Belize - Day 4: Monkeying Around

Today is our last full day in the Belize jungle. We opted for the morning excursion to the Escarpment today (learning of the day: escarpment -- a long, steep slope, especially one at the edge of a plateau or separating areas of land at different heights) to see if we could catch some raptors / birds of prey (sidenote, shouldn't they be called birds of predators?). We also got some more history as we passed Sylvester town where most of the farm workers live -- apparently it started as a chicle farm -- where the people living here actually tapped these big trees for gum to make chiclets for exportation! 

But now the farm produces coffee, hot sauces, and the various product/livestock for all the residents/guests.  Here's the machine where they process the coffee beans.

Belize is apparently filled with butterflies year round -- they were EVERYWHERE. Many would just fly right into our jeep. And they'd congregate on the roads because they like the minerals in the water puddles. Check out the whirlwind of butterflies!

Beyond the farm, things quickly got more jungle-y. This area was pretty heavily impacted by the hurricanes about 3 years ago -- here is all that is left of what once a majestic mahogany tree (national tree of Belize).

Our new guide, Luis, showed off his amazing birding skills honed from 30 years of working at Chan Chich. There were way too many varietals for me to mention here but my favorite was the red bodied toucan (yes, I know the official name is something else). The beak is so unique it looks fake to me. Yes, this is a photo I took of his phone, because I didn't have a cool enough camera to get anything nearly this good.

It was a not insignificant drive up there -- probably an hour each way, made slower by the fact that we had to stop and clear the road of fallen trees and creeping sharp vines every now and then. And of course every time we tried to help, it turned out the vine had poisonous caterpillars or sharp barbs on it...jungle after all!

We weren't even sure we'd be able to make it because there is a bridge that is often covered by water -- we managed to eke by today with only about a foot of clearance!

We made it! 

Such a cute little lookout hut for guests to sit and sip a beer while enjoying the view. 

The only thing marring the experience was the ABUNDANCE of bugs. Sadly no mosquito netted room here! (This is sadly not the full extent -- the other side of Baba's arms were just as bad -- I managed to escape with much fewer bites -- 10 points for long sleeves and copious amounts of bug lotion!)

We followed a couple hawks through the spotting scope which was a first for me -- [note to big sky, we should do more of that from the living room! The birds are so much cooler looking up close!]

As we neared the lodge, we ran into a family of howler monkeys so our came the spotting telescope again! So cool looking at the animals up close like this. 

After lunch (delicious shrimp tostada, and fresh avocados because they're in season and literally dropping off the trees), I went back to the pool for some aerobic exercise while Ian took an afternoon nap. Remembered to take photos of the pool this time!

Tonight would be our last safari ride -- we decided to aim for the more animal-active dusk hour. Besides the standard birds again, we also caught up with a whole clan of howler AND spider monkeys. 

Check out these jumps!

These are my favorite Belize trees -- "Rain trees" -- this one is hiding a woodpecker, two brown jays, and more! (No, this isn't a Where's Waldo, you'll just have to trust me that they're there).

During this time of year, it generally gets a little rainy or at least very cloudy by the end of the day, so this was the best "sunset" shot I could get. 

Pretty nice view nonetheless at Lake Seca though.

Perhaps appropriate to close the day (and our Jungle safaris) with a "see you later alligator" (okay, fine it was a crocodile). 

Belize - Day 3: Gallon Jug

Today we woke up early (6am!) for the birding and nature morning drive. Off on the safari jeep again! Hoping we catch a puma in better light this time.

Well, regardless of the animal sightings, it was a beautiful morning, clear, sunny, not that hot -- really picturesque. And the air smelled so fresh! Not just like green stuff, but also slightly sweet, maybe from flowers, but it was pretty intoxicating. 

Spoiler alert: no pumas. But we caught a pair of foxes running down the road again.

