2017.12.31 Digging Razor Clam for the new year

12/31, partly sunny. Heading over to Grays Harbor to participate this new year's tradition of the coastal WA communities. Razor Clam harvest was open for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. The low tide over the weekend is:
Dec. 31, Sunday, 5:12 p.m.; -1.2 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks
Jan. 1, Monday, 6:02 p.m.; -1.7 feet; Twin Harbors, Mocrocks

On the way, stopped at Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. Quite a few visitors. Nice long boardwalk. Lots of waterfowls, including some herons. Learned a bird called Green-winged Teal, who has a green stripe on the head. They are smaller than normal ducks. And the duck with a large bill is Northern Shoveler, which also has a green head.

Next, stopped at Grays Harbor NWR, because I saw a brochure at Nisqually. Only saw one couple walking. The boardwalk is a bit slippery. You have to walk about 0.6 miles of road to the refuge area. Other than the Canadian Geese on the lawn of the airport and a dead bird, didn't see any birds. Not worth going. Maybe during spring migration (late April - early May) is the only good time to visit.

Twin Harbor State Park beach had plenty cars and diggers, but not as many as I thought. Maybe for a reason. I didn't see anyone caught anything. The sunset today was beautiful, this alone is worth the trip.

Stayed at Chateau Westport for new year's eve. Quite a lot of people here. I put my wet socks and boots near the fireplace using synthetic log, because the wave caught me at one point. Nice balcony. After dinner, went to Westport Light State Park at the northern tip of Westport. The moon was huge (super moon a day later), shining through cotton-like clouds with pinkish halo. Not too cold. Back to the hotel, I set up alarm clock for 11:50pm, so I can welcome the new year.

1/1. Slept into the new year. My alarm was set for Monday, a wrong day. Got up ~7:30, had some coffee and an egg, walked to the beach. Only saw one person the entire time. The pink sky lasted a long time. A good restful beginning of 2018.

2017.12.30 Franklin Falls

12/30, Saturday. Overcast, rain at times. Franklin Falls's 2 mile RT turns to 6 miles in winter, after the road is gated, soon after you exit #47 of I-90. Despite of the added length and weather, lots of people here today.

The walk on the road is wide, and fine in boots. If you have homes along this road, you can drive in. The trail has more snow, and micro-spikes come in handy. But possible to walk the entire 6 mile RT in boots, just be careful. Snow is not thick enough to use snowshoes. The cabins at the beginning of the trail looks rather nice under snowy canopies looking over rushing Denny Creek.

The waterfall is in full force, with added icicles all around. Very very pretty. The mist and cold weather was fogging up my photo's lens or adding water droplets on it, rendered my photos fuzzy.

2017.12.23-25 Christmas weekend

12/23, Saturday. Sunny, cold. I rented a car and drove to Canada via Sumas/Abbotsford border crossing to avoid delay. Cut off to Hwy 9 via the southern shore of Lake Whatcom. Looks pleasant. The short stretch between Park Road + Hwy-9 junction and Saxon on Hwy-9 is more scenic, thanks to the Twin Sisters. The flat farmland around the border has view of Canadian mountains as well as Baker. Colder.

I planned to go to Golden Ears, but about 10 km away, a sign said that the park is closed, so I drove to Pitt Meadow instead. I walked around Alouette River south of the golf course. There were a few people walking and a couple of dogs. One guy on bike. The dikes are dry, even with snow on the slope of the dikes. The small river was frozen on the top. Saw one bald eagle, 2 herons, many ducks and geese. Very pretty with blue sky and red branches. Took me 1.5 hours to complete one loop.

Dinner was at some friend's house. A potluck. Way too much food.

12/24, Sunday. Cloudy, still cold, ~-2°C. Dragged two grandfathers with me after lunch to Pitt Lake. Without the blue sky, everything looks bleak. I'm surprised to see a few people also brave the chill and came out for a walk. Quite a few birds. 4 Canadian Geese walking on the lake.


7 of us had a casual raman meal at Smoking Pig. Later in the evening, 9 of us ate up the Buche de Noel.

12/25, Monday. Rain and snow occasionally. Yet another cake.

