It wasn't all wonderful
In the interest of full disclosure, there were things I hated about the trip. June is the beginning of the rainy season, so, big surprise, we had quite a few days of rain. That was both a good things and a bad thing.
For example, rain interrupted our visit to Xunantunich, but that turned out to be a good thing. To get to Xunantunich, we had taken a bus, then a ferry across the river, and then walked a half a mile or more up from the river to the site. We had a few minutes to look around, and then it started to rain. When the rain started, all the other visitors who were there got back in their cars or buses and left. We would have had to walk back down in the rain and gotten totally drenched and that didn’t make much sense, so we hung out in a covered visitor center. An hour later the rain stopped and we were the only visitors left, so we had Xunantunich all to ourselves. The same thing happened again a few days later at Cahal Pech. By the time the rain there ended, it was just us and a bunch of students working on a dig and getting credit from Ole Miss.
On other days, the rain, if not beneficial, was benign. For example, when we went north to Orange Walk, there was a torrent as we were sitting at lunch. The restaurant was open, but covered, so we moved away from the edges and sat a little longer and waited for the rain to end. It did.
The next day, however, we took a boat up the New River to Lamanai, another Maya site, and ran into another torrent. We were with ten other tourists and a guide on a 15 foot boat with a canopy that provided some shelter, but not much. The torrent ended, but the rain didn’t. It followed us up the river, stopped while we toured the ruins, and then came with us all the way back home. Fortunately, the rain is warm rain, so you get wet and you’re not comfortable, but you’re not miserable either.
The rain didn’t completely spoil that trip, but instead of a river cruise that was a chance to see birds and crocodiles, we had a river cruise that was a chance to huddle in wet misery. Similarly, it rained during our hour-long water taxi ride to Caye Caulker and it rained the following day on Caye Caulker which meant that there was nothing to do.
But the rain wasn’t the worst part. Every day, every day, was hot and humid. Sometimes here the rain cools things off. That didn’t happen in Belize. It would rain and after the rain it would be as hot and humid as it had been before. I don’t think I’ve ever sweated as much as I did in Belize. Walking down the block – walking, not doing anything strenuous – I’d have sweat running down my body. I tried cotton t-shirts to soak it up, but they would just get wet and stay wet forever. Nylon worked best.
And I oozed oil. By the end of each day, I would be covered with a waxy film that I’d scrape off in the shower before bed. Not that the nights were much cooler. Here on the Cape, we have occasionally have days that are hot and humid. But that’s occasionally, not every day. And in Livermore we have hot, hot days, but even on the hottest days, the nights cool off. Not so Belize.
(Molly didn’t sweat and she didn’t ooze oil. That doesn’t mean that she was any cooler or more comfortable than I was, just a bit drier.)
For relief, we’d position ourselves under fans at restaurants or in front of a fan in our room. Or for one glorious hour each day, we’d check email and the news at air conditioned Internet cafes and be cool.
Then there were the bugs. We got special clothes for the trip and I sprayed our high-tech pants and shirts with pyrethrin, wore my sleeves rolled down when we were in the woods, even in the heat, and sprayed the few remaining exposed body parts with DEET. Even so, we got bitten. Not a lot. Not nearly as badly as we would have without all the chemicals, but still we got bitten. Mostly ankles for me, I’m not sure why, and I never saw what bit me.
On Caye Caulker, the first day we were there, it had just stopped raining and Molly, Ben, Rachel, and I were all attacked by little, silent, mosquito-y things, that moved like lightening and bit like hell. Again, they seemed to especially like ankles. Ben, who attracts mosquitoes wherever he goes, was particularly brutalized. Fortunately, the next day there was wind and not rain, and most of the mosquitoes got blown away. I had my DEET with me everywhere on Caye Caulker.
In San Ignacio, Molly was attacked by chiggers in addition to mosquitoes. Unlike mosquitoes, which, in Belize, can carry malaria and dengue fever, the chiggers apparently don’t spread disease, but, once they get on you, they crawl around until the find a place they like and then burrow in and die. That’s what we were told. Doesn’t make any sense to me. What we do know is that whatever else they do, they make you itch like crazy. Molly had them all over her thighs and was saved only by some friends who gave her a mixture of mashed up leaves from marigold and mother of cacao. Stopped the itching dead.
We did not see a snake. Having been warned about snakes, we each brought great, high rubber boots. Mine were an inelegant but practical brown, Molly’s a very dashing white. (She wore them on the plane and was complimented on her boots more than once in various airports as we made our way back and forth.) And we wore them several times into areas where there might have been snakes. No snakes. Molly was very disappointed. I was happy. There are many harmless snakes in Belize, but there are also coral snakes (rare) and fer-de-lance (quite common). Both are poisonous and dangerous. Fer-de-lance, we were also told, hibernate during the dry season and come out again when it starts to rain. They come out feeling very grouchy and aggressive. We were there when it had just started to rain. I had no desire to meet a grouchy fer-de-lance.