And I figured the weather was so beautiful I would take the opportunity to snap some photos of the "common" animals -- like the deer: 

And the pigeons (funny story, they're kind of territorial, so at one point, one was running alongside the jeep as if it wanted to fight us! 😆)

The Gallon Jug post office. So a tiny bit about the town and the Chan Chich lodge on the grounds: it was all developed and owned by the Bowen family, the billionaires behind Belikin beer. It is an archeological site as well, with lots of universities flying out regularly to examine the Mayan ruins on the property. We heard there are about 50-60 people who live/work here permanently, with their roughly 20-25 children. Here's the post office:

They raise almost all of the food for the village on the 33000-acre farm -- which, on the protein side, includes grass fed beef, bird-friendly coffee, and of course free range chickens.

Driving around, we also caught some glimpses of the very impressive house where the "Boss" (Mr. Bowen, current CEO of Bowen & Bowen) stays -- it was high up on a hilltop overlooking the entire estate -- not too shabby indeed for a weekend vacation home!

Back at the lodge, I decided we couldn't do this much eating with only sitting in the safaris as our only physical activity, so we went for some laps in the pool (really cool, will definitely be back tomorrow so will get the photos then! Our swim visit today was cut short by a thunderstorm) and then for a short hike around the property. 

The hiking trails included a brief peek into a Mayan burial chamber:

And lots and lots of HUGE jungle vegetation. 

Which of course then must include lots of encounters with creepy-crawlies:

We also made sure to enjoy the views from our new villa -- yes, this photo might have been taken from the bed:

We wanted to do a dusk drive today but the lodge was little wary of the weather (dark skies all around), so we decided to call it a day and spend those hours looking at the trail cam sightings with a drink at the bar instead. The bartenders/servers Johnathan and Sean were amazingly entertaining -- and informative! They gave us some restaurant recommendations for the San Pedro half of our trip coming up. 

Dinner tonight was steak, which we gobbled down before we remembered to take any photos (a little tough, but more due to the cut of meat than the cooking -- the redness was perfectly done) but here's the dinner napkin -- I know we've been on a number of cruise ship napkin folding classes, but this one was impressive!

With that, another day over. Tomorrow is our last day at Chan Chich -- we hope to do a morning drive up a small mountain to see some birds of prey, do some more laps at the pool, and then hopefully catch a sunset. Crossed fingers that the weather cooperates!

Belize - Day 2 - Puma!

I have to admit I did not sleep as well as I was hoping -- the mosquito netting, while romantic and picturesque, was not the easiest to maneuver and didn't quite keep all of the biters at bay. Good thing we weren't rushing to anything this morning. 

After a very large breakfast (large for me at least, maybe it's normal sized for people who enjoy breakfast regularly, but I honestly felt a little uncomfortable afterwards), we got to see the lodge in its daytime glory. 

The grounds at the lodge are really quite spectacular -- so many different species. Miles of hiking paths with dozens of different birds (based on the plethora of calls I heard this morning).

We took it easy today for the morning -- I caught up on some Olympics events and Baba caught up on more sleep. Which left us refreshed and ready for some physical activity: canoeing! Or, if you're Baba, more like "drinking beers while on a lake."

That's right, leaving me to do all the paddling! 

Okay, I guess I didn't do much either -- it was more like a controlled float for an hour. But amazing scenery again - SUCH smooth water, couldn't have asked for better weather.

Oh right -- what animals did we see? A fox on the way out (so little! Much smaller than foxes in the US), toucans, random little birds, a pair of mammals that we can't remember the name of (will ask our guide tomorrow), a pair of spider monkeys and a juvenile crocodile!

After the sunset, we set off for our night drive. It went for an hour or so where we literally saw nothing but deer after deer after deer. And then, we stopped by a field where our guide swore he saw something. From the binoculars, I honestly felt like we were just looking at a bush. I was positive that he was just saying he saw something so that he could call the drive a success. But then we drove around the other side to get "a better look" and then the "thing" popped its head up so we could get a good look --- it really was a cat! I wouldn't have known if it was a jaguar or a puma but he assured us it was a puma because of how it was deep in the tall grass stalking a deer. No photos, so you'll have to also just trust us, but you can pretend it looked like this:

Now that we've confirmed the cats really are around, we are ready to get some daytime looks/photos of them. So tomorrow, 6:30 morning wildlife drive.

