i keep a diary

January 24, 2013

Belize Part 2

Here are the rest of my pics from my acupuncturist-mandated two-week trip to Belize. Back to Part One

Thursday, January 24th

I enjoyed the Mayan site of Xunatunich so much, that I got up early on Thursday and signed up for a trip into Guatemala to see the much larger Mayan site of Tikal.
driving ˆ van
Waiting in line to cross over from Belize into Guatemala.
waiting in line
An hour into the ninety-minute drive...
driving
...we stopped at a house on the side of the road that our driver knew and we were invited inside...
house
...for some freshly-cooked Guatemalan food on their neato indoor oven.
cooking ˆ fire
We arrived at Tikal right at 1pm. Here's a cool model of what they city might've looked like back in it's 200-800 AD hey-day.
mayan ˆ pyramid
After leaving the visitor's center, you have to walk through the jungle for twenty minutes or so.
hiking ˆ jungle ˆ path
This photo does not really convey how massive this tree was.
tree
If you look closely, you'll see the HUGE woodpecker on the right side of the tree right in the middle of the frame. He's got a bright red head and a skinny yellow beak.
bird
Rule 3: Don't chase duck-billed monkey with hatchets!
sign ˆ wtf
All along the tree line during our hike, you could see...
hiking ˆ jungle
...other parts of the site that they hadn't excavated yet.
hiking ˆ jungle
When Tikal's Temple I finally came into view, I was taken back.
hiking ˆ jungle ˆ pyramid
I knew it was big, but I wasn't prepared for how big!
pyramid
It's hard to get a sense of the just how steep this is from the front...
pyramid
...so here's a better pic from the side! Crazy, right?
best ˆ mayan ˆ pyramid
After telling us about the site, our guide let us loose to explore. So mind-boggling to walk around and try to picture what the place might've been like in the hey-day.
best ˆ mayan ˆ pyramid
I walked down some stairs and discovered this huge face on the wall inside what used to be Temple 33, built on top of the tomb of Tikal's 5th century king.
me
Nerding out so hard.
happy ˆ sunglasses ˆ me
Climbed up to the "rooms" at the top of some of the high buildings. Royal view. If you turn to the right...
mayan ˆ pyramid ˆ stairs
...you can see what the interior of the rooms looked like. (This was probably where a bed was)
mayan
As in Xunatunich, the walls were overgrown with lovely, fuzzy xanthoria.
lichen ˆ plant
After a solid hour exploring the Temple I site...
best ˆ mayan ˆ pyramid
...we hiked our way through the jungle again for a bit to Tikal's Temple IV. Built in 741 AD and standing 212 feet tall, "Temple IV is the tallest pre-Columbian structure still standing in the New World."
best ˆ jungle ˆ mayan ˆ pyramid
They haven't really cleared away any of the dense jungle from the perimeter of the structure. The temple's stairs are overgrown and crumbling away so you climb the pyramid via a makeshift set of scaffold-stairs they've built alongside the structure.
jungle ˆ mayan ˆ pyramid ˆ scenic overlook
me
You can see the tops of pyramids of the Temple I site in the background.
mayan ˆ pyramid ˆ scenic overlook ˆ me
Hung out on top and enjoyed the view for a while. The stairs are incredibly steep. I'm sitting on the stairs just a few steps up from these guys. Look how far away they are!
mayan ˆ pyramid
After, our guide took us through the jungle to see some of the other sites at Tikal's huge complex.
mayan ˆ pyramid
Walking through the jungle along these moss-covered walls...
jungle ˆ mayan
...gave me very aware of the phenomenon of hyperreality.
jungle ˆ mayan
The entire time my mind was trying to soak in the details and atmosphere of the place and comprehend the minds of the people who designed and built it, it kept getting interrupted with a voice saying "this is JUST LIKE being in an Indiana Jones movie!"

From the Wikipedia summary: "Baudrillard defined "hyperreality" as 'the generation by models of a real without origin or reality' it is a representation, a sign, without an original referent. Baudrillard believes hyperreality goes further than confusing or blending the 'real' with the symbol which represents it; it involves creating a symbol or set of signifiers which actually represent something that does not actually exist, like Santa Claus. Baudrillard in particular suggests that the world we live in has been replaced by a copy world, where we seek simulated stimuli and nothing more."

