We left the Pine Ridge Mountain Preserve and drove the Hummingbird Highway to the coast. It was a spectacular drive through some incredible scenery.

We stopped at the Blue Hole National Park, which contains a... blue hole. At one time, it was a cave with a river flowing through it, and at some point the roof of the cave collapsed, leaving behind a pool of water. It's still a river, with a definite current. We stopped and took a swim. I didn't take this picture. Why I didn't take a picture I don't know. I grabbed this photo from someone's website.

More of the Hummingbird Highway.

And more.

Our destination was Hopkins, a small fishing village mid-country on the coast. We rented this cabaña for the last three days we were there. Since we had been playing things by ear for the first part of the trip, and were having a great time, we kind of felt like tying ourselves to one place wasn't the best plan. We only ended up staying for two days, though, choosing to spend our last night in Placencia.

Inside the cabaña. Rough and rustic. Unfortunately there were lots of no-see-ums at night. These little critters are so small they can fit through the holes in the mosquito netting. And they bite like hell.

Looking out of the cabaña at the sea. It was nice being so close to the water. The lapping of waves at night was very relaxing.

The expanse of the beach. We actually didn't swim much here since it was kind of mucky. The beach also had a lot of trash that washed up. These kids lived next door to the cabaña we were in.

Looking north along the beach.

We ate a couple of times at a restaurant in Hopkins. Again, drinking the ubiquitous Belikin beer.

Looking out the door of the restaurant, at dusk.

One of the days we were in Hopkins we went for a hike in the Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve. This plane crashed years ago with the guy who started the preserve in it. He survived, surprisingly. They left the plane where it crashed.

The jungle is starting to claim the plane as its own.

A waterfall and pool along the hike we took. It was mid-way along the hike, and was a very welcome stop on the return. We jumped in for a refreshing dip.

Lisa crossing a stream on the hike.

I think you can tell from this photo that it was f-ing hot there. Plus, I hadn't shaved in about four days.

The destination of the hike was a bluff overlooking the entire preserve. Pretty spectacular.

Who's that hunky hiker? I had sweat nearly all the water out of my system by this point.

Well, we didn't see any jaguars, but we did see this footprint. Since there weren't any others around, I think this was a fake, maybe put there by some guide in order to get tourists excited. If so, it worked.

Looking out of the cabaña early one morning.

I had read that you can't get good coffee in Belize. So I brought my camp stove and a pound of coffee. It was a good thing, too, since mostly what you could find there was bad instant coffee. Strange, since Guatemala and Costa Rica, which both have amazing coffee, are so close.

The beach at Placencia.
We were going to drive further south to visit Punta Gorda and the Mayan and Cheche Indian villages, but since we had only one day left, we decided to spend it relaxing on the beach. We had visited Placencia the day before and decided to go there.
Plancencia is at the end of a long peninsula. The drive out there is only about 25 miles from the main highway, but takes about an hour and a half because the roads are pretty intense. It's a dirt road with massive craters and washouts. Fun, though.

Rockstar kicking it at the beach.

Looking north along the beach.

Belize City.
We didn't spend any time exploring Belize City, but drove through on our way back to the airport. It didn't seem that there was much going on there, and we didn't feel as though we missed anything.

Belize was pretty amazing, and I felt as though we had just scratched the surface. We didn't go out to the Caye's, the islands off the coast, which are apparently pretty amazing, and what a lot of people usually come to Belize for. We didn't get a chance to visit the southern part of the country, nor some of the Mayan ruins in the west. I really want to visit Belize again and maybe spend more time there.

If you're thinking of visiting and want some information and suggestions, get in touch.

< Back for more FUN