First 24 hours in Belize

Only 2.5 hours form Atlanta and we are a world away. Flying to Belize we saw the Yucatan peninsula, crystal clear blue water and vast oceans of green jungle. Landing at Belize “International” airport was like landing on Kauai 20 years ago – maybe longer. No tarmac as we wait in the plane for the passing rain storm.

After getting caught taking pictures of the “Welcome to Belize, Please no pictures or cameras” sign by customs (we didn’t see the sign honest), Jacinta, Laurel, and Kim pick us up from the airport and we head two and half hours East to Chaa Creek Lodge. We travel from low lying coastal wetlands to the foothills of the Guatemalan border. We are chasing daylight trying to get to San Ignacio before night falls. Zero street lights and 2.5 hours later we enter San Ignacio town. We ask for directions to Chaa Creek and a nice family points the way. It is worth noting that everybody speaks English, a lasting legacy of British colonization. I find myself thinking in Portuguese, talking in spanglish and throwing shakas far to liberally. That’s Belize though.. all da kine.

Chaa Creek Lodge is amazing. There are two types of accommodations at Chaa, the exclusive hotel with all the standard amenities in a plush hacienda setting and jungle cabanas. Laurel has once again taken the initiative and determined that we would prefer the $150 a night cabanas to the $450 per person per night hotel rooms. Good guess.

We are guided by our host Dasio who drives us down a 4 wheel drive only road to the Cabana village. It is pitch dark but we can tell the location is amazing. Dasio’s wife prepares dinner and Andre wastes no time videoing and interviewing the chef. We roll into our beds around 9 pm or 5pm HST.

At 3:30 am we are awakened by chickens… or at least Andre thinks so. The calls are loud and echo in the jungle valley below. As I emerge from my grogginess, I realize that unlike in Kauai, chickens do have predators here and would not survive one night in the presence of jaguars and crocodiles. We go down our list of limited jungle wildlife knowledge and settle on the endangered howling monkey. The next morning our deduction is validated by the staff.

I have to admit that everything about the highlands of Belize reminds me of Kauai. The river looks like the Hule’ia, the temperature is the same, and everybody speaks English. Only the morning jungle mist reminds me that I am in the middle of Central America (and the constant fear of Jaguars and Crocodiles)

Chaa Creek Lodge is one of our race sponsors. Besides being a beautiful one of a kind resort, it is home to a canoe building facility and a woodworking shop with highly skilled artisans. Our canoe, Maaga Ting is the original performance racing canoe. Maaga Ting was “born” at Chaa Creek Lodge and is the model for all the other competitive racing canoes. We have been given the honor of racing this legendary canoe thanks to the generosity of the Chaa Creek Lodge owner Mick.

With such privilege comes great responsibility. We are certainly here to compete not just go for a ride. We meet all the Chaa Creek Staff responsible the creation and care of Maaga Ting. As we place our sponsor stickers on the canoe we are reminded that we are here to compete (and win), after all we are paddling the Maaga Ting. The buzz around our arrival is that we are the closest competition to the current champions, the all Belize Team of Koop Sheet Metal. I can’t honestly say if that is true or not but it makes for great race hype. Apparently there has been some discussion of the Canadian/Hawaiian crew on the local radio stations. So much for low profile.

All day we talk to people about the event. We see more and more paddlers arriving into town. Our 50 minute training run goes great. We are learning to paddle together and keep the canoe upright. Maag Ting means “skinny boat” and it certainly lives up to its name. I fit in my seat perfectly and am immediately comfortable in my new home. We learn paddling techniques and new terminology. To my relief the Canadians have agreed to stick to Hawaiian terms for the kahi and uni because I draw a blank when Laurel calls a draw or a cross bow something or other. We follow 2 local Belizean paddlers, Francis and Justin down the river and glean some race strategy from them.

The rest of the day is filled with eating, grocery shopping, paddle talk and an urgent mission to find and electric kettle for our caffeine addicted Canadian contingent. Mission accomplished. We can all race in peace now that Laurel has found a way to drink her coffee… and to think she wants to be the next female Survivorman…”Sure I’ll eat that millipede… but AFTER my latte!”

Aloha,

Marleny