Belize Blog – Belizeadventure.com

When we were at Ian Anderson’s Caves Branch Jungle Lodge he gave each of us a soap sampler which consisted of a soap dish made out of jungle hardwoods from downed trees from Hurricane Richard and 3 bars of assorted soap. I just realized the soap dish has more info on the Chess Foundation I mentioned in my last post, so I wanted to include that here.

The soap company is called the Mystic Mayan Natural Soaps of Belize, and 100% of the profits are donated to fund Youth at Risk programs run by the Belize National Youth Chess Foundation. BNYCF uses chess as an educational and motivational tool to teach learning and life skills to primary aged “at risk youth” from poverty and disenfranchised families. Their mission is that teaching children to be better thinkers helps keep them in school. This whole program is the brainchild of Ian’s wife Ella, who is from Russia where chess is an integral part of the educational system.

These soaps are made with coconut oils from Belize and imported olive oils and Glycerin. The soaps are 100% organic and are available at Ian’s lodge. You can red more about the chess program here: http://www.belizechess.org/.

When we first began to kayak in Belize we naturally looked around for interesting rivers in addition to sea kayaking from island to island. My partner Cully had gotten his start in the adventure travel business by teaching whitewater kayaking on the Colorado River right near Moab where we still live.

Right away we started hearing about this amazing jungle river you had to run by flashlight. The Caves Branch reportedly went underground for many miles before resurfacing. We couldn’t find anyone who knew for sure if you could run it, but everyone said the same thing: we had to talk to Ian Anderson. So we drove on out to this obscure spot off of a very bad road called the Hummingbird “Highway”, and there was Ian, living in a shack in the jungle. He was starting up a remote jungle lodge (he called it a “jungle camp” back then) offering caving tours using Belizean guides that he was training himself.

He had already been down the Caves Branch River, but not in kayaks, because he didn’t own any. We ran it shortly after meeting him, and it was one of the most amazing things we had ever seen. Later Cully started our Belize Adventure Week trip, the first jungle/island sport combo package offered in the country. That itinerary has changed over the years as we have learned more about the country, but we have never stopped running the Caves Branch, launching from Ian’s property. This is without a doubt the best one day activity in Belize.

Back then we stayed at Ian’s during the inland part of our tour, so we spent a lot of time with him. He took me on many of his cave tours himself. He pioneered Belize caving, and he remains the leader in this field. He took me to Footprint Cave and the Black Hole Drop where you rappel 300 feet down through the jungle canopy. I remember exploring other caves that were not even named yet.

It’s been years since I have seen Ian because we are both so busy. Even though I ran the Caves Branch last April, we just drove the dirt road through the orange grove to the Blue Hole Branch put-in, I didn’t have time to go find him. But a few days ago we stopped at Ian Anderson’s Caves Branch Jungle Lodge on the travel agent tour and there he was!

I can’t begin to explain how great it was to see him. We have both come so far, and worked so hard for so long, that for me it brought the whole journey back just seeing him again. Cully and I have gone from young kids with a few kayaks and an old van to owning the island. And Ian has come even further. His place is stupendous. He has a huge greeting center for day tourists, a giant open-air bar and dining area, a huge pool with two waterfalls, 5-star treehouse accommodations, a botanical garden with an impressive orchid collection and all plants labeled and described, a search and rescue training program for remote Belize, and a chess camp for Belizean kids that they fund in part by selling soap they make right on the property using rainforest ingredients collected nearby.

Even though his jungle accommodations are AMAZING, his chess camp was the most impressive thing about the whole visit. There was a table of kids with an El Salvadoran chess coach studying for the Central America Chess Championship. What an amazing chance for these kids! Public school in Belize only goes through the 6th grade; Ian will change many lives with this program. As he said himself, chess is only the vehicle… it’s about building self-esteem and creating new opportunities for disadvantaged kids. Already 1100 kids have been through his Belize chess program. The kids we saw at that table were the best in the country, and they are staying right at the jungle lodge for a week at no charge, working with the coach Ian and his wife Ella have brought into Belize just to work with them. Ian gave all the credit to Ella for coming up with the idea for the chess program.

