We’ve left Corozal behind us and made the move to the Cayo district. We’ll be here for the next while depending on how the ‘buying the house’ thing goes. We are five weeks into the process and we still don’t know if it’s a go or not. We are trying to stay all relaxed about the whole thing but it gets tough some days. Whatever will be, will be!
In the meanwhile we have been having a great time being tourists in this wonderful area. The scenery is amazing and there are lots of places to explore. I haven’t had great access to the internet so I’ll have to take us back over the last week.
We drove out to the Mennonite community of Spanish Lookout. It’s just north and across the river from San Ignacio. It doesn’t even feel like Belize! In the 1950’s the Belize (British Honduras) government gave a bunch of land and concessions to a Mennonite group from Canada. It was land that no one else wanted in an isolated area. Wow! Have they ever done something nice with it. These are the more modern and less restrictive Mennonites. They use machinery and such but they still dress in the traditional clothing and live the same simple lifestyles. They have developed Spanish Lookout into a clean, prosperous, and modern town. They run all the businesses including a True Value hardware store that left me drooling! Seriously! I told Adam that whenever we get weary of the disorganized chaos of the rest of Belize, he should take me there for a taste of how it should be done!
We decided to be real tourists again and we headed out to some Mayan ruins. Yesterday we drove out to El Pilar. It’s not a very well known site. Probably, because it’s a little tough to get to and it’s not well excavated. But with a little imagination you can see all that it was. It was settled in about 500BC and occupied until about 1000AD. The area is made up of several thousand hectres that are protected and it stretches into Guatemala. At one point on the nature trail that we hiked, we were actually in Guatemala. Kind of neat!
We spent today at Xunantinich. It is a major site really close to where we are staying....about 15-20 minutes and all of it is on pavement! That’s a big deal here! This is where they have the El Castillo temple that shows on the Belizean money and more importantly, the beer labels! Very impressive. It’s a lot more excavated and developed.
Adam climbed all the way to the top but I only made it about 2/3’s of the way up. I blame it on Milo. He was holding me back! OK...maybe not but he was glad to find a spot in the shade while we watched Adam climb!
Stopped at a really nice little lodge for lunch on the way back. It’s called Clarissa Falls so of course, it got our attention. Very nice place right on the river. They rent out tubes and will pick you up about an hour down river. That just might be the plan for tomorrow. It’s not nearly so hot as when we first got here. We saw several days over 100F but we seem to be back in the high 80’s. Much better! Even with this ‘cold’ weather, a day on the river sounds pretty good.
In the meanwhile we have been having a great time being tourists in this wonderful area. The scenery is amazing and there are lots of places to explore. I haven’t had great access to the internet so I’ll have to take us back over the last week.
We drove out to the Mennonite community of Spanish Lookout. It’s just north and across the river from San Ignacio. It doesn’t even feel like Belize! In the 1950’s the Belize (British Honduras) government gave a bunch of land and concessions to a Mennonite group from Canada. It was land that no one else wanted in an isolated area. Wow! Have they ever done something nice with it. These are the more modern and less restrictive Mennonites. They use machinery and such but they still dress in the traditional clothing and live the same simple lifestyles. They have developed Spanish Lookout into a clean, prosperous, and modern town. They run all the businesses including a True Value hardware store that left me drooling! Seriously! I told Adam that whenever we get weary of the disorganized chaos of the rest of Belize, he should take me there for a taste of how it should be done!
We decided to be real tourists again and we headed out to some Mayan ruins. Yesterday we drove out to El Pilar. It’s not a very well known site. Probably, because it’s a little tough to get to and it’s not well excavated. But with a little imagination you can see all that it was. It was settled in about 500BC and occupied until about 1000AD. The area is made up of several thousand hectres that are protected and it stretches into Guatemala. At one point on the nature trail that we hiked, we were actually in Guatemala. Kind of neat!
We spent today at Xunantinich. It is a major site really close to where we are staying....about 15-20 minutes and all of it is on pavement! That’s a big deal here! This is where they have the El Castillo temple that shows on the Belizean money and more importantly, the beer labels! Very impressive. It’s a lot more excavated and developed.
Adam climbed all the way to the top but I only made it about 2/3’s of the way up. I blame it on Milo. He was holding me back! OK...maybe not but he was glad to find a spot in the shade while we watched Adam climb!
Stopped at a really nice little lodge for lunch on the way back. It’s called Clarissa Falls so of course, it got our attention. Very nice place right on the river. They rent out tubes and will pick you up about an hour down river. That just might be the plan for tomorrow. It’s not nearly so hot as when we first got here. We saw several days over 100F but we seem to be back in the high 80’s. Much better! Even with this ‘cold’ weather, a day on the river sounds pretty good.