The Kaplans Visit

Last week Amy's family visited--her parents Dan and Linda and her sister Julie and Julie's daughter Madison. They all recently relocated from Arizona to Kentucky and were very happy to escape the cold and snow for some warm Belizean sunshine.

Cousins!

We spent the first few days of their visit relaxing in San Pedro. We took them to our favorite beach hangout, Caribbean Villas, where we enjoyed some beverages from the Catamaran Beach Bar, and took Dan, Julie and Madison out to the reef for some snorkeling. Julie and Madison had never been sailing or snorkeling, and although there was some initial trepidation, I think they both enjoyed the experience.

Julie and Maddie at Caribbean Villas

Maddie's first time on a sailboat

Father and daughter

The boys had to attend school for three of the week days of the Kaplans' visit, and during that time, Amy took her family to the Palapa Bar, Caye Caulker, on a sailing trip with Rum Punch to see Shark Ray Alley and Hol Chan, and to the shops and restaurants of San Pedro.

The Kaplan ladies at Palapa Bar

Dan on the Rum Punch

Nurse sharks at Shark Ray Alley

Sea Turtle at Hol Chan

The Rum Punch

On Wednesday afternoon, we took the boys out of school a bit early to catch the water taxi to Belize City where we were met by Hubert from Cahal Peche Resort. He loaded all eight of us into his van and drove us to San Ignacio.

The next morning we drove into Guatemala and picked up our guide, Oliver. He is a birder and would prove to be extremely helpful in pointing out birds, insects, and other wildlife as we toured the ruins.

This was our third time visiting Tikal, but we still saw new things--Lochlan and I hiked up to the top of the North Acropolis and saw several temples we didn't even know were there; I hiked up to the top of Temple II for the first time, and all of us saw Temple V for the first time. Temple V is particularly interesting because it is one of the oldest temples in Tikal, it is the second tallest, and it has rounded corners. Unfortunately it is not possible to climb to the top, but we got a good look.

Early morning birding at Cahal Pech before the drive to Guatemala

Lochlan, Maddie, and Liam on the observation deck of Temple II, Temple 1 in the background

Same view with me and Amy (it was a bit hot and humid)

Red lored parrots

On our hike to Temple IV, Lochlan spotted a jumping spider, and Oliver noticed a green wasp flying towards it. He asked all of us to stop and watch:  the wasp landed on the spider, stung it, and then proceeded to bite the legs off the spider's paralyzed body. Oliver explained that the wasp lays its eggs in the bodies of spiders, and when they hatch, the larvae eat the inside of the spider. It was fascinating to watch this small wasp completely disassemble the relatively large spider, then carry off the head and abdomen. The whole process only took a few minutes, and the boys were absolutely transfixed.

Everyone made it to the top of Temple IV and we posed for several photos before heading back down to the jungle. We saw many interesting birds--slaty-tailed trogon, violaceous trogon, yellow throated euphonia, red-lored parrots, Montezuma oropendolas, and a wood thrush (OK maybe that last one isn't exactly 'exotic', but it was the first time I had ever seen one!).

On top of Temple IV

Dan and Linda atop Temple IV

On our way back toward the parking lot, Oliver heard several brown jays making quite a ruckus, and he said "I hear toucans too!" We all hustled towards a large tree where all the birds were gathered, and after about 10 seconds of searching, we found the first keel-billed toucan, then another, and another. We were fairly close, and it was definitely the clearest and longest view I've had of toucans. Then Liam noticed why all the birds were making such a fuss--there was a very large boa stretched out in the middle of the tree! It looked like he was digesting a rather large meal, but I can't blame the birds for getting upset.

Keel-billed toucan (click to embiggen and look in the middle)

The brave explorers have finally found the elusive Temple V!

We continued on to Flores, which is a charming little town on the Isla de Flores on lake Peten Itza. We visited Flores very briefly with my parents when they were here in December, and we were so pleasantly surprised by the town that we decided to stay overnight with the Kaplans.

Chillin' on the rooftop deck in Flores

View of the narrow streets of Flores

Our hotel was right in the middle of the island and had a rooftop deck with a pool! We swam with the kids, enjoyed some beverages, and then walked along the lakeside promenade. We found an open-air restaurant with great views of the lake. We asked the waiter if he knew any English-speaking guides that could take us on a tour of the lake, and he gave us the name and phone number of a friend of his. We set the tour up for the next day.

Our ride for the tour of Lake Peten Itza

Loki meets a monkey

Maddie, making friends before everything went horribly wrong

En route to the Mayan 'ruins'

Fortunately the view from the tower was most impressive. Our hotel is just to the right of the church.