2017.12.10. Laika at Portland Art Museum

12/10. 9am. RDV at Monarch Hotel & Conference Center near Clackamas TC. 10 of us braved the wind and cold for a city walk in east of highway 217, for about 6-7 miles. Very windy. I've never been to the area. We walked to the Happy Valley neighborhood (many steps), then to Mt Talbert Nature Park (woody, no view). Saw 2 dead birds (at 2 different spots) by the steet, 2 rusted cars (at the same spot, by a creek). The conclusion of this hike is the Sunday brunch in the hotel. Half of the group decided not to gain the calorie back.

In the afternoon, I visited Portland Art Museum, unaware of its 125 anniversary celebration. There was even a birthday cake. Lots of kids. There were programs throughout the day, which I was too late for.
I came to see the special exhibition of Animating Life by the local Laika Studio (until March 2018). Highly recommend it. The details of the characters and scenes, giants and pops, the leaves, the hair, everything is amazing. Laika is generous to share how they work (in a video), and the gadgets to make certain scenes like waves. Must be fun to work there. A creative bunch of people.

2017.12.9. Elk-Kings Traverse

12/9. It's been sunny all week (since I returned). But quite cold early morning. Was 24F. 8 of us gathered at Sunset TC at 7:30. The only man who signed up on this trip wasn't able to find the meeting location. So we were 8 women + 1 dog, but we took 3 cars so we can do a one way hike instead of the entire loop.

Very cold at trailhead, maybe because the sun doesn't hit the bottom of the valley. Half an hour into the hike, you can see that the sun rose behind the ridge. I was told it's an inversion: temperature is higher in higher elevation, and it turned out to be true. There were some wind at times, but not bad.

View from the top of Elk is not bad. Can see the Kings Mountain ahead where we were headed, and clear cuts. Someone in the group signed the registry. I didn't bother. Ate lunch here. The trail is short but very steep at times, so hands come in handy. Felicia is very slow on these sections, and they were new to her. We had to wait for her numerous times. At Elk's summit, we decided to split into 2 groups: 5 continue to King, and 3 go down to Elk Creek Trail.

If there were any reserve of completing the hike in Felicia's mind, coming down from Elk wiped it out cold. Then it's a flat traverse for at least a mile, partly on some abandoned logging road. At some point, the trail split. One goes to left (under a big boulder and fallen rocks) to King, one continues slight right on the logging road. As you get closer to Kings, you'd have to go down on this steep and slippery slope. There's a rope here to assist. This is the only thing I remembered from my last hike here. It's short. There were some snow left on the trail on the backside of the hill (no sun). There's one steep upslope that had some snow. However, wasn't very slippery.

The top of King is very woody. There's a registry here too. Shortly before that, there's a flat spot to linger and take photos. We could see Adams and Hood. The sun was bathing, and no wind. We stayed here long enough that I took off gaiters (not useful) and boots to air dry my sweaty feet. My jeans stayed fairly clean and dry the whole time. My gloves got a bit dirty.

Coming down King is smooth and easy. Long zigzags. At some elevation, I could feel the temperature drop. When we got to the car (~2:50pm), the other 3 were there. They got to the Elk trailhead 30 minutes ago. The two trailhead is only 3-4 miles apart. Brook wanted to go home directly, so I rode in Anu's car back. They dropped me off at my highway exit, where I walked home.

2017.11.18-12.3 trip summary + back to US

12/3, back in US. I was told there's no pre-check lane, the security guy insisted that I had to take out tissue paper from my pocket and put in screening belt. No one took my custom declaration form. Houston it is. Texas feels like a different country.

I had a 3 hour layover (was 2 hours when I bought the ticket, but the schedule changed 3 times). So I used one of my free United Club one-time passes. The guy at the front desk kindly suggested me to go to another united club in terminal C, because my gate was C4. So there I went. Food is passable. Except for the soup, all is cold. Costco cookies and nuts, salad and cheese, red delicious and banana. Only Budweiser and Coors Light is free. Other beers are $5. And the beer glass was warm. For $59, this seems ridiculous. Lots of people here. There was an old lady talking to her daughter and grandkid (a screaming baby) on speaker phone, very very loud, and no one intervened. Plenty others talking on the phone, at least they used headset. This is no place for a rest. For me, it was dinner.

