Yes, end of year round-ups can be lame. On the other hand, they can also be a valuable chance for us to look back on the year that was and remember just how damn lucky we are.

Done right, an end of year round-up can also be a quick and easy way for you to get a dose of the best tips, tricks and truths that made our Trans-Americas Journey so special in 2011. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll hit the road yourself in 2012 (or 2013, no pressure).

First, a few relevant stats:

In 2011 the Trans-Americas Journey…

…thoroughly explored four, albeit very small, countries (Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador)

…drove 8,055 miles (we said they were small countries)

…spent $2,300 on fuel (yes, that’s in US dollars)

…had one flat tire (after driving over a nail in Copan, Honduras)

…bounced over about a billion topes/tumulos (vicious Latin American speed bumps) and through twice that many pot holes

We did manage to spend some time outside of our truck doing and seeing exciting things. In no particular order, here are some of the adventures and activities that made all that time on the road even better. Enjoy!

 Best Adventures & Activities of 2011

Best adventure surprise: There are only a handful of falconers in all of Central America and only one who’s certified to guide guests. That would be Roy Beers, owner of Cadejo Adventures. We walked through the hills above San Salvador with Roy and his Harris Hawk Chucky (named after the horror movie character). We strolled through coffee plantations and forested hillsides as Chucky followed along from tree to tree, landing on our gloved hands when we called and half-heartedly hunting (he wasn’t very hungry). Somehow the forest looks and feels different with a hiking buddy who can fly and the experience made hiking without a bird of prey in tow seem downright boring.

Best natural swimming pool: Guide books and travelers rave about the descending pools of water called Sumac Champay in Guatemala. We are happy to report that these pools, totally created by Mother Nature, lived up to the hype and were worth the serious side trip to get there. Crystal clear water (except in the rainy season), a perfect warm temperature, dramatic surrounding cliffs, not crowded (though avoid weekends) and we even got free pedicures thanks to gazillions of tiny fish intent on removing every last scrap of dead skin as we soaked.

Best adventure we did for the first time:  We love to SCUBA dive and we’ve done it hundreds of times all around the world. However, we’d never been on a liveaboard dive boat until we boarded the Aggressor III in Belize in 2011. Specially built and equipped to accommodate just 18 divers with plush cabins and a huge dive deck. Even better? The swanky SCUBA services including hot showers and warm towels post dive, freshly made snacks all day long (hey, diving is hard work) and great dive masters. Bonus:The 3-D dive site maps drawn by the staff on-board the Aggressor III were colorful, informative and playful (sometimes they even featured plastic sea creatures stuck on the white board for effect). Best of all, the maps were clear. Even directionally-challenged Karen could quickly understand the layout of the site and navigate around during our awesome underwater adventures.

Best National Park name: Parque Nacional El Impossible in El Salvador.

Best guide: We don’t usually hire guides. However, when we wanted to get an authentic glimpse of the FMLN perspective on the decades of war between the El Salvadorean army and FMLN guerrilla fighters which started with genocide in the ’30s and really flared up in the ’70s and ’80s we went straight to Bar El Necio in Suchitoto and asked for the bartender. Luis Carrera is a treasure (and not just because rum cocktails and ice-cold beer are just $1.50 at this revolutionary-themed bar). Luis has since quit his job as a bartender to focus full time on guiding. He will take you to nearby villages that were obliterated during the war and introduce you to elderly people and translate when they recount their often horrifying first hand experiences during the country’s darkest moments. He’ll even take you home to meet his mom, an infectiously bubbly woman who survived a massacre, fled into the jungle and quite literally gave birth to Luis on the trail while she was on the run. Contact Luis at sapitotours@gmail (dot) com.

Best voluntourism opportunity: Love and Hope Children’s Home in the hills above San Salvador lives up to its name providing a truly homey home for children whose own families are unift or unwilling to care for them. Rachel Sanson, a native of Ohio, has been in El Salvador since 2001 and she helped start the home in 2004. She’s still there and she can use all the help she can get. Volunteers are accepted for short or long-term stays (room and board included). We visited the home and a friend of ours still raves about his experiences during a brief volunteer stint. We were impressed with Rachel and with the home’s policy of putting all volunteers through a background check before allowing them through the doors to help heal and teach her needy kids.