I hated to leave, I could have stayed for days. But after a fantastic tour and delicious rum punch, we hit the Hummingbird Highway (now paved) and drove on south to Placencia.

(You can click each image to view the full picture.)

I have been in the adventure tour business since 1986. My partner Cully and I both come from a river trip-backpacking-camping background so that influenced what we offered. When I first joined him in this business, we were running self-support kayaking trips on the Jatate River in Chiapas. We packaged dried and freeze-dried meals in our shed in Moab and Cully drove them down to Mexico, along with kayaks, lifejackets, paddles, and helmets. Guests paddled their own food and gear down this Class IV expert level river that dropped 300 feet per mile. It was a very intense trip. My first year with Slickrock was also our first in Belize. Cully came over here and hired a guy with a sailboat to take him down the full length of the Belize Barrier Reef. That was how he found the 5 islands we used to paddle between, starting out in Placencia. We rented a beach in Placencia and rigged from there, carrying our food, kitchen, tents, and clothing in the kayaks, packing and unpacking each day to paddle from island to island.

From the beginning there was constant pressure to make it easier and cushier. In the very early years you were allowed one cup of fresh water per day to shower with. You had to wash with soap in the sea and then you took your one precious cup and poured it over your head. We had problems with people not following our instructions and they would use a lot more than that, and we would come close to running out of drinking water. We had to paddle up to 12 miles per day on that tour, but many people who signed up knowing that found that they couldn’t make it. Guides had to tow them. When I found the island at Glover’s our problems were solved. We put in shower stalls where you could pour all the water you wanted over your head, although of course it was well water, and unheated. You didn’t have to pack and unpack anymore, we had cabins! Although we only had 3 for everyone, so they were small bunk houses. Well guess what, everyone wanted more.

Each year we have made it cushier and easier, and it has evolved to what we offer today. Now we offer way more sports than just kayaking and snorkeling, and we keep adding them. We are now up to 10 sports on the island, with expert guides and regularly updated gear for each sport. But you don’t have to do anything. You can hang out the whole time on the nicest island in Belize, and many people do. It’s fabulous. Families or groups of friends of all different interests and abilities can come and they are all happy. And now each couple has their own, very private cabana. We have a cooking staff, guides aren’t cooking over a fire anymore. And we have a fridge for cold beer! As much as you want! We have running rain water for brushing your teeth! We have gone upscale big time.

But here I am, sitting in a $400/night suite at Almond Beach Resort near Hopkins, Belize, and I see what has been happening that whole time we have been changing with the times. The rest of the travel industry has also been evolving, along a parallel path. When we first started in Placencia, the really fancy places had one air conditioning unit, nice bedspreads, a sitting area in the room, a swimming pool, and hot showers. When I entered this suite last night for the first time, every single paper towel and toilet paper roll and Kleenix box had an origami end. Every towel was folded and twisted into a fanciful shape, and decorated with freshly cut flowers. The furnishings are as nice as the ones in my home, and it has 2 flat screen TVs and 2 jacuzzi tubs, not to mention the full kitchen, wrap around porch with comfortable patio furniture, and four air conditioners blasting at top speed. And every swimming pool has a fake waterfall.

And their sport gear for the kayaking they advertise? I have seen a bunch of lodges with kayaks. Each has 2-4 sit-on-tops, and they are sitting out in the sun. No one is taking care of them or instructing anyone. And all the paddles I have seen are lousy.

If I were paying $400 per night to stay here, I wouldn’t want to go anywhere. I wouldn’t want to explore the jungle all day, or go on a long boat ride out to the Barrier Reef to snorkel. I would feel I needed to sit here on my porch and look at this expensive view, or take a bath, or watch TV so I could use all this stuff I paid for. Plus, if I go down the two flights of stairs I am going to get nailed by sand fleas. It’s much more comfortable up here on the veranda. Want to go kayaking today? No thanks. I think I’ll just stay home.

