We had planned for a very early start saturday morning. Our flight back home was at 3:00, and we were a couple hours away from the airport. Originally I had planned to do a little more sightseeing in either Dangriga or Hopkins however as the week went on, the girls had said they'd really like to find a way to visit the zoo. Since the zoo was not too far from the airport, we figured we could wake up early, and get there shortly after opening time, walk around for a bit, and then catch our flight.
I don't think any of us slept entirely great. Before falling asleep the night before we had been visited
by 2 cockroaches an hour apart that were large enough to carry away a small dog. While I think these were more a factor of the tropical location and the overgrown brush directly behind the hotel than any issue with hotel cleanliness, that coupled with what we had seen at the other hotel earlier that day played psychologically with our sensitivities to sounds in the room and feelings while we were trying to fall asleep. So when our alarm rang at 5:45 we were both glad to wake up and move on with the day, but also still fairly tired. We quickly packed up the car, and decided to take one quick look at the Dangriga Central Market which was only a few blocks away and opened at 6:00am before we hit the road.
The market appeared to be more geared towards residents than tourists, with all sorts of things for sale from clothing to household goods to fruit and vegetables. We grabbed a few bananas from one stall for our breakfast, and found another stall that had some colorful "Belize" handbags. Kalyssa found a small shoulderbag that she wanted and asked how much it was. The vendor asked another guy in the stall who said BZ$25. (This would be US$12.50). We said ok. They called another guy over to take the money, and I handed him $25. The two started talking in Spanish and it was clear this guy wasn't happy with the price the other guys had quoted us. In Spanish he was saying "This should be $35, did you say $25?" The other guy answered in spanish, "Yes, I told them $25." At this point he turned to us and made a last ditch effort, and in English said "He said this is $35?" From listening to the argument earlier, my mind was still set to Spanish, and without thinking I said, "No, veinte y cinco." This elicited a little bit of a guilty laugh from the other guy, as he realized I understood the small argument they were having in Spanish. With this he accepted the $25.
We went back to our car, made a quick stop at an ATM to get the cash we'd need for the rest of the morning, and then headed out for our hour and a half ride to the zoo. I pulled up google maps, which charted out a route taking me from the coast where we were, up the Hummingbird Highway back to the center of the country to come all the way out towards Belize City (which is on the coast) to go to the Zoo along the Western Highway. Yet, I knew the Coastal Highway went straight from where we were to the zoo. The distance in Google's suggested route was 140km, but if I clicked on the Coastal Highway route it was only 74 km. Either route it said would take roughly 90 minutes. This seemed really bizarre.
I did some quick online checking about the coastal highway to see if there was any commentary about the road condition. I found several other travellers that had asked the same question. It appeared from comments that it was dirt/gravel the entire way, and that while the condition depended a lot on recent weather, it would definitely be bumpy no matter what. Comments absolutely warned that if you decide to travel it, to absolutely not do it at night.
Weather had been very dry all week with the exception of a few short showers, so I knew that would not be a concern. I continued thinking about it as we headed to the split between the Hummingbird and Coastal Highways. I stopped for gas right near the split and asked the attendant if he knew the current condition. He said it is probably a little bit quicker of a route, but it is very bumpy, and you will need to go very slow at some points. He then continued, "But if you are feeling a little adventerous, maybe you will want to try that route." Hmm.
Well... I asked the girls what they thought, warning it would be bumpy. They were indifferent. So
we decided to give it a try. As soon as we turned on the highway it was gravel. And bumpy. It was the typical width of any highway here, plenty of room for two cars going opposite directions to pass each other (as long as they were staying in their theoretical lane). The condition however would quickly go from smooth packed dirt and or gravel, to very rough gravel, back to smooth packed dirt, and then suddenly large potholes, and then smooth packed dirt again. During the gravel parts, it felt as if we were in a massage chair. After about 10 minutes we realized we had yet to see more than one car on this road. It was only 8:00am, but it was still amazingly abandoned. The condition was consistently inconsistent for the next 20 minutes, changing from decent to very bad. However for the next 20 minutes we still did not see a single car. At some points there were smooth enough long straightways where you could see the road clearly well enough to get up to about 40 mph, but then others the condition would deteriorate and we'd drop to about 20mph. Every now in then there would be a single lane bridge over a creek.