Oh I forgot the most important development of the day! The lodge manager felt so sorry for me and my mosquito issues that he upgraded us for free to the luxury villa! It is NICE -- A/C, glass walls all around, lovely wooden paneled floors -- but most importantly -- no more need to deal with the mosquitos!! 

Looking forward to a much better night's sleep today!

Belize - Day 1 - Arrival

In celebration of our fifteenth anniversary (and also because I will take any excuse to travel), we are headed to Belize for a week! This was as "last minute" as it gets for me, so we booked tickets and hotels only a couple months in advance, coming in with much less research and planning compared to my normal travels -- so will see how it goes!

Started off with some very entertaining flight companions -- across the aisle from us on the plane were a couple celebrating their 37th anniversary (same date as us!) but man the stories that they told...let's just say one involved him being a sperm donor to fund his dentistry school studies and now having connected with NINE children (and who knows how many more are out there!). 

Unfortunately the flight arrived a bit late so the lodge had to cancel our connecting flight to their property -- it's in the middle of the jungle so they were worried about flying in the rain after dark -- better safe than sorry! So we ended up taking a long drive to Chan Chich instead -- luckily our driver Levy was very chatty and informative. Most surprising facts learned: Belize is very young, it declared it's independence in the 1980s, the national animal is the tapir, many of the locals still speak Mayan, and we might see pumas, ocelots, and jaguars at this lodge!

Here's a photo of Baba enjoying a chicken tamale from the gas stop -- it had a whole chicken wing (bones included) in the middle! Baba's verdict: a little messy, but sufficiently tasty. 

The ride was....very long and bumpy. Levy kept saying "we are almost there"...and then we'd go another 20 minutes. We eventually rolled into around 9:30. I can definitely understand why most folks travel to Chan Chich by plane. 

Though we did see a tapir, a fox, an owl, and some birds on the drive in, so it wasn't all bad!

We were greeted at the lodge with drinks and cold towels - apparently we are the only guests staying on the entire 33000-acre property tomorrow! 

It's been a more tiring travel day than I'd anticipated, so the bed is looking extra enticing (though I can already tell that mosquito netting is NOT just for show).

Off to sleep!

Costa Rica Day 7 - Parting Thoughts

Well...never did get that sloth sighting. This one will have to do. You can't tell, but Baba posed with this QUITE reluctantly. 

From the plane, we actually passed over Guatemala, and the pilot started describing sights to us. Not sure which lake this is, but I have considered Guatemala as a trip in the future! Maybe it's a sign!

There were even some active volcanos visible!

Final thoughts: I really liked that this trip was the kickoff to my 40s. Having done so much travel in my 20s, we stayed pretty land-bound for the past decade (unless you count Disney cruises), so maybe 40s is when we return to passport filling?

Costa Rica is a way more pleasing vacation destination than Mexico, in my opinion.  So much less touristy. And Boena Wilderness Lodges in particular gets an A+ from the Pacuare experience. I am already looking into a return visit where we can check out one of their other lodges -- Lapa Rios and Tortuguero both look pretty good! 

Costa Rica Day 6 - Beach Day

It is our last full vacation day, so even though I was sorely tempted to book a jungle cruise to get that sloth sighting, Baba convinced me that we would be better off just having a rest day and leaving the sloths for the return trip. The fact that the hotel offered a free coffee demonstration/tasting and kayak rentals also helped. 😊

No photos of the kayaks, we were scared we'd flip the kayaks and lose the phones. At least I was. My track record with water boats isn't the best.  Also, it was SUPER hot, so even though we were allowed to keep the kayaks for an hour, I'm pretty sure we were out and back within 15 min or so. 

No worries -- time for our coffee tasting anyhow! Baba was super psyched. Doesn't he look super psyched?

Our tasting included three different coffee varietals prepared in three different ways. As a non-coffee drinker, I got a sense of how folks who don't like wine must feel at wine tastings. After two sips of the first one I was feeling a bit woozy!

