Man vs. Wild – 10/07/08

Have you ever been awakened in the morning by the sweet sound of helicopters flying over your house? I could have answered that question with a definite “no” until today.

It appears the Mountain Pine Ridge and Belize are the setting of the TV show Man vs. Wild. I don’t have cable so had never heard of the show before. For those of you who do and watch the Discovery Channel, you may have heard of Bear Grylls and his show. Apparently, Bear gets dropped off in remote places (like the Pine Ridge and jungle of Belize) and teaches people like us how to survive in the wild.

Today, Bear and his TV crew came enforce via 2 helicopters and a variety of trucks. They asked for permission to land on George and Melina’s farm, in the soccer field. Here they made their base and flew back and forth to the top of King Vulture Fall on Hidden Valley Inn’s property which is just down the road from the farm.

I was a bit disappointed to hear that Bear had chosen this location for his “drop site” and that Hidden Valley Inn allowed it. King Vulture Fall is home to many king vultures that are nesting quite happily there. In fact, birders and hikers are not even allowed to go to the top of the fall in order to not disturb these birds. But today, two helicopters and one Bear Grylls, spent a lot of time there. I resisted the urge to appear across from the fall with a large “Save the King Vultures” sign. Just what they need…one liberal from Madison hot on their trail! Needless to say, I did not appear asking for an autograph, but I did happen by the soccer field during my daily hike.

Rain, rain, go away - 10/22/2008

On Tuesday, October 14th I dropped Melina and George off at the airport in Belize City for their trip to the States. On the way home is when the rain started…not just a light rain, torrential downpours. It was slow going driving up the mountain on the unpaved road at dusk. It normally takes about 45-60 minutes to drive but it took me 1.5 hours as I took my time averting mud pits and pot holes in the dark. It was a bit scary and I was very happy to be driving a powerful Land Rover.

This was the beginning of Tropical Depression 16 that hung over Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize) for days with another “tropical wave" to follow in its footsteps. We have been in the rain and clouds for over a week straight.

In the midst of these continuous rains, we began to hear reports of widespread flooding in Belize. Cayo District (the one in which we live) was the hardest hit. Because these rain storms covered a good portion of Central America and Belize, the main rivers including the Mopan River (coming from Guatemala) and the Macal River (coming from the Mountain Pine Ridge) which join to create the Belize River all became flooded. Most of the bridges were completely covered with water moving at up to 30 mph and people were unable to cross to/from Guatemala, Spanish Lookout, Belmopan, and other towns in the district. Some of the staff here on the farm reported their families were stranded in Bullet Tree (that is actually the name of the town!), unable to cross the river, and unable to get provisions. The Belizean military and disaster relief workers of Belize National Emergency Management Organization were there to help and have set up shelters around the country. If you’d like to take a look at some photos or read more on what’s happening, check out these web sites:

http://www.belizean.com/2008/10/major-floods-in-belize.html
http://www.channel5belize.com/
http://www.nemo.org.bz/
http://7newsbelize.com/index.php

For those of you who live in Belize, I have found this website helpful for as “an up to date weather forecast” as you can get around here as well as a report on the flood levels in certain areas. Do you know of any others? If so, please comment below or email me. Thanks!
http://www.hydromet.gov.bz/Forecast_section.htm

Searching for a "hack site" - Sept. 2008

You may remember back in August I wrote about The Peregrine Fund. The Peregrine Fund is a non-profit organization that attempts to save the dwindling population of certain birds of prey. They have people here in the Mountain Pine Ridge working to increase the orange-breasted falcon population in Belize.

The leader of the Peregrine program in Belize is Yeray (who is originally from the Canary Islands of Spain). Yeray and his group have been releasing young falcons at a "hack site" on the escarpment of George and Melina's property for a couple of years now.

In September, Yeray was in search of a new hack site where they hope to release young falcons next year. George took Yeray out on a tour of the eastern property and they asked if I'd like to join.

This area of land is very remote and quite different from what I have seen elsewhere in Belize and in the Pine Ridge. Here, you can see the clouds were low and in the mountains. But can you see the road? No? Well, that is because there is none! George drove the Land Rover down this rocky path out to the edge of the mountain ridge.