10 minutes before the boarding time, I headed over to the gate, and it was empty. Well, it was delayed 30 minutes and changed to E22. The United Club who checked me in using my boarding pass should have known the gate change, and could have announced it. The only announcement I heard is that someone left Chilean Pesos at front desk. Now I had to take the train again, and walk back to the terminal where I came from. Another full flight. Arrived at PDX around 9:15pm, 2 hours behind Houston. 3°C 38°F. I can finally breath. The air here smells so fresh compared to the tropical exhaust.

2 weeks later, I received an email from Niels saying that he found his sunglasses at the shop in Belize City.

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Summary: Belize feels safer, more modern, better infrastructure, even though almost all buildings look cheap and ugly. More laid back, a healthy mix of ethic groups, but a bit boring, all wear western clothes. No language barrier. I probably won't come back. Heard good things about the south (Placencia area) and outer islands, maybe a smaller caye like Turneffle Atoll. If I dived, would go to Blue Hole. It should be a stunning beauty. The whole country is hot and humid. Expensive country, for the same price, I prefer Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The diving trip to Blue Hole runs about $250/pp. I spent ~$500 in 5 nights, including my only 2 nights in a dorm.

Guatemala has more traditional communities, colorful clothing. But I loath the tourist shuttles, nor can I find an alternative transportation for the places I visited. Dirtier, like all developing countries. More US fast food joints, more chaotic and petty crime. Need to know Spanish. The temperature in the highlands is pleasant. Bigger and more ruins. I won't come back either. Saw enough ruins on this trip. Cheaper, about half the price as in Belize. I spent about $560 in 10 nights, including what's stolen.

Packing. No need to bring snorkel mask, since I wasn't able to snorkel independently. I had one set of clothes never used. Never used any extra batteries nor power bank. Never cooked. One 2oz bottle of contact lens solution is just enough for 2 weeks (I brought 2). I also brought 2 sets of charger / cable / sunglasses / insect repellent /shampoo bottle / clothes hanger. One is enough. I never used my DEET. I used water filter only twice. So no need to bring the back-flush. A string and clip should work better and smaller than clothes hangers. Headlamp is crucial for the caves. Ideally, I could have cut down my luggage even further.

2017.12.1-3 Belize (2/2) Caye Caulker

Bus schedule in Belize

12/1, day 14, Friday. Overcast. I did my photo upload in the morning, after drying my phone all night with the battery out. It's still acting a bit weird (turns off by itself sometimes), but its usable. So a late start today. After checking out, I walked one block to the bus stop for the 8:15 bus to Belmopan. The bus arrived at 8:20, not bad. It made a few stops in the city, and we were off nonstop (supposedly. We did pick up /drop off a couple of more people along the way). This is an express. Modern, AC, reclining seats, most comfortable bus during my 2 week trip. $2. I put on another shirt, because it was a bit too cold. At 9:20, I got off the bus at Belmopan. At 9:30, I got on a local bus towards Dangriga. This was a US school bus. No AC. I asked to be dropped off at St Herman's Cave ($1). I read that Hummingbird Highway is pretty, but it's just like any other roads, maybe less developed.

This small Blue Hole National Park is managed by the Audubon Society. At the ticket office ($4), the girl showed me where the trails are, and what I can do, and let me leave my bag in her office. Everything is well marked here.
I walked along Lowland Trail (flat) to the cave, with water and flashlight. There was a small group with a guide. The trail in the cave goes all the way to the other entrance. But without a guide, I'm only allowed 200m. Not interesting. I walked back along Highland Trail. It does go high. At the highest point of the trail, there's a bench, some view of the distance. The suggested time of the loop is 1 hour. But mosquitoes made me swift. I was back in 30 minutes.