Here is the classic "sock" Costa Rican preparation method. (I bought one of these to take home because it seemed pretty fast. Not quite Keurig fast but it must taste better, right?). It was actually invented by the Spanish soldiers but has become popularized by Costa Ricans. 

Here's the second Japanese/German siphon method. Again, apparently invented by the Germans but popularized in Japan. It seemed way too involved/scientific for everyday coffee, but certainly was cool to watch. 

More coffee in an hour than I've had all year probably! 

Fitting that this is basically the only day we are fully catching the sunset. Sunsetting the trip. 😢

Have to say we've been to better beaches elsewhere, at least from the "palm trees, blue water, white sand" perspective, but this was still a lovely end to the vacation!

There was actually a wedding happening at the resort tonight, which meant we got to enjoy some tasteful guitar covers (for those who were at our wedding, Baba commented "MUCH better than DJ Redbeard") as we lounged through the sunset. 

And after the sun fully set, we continued the lounging indoors. Hammocks were big in Costa Rica. I realized I prefer the ones that are hooked to trees. Less swaying. Baba isn't so picky. 

And for the last meal, we went off in search of more steak. Lots of folks had warned us that the food in Costa Rica was decent, but not amazing and to keep our expectations low. I think compared to say, Italy or China, that was accurate, but I think we ate just as well as did in say, Mexico, Australia, Sri Lanka, etc. We had a lot of cerviche and steak -- tonight is no exception: Peninsula CR Steak & Seafood. 

Fun fact: this is the first time I've had a restaurant charge a corkage fee literally for uncorking. He said if we brought the bottle pre-opened, no fee.  Done! We also discovered on this trip that South American cabs are much more mellow than their Napa counterparts and also, surprisingly, that Chilean Malbecs are more complex than their Argentinian counterparts! (Well, at least the two we tried). 

And with that, back to pack our bags...back home tomorrow! 😭

Costa Rica Day 5 - Lake Arenal Drive

Today we pick up our rental car to make the trip out to Papagayo (the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica). You might ask why we are doing so much traveling within the country when we have so few days in total. I planned the trip around Pacuare, because I knew I wanted to experience that, but then we also wanted some beach time at the end, which in Costa Rica at this time of year, sun is only guaranteed over on the west coast. So we went ahead booked our departing flight out of Liberia. Arenal was more a stopover point between Pacuare and Papagayo. 

So, picking up the rental car was a little interesting. The Avis agent immediately claimed we needed to purchase mandatory loss/collision insurance. I was like, my friend, this is not my first international trip, no thank you. He then proceeded to tell me I could only use the credit card insurance if I could produce a letter from Amex saying my specific card was covered for Costa Rica. I'm pretty sure many folks would have given in at this point, but I viewed this as a challenge. 🧐 I got on the phone, Baba immediately went to go find a seat as he assumed we'd be in for the long haul...but surprisingly a mere 5 minutes or so later, I found the self service website and Amex emailed me a waiver letter. Apparently this is a well known rental company money-making scheme, a couple we ran into told us their insurance ended up being three times as much as their rental! If anyone else rents a car in Costa Rica, don't get taken in! 

Fantastic weather today, almost a waste since we'd be in the car all afternoon, but I suppose we avoid driving those curvy roads in the rain. The clouds even parted so we could get a parting shot of the Arenal volcano.

Pretty cool. Would be a great hike! (Baba doesn't agree).

A lot of the drive was basically just going around Lake Arenal. Here's the very tip by La Fortuna.

Halfway though we stopped for lunch at the Lake Arenal Brewery. Baba opted for the full flight of craft brews. Review: decent. 

Nice views! Something about the lake made it feel European to me. Like we were in Switzerland or Austria. 

We also passed right under a bunch of windmills. 

As an aside, the lake (which is quite large, took us an hour to drive just around a third or so of it) is entirely manmade for power producing purposes. Apparently 1/3 of all power consumed in Costa Rica comes from Lake Arenal!

Because I made us stop for more souvenir shopping in Liberia, we didn't arrive at El Mangroove, our last hotel, until after sunset.  Good thing we have no plans for tomorrow!