Yeray and George were hard at work searching for birds and areas that could serve as the new release site.

Turns out that the soil here is rocky and the land is quite barren making it difficult for animals, plants, and humans to live here. Yeray felt this might not be the best place for a hack site.

Later, George took us on a driving tour a bit further south and east from his property. All that could be found up here were a radio stations and fire towers. Does this remind anyone of western Ireland?

We continued further into the Mountain Pine Ridge and we had some stunning views of Victoria Peak (one of the highest peaks in Belize).

Soon we came to Despair Cairn Road, an old logging road that winds its way along a skinny ridge and into a creek bed. There were views of valleys on either side of the truck. I could understand why they named it "Despair" Cairn Road!

This is the creek at the bottom of Despair Cairn Road.

George says this reminds him of what the Pine Ridge used to look like before the beetle epidemic hit killing most of the pine trees. There are still some large pines here that escaped the wrath of the beetles.

On the road again – 09/15/08

So I suppose some of you may be wondering if the illegal alien ever made it out of Mexico?

I dropped Steve off at the airport, wished him a “buen viaje” (good trip), and set off for Belize. It took almost 5 hours to get back to the border. My book on tape was a life saver.

So I am approaching the border. Hmmm? What to do? What to do? Could I really get away with skipping Immigration again? Most of you know I like to play things by the book, so I figured I had better stop at Immigration on the way out...no need for a high speed chase into Belize. Right?

I pulled up to the tiny Immigration booth and got out. I showed the agent my passport and he asked, “Where is your tourist information form and stamp in your passport?” in Spanish. I had been using my Spanish all week, but now faced with a probable fine and reprimand I decided to play the “dumb American girl” who can’t speak Spanish. I explained to the agent what had happened on the way into Mexico and in his broken English he explained two times over that FIRST you have to stop at the Immigration building and NEXT you go through Customs. You don’t think I don’t know this!?!? I apologized. He said, “No stamp going in. No stamp going out. Go on.” Whoo hoo! I made it out of Mexico with no fine and no slap on the wrist.

The last night – 09/14/08

After a great weekend together (which seemed all too short to me), Steve surprised me with a romantic dinner for two in a palapa right on the water. It was a special night!

Cancun & Tulum – 09/13/08

Steve and I had a fabulous vacation. Cancun felt like “Little America”…first world luxuries and service, everyone spoke English, and there was an American restaurant chain on every corner (don't worry, we didn't eat at any).

We stayed at the JW Marriott, which was lovely. It had a huge wrap around lagoon style infinity pool, many wonderful restaurants, and excellent service.

While we were in Cancun, Hurricane Ike was just about to hit land in Texas. We were very lucky and had sunny skies but high tide and winds the whole weekend. So we weren’t able to swim in the sea, but we spent many hours relaxing by the pool.

Believe it or not, we did actually leave the hotel! We went into downtown Cancun to go to the market – Mercado 28. Here locals sold their crafts, blankets, clothing, silver jewelry, herbs, pottery, etc. We definitely stood out as tourists which made it less fun to shop. Later, we walked off the beaten path a bit and found a little hole in the wall place to get some authentic tacos.

We also took a day trip and drove to Tulum. This Mayan walled city was built right on a cliff just above the Caribbean Sea. Tulum was inhabited from around 1220- 1500 AD, and was a Mayan trade center of goods arriving by land and by sea.

Steve - 09/11/08

I don’t think most of you need an introduction to Steve, but just in case, here it is. Steve, also known as “Mr. Pickle”, is my wonderful boyfriend of about 4-5 months. We actually met on Match.com.









Why do I so fondly call him “Mr. Pickle” you ask? Because he is president of VanHolten’s pickle factory in Waterloo, WI. If you haven’t yet, you must try a pickle in a pouch! http://www.vanholtenpickles.com/

Steve laughed when he first heard of his nickname and embraces it proudly. Thankfully he has a great sense of humor and likes to laugh just as much as me.
Another thing we share in common is our love for travel. Steve, like myself, has lived abroad…although he lived on the other side of the world from me in Australia, England, and China. Therefore, he had no problem traveling to Mexico to see me. He also plans to visit me in Belize for a couple of weeks in November at which time we have a vacation to Guatemala planned as well.