I always knew we were different, of course, but now I really get it. When our guests arrive on Long Caye, they barely move into their cabanas before they are in the water, snorkeling at a nearby reef. As the days progress they learn to paddle out to a patch reef and jump out of their kayaks to snorkel where it’s too far to swim. Many days we start surfing at dawn. You don’t have to worry about leaving your cabana, it’s only a simple wooden building where you store your clothes and fall dead asleep after a very busy day. There are no screens on the windows because you don’t need them. We don’t have a bug problem, and we don’t have the power for air-conditioning, but the breeze blows almost all the time out there. You aren’t paying for the furniture and the Jacuzzi tub, you are paying for the sports gear and instruction and the private island. So instead of thinking you’d better stay in your cabana to get your money’s worth, you had better get out there and have Victor whip you into shape on a paddleboard, or ask Aurora to teach you to make coconut milk for the coconut rice. That’s how you get your money’s worth.

Our style of vacation definitely isn’t for everyone. Yesterday one of the travel agents I am traveling with explained something to me I never understood before, and it really highlights the difference between our guests and everyone elses. Daniel is Peruvian and runs Tara Tours out of Miami. We were looking at a simple cabin in Punta Gorda at Garbutt’s Marine. I don’t know the cost per day, but it has got to be cheap. This simple Belizean-style room is literally in the water, between the sea and a creek. There’s a bed, a bathroom, and air-conditioning. It’s quite private, but right in town. Not fancy at all. I remarked that this would be a perfect place to stay if you wanted to be right in town. Daniel made a face, and said he wouldn’t stay there. He said “I grew up poor. I can camp, no problem. But if I’m staying in a hotel like that and I know there’s a better one I could be staying in, I don’t like it.”

And yet, when I stay in a super fancy place, I feel like it’s a waste. It’s not me, and it’s not good for the environment. This building wiped away a whole swath of natural vegetation and wildlife habitat. I don’t like having people wait on me and act nicey-sweet to me because I’m paying $400/night. I want a real experience. I want to explore the area by kayak or swimming. I want my guides to treat me as a friend.

I’m not saying that one way is better; it’s apples and oranges. There’s no point in evaluating the differences, the whole goal is different. If you want a place that is very very comfortable and you feel like a million bucks just by hanging out in your hotel room, then choose one of the villas in San Ignacio, Mountain Pine Ridge, Hopkins, or Ambergris Caye. If you want to learn new sports and get to know the locals and explore new terrain with an expert guide, we have exactly what you are looking for out at Glover’s Reef.

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Two days ago we visited Five Sisters Lodge, a remote eco-resort on Mountain Pine Ridge. It takes an hour to get there on a bumpy road, but it’s worth it.

This small facility is Belizean owned and operated, the only place on Mountain Pine Ridge that can make this claim. The summary: it’s fabulous. You wouldn’t call it 5-star, like many of the others we are visiting, but no one would be uncomfortable there. They are perched 300 feet above a waterfall called Five Sisters, a quintuple cascade on Privassion Creek. They have beautiful grounds, mountain bikes, fantastic birding (you can spot the orange breasted falcon there, a rare sighting), an in-house tour company, and they power the whole thing with their own dam across a small part of the creek. They have standard cabanas, junior suites, and luxury suites, but the best deal of all is the river villa.

The villa is all the way down on the shore of the creek, they drive you there and will pick you up when you call them. The villa is 2 buildings side-by-side. It has a full kitchen, multiple hang-out spots, and up to 4 people can stay there. It is completely private and clothing optional… you have the creek to yourself because other guests are asked to explore a different part of it. They will provide a cooler and on the way to the lodge (they can pick you up at an additional cost) you do your shopping on your way in. And here’s the punchline: it’s only $250 US/night. This is absolutely the best deal in Belize. You can take my word for it because in the last 3 days I have visited about 15 lodges here (I have lost count).

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Mick and Lucy Fleming bought the farm that became Chaa Creek the same year that my partner Cully started Slickrock Adventures: 1977. Their original 140 acre farm eventually grew to 365 acres and into Belize’s first and foremost environmentally active eco-resort. It’s hard to figure out how to describe this amazing place and what to include: their absolutely stunning Belize lodging options with original Belizean artwork in every room, the expansive grounds, the huge organic farm that supplies many raw materials to nourish up to 200 guests and staff, the extensive spa, their butterfly farm and on-site museum and natural history center, their safari-style jungle camp unequaled anywhere in Belize, or their program for Belize kids and teachers which they fund to benefit all of Belize. Each and every part of this huge operation reveals the careful attention to detail that I recall from the early 90s when we based out of the jungle camp during the inland part of our Belize Adventure Week trip.

