Into Chiapas, Peten and Belize, 2004

Into Chiapas, Petén and Belize, 2004

My plan was to fly into Mexico, see Piedras Negras and do a raft trip down the Lacanha River to Bonampak. We were to also stay together long enough to see the Caracol ruins in Belize together.

A number of people expressed interest, but when the time came, there were only two others who would be going along. Although it would still be possible to go to the Piedras Negras Ruins, we would need to pay for four places in the boat. The other two were Kathleen and Tom, who had met on the 2001 Mirador trip and were going to travel together on this one, but would fly in two days before me.

Once in Mexico City, I flew to Villahermosa, walked out toward the highway and flagged down a cab into town. I had copied a bus schedule from Ticketbus.com.mx and knew I could connect with a good one. Once I had my ticket at at the first class bus station, I went into the waiting area and bumped into Tom and Kathleen, who were waiting for the same bus.

It is a long story, but we eventually got together the next day to firm up our plans, but we did not connect for Piedras Negras or Bonampák the day after. I showed up at the bus station at the right time, but the others did not. I had been unable to call Willy to confirm the trip on the 12th, so we had agreed to show up and see if it was still on. I showed up at Vallescondido and saw Willy Fonseca. It turned out that his cell phone still worked, but not generally while he is at the restaurant.

Fonseca expressed some ambivalence about getting the boat all ready and loaded so late. It seemed pretty irrelevant anyway. I had a leisurely breakfast there and then he arranged for me to ride in an empty tour bus to Chansayab. Because there was the possibility of a group the next day Willy invited me to return for the night. The odd thing is that if Willy had not arranged a ride for me, I would have probably been waiting there when the others finally showed up.

The Explora company has a camp near Chansayab and it was through it that we had arranged to do a raft trip. There, the person in charge said it was too late to get the raft ready to do the Lacanhá raft to Bonampak, so I set it up to see the Lacanhá ruins instead. I also said I would return either the next day or the one after that to do the Lacanhá River trip.

My guide happened to be Na K'in, the daughter of Obregon Chan K'in and the niece of Margarita Na K'in. Because I had written about Carlos Frey, Margarita's one time paramour in the jungle, this was quite a coincidence. We had a great conversation while walking along.

It would not have been much of a coincidence to meet a Lacandón woman with the given name, Na K'in, however. There are very few traditional names among either gender among the Lacandón Maya and the other female one is Koh.

The Lacanhá ruin is not all that impressive, but it shows standing walls in two locations and was worth my time. I also got to swim at a waterfall on the Río Cedro, which was wonderful as a setting for a refreshing swim. Un Edén, I called it.

I returned to Vallescondido, but no group turned up the next day. In the morning I was back at Explora. Now the fellow told me that two people are literally the minimum for a river trip, because of the sluggishness of the current. This was extremely annoying and I seriously think that others should take this experience into account if the opportunity with this company should ever present itself, either near Chansayab or at its San Cristóbal headquarters.

I hiked out to the road and got a ride with an army fellow who was heading Frontera Corozal. There he dropped me at a new basic hotel with a decent restaurant called Nueva Alianza, where I almost took a room.

I ate a good meal there and had a pleasantly cold beer. However, I found out that a boat taken right away would get me to Bethel in time for the 2 pm bus to Flores. In a choice of a night in Flores and in dreary F. Corozal, it is a no-brainer. I was off.

On later reflection, staying there would probably have been much better than my previous stay in Frontera Corozal. Presuming that the place stayed open after 8PM, because unlike the Escudo Jaguar, this place served beer, it would be the logical magnet for people to gather in.

Nonetheless, I hired a boat to get me to Bethel, Guatemala. It wasn't all that far, but cost 300 pesos, or just under $30. The fellow at Customs was unhappy that I didn't have a certain paper from leaving Mexico. I explained that no one had given me one and he stamped my passport. Between that fellow and another who was changing pesos to quetzales, it was a busy 5-10 minutes, but I was through. Later I realized, that in the excitement in being able to spend the night in Flores instead of Frontera Corozal, where they roll up the foot paths at nightfall (well, I think they would if they could), I had completely forgot going through customs and had hired a boat ASAP.

Then I was off to the combi bus that awaited, where I almost fell over when I saw my occasionally erstwhile companions, Tom and Kathleen, who were sitting inside it It was a happy reunion, by the way. If I had followed normal procedures and gone through Mexican customs at Frontera Corozal, I would have not met up with them so soon.

It turned out that those two were planning to continue onward to Belize City and rent a car. They would then drive all the way back to Cayo, travel around and end up in Placencia, where I would be going as well. I mentioned to them my plan to stay at the Hotel Pacz in Cayo. It was about this time that I realized that I had forgotten my guide book at home, but that was the one I had been considering along with the Hi-Et.