best ˆ mayan ˆ pyramid ˆ stairs
"Hyperreality tricks consciousness into detaching from any real emotional engagement, instead opting for artificial simulation, and endless reproductions of fundamentally empty appearance. "
mayan
Seriously, though - it's like right out of Temple of Doom!
best ˆ mayan
Another neat window view.
mayan ˆ window
Cool view of the vaulted ceilings inside all of the rooms.
mayan
Another pyramid.
mayan ˆ pyramid
Closer look at the rounded, stepped, corners.
mayan ˆ pyramid
Lovely ocellated turkeys roaming the grounds.
bird ˆ turkey
Light-blue heads...
bird ˆ turkey
...with bronze, iridescent tail-feathers!
bird ˆ turkey
So many buildings to explore. Not 100% sure, but I think these might have been part of the royal housing complex.
Another example of what a bedroom looked like back then!
bed ˆ mayan
The top of Temple I visible in the distance.
mayan ˆ pyramid
Our guide stopped to show us this plant and said that it was the basis for a new medicine that is used to treat cancer.
plant
Pathways between sites.
mayan ˆ path ˆ umbrella
I love how the paths accentuate the curves of the land.
mayan ˆ path
Another peak-roofed room with bed-platform and window
bed ˆ mayan ˆ window
After four full hours of exploring the site, it was time for us to head back to the entrance to catch our ride home.
books
On the drive back to Belize, we stopped at a restaurant for dinner. They had a book shop with relevant books including one...
books
...written by, Daniel Pinchbeck, my neighbor who I see writing every morning in the coffee shop downstairs! 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl
book
Back in town that evening, a high school marching band walked the streets...
band ˆ marching band ˆ parade ˆ street
...to show off their stuff!
band ˆ marching band ˆ parade ˆ street
Went back to Maxim's for a late-night stir fry...with a side of french fries!
beer ˆ food ˆ french fries

Friday, January 25th

On Friday morning, I did one of the coolest things I've ever done!
Our driver is taking us to a Mayan archaeological site called Actun Tunichil Muknal, which translates to: CAVE OF THE CRYSTAL SEPULCHRE!
driving
You enter the cave by jumping into very deep water and swimming into the mouth of the cave. Yeah, that's right. It's a river cave! With flashlights mounted to our heads, we hiked, climbed and swam our way over kilometer into the underground complex! This is one of the only archaeological sites in the world where the human remains found inside have not been removed and you can see them as they were discovered. Really wild to be able to walk right up to a old human skeletons lying on a cave floor!
driving ˆ farm
"The best-known is "The Crystal Maiden", the skeleton of a teenage girl, possibly a sacrifice victim, whose bones have been calcified to a sparkling, crystallized appearance." You were allowed to bring cameras into here and photograph everything "In late May 2012, a tourist accidentally dropped a camera and fractured a human skull estimated to be over one thousand years old. As a result, all cameras without a permit are banned from the cave" So, because of that person, all you get to see are pictures of the teak tree farm we had to drive through...
driving ˆ farm ˆ tree
...and a photo of this wooden bridge! By the way, for those interested in my travel budget, the cost of both my Tikal trip and my amazing ATM cave experience came to less than $250 USD combined!
bridge ˆ driving
Back at the hotel that evening, I started reading a great new sci-fi series! Very highly recommended! Wool - Part One (Silo series Book 1)
book

