I just read Lan's article on Belize First reporting the many crimes in the last few months. He had many examples. Until this article, I have been quite confident that my family with 3 children would be safe in the jungle and on the hummingbird highway. Reassure me! I worry about the kids.

I would not go to Caracol right now, but otherwise I think you'll be fine. If you and your family have half as much fun as we did you'll have the trip of a lifetime, you lucky ducks. Where are you planning to stay? Let me know if you're interested in our travelogue and, in the mean time, check out the Belize Forum if you haven't already:

www.belizeforum.com

Cayo is a large district with a mountain range separating the hot spots and the Hummingbird. We are asking people to stay away from Caracol and the Rio Frio cave til further notice.

Thanks both. Katie, we are staying in Chaa Creek Lodge for 4 nights and then down to Turtle Inn. do you think we should change the Chaa Creek part and is the drive to Placentia safe? Any problems down there with safety. We are not paranoid by nature but with the kids, it is not worth them having a traumatic experience.

Chaa Creek is safe (and wonderful) and the 3.5 hr drive safe and scenic thru jungle covered mtns, citrus and banana plantations and small villages. You'll have a great time.

Wow, this is getting me worried. How's Hidden Valley Inn? is it situated in safe area? Would you not recommend going to Caracol at all?

Thanks for heads up! I will email and find out what Hidden valley inn says.

HVI is fine too. I would visit Tikal or Xunantunich instead of Caracol til the safety issue is resolved.

Thanks for the reassurance Katie. On the map, Xunantunich looks close to Guatamala...why is it safer?

Katie (or others),

Do you know if there have been any problems at the Actun Tunichil Muknal (caves branch)? We are tentatively planning on staying at Hidden Valley next April, so things hopefully will have settled down by then.

We will be driving ourselves to HVI from the Crooked Tree Wildlife Santuary and once we are at HVI, we are hoping to arrange a tour to ATM.

Thanks!!

There has been at least one armed robbery near the ATM, too. Latest scuttlebutt is they've caught 4 of the 5 suspected perps of this and other robberies, which would be very good news.

There was a robbery at the cave a few days ago and hopefully, suspects will be apprehended before long.

I really wouldn't go anywhere near guatamala. I got robbed with machine guns on the road to a tour to caracol last year and there was not one warning about it on these boards or in guide books. You never know where they are going to strike, I bet they'll pick new places people dont suspect.

Hi, We're thinking about a trip this July with 2 kids (7 and 9) to Belize. This posting worries me, but is over 7 months old. Anyone have any update on safety traveling around Belize? Maybe Costa Rica would be safer? We love beaches, snorkeling and jungle hikes and small low-key places.

US Embassy lifted this travel advisory last week, all is fine and peaceful here.

Thanks. That's what I was hoping to hear.

This was my original post and we went to Belize right afterwards. We felt very safe. We stayed at Chaa Creek and Turtle in with our three kids 11, 10 and 5 years old. We went to Costa Rica two years ago as well.

We enjoyed both countries and people. Costa Rica has much better medical facilities and is not as poor. It has many more visible mammals especially monkeys. I would go to Costa Rica first. My kids are dying to go back! That is why we went to Belize to do something similar without repeating.

Thanks for the help! My husband and I went to Costa Rica in 1992, and loved it. But we only saw Manuel Antonio (flew in), and were told the roads were basically impassable for trying to venture around ourselves. I have also been to Belize, and while beautiful, I did not see animals, more tarantulas and scorpions. I think the kids would love all the monkeys and sloths in CR. I'm thinking Arenal might be really cool too. I'm sold!

needavacation. We stayed in Arenal at Tabacon Hot Springs. We have a junior suite in the 500 block. It was plenty big enough for all of us and a great start for our CR trip. Some people think Tabacon is over rated. It was the nicest in the area. Great with kids. The honeymooners had extra splashes in the pool! The kids loved the hot springs...go after the tour buses leave. Hikes on premises fun for the little ones and we saw mammels and bugs we had never seen before. 2 nights there.

MA, where you were before, was great for our family. Excursions are nearby and you are still in the rainforest. We got to know the faces of the monkey troops that went by us everyday so well that my kids named them!

We hired a driver to take us to Tabacon and back to the airport. We flew to Quepos and back. Time was our reason for doing that and a different way for us to see CR as well.

Have a great time.