Jack. Jack is the howler monkey that brought huge smiles to our faces at Caracol, one of the Mayan Ruins. As a side note, we skipped out on Xunantunich and decided to do Caracol due to some influences by locals, or should I say, Chris and Jen from Table Rock Jungle Lodge. Chris and Jen recommended this ruin over the others and that is a separate post in itself. We will get to it, I promise! But I will tell you, it was AMAZING!!!

I told Courtney before we went, I want to see a monkey in the wild. I knew there was a good chance of that going to Belize. I have dreamed about monkeys since I was a little girl. So much in fact, that I painted one on my childhood bedroom wall. And tigers too! They are still on my list to see in real life (not just in a zoo, I want wild!!!)

Anyhow, we happened upon Thursday to Caracol to run into some baboons with no plans to see wild monkeys. We headed to Caracol, and as we approached the Mayan ruins after parking our car, we heard rambunctious noises coming from the jungle. Noises that sounded like a predator in battle with it’s prey. I didn’t know what to think of it untill the soldiers who assited us (again, another post in itself) told us that the sounds were coming from baboons (or howler monkeys) nearby. “Monkeys!?” I was so excited. “Will I get a chance to see these monkeys?!” “Yes, we can take you there after the next ruin.” After exploring a few ruins and patiently waiting for Courtney to climb one of the ruins in the second common ground, we finally started to approach the sounds we heard coming from the jungle. My heart was racing. I looked up into the trees from where the sounds were echoing and saw branches moving ever so slightly. On those branches, I saw itty bitty monkeys. THOSE LITTLE ANIMALS WERE MAKING ALL THAT RACKET? Are you serious? I couldn’t believe my ears!! They were little black monkeys hanging around the trees and trying to climb closer to us in curiosity of their new found friends. The sounds died down as they swung the branches above and worked closer to us to explore us. We admired and ooed and awed and tried to coax them closer to us, but they would only go so far. Courtney took several photos, trying to zoom in as much as possible.

The gallery below features our photos:

I know this is a redundant topic, but I wanted to expand a bit more on it.

The mosquito problem in Belize. I hate, hate, hate mosquitoes. Ever since I was a child and my family would vacation in the Outer Banks, NC I have had an extreme irritation of mosquitoes. When my family would vacation, we would always rent a house with my mom’s sister’s family and her three kids. With Seven kids, two couples and my grandmother and her friend (6 adults) there wasn’t ample sleeping space in some of the houses. One year, I was deemed the “sun room” or screened in porch as my sleeping headquarters. Again, I dawned my bed as an air mattress all week. I woke up morning after morning covered in more and more mosquito bites than the night before. I had horrible itching for weeks after returning from the Outer banks and developed a deep hatred for the little buggers.

One day, as a teenager and later in life, I was reading through a Cosmopolitan offering tips for summer beauty. One of the tips suggest Vitamin B1 as a mosquito repellent. You take the pills and the scent your body emits from the pills wards off mosquitoes. I immediately went out and bought a bottle of Vitamin B1 from GNC. Ever since, I have always had vitamin B1 in my possession. The Vitamin B1 has worked for me and it has prevented huge red itchy bumps from camping trips and late beach nights. You have to start taking the pills a few days before your planned journey, but it does work. I have read recently a few forums of people being worried of taking Vitamin B pills being asthmatic. I can say, having asthma as a child and (fortunately) seem to be growing out of it, I have had no problems combining Vitamin B1 with my asthma. Another plus about the Vitamin B1 is that it enhances your energy and metabolism. Maybe I can contribute some of my slender figure to that? It’s not a diet pill but a natural energy enhancer/mosquito repellent. Again, a win win situation!

I have about 8 pills left in my bottle. This means I’ll be making a trip to CVS Pharmacy (I no longer shop at GNC) to pick up some more of these handy pills to start taking three days before Belize and to share with Courtney.

Warrie Head ranch and travel lodge is located just outside Belmopan on the trek from Belize City on the Western Highway in the Cayo District. The lodge sits at the foothills of the Maya Mountains on the banks of the Belize River. The Warrie Head Ranch and Lodge reveals the everyday history of the former British colonial life in Belize in a natural setting.

Warrie Head Ranch and Lodge has 10 rooms that are open to individual travelers or groups. It has an eco-tourism side to it- with natural history, archeological tours, birding, camping, sailing, horseback riding, jungle tours and the Maya ruins tours. On site is a beautifully landscaped tropical garden that houses some historical artifacts from a 19th century Sugar Mill and a 19th century steam engine from the days of logging.

