June 17, 2014 - Arriving at Pook's Hill, Belize

These two pictures below were emailed to me by Vicki, the owner of Pook's Hill.  They really give a good idea of actually how remote the place is. Pook's Hill was named after the place in the book, Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling.  Vicki said she was reading the book to her kids at the time they bought the property.

It is Mom and Dad’s anniversary today. It would have been 63 years, I think.  I really miss Dad…  Mom has been great to us, but it just isn't the same without Dad.  It is funny that we are here on the start of our family adventure that we had planned for our (David and Me) 20th wedding anniversary on the same date as Mom and Dad's.

We are in Belize at Pook's Hill Resort.  We flew from Missoula through Minneapolis to Atlanta and stayed in Atlanta last night.  Some pics of the kids at the Missoula airport prior to departure...

We got up early in Atlanta (4:00 a.m. our time as we are still on Missoula time here in Belize), had breakfast, and shuttled to the airport.  We ended up getting the early shuttle as you never know if there will be too many people and you would have to wait for a later shuttle.  We had plenty of time.

Upon arrival in Belize City, it felt like the Cusco airport in Peru.  It was really fast through customs, so we were out quickly, our driver was waiting with a sign with Firth on it.  We went to the van, but it wouldn't start because the battery died.  Our driver, Isidoro, or Izzy for short, worked on it, so we used the restroom and by the time we were done it was running and were on our way.
  

We were all so hot that we stopped at a store for some cold bottles of water because we really needed something cold.   We drove about 45 minutes and stopped for lunch.  The drive was mostly flat, which surprised me.  We stopped for lunch at a place called Amigos.  We had the special which was a chicken burrito in a bowl with cilantro rice and beans.  It was fabulous!

When we went to leave, the van wouldn't start again as the battery had died. Luckily someone had some jumper cables and we got it started and were off again.  Here we are waiting for the jump to work.

We were on our way to the zoo, but decided against it because we were tired and also we didn't want to worry about the van not starting again.  Instead, we turned around and went straight to the resort and arrived at 2:00 p.m.  The drive was gorgeous and Izzy pointed out the Teak trees that are grown for wood, which are not native to Belize.  He also pointed out the Mahogany trees which are the national tree.  Below you see the teak tree farm...

The Pook's Hill turn off sign.

Pook's is 5.7 miles from from the paved road.  The road is dirt, winding, and full of potholes, so it makes for a bumpy ride.  it reminded me of the Indiana Jones Ride at Disneyland.

Arriving at Pook's is so nice... you really are out in the middle of nowhere.

It is a lovely little hide-away, only 25 people, tops.  Right now there are only around 10 people staying here.   We have put our things in our rooms and I was so hot that I jumped in a cold shower to cool off.  It really helped, but I am still hot!

David and I have a very private room, #5, with a view of the forest and it shares a wall with Danika and Jason’s room, #4.  We have to walk outside and around to get to their place. We may go for a hike this afternoon before dinner at 7:00 p.m.  This is the view from our room.

We were going to go for a hike, but a couple of people said they were going to float down the river on inner-tubes because it is so hot.  That sounded great to us, so we changed into swim gear and found the tubes they provide.  Our guide Izzy went with us to show us where to put in and where to take out, which made it completely stress free.  It was a 15 minute hike with the tubes to the river.  The water was nice and cool and we floated for about 20 minutes from Kingfisher to Red Cliffs.

The red cliffs were so beautiful with the bright green grass on top.  There were little fish at the takeout point that nibbled on your feet and ankles, so cute!  We skipped rocks for a bit and Vicki, the owner came down.  She showed us some Tapir foot prints, very large with three distinct claws.  

It was a lovely hike back as we went on a circular route back to the lodge. Unfortunately at one point I stepped in some fire ants and got bitten, but it wasn’t too bad.  The scenery was amazing.  One of my favorite things was a beautiful white- trunked Ceiba tree.  They were the sacred trees of the Mayans because their roots grow in the four directions, North, East, South, and West.

The trails were so interesting with things like the path of the butterflies, and this rope bridge the kids had fun with.

  

We came back around 4:40 p.m. and decided to rest until dinner. 

We all fell asleep until 6:00 p.m.!  Then we went to the bar for chips, salsa, wine and beer.  It was lovely… we even saw a few fireflies.

Dinner was at 7:00 p.m.  It poured down with rain during dinner.  It is only 8:30 now, but we are all exhausted, so we are calling it a night.  I am so tired still…  As we walked back to the cabana from dinner, I looked up and the stars were so incredibly bright.  The constellations looked much bigger and it felt like I could just reach out and touch the individual stars.  Just beautiful!

We have already met so many nice people here.  I sat next to Vicki, who runs the place.  She is from Wales, but grew up in Africa, and I really enjoyed talking to her.  We met Ken and Tiffany on the hike.  They are students at Rutgers. Hugo and Myra work here and are incredibly nice.  Our driver, Izzy, is going to take us on a canoe trip and hike through the Mayan ruins of Xunantonich tomorrow.

We will be up for breakfast at 7:00 and ready to leave at 8:30 for our hike.  I am looking forward to a relaxing day tomorrow.  ~G’nite