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.

Belize: Days 4 and 5

More frivolous fun

On Day 4, we boarded a catamaran to sail to Caye Caulker, another island.  San Pedro is the city on Ambergris Caye.  Twenty years ago, San Pedro used to be a quiet little place without paved roads, where the pace was slow.  Today, the big hotels are moving in, and golf carts on the downtown streets often crawl in congested golf cart traffic.  Caye Caulker is what San Pedro was like twenty years ago.  Progress?

Travel on the catamaran was smooth sailing, despite windy conditions. Bean bag chairs lashed to the front deck provided ultimate comfort.  It didn’t hurt that the crew came around with snacks and rum punch.

Caye Caulker is my kind of place.  I don’t need an adventure every day.  I’m pretty sure that I would be content for a long time here before getting bored. While people back in Wisconsin dealt with the polar vortex, Caye Caulker offered summertime, and the living was easy.

As my mother always told me, there’s no rest for the wicked.  On our fifth day  on the island, our hosts booked a full day of snorkeling, fishing and a cookout.

While I was screwing around catching little fish that the locals call “grunts,” our captain snorkeled out to the reef and harvested something more substantial for supper.

As we drank rum punch, the captain prepared and cooked the food over a fire of coconut tree husks.   It was easily better than any restaurant meal that we had on the trip.

We spent one more day on the island before taking a ferry ($15) back to the Belize mainland.  I think you probably can guess that there was beer and island drinks involved, We then parted ways with our friends and headed off on our own adventure to San Ignacio, base camp to visit the Mayan ruins.

Belize: San Pedro (Days Two and Three)

On Day Two, we went fishing.  I’m not a fishing enthusiast.  I’ve probably fished a couple of dozen times in my life, and most of those times have been through the ice.  San Pedro is best known for fishing and snorkeling.  I’m not much of a swimmer either, unless something is chasing me.  So besides drinking beer and rum punches, my companions strongly suggested that I select an excursion.  I chose fishing.  Julia, the daughter of a serious fisherman, was the only wife who wanted to go fishing.  Kim and Michele went shopping instead.  I don’t like shopping either.

Brent and John have fished many times before in Belize and knew a guide with a boat.  This was unlike any of my previous fishing experiences.  The guide and his helper netted a bunch of sardines during the first twenty minutes and then chopped up the sardines into little pieces to use as bait.  Then they baited our hooks every time we needed bait, and they pointed out where to cast to catch the fish.  If I caught a fish, they took it off the hook, sorted out whether it was a keeper or not, and later cleaned all the fish for supper.  I think we ended up with about 35 keeper fish between the four of us.  Most of the fish were different varieties of snapper.  Julia caught an ugly fish known locally as a Slippery Dick.  It was quickly released and sent overboard.  This was my first fish.  It was not deemed a keeper.

On Day Two, we hopped on the golf carts and went bar hopping to the north side of the island.  The island is quite skinny, so it isn’t hard to find a beachfront bar.

Kim is being a good designated driver with her Coke.

In the last post, I forgot to include the an excerpt from my A.T. Trail Journal.  I would plead jet lag but there was no time zone change.  Here is the next entry.

UnBelizeable

The stars had to be almost in perfect alignment for our trip to take place.  Caregivers for Justin were being hired at the last-minute.  Julia’s Dad was still having post-stroke complications.  A major weather system moved through on the day before departure, cancelling hundreds of flights at O’Hare when a jet skidded off the runway.


In the morning, I drove to Whitewater to drop Justin off at school.  The long access ramp to his dorm was not plowed or shoveled, and I had no way to get him in the building.  I ran down the street and chased down a university employee who found two shovels.  I started at one end, and he started at the other.  Justin shivered in the cold, but we did get him in the building.

In the afternoon, Julia and I loaded up the car with our suitcases, along with Allie who needed to be dropped off at her school.  We drove to Milwaukee, dropped off Allie at her apartment, and then drove to Chicago.  We had found a stay, park and fly deal at the O’Hare Hyatt, which allowed us to stay overnight and park for less than the price of two weeks parking at the airport’s economy parking lot. We ate at the hotel bar, while watching the gusts of wind blow snow around in circles.

Early the next morning, we took the hotel shuttle to the airport and headed for the gate.

Despite the horrible weather and the understaffed TSA employees working without pay, we made it through security and were at the gate less than an hour after taking the hotel elevator down to the front door.  I would definitely recommend the O’hare’s Hyatt Regency’s park, stay and ride offer for up to two weeks free parking in the enclosed parking structure.

Our United non-stop flight left on time, and we were in Belize City by early afternoon.  From there, we boarded a small plane for San Pedro, an island about fifteen minutes by air.  It was the smallest plane that I’ve flown in for awhile.  I sat close enough to the pilot that I could have tapped him on the right shoulder. The woman sitting next to the pilot was another passenger.  There was no co-pilot.