At one point a large sign said "diversion ahead" at this point it appeared they were raising the road with the intention of building a large bridge, but there was also a path going away from this area along the creek. It appeared that was where we were supposed to go. So we followed the tire tracks around, and a couple hundred feet away from the main road was a small wooden bridge over the creek, and then the detour continued back to the main "highway."
Continuing further we now started hitting a few sections where the road narrowed quite a bit as it wound around through the tropical fields, and if a car came towards us, we'd both need to pull on the the shoulder to be able to pass. These were short sections though, and then it would open back up again. There were a couple signs for small remote villiages off of this highway, but that was about it. We did pass a couple people travelling on foot, and did eventually see 2 cars that passed us. At one point the road narrowed quite a bit again, and came to about the saddest excuse for a bridge I'd ever seen. It was wooden, and had two reinforced rows of wood in order for the weight of the car. No side rail whatsoever. I stopped before crossing it and just started laughing. Really? It was about 8 feet above the creek, which was only a few inches deep. We all held our breath and I practiced my steering precision to guide the car over the appropriate part of the bridge. A large exhale of relief came out when we got to the other side.
Ultimately we did finally make it to the Coastal Highway's connection with the Western Highway,
which was about an eighth of a mile west of the zoo. We made it without incident, but it was one of those situations where afterwards, I knew that it wasn't the best choice of the day. While if anything had happened to our car, we would have been fine (we had water, and there were travelers every half hour or so, and farms and villages around it) any kind of issue certainly would have taken many hours to get resolved and find a way out of the area. Given our flight was that afternoon, a vehicle issue probably would have meant we'd be stuck for another day. Nonetheless it did make for a memorable adventure.
Before heading to the zoo, we figured we needed more to eat than bananas, so we headed over to Cheers, a restaurant we had eaten at earlier in the week, for a full breakfast. As it was daylight now, we sat at the back of the restaurant looking over the Monkey Bay Wildlife Reserve. While we waited for our breakfast, we watched hummingbirds flit around in the air and a pair of lizards battling it out in a tree next to our table.
After a meal of some of the thickest pancakes we've ever had, we drove less than a quarter of a mile over to the zoo. We didn't know quite what to expect from a zoo in a tiny country such as Belize. The zoo actually was a by-product of a documentary in the 1980s called Path of the Raingods which Richard Foster (whom we stayed with and had breakfast with only a few days earlier) had filmed. While still fairly small, the zoo was very well designed and actually bigger than we had anticipated. All of the animals appeared to be rescued and rehabbed animals. There were many varieties of birds, jaguars, wild cats, and other animals to view. It was here, and only here that I finally saw a tapir for the week. The tapir exhibit explained further the impact of traffic along the western highway on tapirs in the wild, highlighting the number of accidents which had resulted in the deaths of wild tapirs. To battle this problem, the "Tapir X-ing" signs that we had seen several times had been erected as well as more speed bumps.
It took us just under 2 hours to tour the whole zoo, and we then headed back to the car for the final 45
minute drive to the airport. We arrived at about 12:30 for our 3:00 flight, which was about perfect timing for the chaos before us. Though Belize is a tiny international airport, it was packed with people when we got there. It was a long wait to turn in our car, a long wait to check in for our flight (the mission group of 14 from the night before were just ahead of us, as they were also on our flight), and a long wait to get through immigration. This was just the beginning of a long series of lines and mass amounts of people that we would deal with for the rest of the afternoon and evening as we travelled through Dallas to get back to Nashville.
On the way back we reflected on the trip. At one point after a long silence, Allie randomly said in amazement "We SCUBA dived in Belize this week!!." Yes, we did... it did seem unreal. We had spent 4 months planning for this trip, and in 9 days it was over. I can't say the trip went perfectly, but it definitely went extremely well. The weather was just about perfect, other than one night, our multiple places for lodging were just about perfect, and all of the activities were a hit. I asked what everyone's favorite thing was that we did, and the answer was easily unanimous: Actun Tunichil Mukal (ATM) the cave hike with all the Mayan artifacts and skeletons.
Earlier in the week, Allie made the comment that this would most likely be the last big family vacation with all of us as she's three years from graduating college. She is probably right. I said that it reminded me of the point in the chronicles of Narnia (I believe it was at the end of Prince Caspian) where it was said that it was the last adventure that Peter and Susan would have through Narnia as they had gotten too old and would be having there own different kind of adventures. It was a great final adventure to have. Our lives have all gone through several changes over the past few years, and will definitely have more major changes in the not too distant future where we move on to new phases of our lives. However we'll still all be family, and will always have some sorts of adventures big or small to tackle together, and may years to look back and share the memories of some of these trips with each other, and with our kids and grandkids. That is something that no price can be placed on.
