Belize

rootlesscosmo

Speak on it pls. Recs for dive spots, music spots, restos, jungle isht.

Not going until August, but already planning some activities.

Just a bullet, about 10 days.

I'm especially interested in seeing jaguars.

And Shyne. It would be cool to see Shyne.

brentabousko

stayed in ambergis caye, rented the golf cart as the only transportation. snorkled shark ray alley. but the absolute best was the cave tubing on the mainland. big time highlight

rootlesscosmo

Really? I would have skipped the cave tubing without a second thought but if you recommend...

willie_fugal

was there for a week at the beginning of january w/my girlfriend, who grew up there. her family is in belize city, so we spent some time there, but if you're just visiting you probably won't want to spend more than a day there. the belize national museum (might have another name) was definitely worth checking out, and there's really good food nearby at Nerie's. also stop at Dario's if you're in Belize City to stock up on meat pies.

we rented a car (in cancun, then drove down), which i'd highly recommend. some of the best food we had was on the side of the road. fun drive too, and incredibly easy to navigate???there's basically only 1 road wherever you're going.

garnaches, salbutes, panades, fry jacks are all delicious roadside food. if you see someone selling "gibnut" you have to try it. and belikin of course. lots of belikin. i liked their stout & summer beer.

we spent a few days in Caye Caulker, which is a smaller/more relaxed alternative to San Pedro/Ambergris Caye. highly recommended. you can get there on a water taxi from san pedro or belize city. if you end up there PM me, i'll give you some recommendations. you can do some amazing diving there (same reef as you would get to from san pedro)

we also went down to Placencia, a tiny beach town in the south. i liked it a lot, but thought our 2-day stay was enough time there.

didn't get to make it to the jungle in the west part of belize, but that's top priority for the next trip.

jaguar-wise, there's the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary that I'm pretty sure is a jaguar reserve. it was on the way from belize city to placencia.

feel free to PM with any other questions. last tip: if you like Campari, you can get bottles there that are made in jamaica, and so they're only $8. oh, and money there is extremely easy: the belizean dollar is tied to the US at $2 to $1 USD, and pretty much everyone accepts greenbacks, although it's good to always have small bills.

rootlesscosmo

awesome; thanks for this.

Jimster

My cousin used to be in the military out there. Trainer in jungle warfare, no shit. Belize is like the #1 world spot for Jaguar and Snake density. He used to regale us at Christmas about living off a monkey corpse for a week, or cooking boa constrictors. He has had all kinds of diseases and mad scars.

No doubt you will love it.

rootlesscosmo

yikes. well I've already had dengue and west nile; I think i'm due for malaria so might as well get it over with.

jaguars are not that scary to me but snakes sure as hell are.

Electrode

Jimster

rootlesscosmo said:

yikes. well I've already had dengue and west nile; I think i'm due for malaria so might as well get it over with.

jaguars are not that scary to me but snakes sure as hell are.

The constrictors are still venomous and best circumnavigated. You have to sleep off the ground in the jungle, there was a story about a dude who left his arm hanging down and when he woke up a boa had it swallowed it all the way down and was dissolving his fingers in it's stomach.

I am told many predatory cats will not bum rush you if you are making eye contact with them - hence the culture of wide-eyed masks being worn on the back of the head, so a predator behind you will always see "Eyes".

If you are sensible you can avoid being killed in an encounter with either, the trick is not to pick up cuts - those conditions are ideal for infection and that's what will do you the most harm. The parasites are most unpleasant.