| July 2015 -
Belize
Kumi and I went to
Belize. I had a little
adventure getting here. About 5 hours before my flight, American
Airlines called to inform me of a delay in my flight which would cause
me to miss my connection in Dallas. So they put me on a flight
departing the next day… Obviously unacceptable. I had them
change my departure from Sacramento to San Francisco, then jumped in my
car and drove to SFO. After arriving in SFO, everything else went
OK. Made my connection in Dallas. Arrived in Belize about 45 minutes
before kumi. Met our driver. Then waited for kumi’s plane
to arrive. (She was flying from somewhere else.)
Once kumi arrived, our driver loaded up the rest of the bags and we began our 2.5 hour ride to the resort. It was a nice, leisurely drive. About half way through, we stopped at a truck stop. Just in time to see the end of the Argentina vs Chile CONCACAF. I think everyone was for Argentina. Chile won. After the game, we continued on our drive. A short time later, we arrived at Gaļa. Gaļa is a
beautiful, eco-friendly resort located in the western part of Belize,
in the Mountain Pine Ridge. It’s down the road from Coppola’s
place... It's in the middle of nowhere. Upon our arrival, we were welcomed with a welcoming drink, Belizean rum optional. I opted for the rum with mine. The whole check-in process was very relaxed. We sat out on the deck for a bit while the concierge gave us an overview of the area and things to do. We finished our drinks, then we checked in. We had a Waterfall view cabana. It is called this because it overlooks the Five Sisters waterfalls. It was very nice. We did have a bug problem, but the resort staff took care of that while we were at dinner. (There are these tiny bugs that aren’t out during the day and are attracted to light at night. For the most part, they don’t bother you. But they swarm around bright light.) Dinner was good. It was also bit large. Neither kumi or I could finish ours. (Probably didn’t help that we snacked a bit before.) After dinner, we returned to our cabana, showered and went to bed. We tried to watch something. But besides a little nap on the plane, I hadn’t actually slept since Thursday, and this was Saturday. So yeah, I went unconscious. Not a bad first day though.We didn't do much of anything the following day. We slept in a bit late. Then got up and had a late breakfast. (Belizean eggs.) Then we hung around the main lodge for a while… Most of the day actually. There isn’t any mobile phone service at Gaļa. There is Wi-Fi, but it’s only at the main lodge. So we spent most of the time in the lodge updating web stuff. We did take a break for lunch. Then we decided to take a hike down to the river. When we reached the bottom, we saw the lounge area. It was quite nice: tables, chairs, hammocks. We loved the hammocks. We stayed there for quite some time. (I went to sleep.) After a very good nap, we called the main desk via walkie talkie. (They gave us a walkie talkie brfore we went down.) We asked them to send the tram down. You can walk down to the river. But you can also take the tram down. We chose to take the tram back up. A little later, we watched the USA vs Japan women’s final. Gaļa doesn’t have TV either, but kumi managed to find a website that streamed the game. After the game, we called it a night.Day 3, Barton Creek Cave tour! Canoe, spelunking, zip-line! We left Gaļa at 0830. Our concierge, Francisco, was also our driver and guide for this trip. It took about 45 minutes to get there. Once there, Francisco did some official stuff, prepared the canoe, and hooked us up with life jackets, helmets and spotlights. Then off we went. We thought we would actually be doing some canoeing, but we were wrong. Our guide does all the canoeing and we just sit in canoe and take pictures. Once deep inside the cave, we turned the spotlights on. (Cause without them it is pitch black.) There are a few Mayan artifacts to see, but if the guide didn’t point them out, we never would have spotted them. I’m not going to try to describe the cave tour because I wouldn’t be able to do it justice. (See the pictures.) I will recommend to anyone who takes it that when the guide asks if you want to continue, say yes. After the cave tour, we did zip-line. What can I say. I haven’t done a zip-line I didn’t like. This one was no exception. Check out the pictures for it. I will say this: Zip-line before you eat. That’s what we did and it was a great idea. Gaļa prepared a huge lunch