Despite a brief grilling at the Guatemalan aduana about the lack of a Mexican departure stamp, I did get to Flores and spent the night there. True to form, I had dinner where I could muse on the wonderful sunset over Lake Petén Itzá. I stayed at the Hotel Faisan and in the morning, I awoke somewhat hungover with bug bites on my legs. Not being in the best of moods and deciding that without companions there wasn't really much I wanted to do in Guatemala then anyway, I headed out of town and past the airport. Eventually I got a ride in a combi bus that was going to Tikal. I got off at the crossroad and waited and waited.

Eventually a bus stopped and I got on and it was nice to rest. At the Belizean border, I managed to change some pesos I had missed in Bethel and I rid myself of my remaining quetzales.

The cabbies at the border wanted some ridiculous price to take me to Cayo, so I struck out on foot. In hindsight, as a general rule it would generally be better to negotiate a cheaper ride to the Benque Viejo bus station and go on from there, but I didn't realize that then. However, things worked out and quite soon, a truck pulled over and gave me a lift in the back. It does appear that as I age somewhat older and older, vehicles seem more likely to stop for me, if only out of curiosity. (My favorite example of this was in 2003, when I was heading from Frontera Corozal toward the crossroad about 11 miles away and an ambulance stopped for me, although I was not hitching. I exclaimed in Spanish that I did not need an ambulance yet, but I still hopped in and thanked the two men).

The truck I was in was just going to Benque Viejo, but the fellow sitting in the back gave me gave very good instructions on how to find the bus station. Soon I was there and then was on a bus to Cayo or San Ignacio as most of the Hispanic inhabitants call it.

My plan to stay at the Hotel Pacz was ill-advised. The rooms were much larger and nicer than I needed and cost $50 BZ. Instead, I went to the Hi-Et, which was run by an amiable and helpful fellow and cost $20 BZ less. However, I would suggest that anyone staying there ask for a room away from the nocturnally barking hotel dog.

Although I thought I had prepared myself well for the second night in the room, the mutt managed to somehow get me awake. So - in the wee hours, I placed a generic Benadryl capsule into a very malleable granola bar, squeezed it tightly together and tossed it down toward the dog. I am unsure that he got it, but he barked once more and appeared to have slept the rest of the night. At least, he did not awaken me and, as I guessed, he was okay in the morning.

I finally got to Caracol from there. On two previous trips I had tried to go there, but to no avail. A rain would have taken place and made things horrendous on the route. However, this time I came a bit further into the dry season and the road, although still unpaved, has been improved.

Caracol is an impressive site and well worth the time and money to visit it. There were four other people where I was staying who wanted to go there, so we had a guaranteed group. Unfortunately, the office of the nearby Snooty Fox Tours was not open, so we arranged the trip at Eva's. The cost was $55 US and what the fellow there did was arrange to have Everald of Snooty Fox come and pick us up. I still wonder if it would have been cheaper if we had been able to deal directly.

At Eva's I noticed that the food is only so so and the prices are on the high side. High cost at there is especially true for Internet, because was the most expensive in town, despite being a mere dial up service. The cheapest place for Internet there has somewhat old equipment, but it only charges 5 cents Belizean per minute. It's kind of like being at home, except for having to pay. To find it, go past Pop's from the Hi-Et to the end and turn left. At the end of that street it is directly ahead. There are a couple places in town that have satellite hook up and newer PCs, but they are both cheaper than Eva's too.

I enjoyed breakfast at at Pop's. Had I been around for lunch, I would have gone there too. If I lived there, I would be there every morning, chatting with the old timers and drinking tea.

Maxim's has pretty good Chinese food and non-Chinese as well. I was under whelmed by Erva's (yes, Erva's) Restaurant, but it might have been more due to my then queasy stomach. By the way, I had bought some Cipro in Mexico for under $7 for 12 tabs, so my taking some for three days sent my stomach nicely back to normal very quickly.

Next I headed to Orange Walk and stayed two nights, but one night would have been better. If a person wants to see Lamanai and can get to the Reyes and Sons boat area on the river near there between 9-11 AM, it would not be necessary to even one night there. One could even dispense with it entirely by merely hopping a bus onward after seeing the ruins. I had forgotten how much nonsense guides spout during their talks, but now after guided tours to this and Caracol, I vividly remember.

What I liked least about Orange Walk was the lack of choice in restaurants near my hotel. Juanita's was fine for breakfast and lunch, but otherwise there only seemed to be Chinese restaurants except for some market stalls if one were to eat an early supper. Being tired of Chinese food, I ordered a fish burger one night. It was more what I would describe as a fish cake burger. The next night I ordered a beef burger and it was more like a beef version of a fish cake. I was at the Akihito and had cable TV and the hotel PC with Internet had Chinese letters on it, so doing e-mail was interesting as well.

