- 6 May (Saturday): Early flight on Saturday. I left home around 0300 (Uber to DCA), to catch an 0645 AA flight to Belize (connecting in Charlotte). The flights were uneventful, and I arrived in Belize on time. I caught a taxi (taxis from Belize City are expensive) to the hotel (the Seaside Chateau Resort) where I’d be staying until Monday, when I was scheduled to meet the Road Scholar Group at the Black Orchard, which was unavailable on Saturday and Sunday. The hotel was moderately funky (beat-up outdoor furniture, skimpy seating at the small restaurant, etc.), but the room was nice and the people were very friendly. I changed out of my cold weather clothes (it had been in the 40s at home when I left), got some lunch at the restaurant, and then read (One Hundred Years of Solitude [Marquez], and The Maya [Coe and Houston]) by the beach during the afternoon.
- 7 May (Sunday): Got up relatively early on Sunday, breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and then spent a few hours at the pool. After lunch I headed back to the beach to continue the books I was reading. Dinner at the hotel restaurant again, and then relaxed in my room during the evening.
- 8 May (Monday): At breakfast I met a guy who was in Belize with a small group of people who were setting up dementia care clinics. One of the women in the small group joined us, and I learned that she was born in D.C. (Anacostia) and now lives in Ft Washington. We had a nice chat, then I returned to my room to pack up for the transfer to the Black Orchid Resort. I called the cab driver who had driven me from the airport to Seaside Chateau Resort, and I arrived there around noon. I had lunch in the hotel restaurant (coconut shrimp, seafood soup, and a Belikin beer, while I was waiting for my room. The hotel was lovely, on a small lake, and the staff were very pleasant and helpful. I moved into my room around 1300, and rested for a while before I headed back to the restaurant to meet the Road Scholar group. The group consisted of Susan Adamchak from Kansas (her flight was delayed so she joined on Tuesday evening), Mark Berkley from Washington, Barry and Susan Berlin from Colorado, Tracy Bohman from Ohio, Yuk Fai (Fai) from Georgia, Joyce Connors from Montana, Karen Katz from North Carolina, Bonnie Loesser from Ohio, Gail McGlothlin and her sister Linda Whan both from Montana, Manuel (Manny) Molina and Theresa Weinert from Wisconsin, and Carol Stein from Pennsylvania. The group leader was Israel Canto, who grew up in a Maya village in the Caya District of Belize, and was a spectacularly good guide to the area. We had dinner, and got to know each other over chow.
- 9 May (Tuesday): After breakfast on Tuesday, we took a bus to a dock on the New River, where we boarded a fast boat to the Maya ruins at Lamanai. The guide was very entertaining, and stopped the boat frequently to point out wildlife (lots of birds) and interesting sites (such as the large Mennonite farms along the river). We spent the day exploring the ruins (with a nice picnic lunch separating morning from afternoon), and then headed back to the bus for the trip back to the hotel.
- 10 May (Wednesday): After breakfast on Wednesday we packed up for our trip to the Peten region of Guatemala, stopping on the way to visit the Belize Zoo, a wonderful collection of local fauna. After the zoo visit, we continued to Guatemala, stopping by a barbecue restaurant in San Ignacio along the way. After crossing the border into Guatemala we met the Guatemala expert (Pablo) and the new driver who would be with us for the next couple of days, and then drove to Ixpanpajul National Park, where we took a 4-wheel drive vehicle to the top of a tall hill. From the hilltop we walked back via a well-built trail that crossed six hanging bridges. The first bridge was very long and was about 350′ above the jungle floor. It was pretty terrifying and the rails were too hot to hold onto. After the hike, we stopped by a large nearby convenience store to pick up water for the next few days, and for beer and snacks. Then we drove to the hotel where we’d spend the next two nights, the Hotel Villa Maya in Flores.
- 11 May (Thursday): Thursday was spent exploring the ruins at Tikal, one of the most excavated and most well-understood ruins of the lowland Maya. Dinner on Thursday night was at an island restaurant in Flores.
- 12 May (Friday): After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and headed to the Yaxha ruins where we spent the morning exploring the remains of a significant Maya city. After our Yaxha visit we had lunch at a nearby restaurant, and then headed to the Belize-Guatemala border, and then to the Cayo District of Belize. We arrived at the Jaguar Creek eco-lodge in the late afternoon. The lodge was in the deep jungle and was beautifully built (small cabins connected by boardwalks). En route to my hut I noticed the the soles of both of my sandals were half-attached. The folks at the lodge helped me repair them with some super glue.
- 13 May (Saturday): After breakfast we traveled to Actun Tunichil Muknal (the “ATM Cave”), a famous Mayan sacrificial site. The visit involved lots of wading and swimming, and some rock climbing. We saw intact skeletons of the sacrificed, pottery, and stalagmites that had been altered to project figurative shadows on the cave walls.
- 14 May (Sunday): On Sunday, we had a choice of adventures. The first was a “Black Hole Hiking & Rappelling Adventure” that involved rappelling into a 300 foot deep sink hole and then hiking out via a rough trail. I opted for Option 2, a cave-tubing trip into a long cave that included Mayan sacrificial sites. My decision was based on the approach and exit trails from the “Black Hole” (I watched YouTube videos of the trail conditions), and I was happy with the decision. The group was evenly split between the two options. After the adventures, we reconvened near our hotel, and then departed for our next and final hotel, The Colonial at Jaguar Reef, a lovely hotel on the Caribbean (I had a private pool in my room!).
- 15 May (Monday): After breakfast on Monday, we boarded a speed boat to head out to the nearby reef for snorkeling. I wasn’t surprised by the degree of bleaching we saw on our first dive (virtually all of the coral were dead, and the fish population was greatly diminished compared to my last reef dive, decades previous to the trip), but it was shocking, nonetheless. After the first dive, we had lunch on a nearby island, then took the boat to a more distant (and less bleaching-affected) reef for another dive. During the dive we saw nurse sharks, barracuda, lots of rays, squid, and some beautiful fish. After the second dive, we headed back to the hotel, where I spent the afternoon relaxing and reading by the pool in my room.
- 16 May (Tuesday): On Tuesday we were offered two choices; either another snorkeling trip, or a visit to a chocolate plantation. I chose option 1, which was pretty much the same plan as on Monday. After the dives, I rested and read before dinner.
- 17 May (Wednesday): Wednesday was the last day of the trip. We packed up and headed to a local airport for a short flight to the airport in Belize City. I had a few hours to wait for my flight to Miami. In Miami, the layover was scheduled to last about 3 hours, so I grabbed dinner at the airport and then walked to the scheduled departure gate. When I got there, after waiting about 30 minutes, AA rescheduled the departure gate to one at the other end of the airport (about 2 miles away). I walked to that gate, waited, and then AA changed the gate back in the other direction. One more gate change, and then (after an hour or so) passengers were informed that the flight was delayed by about 3 more hours (the flight was scheduled to leave at 2100, and as of about 0030 we were still in Miami. We arrived at BWI at about 0230.
- 18 May (Thursday): Called an Uber from BWI and the guy showed up within 5 minutes, despite the fact that it was 2:30 in the morning. Arrived home around 0300, wide awake, so I spent an hour or two unpacking, and stashing stuff away.
Photos [photos of the ATM Cave were provided by our driver, since cameras are no longer permitted at that site, those photos are so designated in the captions]
Road Scholar Final Information Packet