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.

Dinner Guest

It rained late yesterday evening, and the critters in and around our house really seemed to enjoy it. This little fella appeared on the screen near our dining table at dinner:

We also had a tree frog and a wasp-like insect come into the house during dinner. At bedtime, I turned off the light and Amy said "look at the ceiling!" and there was a firefly blinking away! It was very cool, especially when it flew around the room, leaving bright blinking tracers of light.

Becán, Mexico

On our last night in Mexico we stayed at a hotel in Xpujil (pronounced like ish-poo-hill) that was unfortunately surrounded by barking dogs and a rooster that started crowing at 11:30 pm and never stopped. It was not a great night's sleep for any of us, but after a yummy breakfast of juevos Mexicanos, we decided to check out one last Mayan archaeological site before returning our car in Chetumal and taking the transfer to Corozal for the flight back home to San Pedro.

We were originally going to check out the Xpujil site, and we thought we'd found the entrance, but the police had pulled some guys over right in front of it and the whole thing looked a bit sketchy, so we continued heading west another 6 km or so until we saw the sign for Becán. We followed some dirt roads just a short way off the main highway, parked in a completely empty parking lot, and paid the 96 pesos entry fee.

After a very short hike through some woods and across a bridge over the moat surrounding the site, we came to a surprisingly impressive collection of temples and dwellings. They are not as large as Tikal or Calakmul, but very well preserved and excavated. These buildings also have many features of the Rio Bec style of Mayan architecture, which we had not yet seen. All of the structures are easily recognizable as Mayan, but there were enough differences that even our novice eyes could spot them.

Standing on the bridge over the moat

Entering the site and seeing the first structures

An interesting detail on one of the temples

It's hard to imagine, but at one point the entire structure was covered with intricate carvings

We explored many rooms within the dwellings

Not all of the roofs/ceilings were intact

The boys exploring a narrow staircase

A view of a temple, from the top of a temple

Lochlan ascending the steep steps

This checkerboard pattern is particularly indicative of the Rio Bec style

Amy and the boys atop one of the temples

It's hard to get a sense of scale, but this structure is absolutely massive, the size of several city blocks

We climbed three of the structures and saw loads of parrots, at least three different species. After descending from the second structure, Amy and I saw a flash of very bright blue feathers as a bird we'd never seen before landed on the steps of a temple on the other side of the central courtyard from us. We walked quickly towards it and it flew into a tree. It was a blue-crowned motmot! These birds have truly spectacular plumage--blue primaries, light blue secondaries, a yellowish-green breast and throat, green back, a black mask topped by almost neon blue feathers, and a pair of very long tail feathers. Fortunately the bird hung around long enough for all four of us to get a really good look, and I also managed to get a couple of decent photos.

Blue-crowned motmot

After a couple of hours exploring the site, we regretfully headed back to the car--we enjoyed Becán just as much if not more than Calakmul, and there were still several really interesting looking structures to explore, but it was time for us to gas up the car and drive back to Chetumal.

We got back on the main road and pulled into a brand new Pemex and filled the tank with 300 pesos of gas. I handed the attendant my credit card (I had been spending down our pesos in anticipation of leaving the country) and he said "lo siento, sólo en efectivo"--sorry, cash only! Apparently the station is so new they did not yet have the credit card readers installed. I apologized, explained I did not have enough cash, and asked for the nearest ATM (cajero). He said it was in town, about 1 km away. I told him Amy and the boys would wait in the little store while I drove into town to get the cash.

It took some doing, but I found the ATM in a tiny little grocery store in a busy intersection in the middle of town. The ATM was only in Spanish, but as far as I could tell, I pressed all the right buttons yet did not get any cash. I tried this twice, and a line was beginning to form behind me. I was starting to panic. So I walked away from the ATM, had a bit of a think, and it occurred to me that perhaps the bank had put a hold on my debit card since I had been making withdrawals in unusual places the past couple of days. I decided to try my Belize bank card, so I got back in line. I noticed everyone in front of me was walking away from the machine with a look of either consternation or confusion, but none of them had any cash. I carefully watched the older couple in front of me work the machine, and they received the same error message I got--and no cash. Unfortunately for them, the machine also ate their card! I asked them if there was another cajero in town, and they said there was, then proceeded to have a heated argument in front of me about it's exact location. The only thing they agreed on is that I had to go to "El Palacio".

I drove off in search of El Palacio, expecting to find a bank or grocery store by that name. Instead, all I found was a technical school and city hall. I asked for directions to El Palacio, and the woman directed me back to city hall, which as it turns out, is called El Palacio. I quickly located the ATM, pulled out the pesos with no trouble, and drove back to the Pemex.

When I walked into the little store to rescue my family from the temporary hostage situation, Liam said "Dad, what took so long?!" and I busted out the sentence I'd been working on during the drive back to the gas station:  "El primero cajero no tiene dinero!"