You will be treated very well by the housekeeper, Miss V. She will serve you cool drinks while you rest in a wicker chair on the porch. However, be prepared for dealing with the humidity Belize has to offer as the rooms are not air conditioned. Although, the rooms are spotless, the grounds are fabulous, it’s quiet and private there.

Prices range at about $70 USD per night in-season and from June 1-September 30th you can expect to pay $65 USD a night.

If you want to experience the 19th century British Colonial living, here’s your place to go. However, be informed- before you decide to take a dip in the Belize river- know that there are poisonous snakes and crocodiles in there!

To get more information (they don’t have a website) you can e-mail them at bzadventur@btl.net.

I’ve been thinking about buying the VIO POV 1.5 helmet mounted camera for a few months now. I think it would be an awesome resource for the trip and the videos would be outstanding for
the Belizean Travel website. Liz is all for it. She wants lots of video and photo documentation of our trip. And we could certainly find other uses for it once we get back (besides for our next awesome adventure).
I think there are a number of applications for this nifty device. We could mount it for zip lining and capture some clever images of our flight through the trees. With the optional water proof kit we could snorkel with it or maybe even diving. Rumor is this thing will handle deep dives. But I’ve got a friend’s HD camera setup for that. Kayaking is another option. The Mayan ruins would be well documented and the hands free operation make it great for the climbing and trudging, etc. Basically, we figure it could capture all the activities we do (assuming I have enough memory cards)! The system has a continuous loop recording capability that allows you to simply tag a period of time you wish to keep or you can just set it to record and it does so until it runs out of memory. I like the loop capability because you can sort of set it and forget it until something memorable occurs.
I’ve been researching helmet mounted cameras for a while now and this one seems to be the best. Teton Gravity Research, the guys that produce the best ski movies, use it. That makes me confident I can use it all winter as well. Wired Magazine recently did a review of helmet mounted cameras and gave this one best review. Their major critique was that it was not High Definition and very expensive to not be high definition. I don’t like the cost. It is very expensive, almost prohibitively so. But I am not so worried about standard definition resolution. I figure that is acceptable for DVD and I am no major filmmaker.
I looked further at many reviews on Backcountry.com and they were mixed. Mostly positive but a few people complain about color wash. I think that is something that can be overcome with video editing.
In summary, the decision to buy this is camera is going to come down to want vs. economics. Can I afford it? Can it be folded into the total trip costs? Will it get used sufficiently? I don’t know. I’ll keep thinking, salivating and calculating. If I get it, look for some clever, first person point-of-view videos on this site after the trip.

Horseback Riding in Belize is a pretty common activity among tourists. While there are many places that take you on tours, it’s nice to be able to do it through a location you are already staying at.

Plenty of packages are made for the serious equestrian rider. You can book packages of multiple days and nights that take you on tours all over Belize- the jungle, the beach, the city. You name it. Courtney and I will be only partaking in a few hour horseback ride if we decide to do that at all.

1. Cotton Tree Lodge, a previously reviewed lodge, also offers horseback riding tours of the jungle complimentary of the stay. If you aren’t staying at the lodge it is also possible to arrange a day trip through them for about $48 a person for a three hour tour.
2. DuPlooy’s also offers horseback riding jungle adventures. DuPlooy’s sits way more in our budget- with 2 hour tours starting at $25 and a half day tour coming in at $40. A full day tour is only $65 a person. The horseback tours will take you to Slate Carvers’, Butterfly Farm and Natural History Center, Cristo Rey Falls or the Belize Botanic Gardens. This sounds a bit more our speed. However, if it is flooding on the day you have planned to depart on a horse, DuPlooy’s will not take you out on the horseback riding tour. Since we are going in the low-season (rainy season) we need to have a backup plan and plan accordingly if we decide to go with DuPlooy’s.
3. Green Dragon Adventure trips also offer horseback riding. They offer trips out of their jungle lodge or out of Belize City. The trip lasts about 2 and a half hours and comes in at a hefty $75 for the trip. That price would rule Green Dragon adventures out of our budget.
4. Jungle Dome also offers horseback riding and is ruled out as the priciest yet. The 2 and a half hour tours are $75 and the all day jungle tour is $110. Ruled. Out. Of. Our. Budget. 100%

We’ll have to decide if we want to add this to our list of activities and our expense list. With all the activities we plan on doing, our “Belize on a Budget” might not be so budgeted. The only thing that makes sense is to stay at a jungle location which offers it. Most likely- Cotton Tree Lodge.

To find out if we chose to go horseback riding and where at, check back for our final itinerary that we will post the morning we leave.