Angela agreed to let me take a 4 day backpacking trip through Belize on my own.  I needed some time alone and wanted to live with the people of different areas of Belize.  In some areas I feared for my life, in other areas I was welcomed into their homes.  The trip began on Monday when I landed at 1:30 Belizian time.  I had reserved the top of the line, best suv they had in the fleet.  According to them, I got it.  A 10 year old Mitsubishi with 90,000 miles on it, no shocks (you'll discover the importance of this later), and it was a manual transmission with the transmission needing a lot of work.  So the adventure begins. 

I head out with no idea where I'm going, how to get there, or where I'll stay if I find a place.  I wanted to go in blind, to the places that only locals would go.  I decided to head South, drove through Belize City and since I knew that area from a previous trip I continued South to Punta Gorda.  I had to eat lunch so I stopped by one of the local fruit stands on the side of the road and had a bunch of fruit for lunch.  I spent a little while hanging out with the family that owned the fruit stand and then realized that the two phones I brought with me didn't work and it was Monday so all the stores were closed.  Brandon (who owned the fruit stand) was kind enough to give me his wife's phone to use while I was in town.  I was kind enough to give her $150 American dollars because we both knew I wasn't coming back.  So off I go to where the road takes me. 




An hour down the road I see a sign for Placencia to the left or straight ahead to Punta Gorda.  Went with my gut and turned down this pot filled dirt road.  I figured I'm in a broken down suv with bald tires, this would be a great way to start an adventure.  This dirt road turned out to be about 60 miles long with a max speed of 12mph and I was still pushing the car to its limits at that pace.  So now night is falling and I'm driving down a dirt road in what I am imagining is a poppy field and I keep looking for the drug cartel to pop out guns drawn.  An hour later I finally hit pavement, it was like taking a drink of water after having none for a day or so.  It was short lived though, a mile down the road the holes and dirt showed back up.  I finally get down to the very end at the middle of the night and find that I was on a peninsula that dead ends into the water.  There is only one way out, the way I came.  I wasn't doing that shit again at 11pm and get shot at so I found a little cafe that had internet access to determine my next move.  All the hotels appeared to be rooms in these little shacks that people rented out.  Ok, screw that, I've got a ton of cash strapped to me, I need to at least try and not get killed so I ate a sandwich and headed back out. 



A mile up the road I found this place tucked in behind a great wall.  Turned out to be the Chabil Mar Villas.  It was 12 and I was exhausted from traveling all day.  I didn't care what it cost, I just wanted my first night to be restful and safe.  The security guard told me that they were closed already but told me to hold on a second. (is he getting his goons on the line to come attack me in this dark corner?).  A few minutes later he came back with a lady who opened the reservation desk for me and asked if I had a reservation.  Here we go again, strike out number two.  I told her no and explained my situation.  Regular rates were $420 a night she said.  I didn't care, it would be worth it cause it looked clean and safe.  She said she would give me a special rate of $250.  I wanted to look at her and say, "you had me at $420". 

Apparently there was no one else in the resort that night so she gave me the mack daddy, 2 story, 4 bedroom villa.  She told me that the kitchen and bar were closed but if I would like something she would be happy to bring it up.  I stepped into the shower and 5 minutes the guy who ran the kitchen knocked at my door with a rum punch, a plate full of fruit and cheeses and a beer.  I drank the rum punch, devoured the fruit and cheese and went to bed.

 

I woke up at 5am the next morning, went out to my wrap around balcony and realized they had put me in heaven.  Two infinity pools, jungle wildlife and flowers everywhere and somehow I was sitting 4 steps from the beach that I didn't even know was there.  I spend a few hours taking shots, eating a wonderful breakfast they made for me, jumped in the pool for 5 minutes then I was on my way.  This group of people went way above the call of duty for me so I'll need to make sure and right a review for them.  I've never had treatment this good when I was expecting it much less when I just walked in off the street somewhere.  Thanks guys.

    


 

 

 


Below are a few pictures I took of the people of Placencia Belize

        

        


 

 

 

The last picture is of two hitch hikers I picked up.  Not the smartest move I've ever made but I figured I could take them if they decided to do something stupid.  Neither one spoke a single word of English.

Ok, now it's Tuesday and I'm supposed to be on the way to Punta Gorda but I decided to go back and meet up with the guys who I met the day before at the fruit stand.  On the way back I went to The Blue Hole which was amazing then hiked through the jungle and found an enormous cave called St. Herman's. 

 
Luckily I had my pack with me because I had a headlight in there.  This is a steep climb over and under rocks in the water.  Once you're in a few hundred yards the lite is entirely gone and you can hear the bats and other monsters that want to kill you around every turn.  I got back to the end and there was a sign that said not to go any further without a guide, they know good and well not to stick a sign like that in front of me.  I pushed on.  I see why you need a guide because there were lots of different ways to go but I figured with my sense of direction it wouldn't be a problem.  What I didn't count on was the batteries in my head lamp going out.  OK, now I'm freaking out.  I am completely turned around now and can't see if there is a rock in front of me or a 300 foot drop off.  I get to my hands and knees to try and avoid killing myself.  I had my camera so I managed to get everything set to manual so I could make the flash go off.  I managed to pop the flash a few times to get some idea of where I was.  Was I going further in or headed back out?  It actually crossed my mind that I might need to learn how to catch fish in the dark and find a way to build a fire with rocks cause I might be in there for a few days and no one knew I was there.  Luckily I was going the right way and reached the front entrance to the cave an hour or so later.

 

  

Wow, safe from the cave, back into the jungle.  Howler monkeys are all around me but that's no problem, I can take a monkey unfortunately my next step ran me into this:

Now I don't know much about Jaguars but I don't think he was as scared of me as I was of him.  The camera shot scared him away and if it hadn't I would have had to beat him to death with my favorite camera.  Camera VS. Jaguar, who do you think would have walked away from that one?

Bet you've never heard of a Tapir.  I hadn't either until this 500lb mammoth came flying across my path.  I found out later that they are called mountain cows.




So yeah, maybe not a man killer but if you've never seen one it will make you think for a second.

I saw and heard a lot of birds and lizards but couldn't identify any of them except for the Red Lored Amazon.  There were a bunch of birds that kept making this knocking sound, not woodpeckers but they were making it with their throat.  I'm still trying to figure out what those were

             


All in all the day in the rain forest was an exciting one.  Next time I think i might go looking for a guide.




 



My final night in Belize I found a cool resort in the Jungle which I ran into about 1.5 hours down another dirt road.  It was called Maruba Jungle Spa so I pulled in and got a tree house for the night.  This place was awesome and even more so because I was the only one there.  There was a full staff that did nothing but take care of me because they had nothing else to do.

I ended up hanging out with the guy who ran the place for the entire evening.  Apparently this place is extremely famous and had been on numerous television shows but I had never heard of it before.

It was an incredible place in the jungle but definitely a place you want to share with your wife.  Next time I go to Belize this is where I will take Angela.  It would have been very relaxing and romantic but since I was alone it was just relaxing.

       



  Ok, great place and I particularly enjoyed having the resort to myself.  Time to get back on the road and head to the airport.  I stopped by a few more villages and helped some locals out and snapped some pictures.


  

  

 



This last picture sums up what it feels like going into these villages not knowing what to expect.  All in all it was a wonderful trip and I got to help out a lot of people in these small villages.