Thursday, August 26, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Belize with the Boss.
After almost 8 weeks in Guatemala, I was ready to move on into Belize in search of warmer weather and new adventures. Coincidentally, while I was planning my trip awhile back, my friend and former boss Mark found out that I would be in Belize around the same time as he would be there with his girlfriend Jen visiting her family, and we said that we would try to meet up. I had already experience the warmth and hospitality of Guatemala, so in restrospect I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when Jen (who I had never met) and her parents (who neither I, nor Mark until a few days earlier had ever met), invited me to stay at their house while I was visiting. Once again, Central American hospitality wins. As soon as I met up with Mark and Jen, I was informed that the whole week had been planned full of activities, and I was pretty stoked. Letting me pretty much crash their vacation, over the next ten days I did everything from partying on a boat off the cayes of Belize, to almost getting mauled by a jaguar when I got too close to a cage (sort of like that woman on YouTube with the polar bear - getting close to dangerous animals is more tempting than you would think once they're right in front of you...).
On the afternoon that I arrived into town, we headed out to the Mayan ruins close to the Guatemalan border. Having just visited Tikal, I didn't think that it would be all that impressive, but once we arrived I definitely was. Although the site itself was much smaller than Tikal, there was hardly anyone there, and the main pyramid rose pretty high up over the jungle canopy. Again, we were treated to the strangely scary sounds of howler monkeys in the distance, and I wish I could have gotten a picture of Mark's face the first time that he heard them. I still don't think he believed me when I told him it was a monkey. Then again, I thought they were wild boars the first time I heard them, so it's all good...
I was particularly excited about the next day's excursion when I found out that we were going to the zoo. For those of you that know of my school related travels, I tend to end up seeing zoos whenever I leave the country, from San Diego to Singapore, and many years earlier in Switzerland. That being said, adding Belize to my list sounded good to me. The zoo itself was small but way more intimate than any other I had ever been to (not in the beastiality sense of intimate, just for clarification). You could get really close to the animals, and they were pretty mellow, so they posed for cool pictures. My favorite animal may have been the mountain hippo, whose name was April.
Pat, you have made name-drop appearances in this blog. This is another one:
This pig actually stuck his nose against my camera, making for one of my favorite pictures of my trip.
We saw a lot of cool stuff at the zoo, and on our way out, Jen's dad asked me if I wanted a drink from the car. Parched after a hot day of walking around, I quite excitedly said yes. I was handed a shot of tequila. At this point, I realized that I really loved Belize.
Mark didn't get enough wildlife at the zoo, so he harrassed the chickens at Jen's house upon our return.
Once we made our way through a few bat-ridden caves, we finally got to the mouth of the cave were the tubing experience began. We were told by the guide that there would be some "pretty fast" rapids, so I was excited... We might as well have been going down that "Lazy River" ride at Canada's Wonderland. At one point he told us there was a waterfall coming up, and I envisioned one of those movies where the raft realizes its about to go over a set of 6 foot tall falls into jagged rocks below, but it ended up being a very creek-like set of rocks over which a stream was flowing. They tend to over-sell things in Belize apparently.
More Belize adventures coming up, stay tuned...
On the afternoon that I arrived into town, we headed out to the Mayan ruins close to the Guatemalan border. Having just visited Tikal, I didn't think that it would be all that impressive, but once we arrived I definitely was. Although the site itself was much smaller than Tikal, there was hardly anyone there, and the main pyramid rose pretty high up over the jungle canopy. Again, we were treated to the strangely scary sounds of howler monkeys in the distance, and I wish I could have gotten a picture of Mark's face the first time that he heard them. I still don't think he believed me when I told him it was a monkey. Then again, I thought they were wild boars the first time I heard them, so it's all good...
I was particularly excited about the next day's excursion when I found out that we were going to the zoo. For those of you that know of my school related travels, I tend to end up seeing zoos whenever I leave the country, from San Diego to Singapore, and many years earlier in Switzerland. That being said, adding Belize to my list sounded good to me. The zoo itself was small but way more intimate than any other I had ever been to (not in the beastiality sense of intimate, just for clarification). You could get really close to the animals, and they were pretty mellow, so they posed for cool pictures. My favorite animal may have been the mountain hippo, whose name was April.
Pat, you have made name-drop appearances in this blog. This is another one:
This pig actually stuck his nose against my camera, making for one of my favorite pictures of my trip.
