Belize: Day trip to Guatemala

As I mentioned in another post, San Ignacio is very close to the Guatemalan border.  Tikal, perhaps the most well-known Mayan ruin, is just across that border.  The process to get to Tikal wasn’t very difficult.

We signed up with PAK Tours, located in downtown San Ignacio, for the Tikal package.  PAK  basically took care of everything. I’ve read online that it’s cheaper to do it yourself, but with the tensions between the two countries, and reports of robberies/beatings of tourists traveling in this area of Guatemala, we decided that this would not be an area to cheap out on. Also, while there are many choices for tour guides, we do recommend PAK tours.  Our guide was respectful, knowledgeable, and a good communicator.  Our interactions/observations with other tour guides at Tikal were at times less favorable.

Early in the  morning, seven of us piled into a large Toyota van and drove the twenty minutes or so to the Guatemalan border.  All of the border crossing fees are paid by the PAK driver/guide as part of the tour package.  He escorted us through the Belize side where we received our passport departure stamps and then through the Guatemala side where we received our arrival stamps.  A Guatemalan driver waited with a different Toyota van to take us to Tikal.

On the way we stopped at a small store where free Guatemalan coffee was freshly brewed and offered to tour groups stopping by.  This was the only good cup of coffee that I had the whole trip, so I had several.  No sugar or cream needed.

Once we arrived at Tikal, we were on foot the rest of the way.  The first thing our guide said was that we would be walking about five miles with quite a few optional steps.  We are both capable of doing that with no problem, but not everyone on the van was in good shape, and some people chose not to walk all of the steps to the top of various buildings.  Due to the walk, grades, narrow jungle paths, and steps, this would not be an appropriate tour for everyone.

Within the first fifteen minutes of walking through the jungle, we saw our first howler monkeys.  As you might expect, they were really loud.  Apparently, they are known to poop on tourists, but we missed out on that experience.

One of the amazing things about Tikal is the size of the complex.  Multiple temples were planned and built in accordance with the rising and setting sun, along with true north and south.  From the jungle floor, one sees only the complex of temple, palace, and other buildings.

But from the top of specific temples, the entire conceptual plan becomes evident.  You get to see that only by climbing a thousand or so steps.

The howler monkeys were not our only encounters with nature on this trip.  At one of the plazas, we were visited by a Coati, which is a racoon-like mammal common in Guatemala.  Unfortunately, a French tourist chased it around the plaza, trying to get the perfect photograph.  Sometimes, I don’t like people very much.

The most exciting encounter that we had with nature occurred just off a well-traveled path on the way up to one of the palaces.  A small group of tourists were standing  in a half circle with their guide, focused upon something on the ground.  As we drew closer, we saw that it was a small snake.  The tourists’ guide (not our guide) began clapping at the snake to get it to move or perform or whatever.  It turned out to be a fer-de-lance.

We moved on quickly, hoping that the group of people would let the snake alone and get to wherever it wanted to get.  After taking in the views at the top of the palace, we returned the same way.  The small crowd had moved on, and we were on high alert, as this snake blends very well into the ground cover.  I wasn’t worried about the snake attacking us–more stepping on it inadvertently.  Further down the trail, we saw another guide about a dozen steps off the trail, quietly watching something on the ground.  “Fer-de-lance?” I asked.  He nodded silently.  “A second one?” I asked.  “Yes,” he answered. To his credit, he was just making sure that it moved away from where people were walking.

Our guide told us that thatched roofs are common in this region. As deforestation has increased, the workers harvesting palm tree leaves have needed to go deeper into the jungle to find materials.  These extremely poisonous snakes are usually found in the palm trees–sometimes by the workers.  “The cost of the labor has increased,” our guide said.  “This is very dangerous work now.”

I spent a lot of time looking at the ground for the rest of the Tikal tour.

Our Tikal trip was probably the highlight of our adventure in the Belize area.  We are back in Wisconsin now and enjoying some snow .  Julia is cross-country skiing.  Callie and I are snowshoeing.  Our journey to the tropics was a welcome respite, but we do enjoy our seasons.

The next scheduled trip is to take the Brew Hut south in April.  Yesterday, I had to use the heat gun to open up the Scamp’s door, which had frozen shut.  I replaced a troublesome electrical outlet, which seemed to also solve the problem with a fluorescent light on the same circuit.  There are still a few more repairs on my list.  Other than that, I’m hoping for milder weather in early April so that I can get the trailer down from a steep, ice-covered hill where it is stored.

Belize: Mayan Chocolate

I’ve always known that coffee and chocolate share common traits.  Both start with a fleshy, sour fruit which has little value compared to its bean. In fact, when either bean is separated from the fruit, they need to be dried and processed.  Both coffee and cocoa beans are inedible before roasting.  If you bit into either, you could easily break a tooth.  Both beans have long shelf lives before roasting and stale after roasting.    Both require crushing/grinding before use.

The primary reason that we went to San Ignacio was to visit Mayan ruins in the area, but we wanted to see San Ignacio on its own merits also.  While exploring the city, we passed by a chocolate factory offering tours of the manufacturing process.

Julia and I had low expectations, but we were very pleasantly surprised and would recommend  the Ajaw Chocolate factory tour to anyone with even a modest interest in chocolate and how it’s made. The fruit was nothing like I would have imagined. The beans are separated from the fruit, fermented and then roasted.  At each stage, we were invited to touch, smell, and taste.

