San Ignacio, Belize

After spending the past few days in the beautiful beach town of San Pedro, we were ready to explore the jungles of Belize! As we arrive at the Belize international airport after our short flight from San Pedro, we see a young guy maybe 18 years old holding a sign with our name on it. On a side note, I always book all transportation prior to the trip so we don’t have to waste time trying to figure it out once we get there. I try to avoid potential cranky children situations at all costs! We hopped in our shuttle and drove two hours west into the luscious jungle to a town called San Ignacio.

Upon checking into the San Ignacio Resort hotel, the manager gave us a quick tour of the property. As we’re checking out the restaurant patio that overlooked the pool, I see Tyson out of the corner of my eye barfing over the side of balcony. Oh, come on! I was really hoping there weren’t people standing below him. Thank god there weren’t! He hadn’t even mentioned he was sick at all but decided throwing up next to people eating dinner was the best time to let us know. When we asked him about it, he said he started feeling sick in the shuttle when we took away his iPad so that he could enjoy the scenery. Go figure. By that point it was dinner time, so Marshall ordered room service for him and Tyson while Wesley and I had a lovely mother and son dinner at the hotel restaurant together. We just made sure to choose at a table far away from where Tyson had just thrown up.

We had booked an 8am half day tour the next morning to explore the historic Xunantunich Mayan ruins. Our tour guide picked us up at our hotel and drove to a nearby river that required a small ferry to get across. The ferry held four cars and was attached to two steel cables on either side. In the middle were two buff men taking turns using a hand crank to pull people and vehicles ‘safely’ across. Talk about a labor-intensive job! Wouldn’t just a bridge have been easier? Once we were on the other side of the river it was only about a mile up a steep dirt road to the ruins.

Our tour guide was very knowledgeable of the area and kept a nice slow pace for us … but more importantly he was our personal photographer for the day. Score! The kids didn’t care to hear any of the history, they were just eager to explore. As we were walking the premises, our tour guide pointed out a subtle hole in the ground. He picked up a long piece of grass and started poking into the whole….ok, now the kids were interested. We asked what in the world he was doing and he said he was trying to tease a tarantula into coming out of the hole! Say what?? The boys were fearless and got their faces right up next to the hole to watch. After a little coaxing, the tarantula poked its head and a few legs out of the hole but wasn’t interested in coming all the way out to put on a show for us tourists. That was perfectly fine with me! The boys loved it though. Once they knew the trick, they grabbed a small stick nearby and started poking it in the hole to try to get the tarantula out but had no luck (thank God!).  

We continued exploring the ruins and came to a stunning temple that had intricate stone carvings surrounding it. We hiked up several extremely steep stairs before reaching the top of the temple. The view from up there was an unbelievable 360-degree view of the jungle! We were only a mile from the Nicaraguan border and we could actually see the closest Nicaraguan town in the distance. As beautiful as the view was, I nearly had a panic attack when I saw how steep the drop offs were all around the temple. I asked our guide how often people fall off the ledge and he said there were six last year! I’m thinking ‘alrighty then… let’s just go ahead and make our way back down ASAP!’ I immediately gripped the kids hands tight, took a quick family photo and headed back down. There was actually a girl dangling her feet off the ledge right next to the sign that said “Danger! Don’t sit on ledge”. Apparently that Instagram selfie was well worth risking her life over. Just dumb.

As we walked down the trail back to the car, our guide noticed about ten monkeys up in the treetops. We had heard one of the monkeys howling while we were exploring earlier and finally realized where it was coming from. We were all so excited to get an up close look at them! Much more fun seeing them in the wild than in the zoo. However, they didn’t seem too thrilled that a bunch of tourists were gawking at them and trying take a bunch of pictures. We figured we should probably walk away before they decided to start throwing poop at us.

It was a super hot and muggy day so we when we returned to our hotel, we headed straight to the pool to cool off. I was happily surprised that our server brought our lunch to the edge of the pool so we could eat while floating on our tubes. Sweet! After a few hours playing in the pool we asked the concierge to call a taxi to take us to our next hotel. As we were waiting with our bags in the lobby, an old beat up car rolled up and this grungy guy with dreadlocks steps out. The guy walks in with swagger and goes straight to the counter to ask the receptionist a question. When he turned around and saw us sitting in the lobby looking bored, he told us he had some ‘seaweed juice’ in his car that would make us ‘smile more, mon’. Ewww! We just laughed and said no thanks but appreciate the offer. Tyson turned and asked Marshall if that was our taxi driver and he said no but we kinda wished he was, just for the story.  

When our actual taxi driver rolled up, it was an old 90’s Toyota Corolla which apparently is the most common car for Taxi’s in Belize. Very specifically, the ‘92-’93 years are the best and most reliable. Ok, then. Turns out this guy was maybe more interesting than the dreadlocks guy. He told us how he’d spent 20 years as the chief of police in all the surrounding areas and knew Belize better than almost anyone (good and bad). He said there was a lot of corruption in the police force and government. Though Belize is safe for tourists, citizens have to navigate those waters on the regular. Glad we’re just visiting!

As we turned onto a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, there were rows and rows of fruit trees that lined a long driveway leading toTable Rock Jungle Lodge. We strolled down a long path with beautiful flowers and luscious vegetation surrounding us. We seriously felt like we were in Jumanji. Each room was an individual cottage and were all spaced out to maximize privacy. We checked in and the manager walked us to our cottage which happened to be the closest cottage to the pool and the restaurant. Perfect! The first thing we noticed was that there are no windows, only screens surrounding our cottage. There was also no air conditioning, only ceiling fans in each room. Oh joy. Then the manager tells us not to freak out about the bats hanging from the screen outside the master bedroom. Umm, did you say bats? Ahhh! We were a little weirded out at first but actually thought it was really cool watching them in the evenings.

