Hello,

I've got a coupla more questions for my upcoming trip to Belize and hope someone can help...

1. Caracol -- I have a guidebook that seems to indicate it's great fun to get a 4x4, drive to Caracol on your own and explore independently. BUT, in another place in the book it says you can't wander there on your own, you must have a guide and you must get a permit before entering. In yet another section it says you should not attempt to drive there on your own the first time, but you should hire a driver.

Anybody know the answer about the permit, driver and/or guide? Our preference is to drive ourselves and do some exploring along the way, maybe hire a knowledgeable guide once we reach the site...but I don't want to spend a lot of time getting lost and being lost either..

2. Wamasa Beyabu (sp?) and Kulcha Shak for punta rock and Garifuna drumming...anybody ever been to both? If so, what are the differences between the two?

3. Driving from San Ignacio to Plancenica. Some of our drive will likely be in the dark as we're doing a day tour along the way. Is it okay to drive after dark in Belize in terms of both safety and the *getting lost* factor? The drive looks fairly straightforward on a map...

Thanks for any comments. I love planning trips...but the waiting is the hardest part!

Oops...Placencia

It's been five or six years or more since you needed a permit to visit Caracol. There's a visitor center there now, and you just buy your ticket (US$7.50) and walk around as you like. The road to Caracol is being greatly upgraded.

While driving in Belize after dark isn't as unwise as it is in some countries, if you're not familiar with the road I'd avoid it if you can. You could hit a speed bump, take a wrong turn or have other problems. Plus, the drive down the Hummingbird is the most scenic in Belize and worth doing in the day. I've driven to Placencia several times in the dark and always wished I didn't have to.

--Lan Sluder

Re Question 2:
Your guide book must be older. Wamasa Beyabu has been renovated into a hotel although I think they opened another Wamasa bar elsewhere in Seine Bight. Kulcha Shak has closed.

Lan -- Thanks for the updated information about Caracol....my guide book is a bit old. Looks like I'll have to go out and get the new Fodor's Belize and Guatemala book that you mentioned. Guatemala is on the slate for next year anway.

I had read also about the beautiful drive on the Hummingbird Highway...it would be a shame to miss it but that may be the only way we get to do the ATM Cave Tour.

As always, the problem is there's so much to do but so little vacation time.

BzeGail -- Wow...I'm really bummed about Kulcha Shak and Wamasa. (Yes, my guide book is definitely outdated then.)

Do you know of anywhere else near Placencia where we could go for some punta rock and drumming for an evening? Sounds like a good time.

Thanks to you both for your help!

Just re-read your post...so there is maybe another Wamasa bar then? With music?

Wamasa is now a bar called White Sands, I think. Will still have punta music at times. You'd be more apt to hear drumming there than punta, Check the newspapers when you get in, possibly a punta concert going on somewhere you'll be staying, even elsewhere in Belize

Katie -- Will definitely check the papers when we arrive...

Thanks again!

Some of the resorts on the Placencia peninsula have "Garifuna drumming nights." Seems like Nautical Inn and Inn at Robert's Grove do, maybe others.

--Lan Sluder