Balann

If it’s Wednesday, We must be in Belize!! Again, another beautiful day, and after securing early tender tickets, we take the 20 minute ride to Belize City. Here our group was going to split up with Daughter #1 & Dad finding a Snorkel Tour, and Sis and I doing our own self-tour Cave Tubing/Belize Zoo trip. Belize (and Cancun) is a tendered port, and moderately rough seas can keep any tenders from docking and shore excursions cancelled, so we choose to wait until landing before scouting out satisfactory tours. We didn’t take too much time before finding the reputable company which we have read while interneting…Coral Breeze Limited (www.coralbreezelimited.com). $60/pp USD Cash whisked our two snorkelers to the Barrier Reef to the coral Garden Wall & Shark & Ray Alley, with a relaxing lunch stop at Key Caulker. They loved it. Daughter said the island and waters were “insanely beautiful’, and she looks forward to coming back to these picture-perfect postcard islands as soon as possible. This was the highlight of their cruise, and returned ‘home’ to the ship with many exciting tales, and great video.

Now, we had to pursue our adventure. After wading thru several ‘eager’ taxi men, we found Mr. Ernest August. He offered a tour, we countered, he re-offered, then we had to walk away to decide if we wanted to spend this much. We were thinking maybe we’d take the local buses out the Western Highway to the Zoo, and wing-it from there. We did find the Tourist Information Desk at the Tourism Village, and they did give us a nice map, but neither of the 2 desk attendants, nor another, could give us a precise location for the bus station, saying it was along the Canal somewhere. It was very hot, probably in the 90’s and 100’s inland, and we made final arrangements with Mr. E to escort us around Belize, with his assurance that his car has A/C! Yes it did…and a large, comfortable Mercury Marquis to boot, which he is very proud of…and we very much enjoyed.

Mr. E. is an older gentleman who we felt comfortable with, and we entrusted our care to him. I’m glad we did because we enjoyed his company, and I’m sure he profited from ours. $65pp USD Cash for all day, and he will pay for our water guide/equipment during Cave Tubing. We will pay our admission into the Zoo ($8pp USD) and admission into the Caves Branch Archaeological Reserve (near Frank’s Eddy Village) ($5pp USD). The Belize Dollar is based on our US Dollar, 2 BZD=1 USD, and our currency is equally accepted, but always make sure which $ is indicated. Tourism is a fairly new industry, and so far, Belize is eager for tourist dollars. We found our driver patience and informative with our questions. He took pride in his many years’ association with deep-sea fishing tours, and his ability to guide us around his country. His Mayan heritage also gave him some authority on the peoples of this country. He is well traveled himself, with near yearly driving jaunts to the U.S. to escape Belize’s hot, rainy season beginning in June. I see him as a ‘modern’ Mayan man, with a cell phone, and have more cable channels on his TV than I do! Nice guy. English is the national language of Belize, making this an easy country to navigate, and enjoy.

So off we go, with the Zoo as our first stop, hopefully, during the cooler (hot) morning. We actually stopped for gas before leaving the City, with us advancing our driver $20 to put a few gallons in the tank. Gas is $8.40/gal. BZD. Ernest actually led us around this small, but interesting Zoo, probably to make sure we didn’t spend too much time there. Then off we go, further west on the Western Hwy not too many miles, until the Jaguar Paw (large sign) dirt-road exit, where we turned south. At Cave Branch, Ernest entrusted us to Rudy, our guide for the float trip. Rudy was a very competent guide showing us everything of interest as we walked thru the jungle to the river entry. He took great care by holding my hand on inclines/declines and across river beds, once he knew of my knee arthritis. Although, we had a somewhat abbreviated tour because of time constraints, we had plenty of time to float the cave and the river, within our allotted time schedule. We didn’t have too much tourist traffic on the river as they had all been here earlier that morning. I know we had a good time, but after developing film and seeing pictures of ourselves and our big grins, I can’t help but smile again.

Refreshed, but thirsty, on the way back, I offered to buy a ‘round’ at ‘Cheers Restaurant’ (www.cheersrestaurant.bz/pages/680309/index.htm) mile marker 31, and with our ‘Lite’ Cokes & Belikin Beer ‘to go’, wrapped with paper napkin tops, we continued on. Ernest offered to show us another stop of interest, right on the Highway back, the Old Belize Port (www.oldbelize.com) at mile 5, Western Highway, not too far from Belize City. This was very interesting, and I will remember this for our next trip, for it had an interesting Cultural & Historical Museum, nice water-front restaurant, and an oasis-like Cucumber Beach & Marina. This would be a good beach to play at (fee?), if staying near Belize City, and not able to get out to Ambergris or Caulker Key. Last but not least, Ernest took us to the T-shirt factory in the City, once he knew I had to get a Belize t-shirt for the grandbebe. I felt that all the taxi/tour guides get some sort of commission from each sale, as his name is noted on the receipt…but for a $2.50 USD tee, that’s all right. We said our good-byes to our kind Mr. E, exchanged phone numbers, bought some Cashew wine & caught our tender ‘home’. I would recommend Ernest August to anyone looking for a license tour guide, whether for a land or boat tour, and he can be contacted by phone: From the U.S. (011) 501/202-4962 home or 501/602-2118 cell. Great Day.

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