The journey began on a double bike all decked out with streamers, cans a draggin, all under a barrage of firework sparklers and loud words of encouragement. We hopped into a Very decorated Xterra around the corner and ended up at the historic Gaslight Inn in downtown Glendale at our very large honeymoon suite. The interior was all old wood and antique furniture with a full living room and kitchen and flat screen TV's. We spent a couple of nights there and Yellowsub (sis) took us to the airport to begin our international journey.
We arrived in Belize City and stayed at a bed and breakfast there called D'Nest Inn. The lady and family that ran it were sweet but there was nothing located around it. We ended up walking to the closest restaurant which was somehow a Lebanese joint, stopped at a grocery store to grab some supplies and then returned before dark. We sat on the patio and watched the crocodile and the catfish swim around.
The main reason to stop there for the night had to do with our plan to bus down the countryside to the southern end for our jungle lodge stay. We believed we were taking the James Express bus at 5:15 but the driver informed us it was only "mostly express." That meant it was still just an old school bus and that still stopped for 95% of people on the road who waved it down.
It still only took us the 6hrs to bus down to Punta Gorda to meet up with our "taxi" who would take us to the river boat to finish our journey off. We had expected to take in some sights and country side on the bus ride, but it turned out to not have much visual appeal at all.
Our taxi driver picked us up in an old beat up Mitsubishi van with the sliding door propped open. He was super friendly and insisted that we stop by his house to see his family and land. It was quite impressive with all of his hand built Mayan housing and gardens and his captured wild gibnut.
A short while down the dusty road from there we arrived at the boat which took us about 20minutes upstream to Cotton Tree Lodge. They had rum punch waiting for us and we were shown to our reserved honeymoon suite. The lodge was set up very well. A raised path led you to each standalone suite and building. Meals were all included in our package and dinners were fancy 3 coursers. Our digs were pretty large and even had a pretty kick ass jacuzzi in the middle of the jungle in a thatch roof bungalow on stilts.
There was a dock, rope swing, gardens, livestock, jungle paths, free kayaks and bikes, and tours available. I got the feeling we were atypical resorters when instead of going on the tour we asked for a packed lunch and the kayaks. The concierge girl looked offended and scared, especially since we told her we had no idea when we would be coming back. It turned out, that day we paddled up the river 5mi exploring along the way, then hiked to a small village. We made it back just before sundown.
We swam a lot there and chilled about here and there. We took one guided trip to the Blue Creek Cave which was awesome. We had to swim inside it for about 30min until reaching the end at a large waterfall. Our guide, Pop, was great and in sensing my adventurism, asked if I "wanted to jump." Not knowing what that meant, I said yes and I followed him free-climbing in the dark up the wall and then into a small tunnel. There were blind crabs in the puddles up there and after walking along the sharp cave rock, we came to a ledge with the water and the other cavers below. The jump was more fun in the dark and I could tell at least one of the girls below was impressed.
After returning to the sunlight, we began hiking back to the vehicle. I convinced Pop to stop at a rope swing and jump spot along the way back. It was beautiful there and the water was super clear and tinted blue. Staying near there would be pretty awesome in the future.
At the lodge we swam some more and then decided break off into the jungle to track down the howler monkeys who had been pretty vocal but shy during our stay. Howler was a pretty loose descriptor of the noise we heard them making off in the jungle. Noel swore that they were actually raptors, that no living animal could possibly make that noise. The lodge staff said they didn't know why they made noise and only lent that they weren't "that big, just loud," as they held up their hands to measure out the size of about two feet. In the dark jungle depths we finally located the tree that we heard a couple monkeys in but they were too high above the canopy and out of sight. I found a very tall vine to shake and that may have angered them a bit. When they came into view, I saw two black animals hollering angrily at me, each at least as big as Noel. One of them, after screaming violently at me, turned around to intentionally show me his dangles. I did manage to grab some shots with the 300mm zoom lens but then Noel got a case of the "let's-get-out-of-here's" before I could flash mine back, so I zipped up and we moved on. We went from there and spent some time with the more domesticated and friendlier horses and goats before capturing a river sunset and heading in.
One of the most fun games we played was iguana drop. From the hammock on our porch we could see 10-15 of them in the trees and every once in a while one would fall off the tall limbs and come crashing to the ground (or water). One time while swimming back from a rope swing jump, one dropped 2ft away. I joke swam towards it and it joke dove out of sight which was a bit unnerving. It popped up down stream and hopped out to climb and fall again later.
We had 4 nights and five days there to explore around and get used to the jungle before heading to place #4 on the beach at Hopkins...
Jungle pics:
Our Honeymoon cabana
IMG_9057 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
IMG_8875 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
IMG_9008 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
Kayaking the Moho River
IMG_8770 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
IMG_8773 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
IMG_8802 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
Sun setting
IMG_8839 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
IMG_8826 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
The huge tree above the lodge
IMG_8847 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
One of the many rope swings to be found
IMG_8954 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
Another river sunset
IMG_8943 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
IMG_8992 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
IMG_8939 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
Super high in the tree with the big zoom lens
IMG_8931 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
IMG_8909 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
Flowers of course
IMG_8879 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
They grew rather larger here
IMG_8872 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
From the cacao processing tour
IMG_5263 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
Another rope swing
IMG_5122 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
An on-our-own bike ride and a hike led us deep into the jungle to this hill and the remnants of what used to be a large cave
IMG_5283 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
IMG_5137 by Skatchkins, on Flickr
