What we did in Belize

[SqueakyDust]

'We' are a Scottish Family (2 adults & 2 kids - 11 & 12 years) who sailed on the British Ship Ocean Village, on her maiden voyage of the Western Caribbean.

This is what we did on the island, and my opinions of it....

 

My feelings on Belize seemed to fluctuate before we went. Some pictures on the Net looked amazing, but other reports I read made it sound kinda dangerous - it was fine.

We booked the Altun Ha & Wallace River Tour through our ship.

We anchored (well stopped) waaaaay out. Belize was quite far in the distance and the Captain did say later in the day that we'd berthed further out than normal. There were no other ships there and the tenders were provided by the port. Eventually we were called. The tender trip must have been a good 15-20 minutes, but it's great looking around and watching the port emerge.

There were heaps of what I expect were Taxi drivers etc at the port, but we were hustled through them into a building. It was a bit chaotic as it was busy, and then suddenly the back half (us) were told to about turn and go back. We were taken along the pier and helped onto a boat. Obviously we were to do the Wallace River first, whilst the rest did Altun Ha. Fine by us. The boat we got into was like a speedboat, with nothing inside. There was a padded bench seat all the way around, a raised area in the middle near the back and if I remember correctly 3 engines. When you stood on the bottom the side of the vessel came up just under my chest area, so it was deep. We had a Captain and 2 (I think) spotters and I think there were approx 30 of us OV passengers. We didn't hang about, and went in the direction as if we going back to the ship but then turned left and made our way between little islands and the mainland. Whilst we put on suntan lotion (you will need this!) our guide told us about the area, handed round local currency (which is much more attractive than ours) and before we knew it we were entering the mouth of the River. On our trip, I think the best side to be at was the right hand side of the Captain/Skipper. We seemed to spend more time on the right banks, but then maybe those on the vessel with us, who were on the right, thought differently!

We really enjoyed this part of the tour. We'd chug along nicely, veering off whenever anything was spotted and then every so often we'd zoom off. This was when the high sides of the vessel were needed! We stayed dry, but you certainly have to hold onto your hat. If the boat was turning, say, left we'd be low down, near the water level and the other passengers would be higher up - it was great, and the kids loved this.

The guide advised us early on that they'd not seen Manatee for about 4 months, which was hugely disappointing as this is what is advertised in the Action Ashore booklet, and why we'd picked this tour. He reckoned it was because of the raised popularity of the tour. The water is very murky/muddy so it would be difficult to see anything in the water anyway.

We say many birds, lizards (some large orange ones!), the odd Crocodile (or was it Cayman?) and then at the end we spotted some Monkeys in a tree. They were hard to see but just as we were pulling up closer I spotted a black mass pull the foliage infront of itself to hide! The trip must have lasted at least an hour - a lot of the time you are searching the trees/edges for wildlife, so it flies by. There was another boat behind us (also from the ship) and once or twice it felt like we were being pushed on faster as they caught up. Several times we had to slow for "no wake zones" as properties were near the shore. Just after spotting the Monkeys our guide announced that we'd be stopping at the Black Orchid restaurant and we'd be there approx 30-45 minutes.

The restaurant was nice enough - it looked like it was actually a Hotel type place. But to us it was basically a WC break and somewhere to buy a drink. We wandered around, spotted a little parrot, reapplied lotion and Deet and waited, and waited, and waited. Quite frankly, we got bored here. We hadn't expected to stop for lunch, and weren't needing anything. Then it rained. Ooh, did it rain! It chucked it down, but we were inside and totally dry. After about 1.5 hours 2 buses finally arrived with the rest of the group, who'd been to Altun Ha. It had stopped raining by now too.