Saturday, January 26th

On Saturday morning I checked out of my hotel in San Ignacio and split a ride to the airport in Belize City with a New Yorker I met on my cave-exploring trip!
driving ˆ taxi ˆ travel buddies
After days of cloudiness and rain, it was nice to see a little blue-sky threatening to peek out.
clouds ˆ driving
Blew through Book 1 and got started on Book. Wool 2 - Proper Gauge (Silo series)
book
At the airport I bought an $80 USD plane ticket out to San Pedro (the island made famous by Madonna's La Isla Bonita )
airplane ˆ wing
jungle wing
So neat to see so much lush, uninhabited forest...
flying ˆ river ˆ jungle wing
...and tiny islands in the water.
flying ˆ island
The elevated vantage-point made it easy to see how the flowing water divides the land over time.
flying ˆ island ˆ ocean
Fifteen minutes after taking off we circled San Pedro...
flying ˆ island ˆ wing
...and landed.
flying
I found a beach-side restaurant near the airport and had some lunch, then walked around looking for a room. Found a place on the beach for $80 USD a night which was more than I wanted to spend.
beach ˆ ocean
I kept at it and the only other place with vacancy was Martha's House; they had a room available for $20 a night.
hotel
Their $20 room turned out to be really crappy room, but since it was just me, myself and I, the three us all voted on savings. I have no problems spending money on consumables like food and drinks & adventures, but I hate spending money on hotels.
bed ˆ hotel
I thought the room was so cheap just because it was terrible. But that night I also learned that the discount was also due to the fact that the room is twenty feet away from the island's only MEGA CLUB that plays insanely loud reggaeton music (played over a PA, inside a rectangular building entirely constructed of corrugated sheet metal - like it was MEANT to be heard) until 2am every night. (I'm laughing as I type this because I remember myself laying in bed that night reggaeton-dancing-myself to sleep to the bed-rattling beat.)
best ˆ hotel ˆ island ˆ ocean
After unpacking my bags and getting settled in, I dug into WOOL3 and waited for the sun to come out.
book
The clouds cleared enough for the sun to come out and I rented a bike to explore the island. Headed north until the road...
biking ˆ island ˆ street
...turned into beach road....
beach ˆ biking
...turned into tiny beach path! It was so much fun to ride under palm fronds right at the water's edge.
beach ˆ best ˆ biking ˆ island ˆ palm tree
Every few hundred yards along the beach was a long wooden dock.
dock ˆ palm tree
Most of them had had small, roofed huts at the end.
dock ˆ palm tree
Which I realized weren't just there for show when I had to use one to seek shelter from a crazy rain storm that rolled in offshore and surprised everyone.
dock
Nothing to do but hang out, admire my rental bike...
bike
...and wait for the rain to pass.
beach ˆ bird ˆ ocean ˆ rain
Fifteen minutes later, the rain slowed down and I decided to make a break for it while the going was good.
beach ˆ biking ˆ dock
About halfway home, I decided to stop off at Palapa Bar for a beer.
bar ˆ beer ˆ dock ˆ ocean
The bartender (owner?) there has a little white dog...
bar ˆ bartender ˆ dock ˆ dogs
...that loves to drink Coca-cola! (Don't worry, he only gave him a sip).
bar ˆ best ˆ cute ˆ dogs ˆ drink
Was treated to a brief rainbow in the clouds.
clouds ˆ rainbow
Made it back to the bike rental place within seconds of another torrential downpour. The bike rental guy let me hang out in his little house with him for thirty minutes until it cleared up.
hotel ˆ stairs
Started and finished Wool4 and then called it a night.
book

Sunday, January 27th

me
I woke up at 7:30am to the sound of rain pouring down on my room's corrugated metal roof. It rained non-stop all morning and I felt grumpy and trapped on an island in a shitty room.
grumpy ˆ me
My mood only worsened when I saw that the weather forecast was calling for more rain 4 out of the next 5 days.
I read for a while, then sat at the little wooden desk in the corner of my room and wrote a bunch in my travel journal. Funny to get back in touch with handwriting after so many years of being spoiled with the luxury of a keyboard to more-quickly capture my thoughts.
desk
me
By the afternoon I was feeling better...
happy ˆ me
...and the sun made an appearance!
clock ˆ clouds
I rented a bike again and did some more island exploring.
beach
Headed back to Palapa's again for a drink before dinner.
bar
Read on the deck and enjoyed some January sunshine.
palm tree
Watched a bunch of bros enjoy getting drunk in the water.
bros ˆ tube
Biked back home.
biking
dad, me
Called my dad from a beach side payphone to wish him a happy birthday!
birthday ˆ payphone ˆ sunglasses ˆ dad ˆ me
Had a late night Italian dinner on the beach and enjoyed the full moon.
beach ˆ island ˆ moon

Monday, January 28th

On Monday morning I awoke to something I hadn't seen yet in Belize...
hotel ˆ sunrise ˆ window
me
...morning sunshine!
happy ˆ hotel ˆ sunrise ˆ window ˆ me
Birds singing and everything.
bird
I packed my bag and decided to head somewhere new while the weather was being cooperative.
bed ˆ hotel ˆ packing
Not a bad view.
hotel ˆ ocean ˆ sunrise ˆ window
After checking out of my terrible hotel, I tried one last time to make friends with this chocolate dachshund, but she didn't want to have ANYTHING to do with me. So barky!
dogs ˆ hotel
WARPAINT Beauty Supply.
best ˆ sign
I managed to get a ticket on the 9am ferry over to Caye Caulker, a small, 5-mile-long coral island about 20 miles out further away from the mainland in Belize City.
boat ˆ ferry ˆ sign ˆ window
We arrived just before 10am...
...and I set off walking down the beach to see if I could find a decent room!
beach
I found a great room at the third place I tried, Mara's Place, all the way at the northernmost tip of the island.
hotel ˆ ocean
My room was tiny, but it had a nice outdoor deck with a hammock and view of the water.
hammock ˆ hotel ˆ ocean
I dropped off my bag...
backpack
...and hit the beach to find some breakfast.
beach
This was the vacation I'd been looking for. Odessa Diner on a tiny beach island.
breakfast ˆ egg ˆ food ˆ pancakes
The Belizean currency features a strange picture of George W in drag. Must be the work of Reptilians!
lizard ˆ money ˆ queen
Spend the afternoon reading in my hammock.
hotel ˆ ocean ˆ scenic overlook
Went down to the water for a swim.
dock ˆ ocean
Hung out on the old concrete dock and snoozed.
dock ˆ ocean
Swam over to the beach bar at the end of the island.
bar
Bought myself a freshly baked cinnamon roll!
cinnamon rolls ˆ treats
Had a feast for dinner and ran into someone I traveled to Tikal with.
food
Watched the moon set over the water and decided that I was going to spend the remaining five days of my trip here on this tiny little island.
moon ˆ ocean