Saul (the guide) and Chico (the boat captain) met us at the lake shore in the morning and we headed along the south shore of the island to a zoo on another island, connected to a peninsula by a very mobile suspension bridge. Amy had read that the zoo was a bit "sad", but I was pleasantly surprised by the facilities and the condition of the animals, particularly for the newer portions of the zoo.

The kids really enjoyed seeing the animals, all of which are native to this part of Guatemala. There were many species of parrots, turtles, cats, peccaries, and deer. The kids really liked the spider monkeys in particular, and were able to "shake hands" with several of the monkeys.

We continued down the path to see the rest of the animals, and then Maddie sped ahead around the bend to visit the monkeys again. Shortly thereafter we heard blood-curdling shrieks, and we rushed around the corner to find a terrified and sobbing Maddie. None of us saw it happen, but apparently she walked up to the cage and one (or more) of the monkeys grabbed her hair and another grabbed her face. She got scraped up by a fall during her escape from their clutches, but was fine. The running joke from that point on was that Maddie was ATTACKED BY MONKEYS! She didn't think it was that funny at the time, but hopefully that will change once she gets a little perspective on the encounter.

The next stop was a "Mayan ruin" that as still completely covered by dirt and vegetation. That was disappointing! But the views of the lake from the top were quite nice.

We piled back into the boat for our final stop, a lakeside restaurant on the other side of the lake in a town called San Jose. The restaurant had seating on a palapa-covered dock right over the water, with a boat dock extending out into the lake that was perfect for swimming. The boys, Saul, and I went swimming in the surprisingly clear water while Dan fished and the ladies chatted and enjoyed some adult beverages.

Enjoying the ride to San Jose

Liam and I jumping off the dock into the lake

Pina coladas can sometime make people act silly

After finishing our delicious lunch we piled back into the boat and motored back to Flores. We spent a couple hours walking the town and buying souvenirs before our transfer picked us up and drove us back to San Ignacio.

Typically colorful building in Flores

The next morning we'd planned on taking a tour of the Barton Creek caves (this is the cave system we toured with my family in December). However, Maddie had an ear infection and needed to visit a doctor. We were able to reschedule the tour for the afternoon and Julie, Amy and Maddie went to the doctor first thing in the morning. We spent the balance of the morning walking around the farmer's market and checking out the various shops in San Ignacio. We ate lunch in town, then took a cab back up the hill to meet out tour guide. We made it with minutes to spare, but it turned out the tour guide had arrived and left, explaining he needed to put freon in his suburban. He returned about an hour later, but the AC still did not work--he said the "tube was bust." This was the first of many confusing, questionable, and potentially outright false statements we heard from him over the course of the next four hours. The statements ran the gamut:  at one point we were driving through a stretch of road with flowering citrus orchards on either side, and he insisted that the wonderful smell was actually from a native tree that was blooming at the same time; he referred to a "spoonbill ani" when a groove-billed ani flew across the road; he told us that the creek in the cave system we were exploring filled up from the bottom; and I could go on and on. The trouble is, there was just enough truth in much of what he said that if we had not been living in Belize for the past 6 months, we most likely would have believed it all.

Dan, pretending to be disinterested in the market as I filled my backpack with super cheap muy delicioso produce

Maddie playing in the fountains of central park in San Ignacio

Maddie, Julie and Cody prepare to enter Barton Creek Cave

In any case, we still got to explore the cave, and water was much lower than it was in December, so we were able to proceed quite a bit farther upstream. I think everyone enjoyed the experience.

The next morning Amy and I woke early to do some birding before the trip back to Belize City. We decided to check out the Cahal Peche Mayan site, just down the road from our hotel. It was awesome! And we saw a lot of cool birds, including two blue-crowned motmots. We ate breakfast at the hotel, then took the entire group to the Mayan site and explored for about an hour. Fortunately we saw the two motmots again, and the kids had a great time 'discovering' all of the rooms, stairwells, and hallways connecting all of the ruins. It was a surprisingly cool ruin, and we had it completely to ourselves.

Last day of cousins (for awhile)

One of the temples at Cahal Pech

Liam in the entrance to one of the many rooms

Cool staircase

Sailboats just beyond the swing bridge near the Caye Caulker water taxi dock

Our transfer driver, Huber, drove us to Belize City and dropped us off at the Caye Caulker water taxi before taking the Kaplans to the international airport. We said our goodbyes and gave hugs all around. It was a nice visit and I think everyone had a great time.