for us and it was very good. We particularly liked the pasta. After lunch, we headed back to Gaļa. We relaxed for a bit. I took more pictures of the resort. Shower, nap, update internet, not necessarily in that order. Then an awesome Shrimp Curry dinner. (I used bread to wipe off what ever Curry I left on the plate.) Day 4, the Macal river and Archeological tour. We were joined with another couple from California for the tour. (We have met a lot of Californians on some of our trips.) The first stop is the Macal river. It is about a 45 minute ride from Gaļa, in San Ignacio. We passed through a couple of small towns on the way to San Ignacio. Much of the road is not paved in between towns. I tried to take a few pictures while we were driving, but the roads were too bumpy for that. We arrived in San Ignacio and met Tony, our guide, at the river. The canoes were waiting. (Did I mention this was a canoe trip?) The other couple took one canoe. Kumi, Tony and I took the other. I sat up front and took pictures. Kumi and Tony paddled. (I did switch with kumi on the way back.) It was a nice, leisure tour. We traveled about a couple miles upstream, then turned around and came back. We saw some wildlife along the way including Kingfishers, Bats and Iguanas. After canoeing, we did a short stop the San Ignacio outdoor market, before heading to lunch. We ate at a little restaurant called Benny’s Kitchen. If you weren’t a local, you probably would not be able to find it. The food was very good and inexpensive. (Not that the price mattered because Gaļa paid for it.) I had empanadas for my appetizer, with Pibil for the main dish. (Slow roasted pork, cooked underground.) Once lunch was finished, we went on to the second tour, the Mayan ruins at Xunantunich. A short drive from the restaurant, followed by a quick ferry ride, and we were there. I’m not going to try to describe this place. The pictures I took should cover it. I will say that if you don’t like walking up stairs and/or have a problem with heights, this tour is probably not for you. Or, you can do the tour and not go up any of the 4 structures. After Xunantunich, we headed back to Gaļa. A brief rain shower made the roads interesting. Not really a problem for us because we had a 4 wheel drive vehicle. The same cannot be said for the French couple who hired a cab to get to Gaļa. Lucky for them, they saw us on our way back to Gaļa. Our driver just told them to follow him. They made it to Gaļa relatively unscathed. I think the cab lost brakes along the way, but a quick repair took care of thatThe next day was a travel day. We transfered from Gaļa Riverlodge, to their sister resort in San Pedro, Matachica. It’s about an hour ride from Gaļa to the Tropic Air airport at Maya Flats. I normally don’t say too much about airports. But I really liked this one. “Airport” is a bit of an exaggeration with this place. It’s probably a 30x40 foot building at the end of a landing strip. But it’s cute, clean and well maintained. It also has an outdoor deck that you could totally kick back and relax on. Our plane had mechanical problems so they sent another one. It was a 45 minute delay. No one seemed to mind. I didn’t even move from my chair on the deck. The plane was one of those where they seat you by how much you weigh. (Some people weren’t clear on that concept.) We took off from Maya Flats. Did a quick pick up in Belmopan. (Smallest airport ever.) Then on to San Pedro. The Matachica staff were waiting for us when we arrived. They quickly got our bags; loaded them on a golf cart (the apparent transportation of choice in San Pedro); then on to our boat. After an approximate 10 minute boat ride, we were at Matachica. We were welcomed with a welcoming drink. (My favorite ritual.) Matachica does a slight twist with the welcoming drink ritual. When their staff meet you at the airport, they ask what drink do you want, then that is the drink waiting for you when you arrive. This caught me unprepared and I didn’t know what to choose. So when the staff guy said “Pińa Colada” I said “Yes, I’ll have that.” I NEVER order Pińa Coladas. However, it was a very good Pińa Colada. At Matachica, we had a Sea breeze bungalow. It's a cute, one bedroom villa, about 50 yards from the beach. It's grape colored. At Matachica, they don't use room numbers. Instead, the villas are named after different fruit. We stayed in "Grape". The next day was diving day. We went with White Sands. They picked us up from the Matachica