We saw a lot of cool stuff at the zoo, and on our way out, Jen's dad asked me if I wanted a drink from the car. Parched after a hot day of walking around, I quite excitedly said yes. I was handed a shot of tequila. At this point, I realized that I really loved Belize.
Mark didn't get enough wildlife at the zoo, so he harrassed the chickens at Jen's house upon our return.The next day, we made our way to a place called Cave's Branch to do some cave tubing, which sounded really extreme and dangerous at the time, but ended up consisting of us floated through a cave on inner tubes. Nonetheless, it was quite fun. On our hike through the jungle to get to the mouth of the cave, our guide pointed out all sorts of funny trees that can be used to heal you in various ways. One of them had bark that you could grind up and eat if you were bitten by a fer de lance, and would give you an extra two hours to live. Perfect. During one of the stos where he was talking about medicinal trees, Mark and Jen ended up standing in the way of some fire ants. Not so perfect. Such is life in the jungle.
Once we made our way through a few bat-ridden caves, we finally got to the mouth of the cave were the tubing experience began. We were told by the guide that there would be some "pretty fast" rapids, so I was excited... We might as well have been going down that "Lazy River" ride at Canada's Wonderland. At one point he told us there was a waterfall coming up, and I envisioned one of those movies where the raft realizes its about to go over a set of 6 foot tall falls into jagged rocks below, but it ended up being a very creek-like set of rocks over which a stream was flowing. They tend to over-sell things in Belize apparently.
More Belize adventures coming up, stay tuned...
"Tell him 'Beto' sent you..."
At Finca Tatin, I met a really cool guy from New York by the name of Rob, who told me about a tour he had done at Tikal that was incredible. The story was one of those similar to the email you get about having inherited the fortune of a far away prince, which you can redeem by simply replying with all of your personal banking information, to make the whole transaction easier. Too good to be true.
Basically, Rob had been to a hotel in Tikal and done a tour with the owner. For $35US, he stayed the night at the hotel, had two meals, and an afternoon and early morning tour of the park led by the owner "Ricardo". This sounded incredible. Once again, it couldn't be true. But Rob was a great guy, and I couldn't think of a single reason he would have made this all up, especially after he gave me the info on how to find the hotel. With his instructions in hand, and his last words of "Tell him 'Beto' sent you", I was off in search of the legendary "Ricardo".
I decided to take a second class bus from Rio Dulce to Flores, because it left earlier and was less expensive than the first class bus. In retrospect, this was somewhat of a mistake. I had taken chicken buses before in Guatemala, and was used to being squished together, but this trip brought things to another level. The bus was indeed a Greyhound-style one, rather than a schoolbus like chicken buses are, but it looked as if it had been a soldier caravan somewhere deep in Eastern Europe during the Second World War. All of the seats were full when I got on, so I spent the next four hours standing in a small aisle. But the icing on the cake was when I looked down at the woman sitting next to me, and saw that she had a live rooster in a black grocery bag. The picture came out blurry, because I felt it would be rude to so obviously take said picture too obviously. This was the rooster.
I got into Flores, the main overnight stay for people heading to Tikal, and stayed at an incredible hostel called Los Amigos, where I prepared my plan of attack to find Ricardo and tell him that Beto had sent me. The next morning I set off and found the hotel I had been told about. When I finally found Ricardo, the deal was indeed too good to be true. I had arrived on August 1st, beginning of the high season and the first day of new higher rates for stays and the tour. First fail. Also, I was only one person, which costed more than if I had a second person staying in a double room with me. Second fail. However, the only saving grace was that Ricardo said that, because I was sent on a recommendation from Rob, that he would honor the previous month's rates, $70US for one person, or $55US each for two. I tracked down the nice older German woman that I had taken a bus with on the way to the park, and tried to convince her to do the tour with me, which would have saved me $15. Either due to the fact that she was a little strange, or maybe just because I came off a little bit desperate to get her to join in on the deal with me (maybe a little Pat Therrien / Quagmire-ish...), I was unsuccessful. At the end of the day, I had been so stoked on Rob's description of Ricardo's tour that I caved in, and decided to brake my budget by splurging. I would not be dissapointed...
We headed out shortly after 4:30pm into the park, led by our trusted guide Ricardo. He was very knowledgeable about the park, having worked there for a good part of his life, and was also extremely honest about what he did and didn't know (the latter of which wasn't much). He was also really good about playing devil's advocate with what we currently know about Tikal and its people, pointing out that just because the Mayans didn't carve pictures of themselves using the wheel, it doesn't mean they never did, especially since we have proof that they used the wheel for children's play toys. What would have just looked like a pile of rocks, had I done the tour on my own, quickly became awe-inspiring when the history behind them was revealed.
