San Ignacio, Belize - Wander the Planet .net

SAN IGNACIO, BELIZE

San Ignacio is the largest city in Western Belize and is the capital of the Cayo District. The Macal River runs through the sister cities of San Ignacio and Santa Elena. There's lots to do in this area including seeing numerous archeological sites, going cave canoeing or tubing, swimming, horseback riding, and visiting numerous nature preserves.

We arrived in Belize City International Airport at 3:30pm and immediately headed toward San Ignacio. After we made it through customs to the sounds of a live Carribean band, we took a taxi to the bus station. Our taxi driver was cool telling us about his country and trying to convince us to let him drive us to San Ignacio. I said "No Thanks we are trying to save money," as he was asking for $80 US.

Once at the bus station, we bought tickets for the Novelos Executive bus departing at 5:00pm for San Ignacio (and only stopping in Belmopan). The bus station was next to a fresh fish market and had drinks available inside. The Executive bus was the nicest bus I had ever been on - certainly a change from the usual chicken buses! We were given assigned seats and the bus had air conditioning, a bathroom, a TV, and we were served juice boxes and cookies.

I very much enjoyed the scenic ride, while Mom slept the whole time. As the sun went down, closer to Belmopan, I was struck by how many televisions I saw on in people's homes. The standard of living seemed higher than in other parts of Central America. [The last trip I went on was to Chiapas - where most of the indigenous people had no electricity]

We arrived in San Ignacio around 7:30pm and we took a taxi to the Aguada Hotel. The Aguada Hotel is located about 10 minutes from San Ignacio - in its sister city Santa Elena (across the bridge) - off the Western Highway and Loma Luz Boulevard, on Aguada Street. The Aguada Hotel has very clean and nice rooms with private baths and choice of fan or air-conditioning. Rooms are downstairs and they are still currently finishing the upstairs rooms. The owners, Bill and Cathy, are very nice, hospitable, helpful and tell great stories. Things were pretty hectic around the hotel because Cathy and Bill's daughter was getting married and a lot of family were flying in. Their 4 -year-old granddaughter was just adorable and kept us entertained during our stay. Bill is on a number of Belizean community boards and knows a great deal about current events and issues in Belize.

San Ignacio is a good base for going to Guatemala. Most hotels in the area offer day and overnight tours to Tikal/Flores area - or at least they can set you up with a tour guide. You can easily go to Tikal on your own using public transportation - though there is no direct bus from San Ignacio to Tikal - you have to go to Flores and back up to Tikal (or ask bus driver to let you off at El Remate and take shuttle from there).

Otherwise, the city of San Ignacio itself is not that big. Burns Avenue is San Ignacio's 'Main Street' where you can find most of the shops and restaurants. Burns Ave. is about a minute walk from the bus station and the infamous Eva's Restaurant - the hub for info about tours and Cayo District - is on Burns Ave. I had the stewed chicken which was quite tastey and mom had a tuna sandwhich.

BARTON CREEK CAVE

Barton Creek Cave is located off the Chiquibul Road. The turnoff to Barton Creek is at mile 5 on the Chiquibul Road, then another 4 miles. We booked a tour with Omar (who we also did an overnight Tikal tour with) who is excellent and is highly recommended. He does tours for the Aguada Hotel and for Cahal Pech. Carlos was also one of our guides for the cave tour and was very cool (he also works as a night watchman at the Aguada Hotel). The cave canoeing tour took about a half day.

Omar's brother picked us up in a jeep from Aguada and we drove about 1 1/2 hours to Barton Creek Cave. The drive was pretty but the road was a dirt-road and quite bumpy - horrible for the poor trucks traveling on them daily. The drive also took us through Belize's Amish and Mennonite communities. We saw several Mennonite farms and an Amish school house. We saw children walking up the road to the school house and noticed that not all of the children were blonde - some looked like Mestizos. We asked Omar's brother and he said that the Mennonites have recruited a couple of local families for 'new blood.'.

When we arrived at the cave entrance, there were bathrooms and a small bar to buy drinks. We met up with four other tourists taking the trip and got into the canoes (2 people and 1 guide per canoe). Each canoe had a big spotlight - in which the front person was responsible.

The minute we canoed into the cave, we heard squeaky bats above and saw them flying haphazardly above. The sound was a bit erie but coool! The river was so clear that we could see catfish resting on the bottom, there were also other little fish swimming around. The stalactites and other crystal formations were gorgeous. There were a few tiny plants surviving in the pitch black cave - only on the light from the spotlights of tours going through the cave.

We also passed Mayan artifacts and skulls. Omar told us about the history of the cave and I wish I could relay it to you (there were so many times that I thought to myself "I should be taking notes so I can put this on my web site" - but I didn't). It was something like there was a Mayan Underworld God that lived in the cave and that the local people were not allowed to go into the cave and distrub him. When they did, they disgraced themselves and the whole family was sacrificed and burried in the cave. [of course don't quote me on this :)] When we turned off the lights, it was very erie as it was pitch black and all you could hear were the bats overhead. The canoe ride went about a mile into the cave - then we had to turn around as the stalactites were too low to continue forward.

Belize flag

COSTS

Taxi from the Belize City international airport to the bus station is standard at $15 US total

Taxi from the Belize City international airport to San Ignacio is $80 US

Novelos Executive bus from Belize City to San Ignacio is $12 BZ one-way

Regular bus between Belize City and San Ignacio (leaves hourly, takes 2 1/2 hours) $5 BZ

Taxi from San Ignacio bus station to Aguada Hotel (or anywhere else in San Ignacio or Santa Elena) was $5 BZ

Room at Aguada Hotel with 2 beds, private bathroom, and fans was $20

Room at Aguada Hotel with 2 beds, private bathroom, and AC was $25

Overnight tour to Tikal and Flores Island was $145 US each

Day tours to Tikal run from $75-85 US

You can take a taxi from San Ignacio to Tikal for $50 US

Stewed chicken with cole slaw and vegetables at Eva's Restaurant was $6 BZ

Tuna sandwich at Eva's Restaurant was $3 BZ

2 dinners at Aguada Hotel (burrito and fried chicken with drinks) was $18 BZ

Cave canoe tour to Barton Creek Cave was $25 US

E-mail sent from Eva's restaurant $5 BZ