Tag Archives: Belize

Blancaneaux Lodge: A Jungle Paradise in Belize’s Cayo District

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So, I have to admit, one of my guilty pleasures is adding a wee bit of pampering to our Life Bus adventures when there is a place that looks interesting enough to try out.  Francis Ford Coppola’s Blancaneaux Lodge, in the Cayo District of Belize, seemed like one of those places worth checking out.  It did not disappoint.

To get to Blancaeneaux Lodge, you take a 14 mile ride on a bumpy, remote road that turns off of the Western Highway by Georgeville.  While driving on this road, teeth rattling, car shocks groaning, you find yourself frequently second-guessing whether you are on the right road. Then, your worries are allayed when you spot a triangular road sign bearing the Blancaneaux Lodge logo.  These signs indicate you are indeed on the right path.  You breathe a sigh of relief and continue on … bouncing down the road eager with anticipation to see this Pine Mountain Reserve paradise.  Fortunately, Blancaneaux Lodge has done an excellent job of placing these little triangular signs periodically along the way so you never have to worry for too long between signage.

Since most of our accomodations in Belize were going to be modest at best, we decided to splurge on our first few nights.  Blancaneaux is so fantastic it’s hard for me to know where to start to describe it.  Upon our arrival, we were greeted by Ryan, an incredibly friendly member of the front desk staff who gave us a briefing of the property and all of the property’s amenities,  a yummy rum cocktail, and showed us to our splendid bungalow.

Our bungalow was amazing.  A spacious, airy space with our own pool and outdoor shower.  There is a glass container by the mini-bar with some very addictive coconut treats.  Thankfully the jar gets replenished every day.  The nightly turn-down service includes the lighting of numerous votive candles which creates a lovely ambience when you return to your bungalow.  One of my favorite things, however, was the “shell phone” intercom system in each bungalow.  This is a large conch shell placed on top of a box.  When you want to order room service, schedule an excursion, or if you have a question for the front desk, you flip a switch on the box and speak directly into the conch shell.  You have a direct connection from the conch to the front desk.  This just brought a smile to my face every time I used the shell phone.

I’m sure there were other guests at the Lodge but with the way the property is laid out we almost never encountered any of them.  Typically only at dinner did we really notice there were others present.  The lodge grounds are beautifully laid out to maintain a lush jungle feel throughout the property.  Beautiful Privassion Creek runs right through the property and there are numerous places where you can just jump in and have a swim in the creek.

The staff is so welcoming and amenable to any request.  They will set up your dinner table anywhere on the premises you would like them to.  One night we had the staff set up our dinner on the terrace and we ate a wonderful meal all by ourselves with only candlelight.  The food is exceptional at Blancaneaux.  One of the things attributing to the great quality of food is the fact that the Lodge grows almost all of its own fruits and vegetables in an organic garden directly on the premises.  The fresh fish is flown in directly from their sister property, Turtle Inn, on the coast in Placencia.

Another plug for the staff and food.  Todd and I were heading out to explore that infamous Barton Creek Cave and we ordered a to go lunch.  This was one of the best picnics I have ever had.  The staff provided us with our own full-sized Coleman cooler with all of our food thoughtfully wrapped in Saran wrap so the ice water wouldn’t seep into the entrees.  There were a couple of surprise treats in the cooler as well.

As if all of this weren’t enough to make you fall in love with this lodge, Blancaneaux truly pursues an impressive array of sustainable initiatives.   Blancaneaux is currently implementing a stainless steel bottle program aimed at reducing plastic water bottle consumption by guests. Additionally, Blancaneaux Lodge has actively begun implementing eco-friendly systems and procedures for recycling as well as preserving water and power on the property.  As I mentioned earlier, Blancaneaux’s maintains an expansive organic garden that supplies fresh produce used in the on-site restaurants, reducing their carbon footprint by using locally sourced ingredients.

The remote mountain setting of the Blancaneaux Lodge makes it perfect place to relax, rejuvenate and enjoy life’s simple pleasures.  I was excited about what we had planned for the remaining two weeks of our Belizean trip, but I could have just as well had the Life Bus park here for a very, very long time.

Enjoy!!

