Belize: Jungles & Ruins

Traveling around Belize you have a variety of options.  All international flights land in Belize City, from there the options are endless to choose your own adventure.  Several local carriers fly to half a dozen small airports across the country.  For $100-200 you can hire a private shuttle to deliver you in exactly the right spot.  Or, for $5 bucks you can hop a bus and do it with the locals.  

After a week on the coast it was time to head inland.  With a few flashbacks to Delhi, India- we deflected bogus offers for help and alternative transportation modes offered, easily finding our bus.  Belize is compared in size to Vermont or New Hampshire.  Belize City on the eastern border is only about 4 hours by bus from the Guatemala border to the west.  

Our first week of travel was planned day by day.  We knew where we were staying, how to get there and when we were diving.  Our second week wasn’t planned at all.  I had a few ideas, and briefly spoke with people in San Pedro, but really wanted to figure it out along the way.  I knew there were several options inland, and we knew we wanted to visit some Mayan ruins.  So our destination became San Ignacio.  

3.5 hours by bus brought us to San Ignacio.  San Ignacio could be called the adventure capital of interior Belize.  The main street, Burns Avenue, is littered with guide services, advertising a variety of adventures.  Caving, tubing, canoeing, hiking, zip lining, and exploring Mayan ruins are all available in the local area.  I chose Pacz Tours for two days worth of adventure.  The guide book says “when National Geographic comes to Belize, they us Pacz”.  That sold it for me.  Our first night we signed up for a Tikal tour and ATM Cave tour.

A 30 minute walk from San Ignacio brings you to Cahal Pech, site of a pre-classic Mayan civilization.  After paying $10 BZE we were free to wander the ruins.  This is one of my favorite photographs from the trip.

The Iguana Rescue Project is associated with the San Ignacio Resort Hotel.  I didn’t realize Iguanas were such a delicacy.  Throughout Central and South America people capture and eat Iguanas.  In some areas they are becoming endangered due to poaching, deforestation, and local predators.  The goal of the Iguana Project is raising baby Iguanas to be released into the wild, while also educating tourists and Belizians about protecting this special reptile.  

Inside the Iguana habitat we were able to hold a couple of the adult Iguanas.

The Iguana in Gretchens arms, Roxy, is a pregnant female.  The Iguana on her shoulder is Gomez, the alpha male of the cage.

There were hundreds of bright green baby Iguanas in the adolescent cage.  Once they grow a little bigger they will be released locally into the wild.

We stayed at two different places in San Ignacio.  Arriving just before sunset the first day we opted for an easy stay in the Tropical Hotel.  It was surprisingly clean, but the mattress was painfully old.  So, our second day we looked around for alternatives.  We found Bella’s Backpacker Hostel.  A private bedroom shared bath hostel.  It was quaint and comfortable.  There were four private rooms and one dorm room with a loft.  The second floor had a very large patio with hammocks and couches for relaxing.  I would recommend this place.  It was only $20 US per night for both of us.

Our room even had a balcony overlooking the entrance courtyard.

We spent one day at the Mayan Ruins of Tikal in Guatemala.  It was about three hours by bus from San Ignacio.  Crossing the border into Guatemala everything changed.  People spoke spanish.  The country side became a littler drier and arid as we climbed into the mountains.  A lot of land was cleared for large cattle ranches.  Guatemala made Belize look nice.  We saw a lot more poverty in Guatemala.

One day was not long enough at Tikal.  I appreciated what we saw, but wished I had at least two to three days here.  Tikal is in a very remote location.  There are one or two resorts and campgrounds onsite.  Hundreds of people visit each day, not many stay.  With our guide we saw a portion of the main temples and plazas, with extra days we could have freely explored mile upon mile of trails.  Archeologists believe 93% of Tikal is still covered with Earth and jungle- its huge.

The weather changed from cloudy, to gray and overcast, to pouring rain as we climbed Temple IV.  Giving us a nice afternoon rainforest shower.

The ruins can be very photogenic, but it was hard to capture large scale images without people climbing and lingering on the buildings. Only one of the outer pyramids allows you to climb the natural steps.  Several of them have been closed, others have wooden scaffolding built partially up.