The boots were useful nonetheless. In spite of their clunkiness, I wore them one day in Tikal to protect my tender ankles, not from snakes, but from insects. No bites that day.
For example, rain interrupted our visit to Xunantunich, but that turned out to be a good thing. To get to Xunantunich, we had taken a bus, then a ferry across the river, and then walked a half a mile or more up from the river to the site. We had a few minutes to look around, and then it started to rain. When the rain started, all the other visitors who were there got back in their cars or buses and left. We would have had to walk back down in the rain and gotten totally drenched and that didn’t make much sense, so we hung out in a covered visitor center. An hour later the rain stopped and we were the only visitors left, so we had Xunantunich all to ourselves. The same thing happened again a few days later at Cahal Pech. By the time the rain there ended, it was just us and a bunch of students working on a dig and getting credit from Ole Miss.
On other days, the rain, if not beneficial, was benign. For example, when we went north to Orange Walk, there was a torrent as we were sitting at lunch. The restaurant was open, but covered, so we moved away from the edges and sat a little longer and waited for the rain to end. It did.
The next day, however, we took a boat up the New River to Lamanai, another Maya site, and ran into another torrent. We were with ten other tourists and a guide on a 15 foot boat with a canopy that provided some shelter, but not much. The torrent ended, but the rain didn’t. It followed us up the river, stopped while we toured the ruins, and then came with us all the way back home. Fortunately, the rain is warm rain, so you get wet and you’re not comfortable, but you’re not miserable either.
The rain didn’t completely spoil that trip, but instead of a river cruise that was a chance to see birds and crocodiles, we had a river cruise that was a chance to huddle in wet misery. Similarly, it rained during our hour-long water taxi ride to Caye Caulker and it rained the following day on Caye Caulker which meant that there was nothing to do.
But the rain wasn’t the worst part. Every day, every day, was hot and humid. Sometimes here the rain cools things off. That didn’t happen in Belize. It would rain and after the rain it would be as hot and humid as it had been before. I don’t think I’ve ever sweated as much as I did in Belize. Walking down the block – walking, not doing anything strenuous – I’d have sweat running down my body. I tried cotton t-shirts to soak it up, but they would just get wet and stay wet forever. Nylon worked best.
And I oozed oil. By the end of each day, I would be covered with a waxy film that I’d scrape off in the shower before bed. Not that the nights were much cooler. Here on the Cape, we have occasionally have days that are hot and humid. But that’s occasionally, not every day. And in Livermore we have hot, hot days, but even on the hottest days, the nights cool off. Not so Belize.
(Molly didn’t sweat and she didn’t ooze oil. That doesn’t mean that she was any cooler or more comfortable than I was, just a bit drier.)
For relief, we’d position ourselves under fans at restaurants or in front of a fan in our room. Or for one glorious hour each day, we’d check email and the news at air conditioned Internet cafes and be cool.
Then there were the bugs. We got special clothes for the trip and I sprayed our high-tech pants and shirts with pyrethrin, wore my sleeves rolled down when we were in the woods, even in the heat, and sprayed the few remaining exposed body parts with DEET. Even so, we got bitten. Not a lot. Not nearly as badly as we would have without all the chemicals, but still we got bitten. Mostly ankles for me, I’m not sure why, and I never saw what bit me.
On Caye Caulker, the first day we were there, it had just stopped raining and Molly, Ben, Rachel, and I were all attacked by little, silent, mosquito-y things, that moved like lightening and bit like hell. Again, they seemed to especially like ankles. Ben, who attracts mosquitoes wherever he goes, was particularly brutalized. Fortunately, the next day there was wind and not rain, and most of the mosquitoes got blown away. I had my DEET with me everywhere on Caye Caulker.
In San Ignacio, Molly was attacked by chiggers in addition to mosquitoes. Unlike mosquitoes, which, in Belize, can carry malaria and dengue fever, the chiggers apparently don’t spread disease, but, once they get on you, they crawl around until the find a place they like and then burrow in and die. That’s what we were told. Doesn’t make any sense to me. What we do know is that whatever else they do, they make you itch like crazy. Molly had them all over her thighs and was saved only by some friends who gave her a mixture of mashed up leaves from marigold and mother of cacao. Stopped the itching dead.
We did not see a snake. Having been warned about snakes, we each brought great, high rubber boots. Mine were an inelegant but practical brown, Molly’s a very dashing white. (She wore them on the plane and was complimented on her boots more than once in various airports as we made our way back and forth.) And we wore them several times into areas where there might have been snakes. No snakes. Molly was very disappointed. I was happy. There are many harmless snakes in Belize, but there are also coral snakes (rare) and fer-de-lance (quite common). Both are poisonous and dangerous. Fer-de-lance, we were also told, hibernate during the dry season and come out again when it starts to rain. They come out feeling very grouchy and aggressive. We were there when it had just started to rain. I had no desire to meet a grouchy fer-de-lance.The boots were useful nonetheless. In spite of their clunkiness, I wore them one day in Tikal to protect my tender ankles, not from snakes, but from insects. No bites that day.
posted by Jim at 12:05 PM
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