This place was legit jungle. There was no TV or internet in the rooms. Only the sounds of the jungle piercing through the screens throughout the day (and even more at night!). One of the biggest surprises was when I read in their room manual that we’re not allowed to use a hairdryer or any other hair supplies. Are you serious??? The next time I’d be able to wash my hair was three days from then!  Oh yay, greasy hair for the rest of the trip. Oh well, with this humidity my hair would be a giant frizball anyway so might as well just throw it in a bun.

 Once we got all settled, we put our swim suits on and walked over to the bar to get our free welcome drink on the way to the pool. The boys asked the bartender to mix all five juice options into a tropical fruit concoction which they were obsessed with. The rest of the time we were there they wanted a welcome drink with every meal.

Later that evening we had a nice dinner at a cute little outdoor restaurant at the resort. It had a traditional thatched roof where a mouse opossum made a home in. There was only one other couple at the restaurant and we asked our server why it was so quiet. Apparently there are only ten rooms at this resort and we had the only room that allows kids. Shoot, if anyone hears kids screaming in the middle of the night, we have nobody to blame it on! After our scrumptious meal, we went back to our room and tucked the boys into their bunk beds which was the first time they’d ever slept in a bunk bed. We all slept soundly as we were serenaded by crickets all night long (and the occasional strange unknown sound coming from the depths of the jungle).

The following morning we were eager to explore the resort’s massive property. We wandered over to their orange orchard and grabbed one perfectly ripe orange off the tree. The manager said we can pick as much fruit as we wanted as long as we ate it or fed it to one of their animals. Awesome! The oranges were super sweet and delicious! As we continued walking through the orchard we saw some donkeys tied to some trees. The boys were excited to hand feed them some animal food that we had grabbed earlier from the front desk. We also gave them a few oranges for dessert. Lucky donkeys! There was also a chicken coop nearby with nearly a hundred chickens and next to it was a cage with about ten bunnies. The boys fed the chickens and bunnies the rest of the food we had but unfortunately Tyson threw the last piece for the chickens up high in a tree. Ooops, sorry chickens! As we kept exploring we found a playground with a sign that said “Sammie’s Playhouse”. There was a big tire swing hanging from a tree that boys were excited to swing on. At one point Wesley lost his grip and fell out of the tire. Luckily, he didn’t get hurt and got right back up and started playing again. Tough guy!

Once the boys were worn out from playing, we thought it would be fun to borrow one of the resorts complementary canoes and paddle upstream to a nearby resort called Cha’a. It was a serene experience soaking in the beauty along the river. Along the way we came to some small rapids that were so shallow that we had to get out and walk our canoe around. Just a slight hiccup, but overall it was an amazing experience canoeing through a wild jungle river. Definitely a lifetime memory we’ll treasure!

When we arrived at Cha’a Resort, we docked our canoe and walked straight to the pool area that actually had a ton a of kids (unlike our hotel). Woo hoo! We grabbed a poolside table and ordered some food and drinks. Marshall got a spicy margarita that was bomb digity! I snuck in a few sips when he wasn’t looking. Shhhh, don’t tell him. While we were eating lunch, Marshall told me that he had called this resort earlier that morning and had booked a massage for me. Such a sweet surprise! When it was time for my massage, I headed up a long staircase that led to the top of a hill that overlooked the jungle. Such a picturesque place for a relaxing massage. Mad props to my amazing hubby! During my massage, the boys practiced their swimming with Marshall and enjoyed playing in the pool with all the other kids.

After a few hours of pool action, it was time to canoe back to our resort. Wesley gave a little girl at the pool one of his toys to keep as a memento of him. So sweet of him. We walked back down to the river and started canoeing downstream. The ride back was a lot quicker and the water level had risen so we didn’t have to walk our canoe over the rapids. Yay! When we arrived at our resort, we tied up the canoe and headed up a steep trail to the restaurant. We asked a server if they could cut open two fresh coconuts for us to drink to refresh us from our grand adventure. We gave the boys a sip and they weren’t a fan, but hey at least they can say they’ve drank from a coconut.

The next morning was our last day in Belize and we wanted to maximize our remaining time playing outside. Unfortunately, the rain gods had other plans so we hung out in the outdoor covered area playing connect four. Not exactly what we had in mind, but the kids still had fun so that’s all that matters. After checking out of our hotel, a shuttle picked us up and drove us two hours to the airport. Fortunately, there was a really cool couple sitting next to us in the shuttle who also love to travel so we enjoyed sharing our travel adventure stories. Marshall and the guy really hit it off and ended up exchanging contact information and have kept in contact ever since!

When we finally arrived at the airport, we realized we’d gotten there three hours early and it only took like five minutes to get through security. We had three hours to kill in this tiny airport with one hole in the wall spot to get some greasy food and one little gift shop with random crap. Just wonderful. Marshall and I took turns watching our bags while the other took the boys to the gift shop to pick out a toy to bring home for show and tell at school. Tyson picked out a flute and Wesley picked out a rain maker instrument which they were excited to play very loudly walking around the airport. We definitely got the stink eye from a few people but oh well, we'll never see them again. Luckily time went by pretty quickly and before we knew it we were boarding our flight to Dallas. We had another overnight layover in Dallas which was actually nice to help break up the long travel time.
​
Belize was such an amazing bonding experience for our family. We feel so blessed to have these opportunities to grow closer and navigate new territories together. We made such great memories we’ll cherish for a lifetime and cannot wait for our next adventure together. Until next time!