Celebrating and Surviving the End of the Mayan Calendar in the Belizean Jungle

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As Todd and I were sitting in the canoe with our guide Jose, heading into a dark, narrow cave, I began to question the wisdom of what we were doing.  By pure coincidence, our trip to Belize happened to coincide with the Mayan calendar date of December 21st, a day some believed the Mayan calendar predicted the world was to end.  I won’t lie, I found it a bit spooky going into a cave that had been used primarily for sacrifice by the Mayan on such an imposing calendar day.  No one else was around and no one else knew where we were, not that anything really would have helped us if indeed the world had ended that day.  Fortunately for us, the world continued to go around and Todd and I made it safely out of the cave.  We would get to continue on with our fabulous two week Life Bus trip to Belize where we explored the jungle as well as the barrier reef cayes.

The fact that Todd and I were able to be in Belize during such a millennial event is pure chance and luck.  This trip had its challenges from the get go.  Todd had the misfortune of having a mountain biking accident at the beginning of November which caused a herniated L5 disc.  Unfortunately, the injury was so severe Todd had to undergo surgery only 4 short weeks before we were supposed to leave on this jungle and sea kayaking adventure.  Facing the real potential of losing lots of money in non-refundable deposits, I told him he would have to go – even if he were in a body cast.  In all honesty, we were both excited and yet very anxious about how this trip would turn out for us.  Fortunately, all the worry was for naught and we had an amazing time.

Given that our lodgings during the first week were going to be about three hours away from Belize City and located off of seriously bumpy, dirt roads, we opted to stay the first night in Belize City rather than try to navigate these roads in the dark.  We did have a great Life Bus moment in Belize City where we found a wonderful little Belizean diner purely as a result of a chance meeting with a Belizean lady at our hotel.  (More on that in another post.)

Our ultimate goal for the first few days of our trip was the Blancaneaux Lodge in the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve by San Ignacio.  We were supposed to have had about a three hour drive on the Western Belizean highway to get there.  Of course, we had a few detours along the way and it really wound up taking us about five hours.

Let me just mention briefly, driving on the Belizean highways isn’t really terrible as far as international driving goes.  I think Pam and I encountered far worse driving in places such as Naples.  The one caveat I do have for anyone driving in Belize is that there are speed bumps everywhere.  Most of the time these bumps are NOT marked.  So, you really want to be observant … especially when going through roadside towns.  The speed bumps are not little rolling bumps.  Most of them would do some serious damage to your car if you hit them at anything faster than 10 mph.  Just a heads up!

One of the detours was to look for a Mennonite bakery.  I must confess, I was unaware that there was such a large Mennonite community in Belize.  It was really quite a fascinating juxtaposition between several cultures – African, Mayan, Latino, and Mennonite to name just a few.  The Mennonite in Belize look and live for the most part the way they do in the US.  The interesting note about the Mennonite in Belize is just how successful they have become there.  Apparently, they are responsible for almost all of the country’s watermelon, beef, eggs, dairy, other produce, and timber.  Unfortunately, we never did find that bakery.

As a result of all of our detours, we made it to the road to Blancaneaux just as the sun was setting.  Despite the great signage Blancaneaux has put up along the way, you really don’t want to be trying to find this place in the dark.  The road you turn on to from the highway is truly a bouncy, rutted, dirt road with no lights, 1 road side convenience hut, and 1 very basic ranger hut prior to arriving at Blancaneaux itself.  Once you pull in to the hotel, however, you realize you have arrived at your own private Belizean jungle paradise and that it has been worth every pothole along the way.

We couldn’t wait for the next day where we would actually get a feel for where the Life Bus had taken us and begin our jungle adventures.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Forward

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I like these photos for the Forward challenge because they show the view from the cockpit …. one literally and the others more figuratively.  The actual cockpit photo was taken near Juneau, Alaska.  We flew Ward Air out of Juneau and had the great fortune of having a friend of a friend be our pilot.  He took great care of us and took us on some special glacier viewing opportunities as well as up and over some glacial valleys.  I’ll never forget this moment because we were all looking out the windshield seeing these peaks getting closer by the second. No one said anything but we were all wondering … how are we getting over those when we are obviously lower than the summits.  Fortunately, without any problem!!  There was such a thrill on the other side of these peaks.  The ground fell away immediately and it felt like we were free-falling for a second.  The other two photos were taken on sea kayaking adventure trips.  One was taken in the Sea of Cortez and the other most recently kayaking to Tobacco Caye by the Belizean barrier reef.  Tobacco Caye was literally Gilligan’s Island and where we would spend the next 3 nights!!  Hope you all enjoy the views forward!!