So, we got married almost a year ago (May 12) and had our honeymoon a few months later (August) but I am just now taking the time to write down some memories. But better late than never, right? One of the first questions that people always ask is why we chose Belize for our honeymoon. There's a pretty easy answer to that. We wanted somewhere that would be good to travel to in late summer because we wanted to have more time to save money. Also, we are not the typical couple that wanted to stay on the beach, lounging around for a week, that just didn't seem like any fun. The price of airfare also played a key role, as we wanted to spend less that $1000.
Therefore, we started looking south rather than over in Europe. The first idea was Costa Rica but decided that it might be too touristy and seemed like August would be deep into their rainy season. Something to remember is that Lee had never left the country before so I wanted to find a location that would not be too much of a culture shock for him. I wanted him to catch the travel bug like me. After much research, Belize is what I came up with. It has the rainforest so many outdoor activities and Mayan ruins, something that I have always dreamed of seeing. It seemed like a perfect compromise for the two of us.
Day 1
Flying to Belize turned out to be the first time for the two of us to actually fly together. Our long distance relationship never allowed us to actually travel somewhere together, only separately. So that was a super exciting first experience for us. The flights went well ( I even managed to sleep on the plane for the first time!) and finally we ended up in Belize City. Once in the airport, we were greeted with a band! It was a cool reggae style and was a fun way to be welcomed. Outside the airport, our ride was waiting with a sign with our names on it. He was super friendly but the ride looked a little jenk. It was an old van but it worked fine.
The first ride was slightly terrifying. The drivers there tend to go well over the speed limit, even around the crazy mountain curves. There are also road bumps everywhere. The drivers know where these bumps are from habit but if they didn't, we'd surely be dead. Honestly, the driving gave me motion sickness which isn't typical. Belize definitely did not agree with me in that respect.
Our destination was a very small rainforest lodge called the Sleeping Giant Rainforest Lodge. I found it online and took a chance. It did not have very many reviews but the ones that it did have were fantastic. It only had eight rooms and seemed very intimate and it had a great sister lodge. The sister lodge, Cave Branch, had all the activities that we could want but was much larger. By staying at Sleeping Giant, we were able to get a small, intimate experience (with air conditioning!) and amazing activities so I felt confident in our choice.
After about two hours, we finally reached our lodge. The driveway was super long and the craziest part of the drive! It was something like a mile long and twisted and turned like nobody's business while climbing up a mountain. It was a beautiful sight once we finally reached the lodge. It was what you would expect of a tropical rainforest lodge. It had huge windows, was made of wood, and had a thatched roof. And the views were fantastic! A beautiful mountain range, of which, one mountain lent the lodge its name was what we saw. The grounds of the lodge were lush, green and just full of beauty. We could not have been more excited.
We were greeted by the most friendly workers, they were wonderful. We shown to our room, which was in the main building, right underneath the bar and restaurant. It was very large with beautiful floors and a gigantic bed. It had a wardrobe, a safe, table and chairs in it as well. It was well made with towel creatures already on our bed (which ended up being one of our favorite things to come back to). Attached to the room was a huge bathroom that was beautiful.The room was just perfect for us.
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| the details! |
Soon after settling in, we went upstairs to eat lunch. Meals were served on the top floor of the main building and was open to the elements. There were plastic sheets that could be pulled down to protect from rain but being open meant that we got to have a beautiful view while eating. There was a set menu that you got to pick from for breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as a special for the day. Lee's favorite thing to eat was pineapple pancakes, he just absolutely loved them. After eating, we started to plan our activities for the next week and explore the grounds. The lodge had a beautiful stream and many walking trails to explore. Soon after, we took a much needed nap and woke up to eat another great dinner.
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| Now, that's a nice view with food! |
Day 2
The first activity we decided upon was waterfall climbing. It looked like a great activity and we were extremely excited. After eating breakfast the next morning, we were transported to the Caves Branch Lodge which was about ten minutes down the road. Getting off the van, we walk down a beautiful trail to get to the lodge. Arriving, we sat at tables and were given a form to fill out protecting them from us suing them in case we die, and all of that fun stuff. That was a little eye opening. After finding our group, about ten people, with two guides, we were off. It was a terrifying ride. We realized that we would be riding a open back truck filled with all our gear. There was no tailgate and the only way to hold on was to the edges of the truck (which the sides only went up to my waist)! And remember, how I felt about their driving? They didn't change their driving habits just because we could fall out, heavens no.
It was beautiful scenery driving to the cave. We drove through a huge orchard and were surrounded by rainforest-covered mountains. We were in awe. After stopping, we were outfitted with helmets, helmet lights, waterbottles and backpacks, then we still had a few miles hike to the cave. The hike was our first real experience of the rainforest, somewhere both of us had always dreamed of visiting. It was full of unusual trees and plants. One of them we came across was called the "bastard tree". It got this name from the British soldiers who trained in the jungles of Belize. It had huge spikes coming off it and when they'd trip and accidentally grab the tree, you'd have to exclaim "bastard!" since it was so painful.
