Mayan Ruins

The last stop of our road trip was to visit Xunantunich (pronounced "CHEW-nahn-too-neech"), an ancient Mayan archaeological site in western Belize. To reach the ruins, we had to cross the Mopan river aboard a hand-cranked car ferry.

Xunantunich is home to 25 temples and palaces including the second tallest Mayan structure in Belize. We hired a local tour guide to take us around and explain the history.

Breathtaking views from the top!

Tubing

While at Black Rock Lodge, we went tubing down the Macal River. So pretty and so much fun!

Black Rock Lodge

During our road trip, we spent the night at the Black Rock Lodge, an eco-lodge nestled in the dense rainforest above the Macal River in the Mayan Mountains. SO beautiful and peaceful!

We stayed in cabin 14 with a wonderful view of the river rapids below! The sound of the rapids was the perfect white noise for sleeping!

The staff set out fruit each day which attracted quite a few birds off the main deck of the outdoor dining room.

All of the views were spectacular!

Spanish Lookout

For part of our road trip, we took a little detour to visit Spanish Lookout, a Mennonite farming community. This region of Belize is totally different with rolling hills and beautiful wide open countryside...even the clouds were different here.  It reminded us of Pennsylvania except for the palm trees and egrets!

Dentist

The first stop on our road trip was Belmopan (capital city of Belize), where Gregg had a dentist appointment with Dr. Hernandez to be "crowned!" This was a tooth that our dentist in Kansas had been watching for a couple of years and said it would need a crown soon. Since it was starting to bother Gregg, he decided to get it taken care of while in Belize. Dr. Hernandez came highly recommended and was very professional. The 2 visits, X-ray, impression, etc cost $215 US verses well over $1000 in the states!

Road Trip

We took a two day road trip crossing the mountains on the Hummingbird Highway. The views were spectacular, but the roads were treacherous...LOTS of potholes, nine single lane bridges, pedestrians, people on bikes, and hairpin curves!

On our return trip it was raining which made driving even more fun! At one point, our car completely lost power. Gregg was able to coast to a spot off the road where he figured out it was a battery cable that shook loose from all the potholes! We also saw a semi truck full of oranges that had jacked knifed and was hanging off the road!

Upstairs Neighbors

It was great getting to know our upstairs neighbors...Steve and KT, John and Cindy! We enjoyed going on several day excursions together, going out to dinner, having impromptu get-togethers, and fishing!

Placencia Art Festival

Saturday we checked out the Placencia Sidewalk Arts and Music Festival. It was interesting to see all the arts and crafts, and we enjoyed running into people we knew, but we didn't find anything we just couldn't live without!

Mayan Chocolate Making

Valentine's Day was the perfect day for Julie to go with friends to visit Ixcacao, a Maya Belizean chocolate farm. Juan, the owner, showed us around and taught us how to make chocolate using stone tools that have been passed down from generation to generation.

Juan showed us how they now use modern technology to make the chocolate. We also saw some traditional instruments and had a wonderful lunch prepared by Juan's wife, Abelina. (Oh, Abelina also gave Nathanael 3 chicks to take home!)

The countryside was very picturesque! 

Hatchet Caye

Another beautiful, relaxing day including snorkeling on Hatchet Caye! Guys went fishing, but rough water beyond the reef made it hard to catch fish. Gregg tried to help by chumming the water! :-)

(Thanks for the great pics Sharene!)

Cockscomb

Cockscomb Basin and Wildlife Sanctuary is recognized internationally as the world's first jaguar preserve. We hiked the Tiger Fern Trail which took us about 3 hours to complete and was quite steep in some places! After the fact, we found out that the trail we picked was classified as "Strenuous!" (Aleve is my friend today!)

We didn't see much wildlife along the way, but the views at the top were nice. We could tell that there had also been a wildfire up there recently.

The waterfall at the end was beautiful and refreshing! There is a second waterfall that we could have hiked to on this trail, but we were running out of time (and energy!)

The six mile road we had to take through the jungle to and from the preserve was an adventure in and of itself!

Baptism!

A day of rejoicing as Delano was baptized!

Fishing the Reef

The girls were dropped off at Hatchet Caye for a day of relaxing while the guys headed to the reef to catch dinner!

First, there was bait to be caught...one throw is all it took!

Gregg caught the first and most! They caught lots of Strawberry Grouper, 2 King Mackerel, 2 Porgy, and a Tuna!

It took at least 20 minutes to land this Tuna!

Gregg holding one of the many Grouper he caught! You can't get any fresher fish than raw Tuna (with pickled ginger, soy sauce, and wasabi) while still on the dock!