Now I applied repellent, picked up my pack from the ticket office, and headed to the Blue Hole via Dusky Antbird Trail. Lots of mosquitoes. Armed with picaridin, I still didn't dare to stop long to look for birds. Saw one robin size, brown bird, long black tail, white tip. I didn't like this muggy trail. Maybe better early in the morning when it's cooler, and with a ornithologist guide:) 1 miles, about 25 minutes. At the end, I was looking forward to a swim.

This Blue Hole is very small. A caved cave where a stream runs under. The blue part is the deeper end. The water here is a bit cold, took me awhile to get in, even though I was sweating. Once in the water, it feels refreshing. The guide of the next group said it's 72°F. There are little fish here that may swim up to your leg and try to eat something. One old guy fell into the water. Later I found out his name is Neils.

I put on my shirt and pants (there's a changing room on the lawn above the pool, with mosquitoes). Walked to the other side of the road to wait for the next bus. The sun was too hot, so I left my pack there and came back to wait by the parking area where there's shade. An SUV stopped by me and asked where I was heading to and if I wanted a ride. Oh, yes. Neils is the client and had a driver and someone else. We got to Belmopan at 12:15, where Neils would be dropped off. He was heading to Caye Caulker too. So we decided to travel together.

We bought lunch outside of Belmopan bus station. By the time we got to the gate, the 12:30 express was gone. So waited for the 1:15 express. It arrived a bit later and was another school bus. Oh well. $4. About 1 hour 20 minutes. We then walked to the dock, via Orange St, a major street full of shops, choked with cars. You can walk faster than you can drive here. Neils had stopped by some store trying to buy a hat (and probably lost his sunglasses), maybe 10-15 minutes. At the first boat company, Ocean Ferry Belize, bought a roundtrip to Caye Caulker ($15 RT or 9.5 one way). Perfect timing, we got on the 3pm boat.

The boat goes quite fast, with 3 Yamaha engines. 45 minutes. Very loud. I volunteered my OR hat to Neils before I leave, as long as he didn't mind it being worn-out. The boat made a stop at Caye Chapel, before arriving at Caye Caulker. Neils's friend John met him at the dock, and we parted our ways.

I checked into Popeye's (now the Club of Caye Caulker under new management). This is a dump, badly managed. No water refill, no replacement of toilet paper, even after I requested. The 2 girls at the front desk are grumpy. The kitchen is a mess. Apart from its location, nothing is good. I changed into skirt and sandals, walked around inquiring snorkel trip for the next day. Signed up with Caveman, rated #1 on tripadvisor. My neighbor, a Dutch girl signed up with Rugged Muffins, recommended on Lonely Planet (but I cannot even find it on the list on tripadvisor). Price is the same everywhere. $65 for a full day trip, $35 half day, with multiple stops, including gear, lunch and ticket to Hol Chan Marine Reserve.

Friday night party at the Spit between the two halves of Caye Caulker. Bonfire, dance, cheap drinks. I may have gone there too early, saw less than 10 people. So I went back to sleep after eating a Pupusa. I found out that 23°C is what I can sleep under a sheet. You need a cover here, because of mosquitoes and sandflies, both were not too bad.

12/2, day 15, Saturday. Rain occasionally. I got up early for sunrise. Thick clouds. After breakfast, I decided to try to find the vacation rental Neils stayed at, even though I don't know the name, nor address, except that it's near a bar called Dirty Woods (not on my map). It would be more difficult later in the day, and I was told not to walk there in dark, because of less people there. Surprisingly I found them. Gave him my hat, so fulfilled my promise.

10:30-4:30 snorkel tour. We were told to arrive at 10 to gear up. Quite a lot of people, so it took awhile. Just as we were ready to head out in 2 boats, the rain started. So waited it out. It was still a bit of rainy when we left, after leaving our shoes at the dock. Each given a garbage bag for our stuff and a ziplock bag for camera. I have a dry bag, but it is small. So I put everything into the garbage bag. My boat has 10, plus 2 guides. 5 Israelis (very loud, the 2 girls who smoke are the most aggressive), a retired couple from Michigan, a young couple from Munich. Interesting that all Israelis were in their bathing suits, including the girl who probably weights 250lb. The other five are more modest, had shirts over our bathing suits. Maybe we northerners are not used to bare flesh.

