Days 40-43 - Punta Gorda, Belize

Punta Gorda (10/02/09 - 13/02/09)

We arrived at our very nice (not for backpackers) hotel which had a large area of jungle as a back garden. We soon realised that we had some very noisy neighbours and for once the weren´t Americans.

There were lots of interesting plants around the garden including this very undeveloped pineapple.

Liz took this very dramatic picture of a palm tree whilst Adam went for some "camera time" in the jungle.

Another interesting jungle plant although apparently this is another escapee from somebodies garden.

Even in the ant world two females with babies have to stop and have a gossip for half an hour.

Jungle fungus.

Adam´s first, but hopefully not last, tarantula. This is a red rumped tarantula who rather inconveniently would not show anything apart from her red rump.

We went to a Belizean greasy spoon for breakfast with Julie and Pat a lovely pair also staying in our hotel.

We were advised to visit the local hardware shop and to have a seaweed shake. This one was rum and raisin flavoured, we don´t want to know what else went in it but it didn´t taste of seaweed and was actually quite nice.

Market day in Punta Gorda.

We hopped on a local chicken bus to visit some nearby Mayan ruins.

Lubantuun ruins - nothing spectacular but we had the whole place to ourselves for a couple of hours and it was very peaceful.

The name of the site means fallen rocks and they were not exaggerating.

We visited a butterfly farm on top of one of the highest hills in the area.

The farm was owned by a Welshman who lived on Alma Road in Windsor for 30 years. The butterflies were all for export to Stratford-Upon-Avon butterfly farm. It is a small world.

It was a commercial butterfly farm and so was largely fairly unattractive. This one looked more natural than most.

We also visited a local Cacao farm. These pods are ready for harvesting and making into chocolate.

The chocolate was only made on a small scale using traditional methods. The seeds were extraced from the cacao pod, dried for a number of days and then crushed into a chocolate paste using the above stone grinder.

One of our very young but knowledgeable tour guides with a broken cacao pod.

Family friends and owners of Hickatee Cottages, our base in Punta Gorda, Ian and Kate. Great homemade food, thanks Kate!

Day 39 - Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize

Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (09/02/09)

We were up before dawn at 5.30am to get to the sanctuary at dawn when the wildlife is most active. Unfortunately the main problem with the rain forest is that it rains an incredible amount and the problem when it rains this much is all the wildlife sensibly hides away. Above is the almost useless map of the 700sq mile reserve which Liz photographed for supposed navigation purposes, no Tom Tom out here.

After walking for a couple of hours in pouring rain and thick mud we saw our only land animal of the day, a species of jungle deer, in the distance.

Fortunately the jungle plants don´t disappear in the rain.

We walked along one of the trails to this beautiful stream, one of the advantages of rain and gloom is that there is more water and less light therefore better long exposure photos.

The stream was fed by this waterfall in nicer weather we believe you can swim at the bottom of it however by this point we already looked like we had been for a swim in all our clothes.

Adam could not resist crossing the stream, he believes it is a component of male genetics that you have to do this. And yes he did get one wet foot, but luckily the camera stayed dry!

We noticed these strange trails in some areas of mowed grass.

Incredibly it turned out that it was a leaf cutter ant trail, hard to imagine how many of their tiny feet it would take to wear this much grass down. They were not interested in the grass, the trail of ants disappeared up a very tall tree in which they cut pieces of leaf many times their size and then carried them a huge distance to their nest. They can cause massive damage and even kill trees which has led to the practice in towns of painting the lower half of tree trunks white, a colour which apparently the ants will not go near. The ants do not eat the leaves instead they build a compost heap in the nest on which they grow an edible fungus which seems extremly close to agriculture. Just another Adam amazing fact!

This is an incredibly rare, wet and smelly species found in the jungle. Since this photo was taken it has become extinct in this area.

Sometimes when you look at how amazingly dense the vegetation is you wonder how anyone ever spots any animals - maybe we should have gone to Belize Zoo after all.

This aeroplane crashed into the jungle in the early 70s. Apparently the stranded survivors got so hungry that once they had finished eating the corpses of their friends they actually started eating the aeroplane food ( actually the crew escaped with minor injuries, the plane was a research tool used for tracking jaguars).

We sheltered under one of the wings during another particularly fierce downpour.

The plane was remarkably intact considering it had been left to rot in the jungle for over 30 years. The numbers on what we think was the altitude meter were still clearly legible.

Despite the rain, thick mud, 9 hours of solid hiking, mosquitoes and almost complete lack of wildlife in the wildlife reserve we still had a really good day.

When we got back after a fairly unpleasant cold shower we went looking for dinner, which incidentally turned out to be plain bread and water ( no kidding). On the way we saw this beautiful red bird which put a bit of colour in our otherwise very grey day.