It was way cool to see them again. Despite spending 1-3 months/year here I have just never run into them. They hosted our breakfast Sunday morning, and it was obvious that they haven’t let up since 1977. They build and renovate constantly. Chaa Creek is an evolving labor of love for these two very gifted and dedicated individuals.

We have already visited at least 15 excellent lodges, but still Chaa Creek stands out. Here you really can get to know Belize. Sure you can book your vacation at Chaa Creek and just luxuriate in your room and get an open-air massage or tour a ruin or cave. But you can also learn about the endangered creatures in the surrounding jungle and what you can do to help. This week you could witness their Eco-Kids program in action, as we did. You can admire a huge collection of artwork by Belizean artists. You can become familiar with Belize ecology at the museum and natural history center. Although it is very much a luxury resort, they have taken profits from this huge operation and put it back into the country. Way to go, Mick and Lucy!

(You can click each image to view the full picture.)

We just finished an exquisite dinner at Ka’ana Boutique Resort, a truly lovely hotel just outside of San Ignacio, Belize. I’m not even sure what a ‘boutique’ resort is, and I think I’m supposed to know, because no one else asked, and they were nodding their heads like they understood… but maybe it means the best of everything, because that is obviously what they are shooting for here.

It has everything you would expect a super high-end resort to have with a few surprises: perfectly tended grounds, spacious rooms complete with small sitting area, a glass-block window in the shower, iPod docks in each room, wifi everywhere, and the swimming pool has two levels and a waterfall spilling from one to the other.

Their intimate spa uses only Belizean products for the masks and scrubs (coffee, cacao and sugar), and each room has a flat-screen TV (although why anyone would want to watch TV in a $400/night room is beyond me), welcome air-conditioning, delicious smelling lotion in the bathroom, and a deck on both ends of our casita. Our room also has an espresso machine, but sadly neither myself or my roommate know how to operate it. The room has a safe, although their staff is so good I would fall over in shock if anything were missing. And possibly the nicest touch of all, our back deck has a yoga mat sitting there in a basket waiting for you; a very thoughtful touch.

I loved my dinner, we had a choice of four entrées, all provided as part of the tour. I had the Garifuna Sera soup. WOW, fantastic. Our gracious hostess, Joanna Evans, born and raised in Dangriga, Belize, told me she would send me the recipe (!) Now THAT’S service. And for dessert I had corn gelato. Yes you heard me right. It tasted just like corn on the cob. It was kind of strange, although delicious. Ryan Kalous of The Mark Travel Corporation ordered the berry flavor, a fruit name I can’t remember, and he let me taste it. That is what I should have ordered, had I been smarter.

I just asked my roommate what a boutique resort is. Yvette Restrepo works for a luxury travel agency named BigFive.com. A boutique resort is a small resort, and there’s only one – as opposed to a chain. It’s high luxury, like a boutique clothing store, which only sells a few of each item, and each item is superb.

Yesterday I flew to Belize for my Belize Tourism Board tour of hotels in Belize. I arrived one day early to visit Crystal Paradise Resort, our new Cayo eco-lodge. We will be staying there for two of our Belize packages next season… our Belize Adventure Week trip and our Mayan Odyssey tour.

Crystal Paradise was built by the Tut family. They own 21 acres outside of a small village called Cristo Rey, which is about 4 miles from San Ignacio, the largest city in western Belize, and the center of inland tourism in Belize. All around the countryside here there are numerous eco-lodges, from a couple of small cabanas in someone’s backyard to very high-end boutique spa resorts, nestled along river banks and beneath the tall jungle canopy.

Jeronie Tut gave Mary Avila and I the ten dollar tour, what a fantastic place! I saw every room, hiked down to the Macal River, climbed their bird platform, ate two fabulous meals there, listened to the birds early this morning, and even got to tour his private home that he built with local woods using the timber frame technique.