First is on the north half of the island to see tarpons. They are close to shore, and aggressive. I held my hand out and was hit by one. These tour guides make tourists hold sardine out, so the tarpons are trained to jump up for food. Not a good practice. 2 pelicans landed on boat, one took a dump!

2nd stop is for seahorse on another dock on the same island. But we didn't find any, except for a cat. Water isn't clear here.

3rd stop is for manatee. We are at the end of the mating season, so only a slim chance to see some stragglers. Later, you need to go to a manatee reserve at Swallow Caye, closer to Belize City. After seeing one, we got to jump into the water and had a better look for a bit. It's giant and moved slowly among us. A couple of large fish under its belly. As we were getting on the boat, saw 2 manatees swimming together, a bit farther.

4th stop is close by to snorkel. I saw a trumpet fish among others. Not a whole lot of fishes. Corals and a lot of big Sea Fans, swaying in the water. Just as we were about to head out again, it started pouring. We were cold. The boat has a canvas cover in the middle for sun. Not for rain. We waited out in the ocean, which is much warmer than the rain. I was told it's 84F. Once it tapered off, we headed to Hop Chan Reserve. But I was still cold, until sun came out.

Had lunch. There were few choices when I signed up. I had, again chicken with rice and beans. Same coconut rice. Chicken is roasted, a whole hind quarter. Drink choices are Fanta and Coca-Cola. I picked a pineapple flavored Fanta, never seen it before. Not bad. Too sweet as usual.

The next 3 stops are in the Shark Ray Alley, close to each other. A ranger's boat came over to check out tickets. Finally the sun came out. A fisherman's boat was cleaning some conch, and we were told to swim around it. Lots of Sting Rays here, big. One had no tail. Saw a large Spotted Eagle Ray. It's a beautiful creature with really long tail and beautiful black dots. Sandy, flat and very shallow here (you can stand up). Lots of conch in the sandy bottom.

Next, we saw a big green turtle close to the boat. It surfaced a few times. At the shark stop, the guide threw cut sardines to the water, and a lot of Nurse Shark and other big grouper like fish jammed together for food. As soon as feeding stopped, they swam away. We swam next to the sharks, and they ignored us, only interested in sardines. Saw another turtle here, smaller, but I had a good look at it. Quite pretty.

3rd stop in the reserve is the channel. Narrow sandy band walled both sides by coral. Not very deep. Saw some divers here only a couple of meters below me. Quite a lot of fishes, some in schools. Saw a great big yellow eel, a pirate fish, another trumpet. We were separated into two groups of 5. Our guide would dive down and point, and then surface to tell us what he pointed at.

We then had some watermelon and pineapple abroad. Can refill water too. Last snorkel stop is at a shipwreck. It's a flat cargo ship. Deeper and bigger waves here, and I had trouble keeping my mask clear. So didn't stay long in the water. The German couple are the strongest swimmers in the bunch, they said they saw fish swaying by the wave. Only one Israeli went into the water here.

Back on shore around 4:30. After a hot shower, I sat in my aircon room typing up the blog. Checked in tomorrow's flight. Chatted with the Dutch girl who returned later from a half day trip. They were dropped off a nice beach (in her words) to hangout, and watch sunset. Then they came back on the free boat.

Went out to eat around 7:30. I heard about a full moon party tonight, but I didn't find it. Yes, the moon was bright.

Overall, I didn't enjoy Caye Caulker as I had hoped. There's really nothing to do here. It's flat, not on any reef. No fishes. No beach. The only swimming is by the Split, where you walk down some concrete steps. The land at the Split is carved out by eateries and bars, so no outside food and drink allowed. But water is not clean enough for me to want to swim here. The sand is coarse and street is dusty. You'd have to charter a boat or buy a tour to see fish. I think I'd like San Pedro less. Here, at least it's laid back. I saw only one truck. All taxis are golf carts. People ride bikes. You can take a free boat on the west of the island (a short walk, a bit dirtier) to the north half of the island which may have better beach. You need to buy $5 of drink, but apparently no one checks it.