pier and took us directly to the dive shop. The staff were great. Our divemaster and boat captain, Chino and Carlos, were awesome. The dives were very good. The visibility was not the best, but it was good enough to see a lot of sealife. Which included turtles, huge lobster, lionfish, (Which the divemaster immediately killed. Lionfish are a problem here.) and a nurse shark. I did a 2 tank dive. Kumi did a 4 tank dive. I was back at the resort much earlier than her. I showered, ate lunch, and got caught up on some web updates. (I was way behind.) Kumi returned just before dinner. We ate at Matachica’s restaurant, Mambo. Dinner was good. We went to the bar, but didn’t stay long because kumi was slowly going into food coma…. Next day, more diving. We did 3 dives and 1 snorkel. We saw another lionfish, a couple more nurse sharks, and a Moray eel with an attitude. The eel chased our divemaster for a bit. Then it took a lionfish that another divemaster had just caught. Those were the first 2 dives. We had lunch before the next dive and snorkel. We ate at a place close to the dive shop called Rendezvous. I had some Pork skewer thing with peanut sauce. (Very good) Kumi had Chicken wings. (Also very good) After an extended break, back to diving. The afternoon dive
and snorkel were at Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark Ray Alley. This
is a popular place for divers and snorkelers. The depth is about 28’.
We saw a lot of sealife during the dive. But the snorkel is where we
saw the sharks and rays. The snorkeling spot is a location where the
nurse sharks know they’re going to be fed, so they swim up next to the
boat. I jumped in the water and took a few pictures. We spent all day diving and snorkeling. By the time we returned to Matachica it was after 5. Long enough for us to shower and take a little rest before dinner. We weren’t really that hungry at dinner. So I had an appetizer and kumi had pasta. We shared a rum cake. It was awesome. We were tempted to order another one, but we thought better of it.Next day: Do nothing day… For me… Kind of. Kumi went diving. I slept in for
a bit, then went to the spa. I had scheduled a 90 minute therapeutic
massage. Turns out I was a bit stiff. (Surprise, surprise.) The massage finished 30 minutes before lunch started. Which gave me
time to take a few pictures of the resort. I finished taking resort pictures just in time for lunch. I had the Grouper sandwich. It was great. Of course, during my lunch, kumi had sent me an email saying she had finished diving, and was on her way back. She arrived when I was in the middle of eating my sandwich. After insuring the lunch staff wouldn’t take the rest of my sandwich, I walked out to the pier to meet her. I had left all of my gear to dry at the dive shop the previous day. She was bringing it back. (Matachica doesn’t really have many good places to dry dive gear.) Once the gear was temporarily stowed, it was back to eating lunch. After lunch, we began some serious “Do nothing” time. I reclined in my favorite spot next to the beach. I did a few web updates, but most of the time I slept and imbibed the occasional alcoholic beverage. Kumi did pretty much the same thing. She also commented on how we should go see the resort pool. But then we thought about the physical effort involved in changing locations and decided against it. (Besides, I saw it earlier.) We did nothing for the rest of the day. We saw some other guests and commented on how much more nothing needs to be done. We did eventually get up for dinner (and kumi did eventually make it to the pool). Dinner was good as ever. There was also a wedding party going on inside the restaurant. It didn’t really bother the guests because they were eating outside the restaurant. Their music was good so it provided good entertainment.Travel day. We had checked out the night before. Matachica was serving breakfast for us a 0645. At 0715 we were on the Matachica complimentary boat transfer to San Pedro. After the boat, it was a short cart ride to San Pedro airport. We caught a Tropic Air flight to Belize City airport, an approximate 18 minute ride. At Belize City Airport, kumi and I parted. She had an earlier flight. My flight, though later and less direct, was shorter with a short layover. It even arrived an hour earlier than my originally scheduled flight. A few things to note about Gaļa River Lodge, Matachica, and Belize in general:
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