Tuesday, January 29th

I got up at 6am on Tuesday to head out on a 3-tank dive at the world famous scuba site, the Great Blue Hole. (Not to be confused with the regular Blue Hole in Egypt where I dived back in 2008!
walking
Unfortunately, the captain told me that it was too windy to make the 70-mile round trip journey and to come back again tomorrow morning. I was too awake to go back to bed, so I decided to sit out on my hotel's dock and watch the sunrise.
dock ˆ ocean ˆ sunrise
Two of the local beach dogs followed me out onto the dock and kept me company.
dock ˆ dogs ˆ ocean ˆ sunrise ˆ travel buddies
Just before 6am and the sky started to lighten.
clouds ˆ dock ˆ ocean ˆ sunrise
I sat there scratching my temporary-dog's ears watching the colors change.
dock ˆ ocean ˆ sunrise
6:20am.
clouds ˆ dock ˆ ocean ˆ sunrise
Five seconds after the predicted 6:26am sunrise, the sun made its appearance over the horizon.
clouds ˆ dock ˆ ocean ˆ sunrise
I watched the sunrise and the sky...
best ˆ clouds ˆ dock ˆ ocean ˆ sunrise
...slowly change colors...
clouds ˆ dock ˆ ocean ˆ sunrise
...good morning!
Dog friend number two. Nice to sit on the dock with these guys and feel at home on the earth.
dock ˆ dogs ˆ ocean ˆ sunrise ˆ travel buddies
Nice little Tuesday.
best ˆ clouds ˆ dock ˆ ocean ˆ sunrise
On my walk back to my room, I spotted this bird repeatedly flying food up to the nest to feed the baby birds.
bird ˆ nest
I named him Er-NEST-o.
bird ˆ nest
Had a pretty slow day lazing around the island. Stopped at an internet cafe and checked my email for the first time in a few days.
computer
A little before 8pm I walked over to the west side of island to watch the sun set. Big old pile of conch shells.
seashell
Right as the sun was sinking below the horizon...
sunset
...a boat was passing in front of it.
ocean
Framed between two palm trees.
best ˆ boat ˆ sunset
Check out the canoe full of people (lower left) that had paddled out to watch the sunset together.
boat ˆ ocean ˆ sunset
I had dinner at a Middle Eastern place because they had an old wiener dog running around outside.
sign
Not a lot of night life on the island, plus I was getting up super early the next morning again to try to go diving, so I stayed in reading and went to bed early.
book

