Canoe Trip on Belize River
March 24 - 26
This is the preparations for our canoe trip. Not our usual type of canoe trip - this time we will have coolers and lots of beer - but then it was really hot down there - 35-40 degrees Celcius!
With a good supply of water and beer, we rode to the start point where we found our guides. The guides loaded the canoes, piling the biggest canoe (17-18 ft) with most of the luggage and put 2 of us with a guide into most of the canoes.
Bill & Barb got one to themselves and we, who had also asked for a canoe, went with Nerry. As there were only 13 paddles for the 7 canoes Nerry paddled solo while we sat not knowing what to do with ourselves. We were often a good km behind the others. We later learned that Nerry was responsible for paddles and that he had done his organizational work in the morning rather than the day before like most of the other guides.
Frequently, we would encounter the local women at the riverside doing their laundry
We stopped to camp at a mud flat with an open field above. The mud flat was very soft and muddy -- mid-calf. We took everything up the cow path to the field ...
then spent the next ½ hour shovelling shit with paddles to clear the field. Like shovelling snow, only different!
Once we had the tents up (& beer drunk) we suited up and paddled across to a sand bar for a swim (& 'till the sun went behind some trees to cool the camp site). There was a rapids there with 2 V's - a shallow short one on the near side and a larger one on the far side. We each did the short one but found it was too hard on the bum! Then we tried the longer and it was good fun.
Dinner was a BBQ, chicken or pork and a salad washed down with fruit juice concentrate and rum or coconut rum. A very merry evening spent on a sheet of plastic so we didn't have to sit on the shit. Throughout the evening we could see very large fireflies in the trees and a full sky of stars.
In the morning the mist over the rapids made a serene scene.
The property owner came down and cleared the hillside of shrubbery, exposing this tiny bird's nest.
And the cows came down to have a drink. They didn't know what to make of us intruding on their field.
Scrambled eggs with sweet peppers and other veggies for breakfast.
Rich and Lorna today paddled by themselves in a leaky canoe. The guides watched the paddling tourists closely as we ran the rapids until they had confidence that we knew what we were doing. All the rapids were class I or easy class II so no problem.
We saw a green boa constrictor hanging from a tree. It had recently eaten something and was quietly digesting. We saw several Iguanas and some birds including black vultures, kingfishers, fly catchers and lots of mangrove swallows.
After lunch, more paddling & swimming and more Iguanas. When at a swimming stop we spotted some vines hanging down from trees across the river. We wondered if it would be possible to swing with these into the river. Nerry swam across with a machete and cut one loose and several of us made like Tarzan swinging from shore into the river.
Our next camp was on a sandy bank of the river where dinner was rice and a stew made of pork, cho cho, immature green pumpkins, yampah, potatoes, onions, carrots and garlic and some secret ingredients which come from a bottle labelled "complete spice mix".
We were camped near a family of howler monkeys and in croc country. We went crocodile hunting after dark but with limited success (although Gloria and Crystal saw rather more, and closer, than they wanted!)
We 'old farts' needed all the help we could find for back support.
Breakfast was burritos made with plantain, sausage and refried beans.
The next day we changed around canoes and Barb and Luc tried taking a canoe on their own. However, they felt they should each learn separately before they try to work together. Here Bill is helping Barb to learn techniques.
At our lunch spot we were met by Tony's wife and their granddaughter - with a van and a truck to take us back.
By this time we had run out of Belikins and the trip back was long and hot so when we reached our hotel the Belikins tasted especially good.