Best zip line: In the hills above Metepan in El Salvador, just shy of the Montecristo National Park, lies Hostal Villa Limon. In addition to a handful of lovely, multi-bedroom cabins with kitchens Villa Limon has one hell of a zip line. Eight different sections criss-cross the slopes up to 300′ (91 meters) above the jungle and coffee plantations below. One particularly steep stretch is 1/4 mile (.40 km) long. It’s almost enough to distract you from the awesome views of volcanoes in the distance.

Best private waterfall: For $120 you can reserve your own private waterfall, swimming hole and rustic picnic pavilion in the vast protected area around Hidden Valley Inn in Belize. They’ll even bring you a four-course champagne lunch and string a handmade Do Not Disturb sign across the trail to ensure complete privacy.

Best hot springs: Just outside Ahuachapan in El Salvador lies Termales Santa Teresa, a paradise for anyone who likes to soak in water super-heated and full of healing minerals. Huge, deep pools ($10 pp for a full day of access) already exist in the shade of a well tended garden surrounded by a vast coffee plantation. A few large villas are also available for rent right around the pools and a new hotel and reasonably priced dorms are being constructed right now. Our thanks to Claudia and Roberto from the lovely La Casa de Mamapan hotel in Ahuachapan for taking us to this hidden gem!

Best borrachos: The pro partiers in the town of Todos Santos in Guatemala know how to drink and these borrachos (Spanish for drunks) don’t let a little inebriation get in the way of a good time either. A popular regional pass time is drunken horse racing which is every bit as baffling (and dangerous) as it sounds…

Best tour operator: Miguel Huezo of Suchitoto Tours in El Salvador. He knows the most unique places, the most enjoyable activities, the most innovative guides and tour operators and he devoted a tremendous amount of time, effort and passion to make sure that we got acquainted with all of them. And he’ll do the same for you: suchitoto.tours@gmail (dot) com

Best adventure honeymoon suite: Eric and I well past the honeymoon stage but if we weren’t we might consider spending part of our honeymoon inside a cave owned by Ian Anderson’s Caves Branch in Belize. First, you hike for an hour into the jungle then you rapel nearly 300′ (91 meters) down a cliff face called the Black Hole Drop (we did this as part of our awesome cave adventures with Ian Anderson’s Caves Branch). After the rapel, a short walk leads you to the mouth of a cave where a real bed has been set up and strewn with flowers, candles have been lit and champagne has been chilled. Your guides cook you a romantic dinner, then wander off to leave you two alone. In the morning, they cook breakfast and guide you back out.

Best jungle hike: We were hot. Our feet were sore. Our minds were blown. Hiking through the jungle to reach El Mirador in northern Guatemala isn’t easy, but the remains of one of the biggest and hardest to reach Mayan cities is worth it–as is adding a day onto your adventure so you can hike back out via Nakbe and La Florida archaeological sites (where we finally saw a jaguar, sort of). Our thanks to Manuel of Tikal Connection for providing us with the gear and guides needed to have this amazing experience.

Best religious festival: Turns out, there are very good reasons why the Semana Santa (Holy Week) celebrations in Antigua, Guatemala are world famous. In 2011 we were lucky to spend the entire week leading up to Easter in Antigua (huge thanks to Gene and Judy for letting us stay in their gorgeous home). We watched elaborate religious floats paraded through the streets. We saw artistic but temporary albombras (carpets) created on the streets and even got to help make one thanks to Evelyn of Hotel San Jorge.

Best National Park entrance: The swing bridge that gets you into Parque Nacional Pico Bonito in Honduras.

Best (easy) bird sighting: Quetzals are known for three things: the technicolor plumage and extravagantly long tails of the males, their shy nature and their love of a narrow swath of remote cloud forest. In other words, they are exciting to see but usually very difficult to see.  During their mating season (roughty March to June) all you have to do is manage to wake up at dawn and stumble from your basic room at Ranchito del Quetzal Hotel on the edge of the Biotopo del Quetzal in the Alta Verapaz of Guatemala and head down to the hotel’s humble comedor. There, you will find a hot cup of coffee and quetzals waiting for you. You almost don’t even have to leave your seat to watch the extraordinary birds dip and dive from tree to tree, tails streaming and feathers glinting.

