Ambergris, but I guess that would take a little maneuvering.

We had lots of funny bathroom encounters. At the border crossing, there was a handicapped stall in the women's restroom with a sign saying "Warning $25 fine for non-handicapped use" but the bathroom had a huge chain and padlock wrapped around it. Even a handicapped person couldn't have used it. At Tikal, there was no toilet paper in the stalls whatsoever. After I got out, I saw a toilet paper dispenser OUTSIDE the stall. I learned to always carry a napkin or Kleenex tucked into my pocket.

volcanogirl

Toucan, we really loved it too; I don't think I ever would have tried it if it weren't for this board.

Ah, so the pool! It's really pretty - an infinity pool with pretty glass metallic tile and a water wall in front. They have an area where you can get massages by the pool if you want to. It's really refreshing, and we decide to just eat lunch there since the menu is the same as the restaurant's. There's a server that comes around periodically. I get homemade limeade that's really good. For lunch, we decide to eat something light and go with ceviche and a big salad. They hit the spot. Around the pool, we meet a lot of people, and seems like almost everyone is from Texas. I guess that 2-hour flight really lures them in! Another big attraction going for Belize is the fact that their native tongue is English. I caught myself saying, "Gracias" to a few people! The people don't seem to have much of an accent here, but sometimes when they talk to each other, they take on a bit of a Creole accent - they'll say "rivah" for river or "tree" for three. Most of the people we meet are Mestizos. We have a nature hike schedule for 1:00, so we head off to change and meet up with our guide.

volcanogirl

Here's a link to Chaa for anyone interested. We really did love it.

http://www.chaacreek.com/

SiteC_er

Glad to hear you enjoyed Belize and Chaa Creek!

volcanogirl

Thanks, SiteC!

Well, we lingered a bit too long by the pool, so we have 5 minutes to change and run off to meet our guide. Most of the tours meet up in the bar area. We run in with our wet hair ready to get started spotting wildlife. Given all that we saw in Guatemala, we are pretty optimistic!

So we start hiking uphill - somehow it seems that MOST of this hike is uphill! Our first encounter is stingless bees; they kind of swarm around our heads, but the guide says they have no stingers. Never knew there was such a thing! Then the guide shows us the magic grass; we don't tell him that the other guide has already stolen his thunder on that one. It's still cool to see it again. More hiking - it's very mosquitoey, some of the worst we've ever seen, just swarms of them. This day seems worse than the others. We're glad we have repellent on. We even had to reapply it as we hiked. The guide refuses to wear any, so the mosquitoes seem to be swarming him even more. He comments on how this isn't really the norm; maybe the recent rains have made them worse, but they're pretty bad.

We go by a tree, and he says that "this is a tourist tree" - yep another one we've already seen! He grabs handfuls of plants and asks us to sniff them and guess what they are. I love to cook but am unable to identify basil, cilantro, etc. They just grow wild here. As soon as he tells me I recognize the smells right away. It's pretty cool, but this hike turns out to be much more plant and bird oriented than what we're used to. We do see some neat birds - a beautiful black-headed trogon and a gorgeous red-legged honeycreeper, lots of brown jays, and poisonwood trees that you can't touch - those will make you break out into a rash. Towards the end of the hike, a big black bird swoops right over our head - a keel-billed toucan - we love that one! The guide says everyone always wants to see a toucan! I miss the monkeys that are so prevalent in CR, but our guide says that there are howlers here. We hear them but never see them.

More hiking, still somehow going uphill! We end up at a gorgeous vista spot with a view that goes for miles. Everything is so lush and green, and there are some buried Mayan ruins up there. If you do the horseback riding, you end up in the same spot - really beautiful.

Time to hike back down and instead of going back the way we came up, we just sort of step off the front edge of the vista point. I seriously think the guide is kidding because there doesn't seem to be much of a path there, but he has a machete and chops through a few vines and off we go. We're getting pretty tired, and we have a night hike scheduled for the evening - yep, we're going for the hiking trifecta today!

We get back to our cabin and curl up in the hammocks and kick back to read and relax. Rolling thunder sounds around us, and we get a few rain sprinkles, but nothing more. I love the rain because it helps to cool things off. As we head back inside, we see that the housekeeper has moved the giant fan back to the corner. Every day I move it to the bed, and every day she moves it back to the corner! It's like a giant chess game. I love that fan, so back to the bed it goes! The temperature in our cabin hovers between 79 which is really comfortable and 89 which isn't!

We start stripping off our clothes to just relax on the bed and cool off. Husband is in boxers, and I'm in a t-shirt and panties. All of a sudden, we get our newsletter delivery! We have our front door open since it lets the breeze in and it faces our private patio. Next thing I know a man is standing in our cabin with our newsletter, and there we are in our undies. I guess he's used to it because he doesn't bat an eye, and says, "Hi, there - here's your newsletter!" It was kind of funny! I think a Do Not Disturb sign would be a great addition to this place.

ShellD

Definitely enjoying your report! Loved the homemade limeade and we had lunch or snacks by the pool quite a few times. I had ceviche there for the first time and I'm hooked! I'm always asking my husband to make it for me now! Funny about the newsletter and you in your underwear!!

volcanogirl

My husband said maybe he thought we were in our bathing suits. We'll go with that theory because it's less embarrassing!

Dinner that night is ribs and coconut shrimp. The ribs are honestly one of the best things I've ever eaten. They were really delicious. Mr. VG was in heaven. We also get Belekin Light House Beers and tiramisu for dessert. The tiramisu is surrounded by these little pieces of fruit that I think are raspberries, but on closer inspection I can't really figure out what they are. Berry colored but square. The server tells me it's dragon fruit. I've heard of it in passing but never seen one. He grabs one for me off the fresh fruit display, and it looks sort of artichokish, but the inside is a beautiful magenta color. To me, that's one of the best things about traveling someplace new, discovering all these little things. We finish dinner and get ready for our night hike. They had told us that we had to wear long pants and enclosed shoes. The birdy nerdy couple was planning on doing it too, so we look forward to seeing them.