The road journey to Altun Ha wasn't that long. The roads aren't the best, but they're not that bad either. The bus seats were comfy and spacious. Soon enough we arrived at Altun Ha. After seeing Chichen Itza a couple of days ago it was a bit of a disappointment - it is nowhere near as grand and ihas not been excavated as much. We passed some stalls and locals just milling around, and were blasted by loud music, and followed our guide in. We sprayed some more Deet here which hubby turned his nose up at. Our guide spoke a lot about the trees around, and especially parasite trees. This is where a Palm had been growing and another species grows around about it, killing off the palm - quite freaky really. Whilst hearing about this I spotted a Mosquito land on hubby, just as he swatted it away. He was wearing a bright yellow T shirt and it bit him through it! :eek:The bite never became raised or itchy so we're hoping all is okay - He then sprayed Deet on.

Our guide took us round the back of the main Temple where steps had been added, with a hand rail. These were not built by the Mayans but were built to make it easier for us tourists to get up/down without ruining the Temples' original features. These steps were high/deep and I struggled - a lot. I was fairly choked up with a chest cold by now and coughing a lot, so I don't suppose this helped. :o Getting on to the top of the Temple is a bit scary as there is nothing to hold onto and I'm a bit of a woose where heights are concerned. The guide never waited for people to catch up before he embarked on his pitch, so I missed quite a bit. I won't say too much about what was said as it'll spoil it for others. The views are awesome and it was a privilege to actually be on top of something Mayans had built sooooo long ago. Another group were coming up, so we went down a different set of steps. I took my time again, partly due to the depth of the steps - and me being a woose :rolleyes: We walked into the centre and then to the left and through a smaller structure, then straightout the back and to the rear of the temple opposite the one we'd just climbed (I've no idea what they are called). These ruins don't have the carvings that Chichen Itza has. There was one small piece which was pointed out and then we strode out across the centre grass and out !:( It was over! It felt rather rushed and very short. We were told we could look at the stalls but they were mainly wood carvings, which probably were factory made. The music had played the whole time and really spoilt the atmosphere. It came from a bar at the end of the carpark.

On the trip back the guilde spoke more about the economy of the country and said that the multimillionnaire Lord Ashcroft of the UK Conservatory party owns a HUGE amount of Belize :eek: He owns the Telecom Co, loads of land, banks, property etc. I don't understand politics much, but really don't approve of this kind of thing, and I certainly got the opinion that our Guide wasn't too enamoured by it all either.

The main town of Belize was fairly busy and some of the houses looked quite nice. There was a whole row that were subsiding and we were told this was poor workmanship. I'd not fancy walking around the town myself, but the port area was fine.

We were taken to a carpark and let off into shops. There were a few shops selling "Knock Off" handbags, as they put it. I'm not a handbag/shoe person, but these were cheap! These shops exited out onto the Pier area, which was quite alive by now. There seemed to be a small stance where someone was singing and I think there were bars around, amongst loads of other shops. However, we'd been away a while and just wanted to get the tender back to the ship.

One was in dock and we didn't have to wait long for it to fill (they didn't wait until it was full) and off we went.

 

Would I tour Belize myself? - Not on foot, outside the Pier area! I think you could do a taxi ride to Altun Ha quite easily yourself, not sure about the River bit. The River bit of the tour was the best.

A little part of me wishes we'd done the Zoo along with a trip down the Wallace River, but then we didn't know about it beforehand and it wasn't on offer from the ship.

 

Hope this is of some use to someone planning a trip to Belize.

 

[vmom]

Thanks for your review. We visited Altun Ha last time, but got there by minivan. I think the boat ride sounds like fun.

 

I know what you mean by climbing up and down the ruins and those steps! I came down the ruins by scooting down on my rear end because the stairs were so steep and I have short legs....and am not comfortable with heights.

 

For some reason, I didn't think the Mayans were that tall...so why did they make such steep steps?

 

Glad you had a great time.

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

Thanks so much for your thorough review!

 

We are going to Belize for the first time in March with NCL, and are going to Lamanai via the river boat ride too!

 

We can't wait!

 

Glad you had a good time overall!

 

:)