We made our way through the park, with our guide explaining things along the way, and having missed the main afternoon crowds, we had the whole place to ourselves. My recollection of what he told us is pretty fuzzy, and not even my pictures can do this place justice, but rest assured that it is an amazing experience to say the least.
As the sun set and the park became eerily quiet, we took out our headlamps and made our way to the center of the park, where the tallest of the structures stands imposingly overhead. Ricardo demonstrated how sophisticated the Mayans were with the plaza's acoustics, allowing a leader to essentially be unseen and cast his voice to thousands of listeners below, pretty much sending "a message from the gods". Slowly but surely, the stars came out, and surprisingly enough, the jungle fell quiet. Sitting there, watching shooting stars fly overhead, I had one of those moments on the trip where I realize where I am and what I am doing, and a big smile crept across my face...
The next morning, I was up at 4am with a few others for the early morning tour. The park only officially opens at 7am, but with a little paper-backed extra incentive, the guards are known to let people into the park early with their guides. Unfortunately, there had been random park supervisor checks that week, so rather than risk a suspension of his tour license, Ricardo had one of the park rangers bring us from the hotel into the park. Luckily enough, due to some confusion that occurred when we ran into another guide and his clients, we managed to get in without any additional expenses incurred, and we soon sat on top of the highest structure that you are allowed to climb in the park.
I have seen some incredible sunrises before, but this one took the cake. Seemingly with the entire park to ourselves, the sun slowly colored up the morning sky in front of us, braking through the thick jungle-encompassing mist. From the trees in the distance we could hear the jungle awakening. Howler monkeys howled, toucans toucanned, and parrots made whatever noise parrots make. Soon enough the sun was melting away the morning mist, revealing the trees one by one. Eventually, the peak of the first ruin broke through the fog, then the next, and the next, until two hours later, when the jungle had gone from dark and shrouded in mist, to crystal clear in all of its splendor. With a perfect view for about 5 minutes, fog suddently started rolling back in over the trees, and when the next set of tourists made their way to where we were, we could only smile and restrain from telling them what they had missed only a few minutes earlier. It was as if the jungle had put on a special show, just for us.
The rest of the morning we spent trekking through the park, having rejoined our guide Ricardo, but the best has already been had. Between shooting stars in the jungle night sky, and thousand-year-old ruins emerging from the morning mist, I had already seen everything I had to from Tikal. Nonetheless, we sought out some of the smaller structures, and then made our way to one of the tallest, with a set of stairs that felt more like a ladder, and which could have given out at any second.
At the end of the day I made my way back to the hotel, and after a cold shower and a pre-noon beer, boarded the shuttle back to Flores and my hostel. I spent the rest of the afternoon taking in the small town's sights and arranging details for my trip to Belize, but in the back of my head all that I could think of was the wild goose chase that Rob had sent me on. Although the price tag I ended up paying wasn't quite what I had hoped, it was worth every penny in the end. If you're every in Tikal, go find Ricardo at the Hotel Tikal Inn, and tell him that Derek sent you...
Basically, Rob had been to a hotel in Tikal and done a tour with the owner. For $35US, he stayed the night at the hotel, had two meals, and an afternoon and early morning tour of the park led by the owner "Ricardo". This sounded incredible. Once again, it couldn't be true. But Rob was a great guy, and I couldn't think of a single reason he would have made this all up, especially after he gave me the info on how to find the hotel. With his instructions in hand, and his last words of "Tell him 'Beto' sent you", I was off in search of the legendary "Ricardo".
I decided to take a second class bus from Rio Dulce to Flores, because it left earlier and was less expensive than the first class bus. In retrospect, this was somewhat of a mistake. I had taken chicken buses before in Guatemala, and was used to being squished together, but this trip brought things to another level. The bus was indeed a Greyhound-style one, rather than a schoolbus like chicken buses are, but it looked as if it had been a soldier caravan somewhere deep in Eastern Europe during the Second World War. All of the seats were full when I got on, so I spent the next four hours standing in a small aisle. But the icing on the cake was when I looked down at the woman sitting next to me, and saw that she had a live rooster in a black grocery bag. The picture came out blurry, because I felt it would be rude to so obviously take said picture too obviously. This was the rooster.