We paid the attendant and hauled butt back to Chetumal, making it to the drop off with five minutes to spare. The border crossing went smoothly, but unfortunately one of the airlines was booked and the other only had 3 seats available for our desired departure time. Amy and I talked it over and decided to send her and the boys on the first flight and I'd wait an hour and a half for the next flight.

I waved at Amy and the boys as they sped down the runway and spent the time reading and drawing in my sketch book. When it was my turn to board the plane, the pilot put me in the co-pilot seat, which I thought was pretty cool. About 10 minutes after takeoff, he looked at me, said "Take the stick", then proceeded to let go of the controls and enter information into a log book. I stared at him in utter disbelief for a moment, he looked up from the log book, pointed out over the open water in front of us, and said "San Pedro is that way. " I took the stick AND FLEW THE PLANE for a few minutes while he finished up whatever he was doing. This experience was most definitely near the top of my list of "only in Central America" moments, and made for a memorable ending to a memorable trip.

Piece of cake

Calakmul (Mayan site), Mexico

After our time in Campeche, we headed south, retracing our route from Chetumal. We had planned on stopping at Calakmul, one of the largest sites in the Maya world, and (I believe) the largest in Mexico. Calakmul is north of Tikal, in Guatemala, and the two cities were rivals for regional dominance during the height of the Classic Maya period.

Unfortunately, we got a bit turned around in Escárcega (which I blame on a distinct lack of signage, but could possibly be due to my lack of Spanish-speaking ability) and ended up at a police checkpoint. We spent several minutes in the queue, and when we made it to the officer running the checkpoint, he told us in super-duper rapid-fire Spanish that we needed to turn on our hazard lights (which we did) then he told us to pull over to the side of the road.

Naturally, we pulled over, with our hazards obediently blinking. He walked up to us in a very imperious I AM THE LAW manner, stuck a ticket book in Amy's face (she was driving), and told us he was giving us a ticket. We asked why, and he said it was because we did not have our flashers on when we were in the queue for the checkpoint. Amy looked back at the line of cars, and pointed out that none of them had their flashers on, so why was he giving us a ticket? At that point another Federale walked up to the officer, and he fairly rapidly withdrew from our window and gestured at us to continue down the road. The next day, we learned from our Belizean driver that he was most likely looking for a bribe (!).

After surviving the checkpoint, we made a U-turn and got comprehensively lost in the middle of downtown Escárcega. I have never seen such congestion--cars, buses, bikes, pedestrians, pushcarts, people EVERYWHERE. Eventually we made it through, found the (unsigned) highway, and continued east towards Calakmul.

Unfortunately, the delays in Escárcega and the rather decrepit state of the road from the highway to the archaeological site resulted in us arriving at 3:30, much later than we anticipated. We paid our entrance fee and walked into the park. We were not given a map, but I figured "no big deal" based on my experiences at Tikal. I gave the map a cursory glance but assumed there would be adequate signage throughout the complex and we could easily find our way to the main structures (Estructura 1 and Estructura 2) we were interested in seeing. I could not have been more wrong--the signage inside the site was execrable.

Habla Español?

Making our way into the jungle, it was a LONG hike to get to the structures estructuras

Lochlan found an "air plant" along the way

Finally, we locate the first structure! Pretty cool, but definitely not Estructura 1 or Estructura 2 (the two big temples we've seen in pictures and are searching for)

In front of some of the numerous Stelae. Starting to wonder if we will find the big temples.

Really running out of time now, so we start running through the structures.

Calakmul is enormous--there are thousands of structures, and only a small percentage have been fully excavated. Aside from the one big map at the entrance, there are no other maps in the site that show the full extent of the excavated structures, and none of them show you where you are in relation to the structures you are standing next to. Also, everything is in Spanish, which is fine, except it is more difficult to extract contextual clues from an unfamiliar language, particularly if you get a word wrong.

So we got lost, and it was starting to get dark, and there were no other people in the site for us to ask. The howler monkeys started howling in the trees all around us, and it was awesome, but it definitely added to my growing sense of unease. But we did not give up, and after an additional 10 minutes or so of walking, we came through a clearing to find--ESTRUCTURA UNO! We all did a little happy dance, then we climbed to the top.

Estructura 1!

The climb to the top was very steep, and we did it very quickly

But the view was worth it! The forested lump in the middle of this shot is the backside of Estructura 2

Amy and the boys at the top

Cool carvings on a stela at the top

The boys in front of Estructura 2, one of the largest structures in the Maya world. Unfortunately we were running out of time and daylight and did not climb this one

On the hike out to the parking lot, we saw a bunch of spider monkeys up in the trees

On the drive out, we saw a lot of wildlife--deer, a gray fox, a snake, bats, and this guy, which I have yet to identify. I believe it is a roadside hawk (Buteo magnirostris)

Estructuras 1 and 2 were awesome. I really wish we'd had more than 2 hours to explore the site, and if I had it to do over again, I'd schedule an entire day for Calakmul and arrange for an experienced, English-speaking guide to give us a tour.