Our friends Brent and Michele own a condo on San Pedro that we were invited to visit about fifteen years ago.  When we saw them in Alaska last summer, I asked if the invite was still good. “Of course,” they replied.  We texted that we had arrived early, but Brent didn’t get the message until about an hour later.  We passed the time by drinking the national beer, Belikin which is amazingly not too bad, even for a beer snob like me.  The brewery was started by a German who faithfully followed the requirements for German beer: malted barley, hops, water, and yeast.  No additions of rice or corn. Belikin offers a regular lager, light beer, stout, and holiday beer.

Julia says one of those beers is for me, but I’m not sure about that.  There are worse ways to wait for a ride.  Brent arrived by golf cart, the main way to get around the island.  On the way to the condo, we stopped to support the local grocery store by getting more Belikin for the thirty minute ride to the property, which had lovely views of the Caribbean Sea. This was a brewed journey worth the wait and effort.

Blog’s Pause (Paws) Button

Earlier this week, I celebrated my 58th birthday.  Justin and I slept in until Julia and Allie drove back on the day after  their cross-country ski race in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.  Allie finished second in her age group, and Julia was tenth in her age group.  I’m sworn to secrecy regarding the number of people in their age groups, but Allie came home with a big medal.

Upon arriving  home, Julia made her best cake ever: a  three layer chocolate and peanut butter birthday cake.

We ate a birthday dinner of meat and potato pasties, purchased from a bakery in Iron Mountain, Michigan.

We are in the final stretch for getting Justin’s caregivers in place, doctors’ appointments, durable medical equipment updates, and adult children back to school.  In the event that everything works out, confirmation will be evidenced by no blog posts for a few weeks.  I’m hoping that my next post will detail new travels, instead of  an explanation for why things didn’t work out.  There are a lot of moving pieces at this point.

Callie is in charge of the blog while I’m off-line.

Keep on, Keepin’ On

The beginning of the year hasn’t exactly started with a bang, but we are taking a couple of steps forward with every step back.

For a quick family update, my father-in-law Gene is out of ICU and in a normal hospital room.  For the most part, he has reached the point where his vitals are all in a normal range.  Gene is working on building up strength, eating enough calories to get the feeding tube removed, and moving into a rehab facility as soon as that happens.

As for my son Justin, he lost all of his caregivers from the first semester and has signed up for an agency to manage his caregivers second semester.  It will always be a battle to have enough caregivers for him.  This agency seems confident about meeting his needs.  Time will tell.  As happens to a lot of first-year college students, Justin fell off the tracks a little bit with regard to schoolwork and doing the things his doctors have told him to do to keep himself alive longer (Example:  Using his bipap machine at night).  Justin seems confident that the second semester will be better.  We all hope for that.  Actions always speak louder than words.

My daughter Allie has been Justin’s caregiver during semester break, earning some extra money.  They don’t always get along, but she shows up for work and gets the job done.  Allie is saving up to buy Julia’s car in the spring, so that she will have a vehicle for her summer internship in Milwaukee.

Amidst the chaos, I’ve made time to hike almost every day with my dog Callie.  She pretty much demands it, not relaxing until she’s had at least several miles of hiking and another half-hour of running up and down our hill fetching a ball.  After that, she’s quite sweet and calm.  And I’m ready for a nap.

Fern Glenn Segment (Ice Age Trail):
A short distance away from the popular Gibraltar Rock segment, Fern Glenn may be the least-traveled of the segments near Lodi.

I know that I often overlook it and haven’t hiked Fern Glen in several years.  Heavily wooded with steep ups and downs, I don’t enjoy hiking this segment in the summer.  It can be hot, buggy and without many views.  In the spring and fall, the trail is often muddy and not much fun either.  In the winter, however, the trail shines.

A fresh snow had fallen the day before, and no one’s footsteps were visible.  I went back a couple of days later with daughter Allie and dog Callie.  There were a few footsteps besides my own, but we didn’t encounter a single person on the trail.  Sometimes, not seeing other people is exactly what I need.  I wasn’t exactly alone.  A couple of dozen Canada geese, late for their wintering spot, honked loudly overhead.  Squirrels scolded us for invading their domain.  Two whitetail deer crossed my path and quickly moved beyond.

Because the fresh snow lay on top of slippery ice. I wore my new Yaktrax Pros.  I lost my previous Yaktrax on a muddy trail in North Carolina.  These devices are relatively cheap and effective-at least on Wisconsin terrain. They aren’t meant for use in mud, rock or concrete and should be temporarily removed when crossing those surfaces.  It just takes a minute to slip them off, and it was my own fault for losing the first pair.

I’ll conclude with another excerpt from my Appalachian Trail thru-hike.