Mopan River Resort Benque Viejo del Carmen

 Tuesday, December 15th
 
 Rich and I will be driving back into Belize to the town of San Ignacio. From there we will continue  one hour SE deeper into the Mountain Pine Ridge to arrive at The Blancaneaux Lodge. Owned by Francis Ford Coppola, the 70-acre property is a collection of ten cabanas, six villas, and a cottage set in the jungle of the Maya Mountains.  Francis Ford Coppola first came to Belize just after the ...

... keeping track of volunteer applicants, scheduling shuttles and keeping track of travel itineraries. On top of that, I will be re-writing curriculum for a few of the 2 week programs and then marketing them to schools, churches and wherever else I can find people who would be interested in the experience. After, I was talking to Jamie who has been here for awhile and she said she was very excited about my ideas. Because the volunteers pay to be ...

16th May We got up early to check the Internet. We were going to be couchsurfing in the next town and needed to get the guys phone Lumber. Fortunately for us it was there. We stuffed down breakfast befote heading to the pier to wait for the ferry from Caye back to Belize City, so we Could get a bus to San Ignacio, a town near the border with Guatemala. During the ferry ride I sat outsider on the edge of the boat, looking at all the small islands and ...

Ahhhh here I am, first night in Belize!!! I've been awake for nearly 36 hours now... just about to crash. As usual, things haven't gone according to plan. This started when I got downtown yesterday and realized I still didn't have cash for my trip. With only 15 minutes until the shuttle left for Seattle, I RAN to the bank carrying my bags. So fast in fact, I didn't notice I had run through two red lights...while an undercover ...

I made it to Barton Creek and it is beautiful. It's located up in the jungle on a large creek.  It's about as basic as it gets. No electricity except when the generator is on, water is pumped from the creek into a holding tank for the sinks and hose, and we take our baths in the creek. Camping is free but the meals are a little spendy. The owner said I could work for my meals which I didn't hesitate to ...

... sparkled. On arrival to the dry chamber after some serious rock climbing to reach the last bit we were asked to take off our shoes and put socks on so as not to deposit any oils or damage the art. I knew we were going to a special place but I had not appreciated to what extent until I saw it for real. ATM is a living museum with nothing that has been moved for 1,000 of years, we saw ceremonial ...

... was pretty amazing - Kirstin did not care for the spiders. (see photos). after cahal pech, we made our way over to Parrot Nest Jungle Lodge, a few miles outside of town in a village called Bullet Tree Falls. It's really amazing here, there are separate bungalows and a big main hangout area overlooking the Mopan River. We've seen several large iguanas hanging out in the yard and a strange mammal that we couldn't identify called the gibnut. the first day we pretty ...

Heading north to the border and town of San Ignacio Back in our truck we headed out of the jungle (after seeing no jaguar boo hoo!) and sat on the side of the road waiting for a chicken bus to pass to take myself, Adam and David north to San Ignacio and the rest of the guys south heading for Honduras/Guatemala! Saying goodbye from the other side of the road, the other guy's bus finally arrived and then after an hour and a half wait ours did too. The journey ...

... is impossible until we get to go home. But rather it is about a choice the choice to awaken from my slumber to see myself in reception of falling and grasping. How we go about standing up against the wave of status quo is not easy path. I echo previous thought for sense of importance just as the true poet himself in reprising the theme of eternal praise and unrestrained emotion while enduring the temporary battle ...

.- Having checked yesterday this morning we made our way to the military checkpoint to get an armed escort for the 38 km drive to the Mayan ruins at Caracol. Apparently some ex Guatemalan Special Forces are active, stealing artefacts from the ruins and robbing tourists if they get the chance. No problems though with the armed guard. The ruins themselves are very impressive, basically split into three sections, although the town covers an ...