Belize Day 6: Jungle Lodge and Lessons Learned in Tikal



Nothing like a good home-cooked meal and a cold Gallo beer after a long day's adventure. My lack of speaking Spanish really showed when it came time to pay. The owner didn't speak any English and like an idiot, I didn't have quetzal currency in my pocket, only US and Belize dollars. I went to the back of the restaurant to figure things out. It was a dark area with no electricity. The entire family was sitting around an open cooking pit. They looked at me like I had just landed from Mars. As both of us bumbled through trying to communicate, a local driver came up to assist. Luckily he spoke both languages and got everything cleared up. Note to self: Learn more of the local language before traveling to a foreign country.

We were staying the night at the Jungle Lodge. The room was the best accommodations so far on the trip. Large room with nice furnishings. Quiet location. We even had netting that went around the bed. A generator runs the entire lodge with power from 6 to 9 a.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. After that, it's lights out. There is a restaurant on the premises and meals are included with the room. The cool thing is the lodge is located at the entrance to the ruins. This makes it easy to go in and out as you please.

We hiked back to the Grand Plaza for sunset photos. All the tour groups were gone. We almost had the place to ourselves. I think we encountered no more than 10 people. Three of them were Maya shamans performing a spiritual ritual in the plaza. They had a small fire burning and said prayers toward each of the structures. We stayed a little too long because it was getting dark. Thank goodness I had packed a flashlight. The dark jungle was alive with noises and the extra light sure helped as we hiked back to the lodge.

Next: Cayes Bound

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