Belize Adventure

A traveller from Philadephia samples Belize

By Sharon Bar

Belize - A friend of mine once told me that her ex-husband, who was prone to reinventing himself, once spent a year on the beach in Belize - doing what, exactly, she wasn't sure. Having recently returned from Belize, I can well understand the reinvention urge. During my trip, I fantasized about my transformation into a jungle explorer, rain-forest activist, archaeologist, and deep-sea diver.

For the uninitiated, Belize is a Central American country about the size of Massachusetts but with a population of only 280,000, and is becoming more and more well-known because it's a popular port for cruises. It borders the Caribbean Sea on the east, Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to the north, Guatemala to the west, and Honduras to the south.

Belize also comprises more than 200 islands ranging in size from a few hundred feet to 25 miles long and four miles wide, mostly inside the 200-mile-long Belize Reef. Once called British Honduras, the nation became independent from Britain in 1981, but is still part of the British Commonwealth.

Belize is the only Central American country in which English is the official language, and it is home to a fascinating ethnic mix: Hispanic, Creole (African-European), Mestizo (Spanish-Indian), Mennonite, Garifuna (African-Indian), Mayan, Anglo-European, Middle Eastern and Asian.

My husband, Pete, 11-year old son Adam, and I arrived in Belize with the usual luggage of Teva sandals, nylon pants that unzip to shorts, hats, and sunglasses, but also carrying jaguar cub food and Easter-egg dyeing kits, both at the request of Sharon Matola, director of the Belize Zoo. (More on the zoo later, but call me before you pack jaguar food on your Belize trip).

We started our Belize journey at the Lodge at Chaa Creek, which bills itself as "Adventure Center, Rainforest Reserve and Spa." We took advantage of all three.

Chaa Creek, the granddaddy of Belize jungle lodges and eco-tourism, began in 1979 when, according to the official history, Mick and Lucy Fleming, who still own the place, purchased an overgrown 140-acre farm from someone they met in a Belize City bar.

Farming the land led to the addition of guest cottages, which led to the addition of a bar and restaurant. In the '80s, a road and electricity arrived, and the Flemings eventually developed a full-fledged jungle resort with nature center, butterfly farm and spa.

The Flemings are blessed with a flair for design and a gift for marketing, as well as a sense of adventure. They've created an inspired combination of luxurious hospitality and thatched-roof rusticity that caters to burgeoning eco-tourism.

The luxury accommodations at Chaa Creek include 16 casitas that are simply but elegantly appointed in the landscaped and flowering grounds overlooking the Macal River. To further cultivate our new image as adventurers, however, we opted for the truly rustic, and much cheaper, accommodation alternative at Chaa Creek - the Macal River Jungle Camp.

The Jungle Camp, a 10-minute walk from the main lodge through the forest along a ridge overlooking the Macal River, comprises eight tent-cabins on stilts set back into the woods, surrounding a bonfire pit and an open-air, thatched-roof dining room. The tent-cabins have no electricity; showers and baths are in a shared building.

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