I got into Flores, the main overnight stay for people heading to Tikal, and stayed at an incredible hostel called Los Amigos, where I prepared my plan of attack to find Ricardo and tell him that Beto had sent me. The next morning I set off and found the hotel I had been told about. When I finally found Ricardo, the deal was indeed too good to be true. I had arrived on August 1st, beginning of the high season and the first day of new higher rates for stays and the tour. First fail. Also, I was only one person, which costed more than if I had a second person staying in a double room with me. Second fail. However, the only saving grace was that Ricardo said that, because I was sent on a recommendation from Rob, that he would honor the previous month's rates, $70US for one person, or $55US each for two. I tracked down the nice older German woman that I had taken a bus with on the way to the park, and tried to convince her to do the tour with me, which would have saved me $15. Either due to the fact that she was a little strange, or maybe just because I came off a little bit desperate to get her to join in on the deal with me (maybe a little Pat Therrien / Quagmire-ish...), I was unsuccessful. At the end of the day, I had been so stoked on Rob's description of Ricardo's tour that I caved in, and decided to brake my budget by splurging. I would not be dissapointed...
We headed out shortly after 4:30pm into the park, led by our trusted guide Ricardo. He was very knowledgeable about the park, having worked there for a good part of his life, and was also extremely honest about what he did and didn't know (the latter of which wasn't much). He was also really good about playing devil's advocate with what we currently know about Tikal and its people, pointing out that just because the Mayans didn't carve pictures of themselves using the wheel, it doesn't mean they never did, especially since we have proof that they used the wheel for children's play toys. What would have just looked like a pile of rocks, had I done the tour on my own, quickly became awe-inspiring when the history behind them was revealed.
We made our way through the park, with our guide explaining things along the way, and having missed the main afternoon crowds, we had the whole place to ourselves. My recollection of what he told us is pretty fuzzy, and not even my pictures can do this place justice, but rest assured that it is an amazing experience to say the least.
As the sun set and the park became eerily quiet, we took out our headlamps and made our way to the center of the park, where the tallest of the structures stands imposingly overhead. Ricardo demonstrated how sophisticated the Mayans were with the plaza's acoustics, allowing a leader to essentially be unseen and cast his voice to thousands of listeners below, pretty much sending "a message from the gods". Slowly but surely, the stars came out, and surprisingly enough, the jungle fell quiet. Sitting there, watching shooting stars fly overhead, I had one of those moments on the trip where I realize where I am and what I am doing, and a big smile crept across my face...
The next morning, I was up at 4am with a few others for the early morning tour. The park only officially opens at 7am, but with a little paper-backed extra incentive, the guards are known to let people into the park early with their guides. Unfortunately, there had been random park supervisor checks that week, so rather than risk a suspension of his tour license, Ricardo had one of the park rangers bring us from the hotel into the park. Luckily enough, due to some confusion that occurred when we ran into another guide and his clients, we managed to get in without any additional expenses incurred, and we soon sat on top of the highest structure that you are allowed to climb in the park.
I have seen some incredible sunrises before, but this one took the cake. Seemingly with the entire park to ourselves, the sun slowly colored up the morning sky in front of us, braking through the thick jungle-encompassing mist. From the trees in the distance we could hear the jungle awakening. Howler monkeys howled, toucans toucanned, and parrots made whatever noise parrots make. Soon enough the sun was melting away the morning mist, revealing the trees one by one. Eventually, the peak of the first ruin broke through the fog, then the next, and the next, until two hours later, when the jungle had gone from dark and shrouded in mist, to crystal clear in all of its splendor. With a perfect view for about 5 minutes, fog suddently started rolling back in over the trees, and when the next set of tourists made their way to where we were, we could only smile and restrain from telling them what they had missed only a few minutes earlier. It was as if the jungle had put on a special show, just for us.
The rest of the morning we spent trekking through the park, having rejoined our guide Ricardo, but the best has already been had. Between shooting stars in the jungle night sky, and thousand-year-old ruins emerging from the morning mist, I had already seen everything I had to from Tikal. Nonetheless, we sought out some of the smaller structures, and then made our way to one of the tallest, with a set of stairs that felt more like a ladder, and which could have given out at any second.
At the end of the day I made my way back to the hotel, and after a cold shower and a pre-noon beer, boarded the shuttle back to Flores and my hostel. I spent the rest of the afternoon taking in the small town's sights and arranging details for my trip to Belize, but in the back of my head all that I could think of was the wild goose chase that Rob had sent me on. Although the price tag I ended up paying wasn't quite what I had hoped, it was worth every penny in the end. If you're every in Tikal, go find Ricardo at the Hotel Tikal Inn, and tell him that Derek sent you...
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