We arrived in Belize City around noon and immediately headed two hours West, almost to the Guatemalan border.
Along the way we stopped at the Belize zoo and, lo and behold, both girls were sound asleep.
The zoo was fun but being in the jungle first hand with Howler monkeys right outside our cabin sounded far more exciting, so along we went. Our destination being The Lodge at Chaa Creek, located along the Macal River, just outside of San Ignacio.
Though Chaa Creek is secluded in the Belizean jungle, it’s certainly not roughing it. The staff describe it best when they say the experience is “wildly civilized”.
Towel tapirs greeted us and pointed the way to our outdoor shower, lush with flowers in every shade of pink and orange you can imagine.
Most of the food we ate was grown on Chaa Creek’s organic farm. And the butterfly hatchery provided endless wonder, hoping to witness the moment that the blue iridescent wings would emerge from their cocoon.
Simone and Naomi made daily use of the infinity pool where they made friends with each and every gecko, giving them names and finding them homes.
This poor thing’s tail fell off so the girls chose a big wooden bowl by the pool as the perfect nest to recover.
We especially loved taking canoes up the Macal river and the horse “pack trips” through Chaa Creek’s Nature Reserve.
On our second night, we chose to have a local guide can take us deep into the jungle for a midnight walk (8pm in our case) where we held our breath to try and catch the nocturnal animals in action. I found that leafy twigs provided the best bait to coax tarantulas out of their homes.
I’ll share more of our adventures soon…
