UnBelizeable and Last Min Mexico Surprises

It’s laughable how many times we’ve started to write a blog post and then other things have stolen our attention.

We wanted to write all about, Sandro and Gina, the friends that we made in Tulum, Mexico that let us ride around in their ’71 VW truck. We adventured to places like the Dos Ojos cenotes and went to catch up with one of Sandro’s old friends in a Mayan village where we hung out with the kids, stingless bees and a tehun named Lala.  Sandro and Gina also made the wonderful habit of launching Chinese lanterns with all the kids.

When we made it to Chetumal, Mexico we set out to write about the above events and prepare for our border crossing into Belize, but we met Aquiles and Alice.  They convinced us to abandon our writing duties and join them for dinner at one of their favorite places.  After choosing from a large platter which red snapper we would like for dinner, we enjoyed the best fish of the whole trip! Following dinner we drove around in their kombi and moved a bed across town for some of their French friends that ended up making us amazing apple crepes.  After three days we wrapped up what was supposed to be a 12-hour stop in Chetumal with new friends and double the fun that we thought we’d have.

After crossing the border into Belize we headed straight for the Belize Zoo.  All the animals at this awesome place are rescued; they have been injured or removed from illegal private collections and are not fit for survival in the wild.  We spent the whole day in awe of how dangerously close we could get to these creatures and enjoy them in their natural habitat.  We fed Macas, were stunned by how huge the black jaguar was, held baby possums and laughed at the tapiers and their long noses.  From the Belize Zoo we cruised to Hopkins and jumped in a boat with a couple locals for a fishing and snorkeling tour of the Cayes.  We barbequed our catch of barracuda and made fresh conch ceviche on Tobacco Caye, watched the sunset and headed for shore just a little too late arriving well after dark. The next morning we drove to Placencia, not digging the vibe we made a U-Turn back north towards San Ignacio.  Along the way we found a river that looked like the perfect place for an afternoon dip in the heat. Turns out the Sibune River was also a lovely spot for the night.

As the day passed with chores, we met a local family doing laundry on the bank of the river and suddenly the children were excited to climb all over the inside of our little traveling house.  The next morning, the family brought us a wonderful breakfast of oranges, agua manazanas, a guava like fruit, fried Paca (a small rodent) and homemade flour tortillas.  While we were making orange juice from our morning treat and doing laundry our friends, Ingrid and Matti, from Argentina drove over the bridge with another couple from Costa Rica.  As soon as they jumped out of the car the sky opened up and it began to rain.  The six of us huddled in the van contemplating our venture to “The Blue Hole” down the road – a cenote and cave to explore.  Finally during a break in the rain, we decided to go for it. With the day coming to a close we had only a few options for camping for the night.  We ended up camped next to a school, you can imagine the distraction to the children… But the principal was from Colorado and welcomed us warmly. The rain continued through the night and into the next morning forcing us into the higher terrain of San Ignacio, Belize.


All our photos from The Belize Zoo can be seen here.