I can’t say enough good things about Crystal Paradise. It’s a medium-priced lodge, in a very quiet part of the country, but only 20 minutes from downtown San Ignacio. They offer horseback riding, birding, and caving. Every staff member is part of this large Belizean family. They built the whole thing themselves, using material from the jungle right on their own property. They have the really good kind of thatch (bay leaf palm) instead of the kind our staff knows how to build with that we use on the island (cahune palm). Their place is very nicely done.

Crystal Paradise is going to be the perfect home-base for our Mayan tours in Belize. We prefer a spot that is isolated, quiet, and small so that our guests feel like it really is their home. The rooms are spacious and private, and on good days, he even has internet access! And the location in Belize is close to all of our inland adventures: right on the Macal River where we teach kayaking, near Che Chem Ha Mayan cave which we explore, and near the road to Tikal, which we also visit on one day of this Belize adventure. On the way to the island we run the Caves Branch River, arguably the best one day activity in Belize, an underground river run by kayak or raft.

Now I am sitting in the bar at Ka’ana Boutique Resort outside of San Ignacio, waiting for the rest of the travel agent group to arrive. Tomorrow we tour something like six hotels, visit Cahal Pech ruin, and drive to Mountain Pine Ridge! Oh boy, it’s going to be fun!

Last week I was interviewed via email by Bo Bissett of Fotolo.co, an adventure travel/photo/extreme sports blog– http://blog.fotolo.co/2011/show-your-wild-side-slickrock-belize/

I left Moab at 6:30 am this morning and drove to Grand Junction, Colorado. “Junction” is the big city to us. Moabites go there to see doctors and buy stuff. Today I finalized our color Belize brochure for printing. (It is already available to download from our home page.) When I return from Belize a week from today, I get to pick up a few boxes of them on my way home. We won’t do the big mailing until September, when everyone really starts thinking about their winter vacation.

I’ve never been to Belize in July. Years ago I went in August. This was when Cully and I flew down to look at Northeast Caye at Glover’s Reef to see if we wanted to rent it. It was something like 1992; I was around 36, which would make him 41 at the time. We stayed with the Lomonts at their resort on Long Caye (the island we now own) and they took us over to NE Caye to look at it. It was abandoned… it had just four semi-run-down buildings which we later fixed up. We took one look at it and said ‘we’ll take it.’ It was a huge change, from camping for free on islands on the southern Barrier Reef (Laughing Bird Caye, Silk Cayes, Pumpkin Caye and Ranguana Caye) to paying $5000/month. But it was our OWN ISLAND. What an amazing thing… we never regretted it.

I remember sitting on the porch of what is now our #11, watching a humongous thunderstorm over Honduras. The mountains there are very high, and my memory is we could see their silhouette in the lightning flashes. I wonder if we really could? I’ll have to ask Cully if he remembers that too.

So I am curious to see Belize in July. The forecast is Scattered T-Storms, Scattered T-Storms, Scattered T-Storms. Maybe I’d better go shop some more and find a good travel umbrella.

The reason I am going at this peculiar time of year is to take a travel agent tour. The Belize Tourist Board is hosting a ‘Fam’ tour for ‘Priority Wholesalers’, and oddly enough, they targeted me as one. In 5 days 12 of us are going to tour 28 hotels! We will stay each night in a different part of Belize: San Ignacio, then Mountain Pine Ridge, Placencia, Hopkins, and finally Ambergris Caye. Along the way we will supposedly also have time to also tour Cahal Pech Mayan ruin and go snorkeling at Shark Ray Alley off Ambergris. I hope we survive it.

I am really looking forward to meeting the other travel professionals on the tour. When you live in Moab but run a business in Belize, you don’t get to talk shop with anyone, ever.

I’ve learned one thing already and I am not even to Belize yet. When you have been avoiding getting a smart phone and you finally decide to make that leap, from simple texting and talking and saving contacts to typing on a virtual pad and accidentally putting your phone in airplane mode and downloading apps and syncing your email… DON’T do it the day before you leave for a big trip when you are dependent on the phone. The learning curve is astronomical! I have been stopping at every Verizon store I see to corner unsuspecting clerks. Once I get to Belize there’s no Verizon store, so I guess I’ll have to break down and open the book that comes with it.

Join Victor this winter in Belize on our island. Just try to keep up with him!