As I was uploading this blog one night, I was thinking about the insanely vast amounts of data and content that get uploaded to the internet daily, and where and how all this is stored. I did realize that all of these memories that I've chronicled in my blog over the last 7 years now are relying on some server at google to maintain, and these documented memories now rely on them continuing into the future. Is it truly possible that this blog will still be available decades in the future for my grandkids and great grandkids to see? I have no idea. It would be great if it is, and hopefully they can learn a little bit about us and how much the world around us and the good people that live in it have to offer.
For those that have followed this blog, I thank you for sharing this trip with us. God willing, there will be more chapters to add in the future.
-Ryan Ziemann, somewhere over western Tennessee
I don't think any of us slept entirely great. Before falling asleep the night before we had been visited
 |
| View from Our Room |
 |
| Dangriga Central Market |
The market appeared to be more geared towards residents than tourists, with all sorts of things for sale from clothing to household goods to fruit and vegetables. We grabbed a few bananas from one stall for our breakfast, and found another stall that had some colorful "Belize" handbags. Kalyssa found a small shoulderbag that she wanted and asked how much it was. The vendor asked another guy in the stall who said BZ$25. (This would be US$12.50). We said ok. They called another guy over to take the money, and I handed him $25. The two started talking in Spanish and it was clear this guy wasn't happy with the price the other guys had quoted us. In Spanish he was saying "This should be $35, did you say $25?" The other guy answered in spanish, "Yes, I told them $25." At this point he turned to us and made a last ditch effort, and in English said "He said this is $35?" From listening to the argument earlier, my mind was still set to Spanish, and without thinking I said, "No, veinte y cinco." This elicited a little bit of a guilty laugh from the other guy, as he realized I understood the small argument they were having in Spanish. With this he accepted the $25.
We went back to our car, made a quick stop at an ATM to get the cash we'd need for the rest of the morning, and then headed out for our hour and a half ride to the zoo. I pulled up google maps, which charted out a route taking me from the coast where we were, up the Hummingbird Highway back to the center of the country to come all the way out towards Belize City (which is on the coast) to go to the Zoo along the Western Highway. Yet, I knew the Coastal Highway went straight from where we were to the zoo. The distance in Google's suggested route was 140km, but if I clicked on the Coastal Highway route it was only 74 km. Either route it said would take roughly 90 minutes. This seemed really bizarre.
I did some quick online checking about the coastal highway to see if there was any commentary about the road condition. I found several other travellers that had asked the same question. It appeared from comments that it was dirt/gravel the entire way, and that while the condition depended a lot on recent weather, it would definitely be bumpy no matter what. Comments absolutely warned that if you decide to travel it, to absolutely not do it at night.
Weather had been very dry all week with the exception of a few short showers, so I knew that would not be a concern. I continued thinking about it as we headed to the split between the Hummingbird and Coastal Highways. I stopped for gas right near the split and asked the attendant if he knew the current condition. He said it is probably a little bit quicker of a route, but it is very bumpy, and you will need to go very slow at some points. He then continued, "But if you are feeling a little adventerous, maybe you will want to try that route." Hmm.
Well... I asked the girls what they thought, warning it would be bumpy. They were indifferent. So
 |
| Belize's Coastal Highway |
we decided to give it a try. As soon as we turned on the highway it was gravel. And bumpy. It was the typical width of any highway here, plenty of room for two cars going opposite directions to pass each other (as long as they were staying in their theoretical lane). The condition however would quickly go from smooth packed dirt and or gravel, to very rough gravel, back to smooth packed dirt, and then suddenly large potholes, and then smooth packed dirt again. During the gravel parts, it felt as if we were in a massage chair. After about 10 minutes we realized we had yet to see more than one car on this road. It was only 8:00am, but it was still amazingly abandoned. The condition was consistently inconsistent for the next 20 minutes, changing from decent to very bad. However for the next 20 minutes we still did not see a single car. At some points there were smooth enough long straightways where you could see the road clearly well enough to get up to about 40 mph, but then others the condition would deteriorate and we'd drop to about 20mph. Every now in then there would be a single lane bridge over a creek.