In many countries, automated machinery is used to harvest and process.  That’s not the case at Ajaw.  We were shown the stone grinding process to create an intense chocolate paste.We were also offered the opportunity to try grinding the roasted beans ourselves.  Julia did pretty well.  I made a bit of a mess and got chocolate all over the grinding stone.  The guide is explaining to the others not to do that.

Next was my favorite part.  We were given small bowls, some chocolate paste that we had helped grind, and some hot water.  We were then invited to stir and taste.  This was the traditional hot chocolate made for the Mayan elites and leaders.  Later, additives were used, including cinnamon, honey or small amounts of red pepper.  I tried all of those and found it interesting how much the red pepper added to my enjoyment of the drink.  We were also given tastings of wine made from fermented cocoa fruit.  I liked that too, although not everyone else did.

Chocolate and coffee share one other thing in common.  Our guide complained that some of the world’s best known chocolate is advertised as Swiss chocolate or Belgium chocolate. Just about everyone has heard of French roast or Italian roast coffee.  While both cocoa and coffee beans may be processed anywhere in the world, neither are grown in Europe.  Our guide was very proud of locally grown Belize chocolate.    When people have that kind of passion about creating a product, the quality almost always shines through.  The chocolate was amazing.

Belize: The Mayans (Days One and Two)

Day One:
Our plans for the second half of the trip were open-ended and without any schedules.  While we had flown from Belize City to San Pedro (approx $100), Julia and I decided to take the ferry back to Belize City ($15).  We had no idea of what the ferry would be like, but I guess that I assumed it would have a cabin and be bigger.  Fortunately, it didn’t rain, and the seas were smooth.  I was worried because the departure time was delayed while they cleaned up some puke on the floor and helped the sick woman disembark.  I don’t know for sure, but I believe that alcohol or drugs may have been a factor.  Anyway, we made sure not to sit on that side of the boat.

After 90 minutes of boat motoring, we arrived in Belize City.  We were originally going to take the bus from Belize City to San Ignacio, but Julia was worried that bus travel might be difficult with our large suitcases and reports of crowded buses.  On the previous night, I emailed a couple of shuttle services and arranged for a $35 van shuttle to San Ignacio with one stop at the airport to pick up another couple.  The pickup turned out to be an adventure.  Our van driver wasn’t there at our arrival, and some street people were trying to help out.  One guy wanted me to put money on his cracked phone so that he could make calls to our van service.  I might have been born in Iowa but not yesterday.  Just when we were ready to walk to the bus station, the van driver arrived.  We enjoyed a comfortable, air-conditioned, two-hour ride to San Ignacio near Belize’s western border with Guatemala.  The driver dropped us off at our $50/night Airbnb, and we were soon taking it easy.

Our hosts were Landy and Erva.  Landy is an elections administrator, senior justice of the peace, and commissioner to the Belize Supreme Court.  His wife owned and operated Erva’s restaurant in San Ignacio before turning it over to their son.  They were incredible hosts:  offering us drinks, cooking dinner one night, giving us rides around the area, providing recommendations, and more than willing to discuss politics and issues of the day.

Belize was once British Honduras before gaining its independence. English is the official language, although Spanish is widely spoken also.  Back in the 1880’s, Belize’s borders were established via treaty with England and Guatemala.  Unfortunately, Guatemala contends that the treaty was with England and not modern Belize.  Guatemala is interested in Belize’s natural resources and tourism.  The big political issue in Belize and Guatemala is that referendums will be held this spring to decide whether to send the matter to the International Court of Justice.  Landy thinks that Belize has an excellent case but was worried about the administration/education process for the referendum.

Landy is a big fan of the United States, but has grave concerns about our current president.  He is also worried that other countries like Russia and China will fill the vacuum of credibility/leadership in Central and South America.  We live in interesting times.

That night, Julia and I dined at Hode’s Place, which was all of the way down the hill and to the other edge of the downtown area.  We got lots of exercise walking up and down the hill over the next days.  Dinner was terrific.  Julia had jerk pork, and I had an onion stew.  We were joined for dinner by these two well-fed companions.

Day Two:
We were up early the next morning and traveling by foot to our first Mayan ruin. Cahal Pech is on the edge of San Ignacio and about a mile from our host’s house.  We did get lost getting there and walked up an extra hill, but a business owner turned us in the right direction, shouting “Don’t use Google maps in this city,  It doesn’t work.”

The only ruins that I had ever seen before were fallen barns and outbuildings, so this was something new to me and old for the world.

There was hardly anyone else visiting, so we had the ruins mostly to ourselves.  I can only imagine all of the rules and regulations that would have been imposed if something like this was in America.  Here, we were free to climb up the temple steps and explore the palace rooms.

I was glad that we saw Cahal Pech first because it was the smallest of the ruins that we saw and was a good introductory lesson about the Mayans.  We learned that the temple and palace were only for the elites, and that the regular folks rarely stepped here.  The Mayan elites were also very  much into blood sacrifice: Cutting off finger tips and mutilating genital areas were areas of specialty that  pleased their gods.  Prisoners and animals were also sacrificed.  The elites consumed hallucinogenic drugs and stretched their heads to the point of deformity.  The Mayans kept an accurate though different calendar and were known for use of the number zero.  Some people believed that the end of the world would occur at the end of the Mayan calendar.  It didn’t.  Our host argued that the Mayans only predicted that the end of the calendar marked the beginning of a new turbulent time. Hindsight is 20/20; predictions are tougher.