Week 3 - Belize!

Ok, here goes the travelogue, which will take us through weeks 3 and 4. I know, I'm a tad behind. Enjoy!

January 23:

Arrived in Belize City after an uneventful flight, with a connection in Houston. A steady rain fell and the warmth and humidity enveloped us like a blanket, after stepping off the plane and onto the tarmac. Philip, a friendly employee from duPlooy’s Jungle Lodge, met us at the airport, and we were happy to discover he was to be our bird guide the next day! Birding began as soon as we left the airport. We spotted vermillion and fork-tailed flycatchers on the barbed wire along the road, and with Philip’s keen eye, we must have racked up twenty species just on the drive. After more than two hours driving, through jungle interspersed with run down homes and the twin towns of San Ignacio and Santa Elena (separated by the Macal River), we hit the bumpy dirt road down to duPlooy’s. Just four miles from the town, the lodge seemed a world away, an idyllic wilderness and refuge from the rougher side of civilization. That evening we settled into our simple but lovely wood-filled accommodations and dined on coconut shrimp with rice, carrot and ginger soup, and a piece of key lime tart.