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| owww! |
The mouth of the cave was huge. In the mouth, we stopped and geared up. The cave was unreal. It started off dry but the deeper we got in, the wetter we got. At some points, we were on our stomachs slithering under some large rocks. It was tough climbing. In all, we would go up five different waterfalls, each increasing size. Lee was in his element and was always at the head of the pack. I kept up with him most of the time but he is speedy. In fact, for our biggest waterfall lee was the first one to climb up. This waterfall actually required us to get harnessed and do some waterfall climbing. Even though it really wasn't that big, it felt so powerful. It pounded on your face and made it so hard to breathe. It was a struggle but I was so proud to get up (Lee was up easily, of course). After getting up all the waterfalls, it was time to head back down. This was terrifying, (again, Lee was in heaven). All the falls, we either had to climb down or jump in the exact spot the guides pointed to or else risk hitting some rocks. I am not a fan of heights in the least so the biggest waterfall was a struggle for me. It was a big jump.
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| bats! |
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| This or even deeper water! |
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At dinner, we started to really make friends with brothers, Patrick and Ryan. Together, we decided to embark on the Tikal Ruins trip in Guatemala. This was a fantastic decision.
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| the cave was rough on me! |
Day 3
We had to meet the van early, early in the morning. It was at like 4 or 5 am. We still got breakfast! The lodge was awesome and somebody was up to get us breakfast for the day. We went to the other lodge and picked up another four people. As the drive went on, we all had a great time together. The long drive passed like nothing (the guides were sick of us. normally, people sleep so they are able to sleep. whoops). Before we knew it, we were at the immigration for Guatemala. It was walk up and go inside to get our passports stamped. Another van met us on the other side to take us the rest of the trip. Guatemala was definitely different than Belize. It was poorer and had stray dogs everywhere.
We stopped to eat in Guatemala. It was a small local place that was delicious! We all fell in love with the pineapple juice!! I believe it was just pineapple and water but it was amazing. We also got a traditional meal and that tasted very good as well.
Driving into Tikal was awesome. Along the side of the road were signs to watch out for jaguars and snakes. At the main entrance, we had to stop to pay the entry fee. At this entrance, there were military/policemen with huge guns, which was kind of scary. It was then you really realized that you're in Central America for sure.
There were a ton of people there but that did not dampen our spirits at all. It was a sunny, hot beautiful day. The park is huge. You get to walk through trails and imagine that you just happen to find this place. Along the walking trail we saw temples that were still being worked on. There are so many temples that it's slow work to uncover them all. The forest retook the site. When we came up on our first big temple, it was amazing. Lee decided that he was going to climb every temple that he was allowed to and I decided to try. It was just so cool, I didn't think about what would happen when I got to the top. The stairs are very, very steep. It was quite the workout. At the top, we got a beautiful view and was very exciting. After exploring the top, we headed back down. As I said, the stairs were very steep and I'm not a fan of heights. I ended up having to scoot down the stairs on my butt. I would have never had done it but I realized that there was no other way to go down. It was at that point that I realized I would not be climbing up any high temples again. At the bottom were large stones. These were the places of sacrifice. It amazed me how many of these stones there were, I did not think there would be so many locations. At one of them, contemporary Mayans still do sacrifices but animal instead of human. It was so interesting. Continuing down the trails, we had a great animal experience. We got to see spider monkeys and howler monkeys. It was unreal! Better than seeing them on the Animal Planet for sure. Lee even got to hold a praying mantis.
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| stones for sacrafice |
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| ..and this is why I scooted down.. |
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| Mr. Bug guy |
Soon we came up on the highest temple in the complex. They built actual stairs to climb up so I decided to tackle that one. It was a few hundred stairs. The climb was harsh but the views from the top were beautiful. Like everywhere else there were no railing. So of course, I kept far from the edge and Lee got right up close. You could see for miles and miles from the top. After much picture taking and enjoying, our group headed back down. We continued throughout the trails, finding more cool animals like toucans and so many more temples beautiful in their own right. Eventually, we came up on the main plaza. This was the center of the life of the Mayans. You were surrounded on all four sides by temples. Two of the big ones nobody could climb because people had fallen off and died. But there were plenty of places that we could climb and Lee took full advantage of this. I spent most of this time with Patrick, who like I, was not so ready to climb all the places. But we did do some climbing and exploring. It was amazing!
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| the view |
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| My view from the bottom |
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| Lee's view from the top |
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| main plaza |
Eventually, our time came to an end and we headed back out. On the way back, we stopped at a gift shop. I got a few gifts for my parents like a cool mask and coffee. Lee and I got chocolate for ourselves. It had a lot of handcrafted art and was cool to see. We got back to the lodge very late and were wiped out.
Day 4
This day was a day of terror for me. We did the black hole drop on this day. It started with a grueling hike, around 2 hours long. It was just Lee, me and a child like 14 years old. We had 3 guides with us! It was very personal. The hike was hot, uphill and through rough trails. We had to climb in the Mayan Mountains to be able to repel down. Eventually we got to the top (after lots of breaks) and then I realized what we were doing. There was a repelling stem hooked up and we were going to repel down 300 feet to the bottom of the black hole! The guides hooked us up in harnesses and helmets. Lee of course, volunteered to go first, he is fearless! He was beyond excited.
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| found this gem on the hike.. |
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| soooo in his element! |
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| over the edge! |
The guides talked us on what to do (we would walk down the side for about 12 feet then it drops off and we just drop down). Lee did very well, took a long time exploring on the way down and really enjoyed himself. The kid went after Lee then it was my turn. Lee left me with the camera! The guides told me that when I wanted to take pictures, to just yell and they would freeze the line. I would then let go and be able to take pictures as I would like, then get re-situated and they would unfreeze and allow me to continue. Stepping back over the cliff was terrible, that has always been my least favorite part of repelling. I was shaking so badly and just wanted off the cliff side. After slowly making my way down the side, being terrified the whole time, the cliff dropped off and I began to slowly go down. Twice I stopped to take pictures and video. At both points, I was well above the trees and felt that if I let go, I'd drop and die. It was so high up! But it really was amazing to be above the rainforest tree canopy. Eventually, I made it down to the bottom and met Lee. Once all the guides gathered, we at lunch. The spread a white tablecloth and we had the same lunch as in the waterfall cave but it was good.
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| eeeek! |
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| stylin! |
After eating, the guides took us into a cave since we were making such good time. It was a tough cave! The floor was covered with guano and was disgusting. And the cave was underground and so getting down involved a lot of sliding on my butt and scraping knees. Once in it, it had beautiful stalagmites and stalactites. There was one where the guide made music from it. You'd hit them and different notes would sound. Some were pure white. There was also Mayan artifacts and bones that were awesome to see. After exploring the cave, we headed back out. It was tougher than going in. There was not many hand holds and I of course, had the hardest time because of my fear of falling. But slowly, we did get out. But I had no idea what was in store for me. To get out of the cave, we had to go to our left, around a boulder that was sticking out over the edge of a huge drop off. The boulder had no real good hand or foot holds. Lee made it fine as did everyone else. This was probably the scariest part of the whole trip for me because we weren't attached to anything and it was above the trees. I tried once then gave up and said I couldn't do it. At that point, I realized that I had no choice. I had to do it or be stuck by myself. I took a deep breath, grabbed as hard as I could and scurried my way around the boulder. It was terrible. We continued on down the trail. We came up on a point where we had to climb a ladder like 20 feet. For this, we got harnessed in which made me feel a little better but was still really tough. After making it to the top, we hiked the rest of the way down. We definitely looked forward to eating after that day.
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| My usual state of cleanliness on this trip.. |
Day 5
Today was a rest day! Lee and I decided we needed a break from everything and just wanted a day to rest. It was the perfect day to pick because it rained all day. On every other day we were there, it only rained at night, which cooled everything down. We were so lucky.
Day 6
Today we headed out to the town of Hopkins, on the coast, to go snorkeling. It was just Lee and I that went. It was a three hour car ride to the coast. We were taken to Hopkins resort. Once we got there, we had to sign our lives away once again and were outfitted with our snorkel gear. We had like an hour before our boat took off. So we found some beach chairs and relaxed. It was beautiful. Eventually, we headed to the boat. It was a speedboat with like 10-15 people. The trip to the reef (2nd largest reef in world!) was amazing! I saw shades of blue that I thought I would never see in real life. It was unreal. I of course, got a bit sea sick. Belize driving, whether it was on the land or sea, did not agree with me at all.
Once we finally got to the first snorkeling location, after a 20 minute boat ride, we jumped in. I started out with the camera and took a couple good pictures, but Lee brought it to my attention that i was missing so many other amazing shots because I wasn't taking them fast enough or from close enough so we had Lee take the camera from there on out. He took such exquisite pictures of the fish that I was amazed my camera was able to perform that well. He was diving down to the bottom (which was only like 15 feet down) to take pictures of the corals and the little fishes. We saw tons of fish, my favorite was the Parrot Fish because it was o colorful. I even found out afterward that he had swam underneath me and made me the star of some of them. When we finally stopped for lunch he found some seahorses by the dock and I finally managed to pry the camera out of his hands so I wouldn't feel like he took all the pictures, but once we got back on the boat for the other snorkeling spot he got the camera back and that was the end of me taking pictures in the water. We got back to the dock in Hopkins and headed back to Sleeping Giant. We tried to see crocodiles but unfortunately, they did not cooperate.
Day 7
Today, after breakfast, we headed out to do some cave tubing! Our group headed out (in an old school bus!) and made it to the entry of the cave. The tubes were plain black and the water was freezing. The water pulled you at a nice pace and was a pretty easy day. We had to to some hiking in the cave across the dry parts. After we got out of the cave, the guides took us to a good spot to jump into the river. It was a good twenty feet in the air and was terrifying! It was a rush and Lee absolutely loved it! He did it like 5 times! I did it twice then decided I was tired of being terrified so I sat back and watched Lee.
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| view from jumping off point |
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| So many trees that I'd never heard of! |
Day 8
Today was our last day. It was sad but we were also looking forward to some good unhealthy American food. Although it was nowhere near relaxing, this trip was our perfect honeymoon. Especially since it gave Lee the travel bug! Now onto the next trip!
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