At one point a large sign said "diversion ahead" at this point it appeared they were raising the road with the intention of building a large bridge, but there was also a path going away from this area along the creek. It appeared that was where we were supposed to go. So we followed the tire tracks around, and a couple hundred feet away from the main road was a small wooden bridge over the creek, and then the detour continued back to the main "highway."
 |
| Bridge on "Diversion" from Main Route |
Continuing further we now started hitting a few sections where the road narrowed quite a bit as it wound around through the tropical fields, and if a car came towards us, we'd both need to pull on the the shoulder to be able to pass. These were short sections though, and then it would open back up again. There were a couple signs for small remote villiages off of this highway, but that was about it. We did pass a couple people travelling on foot, and did eventually see 2 cars that passed us. At one point the road narrowed quite a bit again, and came to about the saddest excuse for a bridge I'd ever seen. It was wooden, and had two reinforced rows of wood in order for the weight of the car. No side rail whatsoever. I stopped before crossing it and just started laughing. Really? It was about 8 feet above the creek, which was only a few inches deep. We all held our breath and I practiced my steering precision to guide the car over the appropriate part of the bridge. A large exhale of relief came out when we got to the other side.
 |
| Central Highway Bridge |
Ultimately we did finally make it to the Coastal Highway's connection with the Western Highway,
Before heading to the zoo, we figured we needed more to eat than bananas, so we headed over to Cheers, a restaurant we had eaten at earlier in the week, for a full breakfast. As it was daylight now, we sat at the back of the restaurant looking over the Monkey Bay Wildlife Reserve. While we waited for our breakfast, we watched hummingbirds flit around in the air and a pair of lizards battling it out in a tree next to our table.
 |
| Breakfast at Cheers |
After a meal of some of the thickest pancakes we've ever had, we drove less than a quarter of a mile over to the zoo. We didn't know quite what to expect from a zoo in a tiny country such as Belize. The zoo actually was a by-product of a documentary in the 1980s called Path of the Raingods which Richard Foster (whom we stayed with and had breakfast with only a few days earlier) had filmed. While still fairly small, the zoo was very well designed and actually bigger than we had anticipated. All of the animals appeared to be rescued and rehabbed animals. There were many varieties of birds, jaguars, wild cats, and other animals to view. It was here, and only here that I finally saw a tapir for the week. The tapir exhibit explained further the impact of traffic along the western highway on tapirs in the wild, highlighting the number of accidents which had resulted in the deaths of wild tapirs. To battle this problem, the "Tapir X-ing" signs that we had seen several times had been erected as well as more speed bumps.
 |
| Tapir |
It took us just under 2 hours to tour the whole zoo, and we then headed back to the car for the final 45
minute drive to the airport. We arrived at about 12:30 for our 3:00 flight, which was about perfect timing for the chaos before us. Though Belize is a tiny international airport, it was packed with people when we got there. It was a long wait to turn in our car, a long wait to check in for our flight (the mission group of 14 from the night before were just ahead of us, as they were also on our flight), and a long wait to get through immigration. This was just the beginning of a long series of lines and mass amounts of people that we would deal with for the rest of the afternoon and evening as we travelled through Dallas to get back to Nashville.
Earlier in the week, Allie made the comment that this would most likely be the last big family vacation with all of us as she's three years from graduating college. She is probably right. I said that it reminded me of the point in the chronicles of Narnia (I believe it was at the end of Prince Caspian) where it was said that it was the last adventure that Peter and Susan would have through Narnia as they had gotten too old and would be having there own different kind of adventures. It was a great final adventure to have. Our lives have all gone through several changes over the past few years, and will definitely have more major changes in the not too distant future where we move on to new phases of our lives. However we'll still all be family, and will always have some sorts of adventures big or small to tackle together, and may years to look back and share the memories of some of these trips with each other, and with our kids and grandkids. That is something that no price can be placed on.
As I was uploading this blog one night, I was thinking about the insanely vast amounts of data and content that get uploaded to the internet daily, and where and how all this is stored. I did realize that all of these memories that I've chronicled in my blog over the last 7 years now are relying on some server at google to maintain, and these documented memories now rely on them continuing into the future. Is it truly possible that this blog will still be available decades in the future for my grandkids and great grandkids to see? I have no idea. It would be great if it is, and hopefully they can learn a little bit about us and how much the world around us and the good people that live in it have to offer.
For those that have followed this blog, I thank you for sharing this trip with us. God willing, there will be more chapters to add in the future.
-Ryan Ziemann, somewhere over western Tennessee