12/3, day 16, Sunday. The last day. Windy, cloudy. Got up for sunrise, again too many clouds. While I was having a bagel and coffee, a lady came up to me, and said hi. It's my next door neighbor in San Ignacio! I was glad to see her. She was going home tomorrow.

I dumped my sandals, and more clothes. My pack was now quite light. You can see it in the hammock on this photo.

Exchanged my return receipt to a boarding pass for the 8:30am boat to Belize City. We departed at 8:40, a lot more people on this boat. Non stop. 9:25 arrival. Couldn't find anyone to share a taxi for the airport ($25). The driver, Manny, an Indian descent, a tour guide in the cruise ship season (soon), is very talkative. Of course, the very first thing is that we had to fill gas. I arrived at the airport at 10, so early, that no lines anywhere. In 5 minutes I paid $38 departure tax (unexpected, as United already charged me 2 kinds of tax on Belize's behalf), through 2 windows of immigration posts. There's no currency exchange here, yes, many shops. I had only $1 worth of BZ money left, not enough to buy anything. The toilet is clean. Filtered some water, and dumped my umbrella. I found a charging station.

My boarding pass said that the boarding starts at 12:20 (departure is 1pm), but at 12:20, almost all were loaded. Of course it cannot be so smooth. Two people had the same seat assignment one row before me. Took awhile to resolve this. What a small world, I sat next to the WA couple of the Caracol trip. I inquired about the Japanese girl who fell into the river, as they were in the same hotel. Good to know that she's fine, her ankle wasn't twisted, and she went to San Pedro after buying another camera.

Once we were air born, I fetched my fleece. Prezel and soft drink is complementary, like a domestic flight. A full flight.

2017.11.28-30 Belize (1/2) San Ignacio

Gas ~$5/gl in Belize vs ~$3 in Guatemala. All prices here are quoted in US$ (=2B$)

11/28, day 11. At the big Belize immigration building, a guy by the door gave me a form, and checked it after I filled it. It asks how long and where I'd be staying. At the counter, they took the form, stamped it and my passport and gave me the bottom 1/3.

There's a large billboard on the wall listing taxi prices from here. $7.5 to Xuanantunich ($10 to San Ignacio). I asked to be dropped off at the ferry. Maybe the price includes all the way to the park. The ferry is free. Two guys operating the ferry parked it on the other side of the river (in the shade). They saw me walking there and moved the ferry to me. It's a very short ride, and the cranking of the cable is fairly easy, as I asked to try it, and ended up moving the ferry all the way to the other side with just one hand. Don't know why you need 2 employees here. One of them talked to me in perfect English. Great, I won't have language problems.

I walked 1 mile uphill to Xuanantunich ruin. A large restroom building, a couple of vehicles in the big parking lot. Then the ticket office ($5). I left my pack behind the bench in the empty visitor center. This is not a big site. I only walked in Group A. There're B, C and D, but not excavated. Cannot see the outline of those. The view above El Castillo is excellent, can see all the countryside around. More cultivated here. No jungles. Belize ruin restoration has steps leading to various parts, no wooden steps scaffolding the pyramids. Saw a few small guided groups (1-4 people). One guy from California commented that the steps here are easier (not as big) than in Guatemala, as I was passing him on my way down. When a large group arrived, I left. Walked back to the ferry. As I walked on the ferry, the California guy and his guide in a big van pulled in behind me. Back on the road, I asked if he could give me a ride to San Ignacio (on his way to Belize City), he declined.

I hailed for a collectivo. A car pulled over. I inquired about the price, he said it's free. It turns out that he's recruiting clients for his brother who owns Maximum Adventure Tours next to the hotel I'd be staying. It was closed when we arrived. I checked into Venus Hotel at 11:30. It was in the process of remodeling, dust everywhere. I Googled the tour company and found good reviews on tripadvisor. So, I decided to buy tours there. In the two blocks of pedestrian-only street, there're 4-5 tour agencies. All offer the same tours, same price. Max finally showed up. $80 for ATM cave, $85 for Caracol, cash. The latter was still pending until the evening, when 2 others signed up.

I went to Cenaida for lunch, recommended by the hotel receptionist. Happy with the choice. I had the traditional stewed chicken with rice and beans, a tiny salad ($3.5) + coconut water ($1.5).

