Our Hamanasi Home
Trip Start
May 26, 2007
1
2
5
Trip End
Jun 03, 2007
Hopkins,
Belize
Saturday, May 26, 2007
The resort is mainly geared toward divers, with an onsite dive shop and its own, guided dives leaving daily at 8:00am from the boat dock. Hamanasi does, however, offer its own inland guided tours with on-staff local guides; which as non-divers is the reason we chose to stay here (I was assured by the lady taking my reservation that the resort had many non-diving guests).
Yet, since most guests' choice of activity is a morning dive followed by an afternoon of recovery by dinner, the resort's amenities are fairly compact and basic (yet, I should say, quality and well maintained)
Inside our tree house
. The main area for guests to congregate is the "Great House", a yellow, colonial style building that houses the front desk, a small gift-shop, the bar, and a veranda with chairs and tables for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Leading out from the veranda is the simple infinity-edge pool, with brick decking and a view to the beach through the palm-trees.
Sitting at the deserted bar area, receiving our brief orientation from Stephanie, the Front Desk Manager, I began to wonder.... What will we do with ourselves all day?
My multi-media, go-go-go self had a moment of panic, especially as we were led to our room through Hamanasi's gardens. Following our guide into the back of the resort through a thick canopy of trees and on stepping-stone paths, I realized that I hadn't heard a single sound other than the constant chirp of birds, hadn't seen a single room, and hadn't passed a single guest.
"Are things winding down for the season?" I asked our guide.
"Yes, yes, a little. But we're still full."
So, where was everyone at 5:00 pm on a Saturday?
It seemed to take forever to get to our room, a tree house perched 30ft off the ground on stilts
Stairs up to our tree house
. Our guide took so many turns on the path (which had no signs) that I wondered how on earth we would ever find our way back to the Great House. But it was all worth it. After reaching the end of the final path, we ascended some wooden stairs, saw the wrap-around deck with hammock, and stepped into our huge and lavishly appointed accommodation. Wow!I think it took me a good fifteen minutes to get my bottom jaw off the floor. This was like no tree house I'd ever seen or imagined! Through the door you stepped into a huge room that doubled as living room with sofa, armchair, fully-stocked book case, and dining/kitchen area with fridge/freezer, sink, and coffee-making facilities. Through the living room you went into the WC area with it's own beautifully decorated tile sink, and then into the Spanish-themed bathroom with double-sinks, and a double shower that had a large window overlooking nothing but trees. Then there was the king-size bedroom with a wood-framed bed that stood a good 4 feet off the ground, and another door out to an almost private area of the deck. Both the bedroom and the living/kitchen had shiny, red, hardwood floors while the bathroom had terracotta tiles, befitting the Spanish theme. There were tall, louvered windows everywhere, overlooking nothing but leaves and branches, and not another tree house in sight. High wood-beamed ceilings capped off everything, with sunken spotlights, and four ceiling fans. There was also an air conditioning unit in both the living room and the bedroom.
In total the tree house was probably 1,100 - 1,200 square feet - almost as big as our townhouse back home!
But even surrounded with such opulence, we both felt like something was missing
The deck of our tree house
. Sitting in the living room waiting for our cases to arrive, we had a sudden realization: there was no tv! It almost seemed pointless to sit on the sofa without something to look at or amuse us. In the bedroom, the armoire was actually used for clothing (imagine!), although sitting in bed you were half expecting to open it up to find a 30" tv. Again, I had that sinking feeling in my stomach. Were we going to be thoroughly bored? What would we do after growing tired of the sun and the pool?The only sure way to quell our concerns was to head to the bar! So, as soon as our cases arrived, that's exactly what we did.
One Hamanasi Hurricaine later and things started to look up. We had already made friends with the cocky bartender, King, and guests were beginning to arrive for dinner (although it was kind of early - 7pm). We ate a wonderful meal sitting on the veranda and, too tired after a long day of traveling to care about tv, fell off into a deep, happy, sleep.
It was 9pm.
Comments
Anti-malarials?
We're going soon (almost TOO soon) to Hamanasi, and they say that many guests don't take anti-malarials. Did you take any?