Essential Belize Travel Bookmarks

February 8th, 2009 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

These days, serious Belize-aholics enjoy a steady stream of info, images, tips, and itineraries, which are shared by thousands of people about travel in Belize. I always begin with ambergriscaye.com, (an extensive site about more than just Ambergris Caye and San Pedro); their message board is popping with opinions, questions, and answers.

Next, take a look at Marty Casado’s long list of Belize Blogs, which he updates regularly.

Finally, bookmark The Belize Forums, which also boasts a constant stream of posts from travelers both in and outside Belize. Feel free to add your favorite Belize links in the comments below.

Tranquilo Belize—my new blog on Moon.com

January 21st, 2009 | By Joshua | No Comments »

Join me and my colleagues—Moon authors Chris Baker (Cuba and Costa Rica), Al Argueta (Guatemala), and Wayne Bernhardson (South America)—over at the newly pimped-out www.moon.com. The completely redesigned website, which launched Jan. 9, includes the text of many of Moon’s most popular guidebooks, formatted for easy browsing and searching. Other features include author interviews, reader polls, a bookstore, and downloadable maps.

“We’re thrilled with the new site and I’m confident it will quickly develop a following,” said Bill Newlin, publisher of Avalon Travel. “With tens of thousands of pages of practical travel information, there will be plenty of opportunities for travelers to become better acquainted with Moon.”

I’ll be posting a few times a week on Tranquilo Belize; some of these posts will be repeated here, but most will not, so bookmark it and see you out there.

Oral Fuentes: Belizean-Canadian reggae musician worth listening to

January 11th, 2009 | By Joshua | No Comments »

A friend in Belize City (thank you Ana at Smokin’ Balam Guesthouse!) shared a link to the music of Oral Fuentes, who skanks the Belize–Saskatchewan reggae train like you’ve never heard. My favorites are “Sum Lovin” and “Whey Natty Dey.” He recently filmed a video in San Pedro.
Listen to Oral Fuentes.

“Promoting cultural music and culture has become Oral’s life style. From hanging out with his family in Los Angeles, to eating with Belizean legend and Reggae Hall of Famer Lord Rhaburn … He brings to Saskatoon a style of cultural music from Belize that will keep you moving, while taking you on a mental vacation…”

Oral Fuentes Reggae Band

Article on “meaningful interaction” in southern Belize—my first elephant

November 19th, 2008 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

Elephant Journal (”it’s about the mindful life”) just went paperless, and as they scan their back issues into a sexy new website, the ele folks continue to post new articles and “elevision” shows. I’m happy to contribute this piece on mindful (responsible, eco, sustainable, fair trade, whatever) travel in Belize’s Toledo District, the southernmost, most-ignored region in the country. Hopefully, the slide show and captions will soon appear, and the images are already up. Enjoy… [LINK]->

Budget Travel Article on Belize’s Chocolate Trail

September 23rd, 2008 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

My latest article for Budget Travel:

“Belize’s remote southern Toledo region doesn’t make it onto many tourist itineraries, but it was at the top of mine this summer. The guidebook I write was due for an update, and I was eager to check out reports of chocolate tours in Toledo’s lush hills and valleys….”

Don’t forget to launch the slide show.

[LINK] to article—>

My Review of Bruce Barcott’s new Belize book in July, 2008, issue of Mountain Gazette

July 31st, 2008 | By Joshua | 3 Comments »

My first article in the venerable, crusty, old Mountain Gazette magazine is a book review of Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw by Bruce Barcott (Random House, 2008). The July issue of MG is on stands now, or you can download a PDF of my piece here: “Birds of Paradise.”

The book is about an eco-battle royale against the construction of the Chalillo Dam in Belize. It’s a superbly crafted story: “Barcott puts all the pieces in order, frequently taking a few generous steps back to give the reader an ample, global context for each chapter. Brief, sharp histories of hydroelectric power, Belizean demographics, endangered species lists, environmental law, and post-colonial politics pepper the storyline. Between these contextual tangents the author strings a narrative of dramatic episodes and dialogue, resulting is a sweeping snapshot of a country as it makes its awkward debut in the new global economy.”

[READ my Mountain Gazette article]

[BUY the book]

[NY Times review of Macaw]

[Grist interview with Barcott]

Belize by Helicopter: Beautiful Video

July 25th, 2008 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

Incredible helicopter video tour of Belize brought to you by Astrum helicopters, Belize’s only chopper service. Watching this video gives even the most jaded Belize traveler a fascinating perspective of Belize’s reefs, cayes, forests, rivers, and ruins—and it’s much cheaper than the $1000/hour it would cost to acdtually fly in one of Astrum’s two birds. Enjoy. [LINK]

Belize with a Baby: Shanti Bonus Pix!

July 19th, 2008 | By Joshua | No Comments »

Shanti in a Mennonite cart!

A hammock!

With more Belizeans!

Making chocolate with the Maya!

I posted a new Belize with a Baby Flickr set with all this and more. Enjoy.

Down Belize’s Golden Stream: The Tranquilo Traveler Meets the Krazy African

July 16th, 2008 | By Joshua | No Comments »

On this day, I left my family on the beach and ventured farther into southern Belize. The rivers, as I’ve mentioned, are up—way up—brown swollen snakes pushing swiftly through vast carpets of forest, savanah, and swamp. I saw it all from above, skimming a mere 800 feet above the canopy as I flew from Placencia to a private airstrip called Rio Dorado. I was there for a 24-hour tour of the vast Belize Lodge & Excursions property and so, apparently, were fellow slow travelers Paul “The Krazy African” Zway and Angelica. After our “Dr. Livingston, I presume” moment in the main lodge at Indian Creek (we’d been hearing about each other for days, as we each made our rounds of south Belizean properties), the pair showed me a 1979 Land Rover named Elsie which they’d bought and outfitted in San Jose for their Central American expedition. Zway runs a luxury safari tent company based in his homeland of South Africa and was here to inspect his products on Moho Caye, located four miles offshore in the Port of Honduras Marine Reserve. But first, we had to travel down Golden Stream, whose high waters floated us dangerously close to “tiger’s claw” vines and exotic spiders. (more…)

Tranquilo Photo of the Week: Gecko at Nature’s Way

July 15th, 2008 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

I was doing a quick site inspection of PG’s long-time backpacker haven, the Nature’s Way Guesthouse (about US$12 per person for funky wooden bunk rooms with shared bath), walking through the common room and talking to the proprietor, Chet Schmidt, when I spotted this gecko doing push-ups on an east-facing pane of glass: