Iguana Creek Resort Cayo

... a tree with about 5 in it and then we found a tree with one howler male monkey who came down to say hi to us and got within probably 3 feet. pretty cool but kinda freaky at the same time! i was glad he didnt rip anyones face off hahaha. after the jungle hike we did some more boating and then ate and amazing lunch in Monkey River, the village. Afterwards on the boat trip home through the mangroves we saw a manatee! i was so excited to see teh ...

... seems to be between 10AM - 4PM.  Fernando said that April and May are the hottest, it starts cooling down in June, just in time for hurricane season!  Lucky for us, the house is hurricane resistant, it survived hurricane Dean with no damage.  We all (except Shadow) have been welcoming the late showers that have cooled us down!  OK, back to the house cleaning.  I have been doing little at a time.  We have been settling down getting used to the area and to daily life in Belize.   

... pretty excited. the road up there was really dusty and slippery, but the bus made it. i also had myt first coke at 1000 ft falls- just for you dad. that evening we picked up our BDF escorts, and went for a night walk at Rio Frio caves. we didn't really see anything great on the walk, but we did go into closing jaw cave. we were greeted by funnel spiders, which had flesh eating bacteria associated with them, and a really neat cavern. it was pretty neat ...

... a pair of nuts stuck together: "Horse-balls" he says, for that is what they are colloquially known as. He then shows us why they are useful: He splits the two apart, leaving a wound from which a white liquid not unlike PVA glue seeps. He instructs Margaret to put a little on her finger, blow on it, then place her thumb ...

... That night we met Doug, Colleen, Nick and Trish for drinks at Yoli's and dinner at Pirates Cove. The next morning we were at the bus stop by 6:45 am for the 7 am bus out to San Ignacio. Who should be on our bus but Trish, Nick and family. We visited all the way to their stop. We had to change buses in Belmopan where we ran into Mr. and Mrs. Howell! They to were headed to San Ignacio.The bus ride along the Hummingbird Hwy was some of the ...

... Creek Cave where we saw really cool rock formations and stalagmites / stalagtites. At some places the cave formations were so low that we had to lie flat in the canoe to get through. Afterwards we had some time to chill by the river and take a dip in the cool water...

... lay their eggs. They also had other captive bug life on display, including a tarantula, a praying mantis, and a leaf-cutter colony in a Plexiglas box so you can see their fungal farming activities.

Just so we didn't have to wait another day to see some ruins, we had one more stop on the way back to the lodge...

... drop us at mile 61. This is where Jamanji guesthouse/farm/bar is located (about 15 minutes outside the small town of San Ignacio). It is unbelievably hot here. High humidity causes us to sweat constantly. The first few days were the worst, but we have just gotten used to it and developed ways of keeping cool. There is no A/C here. You know you are in trouble when the locals complain of the heat. The locals are also very aware that ...

... to the top and the view was just incredible. to the east was Guatemala and the border, and all around was the jungles of belize. to sit there alone was really quite the experience, no kids running around, no loud backpackers taking dumb photos. two hours mostly to myself, and i went back to meet Teddy. He helped me arrange my tour to tikal for tomorrow and then dropped me at home. And now...another long day...goodnight.

... a particularly nasty, tiny species that sometimes shows up in the area during the wet season and will leave multiple scars after biting you. For the first time, we were happy that we had chosen to come there in May instead of another time of the year. Later in the evening we heard a nearby crowd cheer in Cristo Rey. There was a big futbol match that evening and it sounded like the local team was winning.