Seeing the Lamanai ruins is great. The boat ride through jungle is intriguing in itself and the boatman pointed out interesting things along the way, including a crocodile. The food was decent too. I had opted for paying for a meal and it involved a pleasant buffet of hot food and salad at the ruin.

I like resting up a bit at the end of a journey, but to do it I spent a long day getting to Placencia, which soon made it pleasant enough. I even abandoned my idea of heading off to Hopkins and remained until it was time to head toward Belize City for my flight. Hanging around anywhere is unusual for me, because I tend to get antsy.

I enjoyed having a common kitchenette at Lydia's Guest House. With this in mind, I checked out the locations of grocery stores and other useful spots, all of which are on the road. Most useful to me were the Every Day Market is on the right shortly after the small sign on the left for Lydia's Guest House. Next was Placencia Market. It has a freezer with affordable Belizean steaks and chops. The steaks there are sliced so thin that they are not as chewy as one might expect. Some day I would like to try the chops too.

There are other stores going into town, one on the right and Wallen's on the left. Wallen's has the best selection, a pharmacy on the second floor and a hardware store next door, but it was rather far from Lydia's. I got a useful knife dirt cheap there and enough cheap chloroquine at the pharmacy to start the my next trip.

At the fishermen's cooperative, I bought shrimp and fish for two dinners. I found the fajitas at the stand in front of Wallen's to make a delightful and inexpensive lunch. Try the shrimp fajitas there for $4 US. I also liked Flavours Restaurant near the Shell station for a meal. Their problem seems to be that many people are unaware that most of the seats are upstairs, so they think it is a small take out place and pass it up. I also enjoyed an inexpensive lunch at Omar's.

I especially like Placencia, because it is friendly. People will greet you with a "good morning" or "hello", even most of the tourists. In my two times at Lydia's Guest House, both times some of us have gathered together to do a snorkel trip at least once.

During my stay there I did two snorkeling trips and one day trip to Monkey River. One snorkeling was a half day to nearby cayes and the other was to Silk Caye, both of which I enjoyed very much, especially the many colorful fish. The slightly cheaper place to deal with was Ocean Motion. I found that a person could merely go there and ask if there were any trips set up for the boats to be going that or the next day.

We went to Monkey River and it has a lot of wildlife to see. However, I would never have seen it if my companions were not going. They saw me walking long the Placencia sidewalk as they were walking long the beach and they figured out that I went into Lydia's. Soon I heard familiar voices calling my name and I headed out to see what the fuss was about. We talked and I found that they planned to do the Monkey River trip the next day. I thought "What the Hell" and went as well.

The Monkey River trip is well worth the time. We saw several crocodiles and many large iguanas and numerous birds. Along a jungle path, there was a small colony of Montezuma Oropendolas with their curiously hanging nests. There are far fewer monkeys since the hurricane, but we did see one family. In fact, we saw nearly as many people there on detail to study the monkeys as there were of those to be studied.

In Placencia I visited the local children's library and it looks like they could use many more books. Anyone wishing to donate much needed books to the Children's Library, both new and used, should send them to:

Marilyn Beckstead

Placencia Children's Library

C/O Purple Space Monkey

Placencia, Belize

To see where to send money, see http://www.theirisfoundation.com /

I had toyed with the idea of flying to Belize City on my last day, but in the end, I decided to take the bus. It was one of those days where the next bus is leaving soon when I got there, so what food I got along the way is better left to the imagination.

I also discovered how to avoid paying the currently standard US $20 to get to the Belize City airport. I took a Ladyville Transport bus from the now only bus station for $1.50 BZ to the crossroad and when I arrived, I was ready to hike the two miles into the airport. However, I found two taxi drivers there awaiting fares. A woman cabbie came up and asked me if I wanted a ride in and just out of curiosity, I asked, but I was expecting a huge figure. The price was a mere BZ $6, so I went with it. A male driver came up and informed me that he was ahead of her in line.

I explained that it was she who convinced me to ride rather than walk. Then I got into her cab. On the way in, she explained that the other cabbies do not accept her as a woman driver and that by the other cabbie's definition, he would be always ahead of her in line. Although one can expect some slant in her opinion, it is likely that there is some truth to it. As for the locations of their cabs, she got to me quicker and his was further away from where I got off the bus. I also respect a "tough broad" and I do not mean that in any sort of bad way.

It seems that every time I return to Belize, the use of Spanish becomes more and more useful due to increasing numbers of people with limited knowledge of English. Sometimes it even looks like Guatemala took it over and that is why they no longer feel the need to claim it.

This wasn't the perfect trip, but it was one I enjoyed.

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