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:

Babies in the Bush: Bringing the Right Gear

July 14th, 2008 | By Joshua | No Comments »

Belize ain’t Boulder, where every other person you see is a mom with the latest baby sling, jogging stroller, and organic hemp diaper bag. So when we spotted another baby carrier on the seafront drive in Punta Gorda, we stopped to inquire. They were a couple from Idaho with four (count ‘em, four!) small children in tow, including a three-month-old in a backpack and a double stroller for the twins. They drove here through Mexico and are part of a group building a school in southern Belize.

In any case, Sutay’s carrier has come in handy for strolls in the jungle and around town, and our stroller bottom (which American Airlines lost on the Dallas-Belize leg of our trip, then found and sent to our hotel the day after our arrival) was great on the wooden walkways at Cotton Tree Lodge.

Though we brought most of our own baby food from the U.S., Shanti has been voracious on this trip, so we’ve had to improvise with mashed up papaya, banana, and watermelon. Our diaper-changing kit (we use a cloth diaper service at home, but brought our own chlorine-free disposables for this trip) has worked well on the fly, and we feel very well prepared. If you forget anything, you can just swing by Brodie’s in Belize City which, we discovered on Day 1, has a full aisle of baby toys, diapers, pacifiers, and formula.

Today, after four days of exploring, chocolate-making, and sea breezes, we will leave PG behind and head back up the Southern Highway … to the Placencia Peninsula.

Belikin Beer: It’s Not Just for Teething Anymore!

July 11th, 2008 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

Nothing says “relax!” after a long day in the rainforest like a cold bottle of Belikin. At the Reef Bar in PG:

Belize with a Baby: Shanti Heads South

July 10th, 2008 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

While I scoured Stann Creek District, updating the text of my book, Moon Belize, Shanti was living it up on the beach at Sittee, down the coast from Hopkins. While Daddy sweated buckets and inspected a few dozen hotels, restaurants, bus stations, and parks, Shanti played in the surf, sand, and swimming pool, then tried her first papaya and giggled at the lizards. The next morning, we were back on the road, Punta Gorda–bound.

Shanti slept through our visit to the village of Maya Centre, gateway to the Cockscomb Jaguar Preserve, but was up and ready to rock by the time we reached the Maya ruins of Nim Li Punit.  (more…)

Belize with a Baby Part 3: Belize Zoo y Los Amigos

July 9th, 2008 | By Joshua | No Comments »

No time to write tonight, so a few pictures will have to suffice. Everything is great as our family makes our way south … these are from the Belize Zoo yesterday, and also from Amigos restaurant on the Western Highway, where Shanti continued her Belizean waitress enchantment:

Belize with a Baby Part 2: Gales Point and Belize City

July 7th, 2008 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

The sky was cloudy and calm this morning—no fierce sun, no pounding rains, so I decided to take Shanti (and Mama Tay and her Mama Louise) on a boat ride.

It’s about 90 minutes by boat through labyrinthine lagoons, rivers, and mangrove-lined tunnels to reach one of the more unique and remote spots I have visited in Belize. Gales Point was founded by escaped slaves several hundred years ago and today remains one of the more isolated Creole villages in the country. About 400 people live on this insanely narrow peninsula, surrounded on three sides by a watery manatee reserve. Though difficult to reach, a few hearty visitors make it to Gales Point each year, where there are all of three businesses that are of interest to tourists: Manatee Lodge, Metho’s Coconut Campgrounds & Stone Bass Hideout (home of the legendary Creole drummer Emmeth Young, pictured below with his wife, Jill), and Gentle’s Cool Spot. (more…)

Arrival in Belize: The Forecast is Steamy

July 7th, 2008 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

We land in a green country, completely saturated by a full month of rain and flooding. From the plane, there are bodies of water everywhere, massive puddles among the marshes, lagoons, and rivers. It’s the result of two storms colliding—Alma and Arthur—and causing rain and flash floods that some old-timers say are worse than even Hurricane Hattie in 1961. The worst seems to be over, but 95% humidity is quite a shock after bone-dry Colorado. So far, the roads are navigable and rebuilt bridges are still standing. Today, I take the family for a 90-minute boat trip through the mangroves to Gales Point, a tucked-away corner of Belize which I have never been able to get to … until today. Gales Point is a center of Belizean Creole culture, featuring wildlife in the lagoon and a famous primitive drumming camp I can’t wait to see. (Btw, the temperature in the accompanying weather chart is from 3 a.m., it gets a lot steamier in the day.)

Belize with a Baby: My Daughter’s First Trip Abroad

July 2nd, 2008 | By Joshua | 10 Comments »

Now that I have a family of my own (Shanti Ayla Berman was born last October, thankyouverymuch), I can finally test out the “Belize Family Adventure” in Moon Belize, a hopefully kid-friendly 8-day itinerary I made up a few years ago. I plan on learning some new travel tricks these next few weeks, like creative mosquito-netting and making baby food from fresh tropical fruits. It’ll all go in the next edition of Moon Belize (in Fall 2009), but in the meantime, stay tuned for baby-traveling woes and maybe a little wisdom. Of course, I’ll have my wife and mother-in-law along, so plenty of support to keep Shanti safe and smiling.

Have you traveled abroad with a baby? Feel free to share any pre-trip tips for traveling with a wee one. (more…)

Candy-Traveler Makes it to Belize

July 2nd, 2008 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

“Malena loves candy. And travel. And both together.”

And thus, a round-the-world trip was born to visit Cuban sugar plantations, Costa Rican vanilla farms, Mexican gum factories, and Belizean cacao farmers (among many, many other places). And although Belize was “not the candy haven” she’d hoped for, she did find some of “the best gelati ever” in Placencia, which I’ll be savoring in a few short weeks. I’ll also be visiting cacao plantations in southern Belize, since I have a few chocolate-flavored magazine assignments on the subject (pictured above, the cocoa fruit from which chocolate is made). In the meantime, enjoy the Candy Blogger in Belize.

Belize’s Bridges: Reports from the Field

July 1st, 2008 | By Joshua | No Comments »

The Kendall Bridge is down. A provisional bridge is up. The provisional bridge has been washed away. Southern Belize is cut off. Supplies are being rafted. It’s tough keeping up with the news as I plan my trip. Although I have not yet arrived in Belize (I’ll be there in a few days), I’ve been receiving a great deal of reports from my agents in the field, particularly regarding the Southern Highway’s intersection with the Sittee River, which has been gushing Guatemalan runoff for over a month. The variety of responses I am receiving is a typical assortment of Belizean (and expat) color and optimism, even in the face of disaster:

• “We got hit hard by [Tropical Storm] Arthur when the Kendall bridge acted like a dam … when it broke the surge bought in 6-8′ of water … our staff removed 2-3′ of silt … we are up and running and everything is blooming because of the nutrients.”
• “We’ve got a causeway now over the Kendall river – it’s holding up so far, and apparently the kids are having a great time swimming through the culverts!” (more…)