While hiking into ATM cave we encountered these leaf cutter ants.  They were amazing.  Scaling the tree from the ground to remove leaves from the canopy.  Then carrying them back down the tree and into their ant hill, somewhere off in the jungle.  The ants are actually following a chemical trail left behind by their leader.  

Exploring the ATM cave was loads of fun.  Check out the video in a previous post.

After riding the bus back to Belize City we had several hours to kill before heading to the airport.  The Museum of Belize has several nice exhibits.  It is located in the old Jail.

Belize: Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave

I can see why Belize is quickly becoming one of the adventure capitals of the Caribbean/Central American region.  With pristine coast line and lush jungles it offers a plethora of tours, trips, and eco-centric adventures.  I’ll delve more into details later, this post is just to highlight the Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave tour.  

After pouring over my Lonely Planet Belize we chose a couple key things to do.  With only a few days in the jungle we wanted to maximize our adventure. The “ATM” cave as its nicknamed, was well worth $90 US per person.

This special cave was unknown to the world until the mid 1990’s.  It was rediscovered when a local farmer decided to show his private museum to archaeologists.  Under strict supervision by the Belize Audubon and National Parks they have restricted general access to this area.  Only 16 local guides are licensed and authorized to take small tour parties into the cave.  Mayawalk and Pacz Tours, both based in San Ignacio are the hosts.  

After an hour long bus ride from San Ignacio, we arrived in a dirt parking lot where several other vans were already parked.  The terrain is hilly and lush.  The soil muddy from the daily rains this time of year.  The trail to the cave crosses three rivers which have to be forded.  Before swimming into the cave we changed into climbing helmets and turned on our headlamps.  The mouth of the cave has a majestic creek flowing out.  We scrambled over a couple slippery rocks before plunging into the deep pool of water into the Mayan Underworld.

After scrambling over 1km into the Earth we reached the inner chamber.  During the Classic Period the Mayans brought a variety of sacrifices here.  Starting with various pots that were broken and placed in sacrificial positions.  Traveling further into the cave were rock formations shaped like alters where humans were bled in home to appease the gods.  Finally we crossed into the main chamber containing the remains of 14 humans that were sacrificed.  Skulls and assorted bones litter the floor.  At the back of the chamber lies an almost fully intact human skeleton.

This tour was well worth it, as long as you don't mind being wet all day.  

Belize: A Swimming Hole

Music Camp

Music Camp this year was a huge success as usual.  Much thanks to Belle and the Dancing With The Spirit staff!

For a week music filled the halls and classrooms of Arctic Village School.  Students from 1st grade through 12th grade chose fiddle, acoustic guitar, or bass guitar and made wonderful melodies.  Not only did we play lots of Christmas Carols, but traditional bluegrass fiddle music to.  We were honored to have Fred Weiss as part of the DWTS staff this year.  Fred is an accomplished musician hailing from Fairbanks, AK.  And the kids really enjoyed slapping it on his electric bass.

For more information on Dancing With The Spirit, check out their website.

For loads of great photographs, check out my school website.

Music Camp: "Gwich'in Princess"

As part of Dancing With The Spirit staff this year Belle invited Wilbert Kendi.  Hailing from the other side of the Gwich’in Nation, across the Canadian border.  Wilbert is from Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories. In the video, students perform one of Wilbert's songs, “Gwich’in Princess”.

Beth's Visit to Arctic Village

My sister who lives in Colorado came up to Arctic Village this week for Thanksgiving.  She experienced the coldest temps she has ever been in (-35), flew in a small plane for the first time, got to ride a snow machine for the first time, ski joured for the first time and ate caribou for the first time!  We had a fun filled week!  I am so glad she got to come see first hand where we live.  Stories and pictures just can't explain it all.

 Check out this video of Beth's visit.

So who will be the next to come visit?

Chasing Turkey

In typical Alaska tradition, we went for a before Thanksgiving ski.  If I were in South Central Alaska I would probably be out backcountry skiing with Matt Johnson.  Since moving deep into the interior we went for a cross country tour of Arctic Village. 

Beth and Gretchen all smiles despite -15 temps.

Scott, a fellow Yukon Flats teacher from Venetie, came to visit for the long weekend.  This is his first winter cross country skiing and he's doing really well!

Beth tries her hand at ski jouring with Jack.

Jack getting some stoke on the Chandalar River.

School Thanksgiving

i'm thankful for my school

i'm thankful for my students

i'm thankful for what we've learned

 i'm thankful for the feast we prepared

i'm thankful for the feast we shared

i'm thankful for humility

i'm thankful for grace

i'm thankful for our leaders

i'm thankful for followers

 i'm thankful for sharing

i'm thankful for friendships

i'm thankful for knowledge

we all have so much to be thankful for

Tournament Favorites

Here are a couple of my favorite photographs hot off the camera from this weeks Yukon Flats Volleyball Tournament.  

I'm planning on doing a more in depth post, but wanted to share a few gems first.

The prelude to the main event was a traditional game called "stick-pull".  Rival students sit facing one another, feet touching, leaning forward grasping a stick.  The first person to let go of the stick loses.

The winning school keeps the stick until the following year.  Arctic Village won last year, so we brought the stick with us.  After a tough battle Beaver won and gained control of the stick.

After two long days of volleyball the festivities ended with a fiddle dance.  Trimble one of the Traditional Chiefs for the region, and esteemed fiddle player took center stage.

Belle and her son Mike hosted a Dancing With the Spirit music camp run alongside the volleyball tournament.  You might recognize them from last years post, Music Camp.

Stay tuned for more photos and stories from this fun filled field trip. 

Saturday Ride

Saturday morning we awoke to crystal blue skies and crisp cold weather.  Overnight lows dropped to -10.  Noonday sunshine brought the temperature to about 0.  I decided to warm up my “snow-go” and check out how the winter trails were shaping up.  Locals have been setting wood trails with snow machines for about three weeks now.  I found no one has ridden on the river or large bodies of water yet, but frozen boggy areas and the tundra are filling in nicely with snow.

At $10 a gallon, throttle therapy can be a pricey affair.  Weather forecasts are calling for more snow this week, and within a few weeks the large lakes should be solid all the way across.  Rumor has it Caribou are within sight of the village, but I didn’t see any signs of the herd.

More Skiing with the Kids

We have been busy! I went skiing almost every day last week.  The kids love taking turns ski jouring with Jack.

Sam took some of this video while following us on the snow machine and I took some of it while skiing alongside the kids.

Skiing with the Kids

Arctic Village Ski Team

Conditions have been fantastic to get out and ski in Arctic this fall.  I dug out a bunch of skis, found boots that fit the bindings on the skis and now we are ready to go.

 And they're off! The kids ski without poles because we don't have any, but actually it has really helped them develop great balance. They all remembered what they learned last year and our first two days out went really well.

As we get spread out, I look around to see how everyone is doing.

I am trying to explain to the kids that we need to spread out so that we can herringbone up the hill.  

We were all sliding backwards as a group!

On the road the snow is packed by snow machines, but as soon as you get off the road you are all on your own!

Jack pulled me with two kids in tow!  

We rigged up another harness so that Caesar could pull too. 

He did pretty well as long as he had Jack to chase.

More to follow......

From Fall to Winter - Anaktuvuk Pass

Recently, I got to spend a few days in Anaktuvuk Pass for work.  The flight up to AKP was like jumping straight from fall to winter.  We left Fairbanks, full of fall colors.....

And flew into snow covered peaks....

After a busy day of visits, we enjoyed an amazing sunset.  It was the kind of view that makes you take a deep breath and stand in awe.

The snow only comes half way down the mountains now, but by the time I go back in a few months I'm sure it will be on the ground!

A lot of people ask, "how can you fly in small planes all the time?"  My response is that you are more likely to die in a car wreck than a small plane, and I would rather be in a plane because I get to see this..

I left the sound on the video, so that you can get the full effect of what it is like riding around in a grand caravan over the Brooks Range.  I did speed up the video a little though, Caravans don't fly that fast!