Belize 2012

For July 4th we took our first real (non-work-related) vacation in many years  to the beautiful country of Belize, a country with gorgeous beaches, lush jungles, and a population the same size of Katy, Texas.  If you're interested in the details, please read on.

San Ignacio - We chose to spend our time inland where there was more variety than beach bumming.  The hotel was beautiful and surrounded by lush jungle.

Belize Prison - On our way to San Ignacio we passed the only prison in the country.  Inmates are expected to be self-sufficient - they grow and harvest all of their produce or they don't eat, and they make items to sell to purchase personal conveniences.  I asked our driver to stop and bought my only souveneir -  a lovely bowl made by one of the prisoners.        

Tikal - To be perfectly honest, this was the main reason I wanted to stay inland - so we could cross the border into Guatemala and visit the Mayan ruins of Tikal.  And get another stamp on my passport.  Tikal is far more expansive and private than Teotihuacan in Mexico.  There were absolutely no vendors trying to sell their wares.              

Temple 1 - built by the most popular ruler, in honor of himself.   He constructed an identical edifice facing this one dedicated to his wife.  (yes, men CAN be romantic)

Flora and fauna - This is the tree the Mayan culture called the "tree of life."  

This interesting "fruit" is not edible, the natives have a name for it, but I would likely get arrested by the internet police if I typed it.  The sap of the tree can be used as a cure to bot-fly infestation.  It anesthetizes the worm that bores into your skin where you were bitten and allows you to pull it out.  I know, lovely.

ATM adventure - Actually not a cash machine, it was by far our greatest adventure.  (even more exciting than getting the passport stamped)  When we told one of the couples at the hotel we were going, they said "It's been nice knowing you."  They refused to elaborate, other than say we would never be permitted to do anything remotely like it in the U.S.  Actun Tunichil Mukal is actually a cave in which ancient Mayan artifacts, as well as well-preserved skeletons were found, astonishingly still undisturbed by archeologists.  Accessible only via the cave, we donned helmets (good thing too, or I would be seriously brain-damaged),  and went on quite the spelunking adventure.  We weren't asked beforehand if we could swim, which was a necessity in certain parts of the cave.  The guide asked me to be the lead person (next to him) for reasons which became obvious.  At the end of the cave  is an aluminum ladder anchored only on one side, which we climbed and hoisted ourselves up into the upper cave to see the burial site.  On the way out, we all turned off our headlights and could see absolutely nothing.

our guide - my buddy

Mercado - Saturday morning we checked out the local market, where Belizians sell their wares.  We sampled  fresh coconut, papuse -kind of  a "fat boy" tortilla, sacha - puffy empanadas with a cabbage topping , and sour sop ice cream.

So yummy!  Sour Sop 

Church - Although we stayed in a small town in a country of 230,000 people, we found a Mormon church just a few blocks up the road from our hotel.  Our tradition has been to attend church with the locals, but our taxi arrived the same time the meetings began, so we walked to the chapel Saturday evening and talked to the Branch President.  He told us this week he had sent in five applications for missions for his branch alone.

Saturday turned out to be quite rainy with thunderstorms all day and,
well, we ended up a little desperate for entertainment . . .