Walked to the local Mayan site Cahal Pech ($5). Not worth going. About a mile. Too hot to walk. I carried my umbrella. Did see one independent tourist like me, without a guide. The site is small, no tall structures, so no views. There's, again, lawnmower noise, and some mosquitoes.

Around 4:40, sun was low enough, I walked to Midas Resort (a sister property of Venus Hotel) to use its pool. Nice looking hotel on the edge of town, more catered to people with a car. I didn't like the walk much, but liked the pool. No one in the pool. It's only 4' deep, so safe. Clay lizards adorned the walls. Quite cute. A bar. 3 ladies sat by the pool, under an umbrella, not drinking anything.

I walked back to town via Guava Limb, rated #1 restaurant on tripadvisor. Empty, maybe too early. Nice setup. Fancy menu. Continued my walk to town, ended eating at Erva, rated #2 on tripadvisor. Similar price. They had one table occupied, by a Dutch couple. The bartender was talkative, gave me some pineapple cocktail smoothy, and invited all 3 of us to the kitchen to see the chef preparing our dishes. I had coconut barracuda ($12.5). I like the vegetable and rice cooked in coconut juice, but the fish was too salty, overcooked, and didn't taste fresh.

11/29, day 12, Wednesday. Cloudy. 8am tour to Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM cave). No photo of the tour, because we were instructed to leave everything in the car. No camera allowed in the cave. I borrowed a pair of watershoes from the office, which turned out to be very useful. Everyone else is late. Thanks to the proximity of my hotel to the agency, I was able to fetch things from my room twice. We had 7 in the van (a young couple from Ohio, a retired couple from Long Island, a mid-aged couple from Toronto). AC in full blast. Same as my previous experience, the first stop is to fill gas. At the turn off from Western Highway, we were joined by a German couple (from Cologne) staying in Belmopan (picked up by another guide) who were on their retirement trip. They paid $120, instead of the standard price of $95 from San Ignacio.

If you've never been to a wet cave, you are in for an adventurous treat. If you have, this is nothing special. To get to the cave entrance, you need to walk about 1km flat trail, and wade 3 streams. We are required to put on life jacket and helmet (neither is necessary). First river crossing is just steps from the parking lot (park fee is $15, included in the package). This is the deepest. A rope is strung across, so it's easy to pull through even if you cannot swim. The other 2 are only ankle deep. Water looked clean, colorful bed rocks.

You swim into the cave, but afterwards, mostly you wade. We separated into 2 groups. The max allowed is 8 per guide. We are forbidden to bring anything into the cave. Need to leave the water bottle outside. The guide makes sure your safety and the preservation of the cave. He carries extra batteries for the provided head lamp. The lesser importance is explaining the geology and history. At the end of about 45 minutes wading, we had to leave shoes behind, and walk up a chamber, or multiple chambers where broken clay pots are lying around in the dry section. We were instructed in walk between colored tapes, so not to be too close to the artifacts. Total we saw 4 skeletons, lots of pots. We did see a small hole with bats. I like the guide, he tried to explained the hypothesis of these remains: ritual, possibly for rain. The more recent relics are deeper in the cave. I enjoyed scrambling in the cave.

When we returned to the parking lot, we were fed a stewed chicken lunch with rice and beans, and rum punch, both are tasty. A very late lunch, as my group doesn't have the most agile tourists, and we started later. I saw maybe 20-30 other tourists. This is not high season. On the drive out, as we passed an orange grove, the Toronto couple and the NY wife wanted to pick oranges. Our drive actually stopped and let them out. Here's a proof.

I walked to Macal River as the sun set. It's right next to the market, close to downtown. This market is not big, don't have any interesting produce. For dinner, I went to Ko-ox Han Nah (Let's Go Eat), also rated high on tripadvisor. More casual. I had coconut rice and stewed beans (almost like a soup in a separate bowl) to accompany my protein (beef). Note, this is the standard beans and rice dish, not to be confused with rice and beans:) If you order rice and beans, beans are solid and cooked together the rice. They add a 12.5% tax to the bill. Not sure if it's legit.