Tuesday, January 29th

Made it to the dive center at 530am the next morning and the weather had cleared up enough for the boat to head out to the dive site.
dive ˆ dock ˆ scuba
After a two-hour boat ride going over 8-foot swells THE ENTIRE TIME, we finally made it to the calmer, reef-protected area of the ocean near the Blue Hole.
best ˆ island ˆ scuba ˆ sunrise
Passing another coral island.
If you look just past the anchored boat, the light stripe in the water is the edge of the Blue Hole.
diving boat
Time to tank up!
diving boat ˆ scuba
div
Final approach. Here's what it looks like from above. Dive was interesting. Fun to go down deep, but the deeper you go, the shorter the dive time.
blue hole ˆ dive ˆ diving boat ˆ ocean ˆ scuba ˆ div
After the first dive, we hung out for a bit and then headed off to the second, less-deep dive of the day.
blue hole ˆ diving boat ˆ ocean
After the second dive our boat docked so we could explore the nearby island of Half Moon Caye
dock ˆ island ˆ palm tree
Ready to head out exploring.
boat ˆ diving boat ˆ dock
The tiny beach instantly gave way to dense foliage.
beach ˆ island
While walking the island's sandy paths, I spooked this large, wild iguana that was hiding in the brush...
iguana ˆ lizard ˆ tree
...and he scrambled out in front of us and then ran up a nearby tree. Iguanas are like the lizard-version of squirrels!
The end of the path had a two-storey tall observation tower that you could climb to get a better look at the island's famous red-footed boobies.
sign
Above the tree-tops.
island ˆ scenic overlook ˆ trees
Sure enough, boobies!
bird
Red feet and all.
bird
Close up of the male.
bird
When this female left the nest...
best ˆ bird ˆ nest
...we got to see two fuzzy little baby boobies!
baby ˆ best ˆ bird ˆ island
We made it back to Caye Caulker a little after 6pm....
boat ˆ dive ˆ dock
...and took turns hugging this GIANT PUPPY at the dive shop dock.
dogs ˆ puppy
me
When I dropped off my stuff to shower, I noticed that I managed to get a little bit of sun!
scuba ˆ tan ˆ me
Spent the early evening watching people kitesurf near my hotel.
dock ˆ kite
Went over to the beach bar, had a few pina coladas...
bar ˆ beach ˆ ocean
...and then swam across the "The Split" the body of water that divides the southern, inhabited side of Caye Caulker from the uninhabited and undeveloped northern half of the island. I explore on my own for about 30 minutes, but then got nervous about accidentally surprising a crocodile and decided to swim back over to where the rest of the humans were.
best ˆ island ˆ swim
Went back to my room...
hotel ˆ stairs
...for a read and a nap.
book
Took myself out to dinner at the fanciest restaurant on the island. Had myself a tropical ICE CREAM drink...
girly drinks
...and then I couldn't decide between two things on the menu that looked really good so I got THEM BOTH.
food
After recovering from my food coma, I practiced mindfulness meditation which I keep a log of using this lovely app.
meditation ˆ phone

Thursday, January 31st

Thursday was the second-to-last day of my Belize adventure.
hotel ˆ ocean
Had a quiet breakfast on the beach...
beach ˆ coffee
Egg & cheese with pepper & beans. Yes.
breakfast ˆ food
Spent the whole afternoon chilling on my mini-deck's hammock enjoying the ocean breeze and intermittent rain....
hammock ˆ hotel
...and read Steve Taylor's new book, Back To Sanity: Healing the Madness of Our Minds (It was solid, but I'd recommend an earlier book of his over this one: The Fall: The Insanity of the Ego in Human History and the Dawning of A New Era )
book
Not bad, Belize.
beach ˆ hotel ˆ ocean

Friday, February 1st

Friday was my last full day of vacation.
hotel
Went back to Paradise Cafe for...
restaurant
...an encore of their egg & pepper breffis sammich!
food ˆ sandwich
Later that afternoon, I walked ALL THE WAY across the island (a whole mile)...
walking
...to the Caye Caulker airport to buy a ticket for my flight back to Belize City the next day.
airport ˆ sign
Falafel dinner.
falafel ˆ food
Spent the rest of the evening out of my hotel's dock...
dock
...reading and enjoying my last day of tolerable outside weather for the next few months.
dock ˆ feet ˆ hammock ˆ shoes
Made another dog friend. Aw, beardy!
beard ˆ dock ˆ dogs ˆ travel buddies
The night sky was totally clear and I stayed up late, laying on the cement docks and looking up in awe at the stars. I made friends with some locals that came out to do the same and they ended up sharing their gorilla-finger of a joint with me.
I hadn't smoked since I left New York two weeks prior and I ended up getting cheesed out of my mind. It was a really nice way to end the vacation.

Saturday, February 2nd

Got up early on Saturday, packed my bag and checked out.
backpack ˆ hotel
This was one of the easiest....
dock ˆ ocean ˆ sign
...trips to the airport I've ever made!
walking
When your plane "ticket" looks like this, it's usually a good indication that your plane...
airport ˆ tickets
...is going to look like this. We had a slight delay because the battery cart that they use to jump-start the plane's single propeller didn't have enough charge to get the plane's engine started! So they hooked up a bunch of car batteries to the cart and then rolled it back out.
airplane
Bingo! Airborne. See you later, lovely Caye Caulker.
flying ˆ island ˆ ocean ˆ wing
Finished the last book in the Silo series...
book
...while on layover in Miami.
airport ˆ wing
Then I started reading this book. Very dense, but one of the most meaningful books I've ever read! Meaningful to Behold: Becoming a Friend to the World
book
Home sweet, home! I headed back to my place to meet up with Meredith and Maddy.

1 comment

  • mclovinspoonfuljanuary 8, 2016

    holy shit, can't believe someone ruined the ATM Cave skull! i've got pics from my trip there in 2011, guess i should consider myself lucky. i also think i picked up a respiratory infection that lasted 9 weeks so "fair play" i suppose.