If you double click on this picture to get a slightly larger version it will become clear that this is a collection of more oranges together in one place than you have ever seen before. Incidentally in an insight into what the two of us find to talk about on a dark rainy evening in the jungle we had an ´interesting´discussion about how the emphasis on the word "orange" in the term "orange

lorry" completely changes what you are talking about from the colour of the lorry to the fact that it is carrying lots of oranges. We didn´t realise how boring we were until we wrote this, but we would be interested to have your comments and other examples!

Day 38 - Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize

Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (08/02/09)

We left San Ignacio on a very full bus and after 4 hours we arrived at Maya Centre a small Mayan settlement close to the Cockscomb Wildlife Reserve. We were dropped off on the highway seemingly in the middle of nowhere and lugged all our luggage for about 20 minutes along a small dirt track to our "hotel". We had only just arrived when torrential tropical rain started, lasting several hours.

During a brief gap in the rain we took a walk down the track. On one side of the track there was jungle and on the other there was miles of orange trees. Can anyone tell us what an orange "orchard" is called because we can not remember if we ever knew?

We walked along the track for a couple of hours enjoying the wildlife and the scenery. The threatening looking sky didn´t just threaten - on one occasion we got drenched. Luckily Liz was prepared (as usual) with full rain wear.

Sometimes it is hard to tell in the jungle whether you are looking at an exotic native species or something which has escaped from someones garden.

Whilst walking along the track there was this stream running parallel. We do not know if it is always there or whether it was just a result of all the rain.

We saw lots of toucans but they did not seem willing to pose for any photos and were very high up in the trees.

Adam managed to persuade this one to pose for his camera. Unfortunately he could not do anything about the miserable grey sky - no photoshopping here (yet!)

This hawk, of unknown species, was far more willing to pose. Infact it didn´t seem bothered at all how close we got.

Day 37 - San Ignacio, Belize

Cahal Pech Ruins, near San Ignacio ( 07/02/09)

For a short day trip we decided to visit Cahal Pech an archaeological site within walking distance of San Ignacio. It didn't look far on the map but the map didn't show that it was uphill all the way.

Looking down over the buildings. You can clearly see the seperate rooms.

A great view of the mountains from the ruins site.

Whilst walking around the site we saw an Agouti in the distance. It is like a large guinea pig with a large nose and long legs. We say large but it is still probably smaller than Dotty!

Day 36- San Ignacio, Belize

Visit to Green Iguana Sanctuary in San Ignacio (06/02/09)

Near to San Ignacio a Green Iguana sanctuary has been set up. They have become endangered in Belize because they, and their eggs, are considered a delicacy. We heard that you could get up close to the Iguanas so visiting was a high priority (if you haven't worked out yet Adam is obsessed with lizards).

This is the dominant male in the sanctuary. Normally he would be greyish green but turns orange in mating season to attract the females.

We don't think this is who he was intending to attract. By the way this one is not even particularly big for an adult male.

Even Liz has never got that close!

This baby iguana wanted a hug.

Adam in his element. Just him and 10 Green Iguanas. Note the one on his hat.

Ahhh! Isn't it cute!

Days 34 & 35 - San Ignacio, Belize

Walk to Branch Mouth in San Ignacio ( 04/02/09 - 05/02/09)

On the 4th we once again endured the bumpy boat ride to Belize City followed by an almost equally bumpy bus journey to San Ignacio. We gave our bums a rest for the rest of the day and set out early on the morning of the 5th to Branch Mouth near the town. Branch Mouth the confluence of the Mopan River and Macai River forming Belize River. With fresh banana bread in our backpack we walked a couple of miles up the dusty country road.

The farmland by the track was very picturesque. We are not sure what was growing in this field - maybe potatoes?

On the other side of the road there were several banana plantations. These ones are not quite ready to be made into banana bread yet! Our diet has changed since we left Mexico, we are almost eating nothing else apart from banana bread and fresh bananas. Oh, and the occasional banana smoothie. Not surprising when you consider the fact that you can buy about 100 bananas for the price of a can of deodorant! (please note that our skin is turning yellow and we have really smelly armpits)

The meeting of the two rivers. You can see the turquoise water of the Mopan as it meets the mucky green of the Macai.

There was one very rickety bridge over the river. It bounced and swayed as we walked over it but seemed sturdy enough. However our confidence gave up when we reached this point and we turned back.

We had given up on crossing the bridge until we saw several locals like this one. We decided that if the bridge could take a motorbike then it could take us.

Adam feels more like Indiana Jones everyday.

Liz doesn't!

Liz was very happy partly because she had survived the bridge without falling into the river and being eaten by crocodiles and partly because she had just eaten her banana bread. Funnily enough there was nothing to see on the other side of the bridge and we crossed back over shortly afterwards.