11/30, day 13, Thursday. Overcast. 7:30 Tour to Caracol. Again, I had to wait for the others. The ride is quite bumpy and longer (SW of San Ignacio near Guatemala border). Same driver (Edwin) as yesterday. We were 7 tourists: a couple from Ashford, WA, a Japanese girl, a boy from southern England, a boy from Lyon, and a girl who didn't talk to anyone. Leo, our guide, introduced some fancy resorts on Mountain Pine Ridge, including Francis Coppola's Blancaneaux Lodge. We only saw the signs at the road turnoff. All the Caribbean Pines we saw here are small. Mainly due to the 1949 fire and the bark beetles (1999-2003). 9:30am, at Douglas D'Silva's military checkpoint. I wasn't allowed to take a photo, so took one from the van. This is a ghost town being fixed. Can camp here. There's also a Dutch jungle training site here. We didn't have any army escort, drove to the ruin without any incident. Leo also mention the conflict with neighboring Guatemala peasants, the halt of tourism development here.

Caracol is an expansive city covering nearly 6 square miles and rivaling Tikal in size and power. In the heart of the Chiquibul Forest Reserve, it's said to be only 1% excavated. So what we saw today is only 3 interconnected parts. Doesn't seem large. At its peak, with over 150,000 inhabitants and 30,000 structures, including an astronomical observatory, ball courts, plazas, reservoirs (see photo to the left). Caana pyramid (Sky Temple) is the highest man-made building in Belize to this day, ~135 feet above the courtyards below. The stela in the right photo depicts the very first king of Caracol.

Leo participated in excavation many years ago. Good to hear about it. He also pointed out why one relief replica was done wrong.

Lunch is the same as yesterday, plus a watermelon slice. The stewed chicken is very tasty. Belizean stewed meat uses achiote seeds which has a great flavor and has a curry like yellow color. I inquired about the food. Was told that they source from some local lady, not from any restaurant.

In Caracol, I saw many Fishtail Xate, with strange stick-like flowers. Their leaves have oil, can be made into cooking and soap.

On the drive out, saw a turkey crossing the road. A bit too far to get a good look.

After checking out at Douglas D'Silva's military post, we turned left (west?) for ~5 minutes to Rio Frio Cave, the largest cave opening in Belize. Very nice. There's a creek running through. You can also see the other end. Yes, a short but big cave.

Continue back north through the Pine Ridge area, we did another short detour to Rio On Pools, a series of natural swimming holes. As it wasn't hot, no one intended to swim. We went to take pictures. I changed to my sandals, left my pack on a rock, and wade into the pools. At one crossing, the current is a bit strong, so I turned back. A couple of minutes later, I heard a scream, the Japanese girl got swept away right there. Leo caught her somewhere lower. Edwin and I rushed there too, but she was jammed. Leo told us to go to the other side of the water. I tried to cross that current gingerly, but got swept away too. However, I managed to grab on some rock soon and climb out. Edwin found a better crossing further upstream, so I also crossed there. We were able to pull the girl out of the current this direction. Her ankle maybe twisted. At least she can walk, no major damage. However, her camera is gone, and her purse was filled with water. Thanks to the lanyard that I tied my phone case to my neck, even though I got soaked, I still had my phone. But I was stupid: should have left my phone on the rock with my bag before this rescue mission. It got wet and had some brain damage.

Back in town at 6pm. My phone showed 9/9, 12:34am, and was complaining about charging from non compliant charger, without connected to anything. I left the phone's back open, took out the battery, placed it in front of the fan, and went out to eat. Had stewed beef at Cenaida with rice and beans. The rice didn't have enough coconut flavor. Beef was good. Had the national Belkin beer (stout). Was ok. Rained a couple of times tonight.

Overall, I like San Ignacio. It's a small town, even though it's the 2nd largest city in Belize. It feels genuine, despite of all the tourists here. No McDonald's alike. A healthy mix of ethnic groups, including Asian (often operate small grocery stores), Garifuna blacks, and Mennonites. A convenient base to explore the caves and ruins. There're a lot more caves and waterfalls, if you have your own vehicle.