Best (worth the effort) bird sighting: The quetzals we saw during our morning at Ranchito Quetzal came so easily that we almost felt like they didn’t count. So we made the rough journey to a remote privately run nature preserve called the Chelemha Cloud Forest Reserve. In addition to a stylish, sustainably handcrafted guesthouse and gourmet, organic, locally grown food you will find quetzals here, but you’re going to have to hike for it. We walked for three hours high into the protected cloud forest where our guide finally pointed out a known nest site inside the hollow stump of a dead tree. After sitting silently nearby, camera at the ready, the male emerged from the nest and obligingly posed on a branch for a while.

Best dive site: During a few days of diving with Utopia Dive Resort on the island of Utila in Honduras we visited a dive site called The Pinnacles. In the course of a 55 minute dive in warm, crystal clear water we saw dramatic coral and rock pinnacle formations, the most enormous green moray we’ve ever seen (easily 6′ long) plus spotted morays, golden morays and a turtle feeding serenely on a coral head with a bevy of colorful angel fish scavenging around it.

Best camp site: We spent our very last nights in Guatemala camped on the shores of Lake Ipala, a lake in the crater of the Ipala volcano. The road up was wicked, it rained like hell and some dude stole our cooler, camp stove and camp chairs (which were all recovered with the help of our friend George Boburg of Guatemala’s awesome Proatur tourist assistance organization). Still, what we really remember was the scenery and serenity of this spot.

Best bird watching platform: Belize Lodge & Excursions has a lot going for it including three of the most unique lodgings in Belize and an equally unique approach to conservation.  Jungle Camp, a lodge so deep in protected jungle that it’s only accessible by boat, offers one more superlative to add to the list: epic bird watching platform hung around the girth of a sacred ceiba tree 100′ off the ground.

Best National Park infrastructure: Parque Nacional Cerro Azul in Honduras was developed in partnership with a Canandian NGO. This helps explain the extraordinary infrastructure which makes it such a pleasure to explore this park. In addition to a variety of very comfortable rooms, the park has a covered camping area with running water, flush toilets, cold showers and electricity. The park’s nine miles (15km) of trails through the jungle and past waterfalls are all well marked and well maintained. And the restaurant even has WiFi service. Well worth a night or two.

Best church: We’ve seen hundreds of churches during our Trans-Americas Journey but the most memorable and unusual one so far is the irreverent, controversial, absolutely compelling Iglesia El Rosario (free, closed 12-2). The church, located in downtown San Salvador, was created in 1971 by artist and architect Ruben Martinez who tweaked everything you normally associate with a Catholic church in Latin America. The exterior looks like a particularly ugly crumbling airplane hangar. The cross looks like a rudimentary ship mast. Inside there are no pillars or columns. Stained glass windows have been created by randomly imbeding hunks of colored glass into the curved, bare concrete walls and ceiling. The stark, simple altar is on the same level as the pews. To the right of the altar is an area that houses the remains of brother Nicolas Vicente, and Manuel Aguilar (heroes of El Salvadorean independence) and representations of the stations of the cross. So often melodramatic and predictable, the stations of the cross in the Iglesia El Rosario are depicted in thoroughly modern, enticingly abstract sculptures created by Martinez in carved stone, wrought iron and re-bar. If you see just one thing in the capital of El Salvador it should be this ground-breaking church.

Related posts:

1. Best of the Trans-Americas Journey 2010 – Best Adventures & Attractions
2. Best Of the Trans-Americas Journey 2011 – Best Hotels
3. Best of the Trans-Americas Journey 2011 – Best Food & Beverages

Jaguar slumber party: Ballum Na Lodge

No TVs. No phones. No Wi-Fi. Just jungle. That’s Ballum Na just north of Punta Gorda off the Southern Highway. The lodge has plenty of roomy porches and a lovely rooftop escape with chairs and views but odds are you will spend most of your time looking down.

As the lodge’s name implies, this is the Jaguar House (Ballum Na means house of the jaguar in Mayan) and the real stars of the lodge are a pair of jaguar brothers (one a rare black jaguar) which were inherited from a breeding program run by Xcaret in Mexico.

You can experience the closest thing to sleeping with jaguars at Ballum Na Lodge, part of Belize Lodge & Excursions.

To accommodate the big cats, Ballum Na was built around an enormous zoo-quality enclosure. You enter the lodge via a walkway that sweeps around and above the enclosure and one of the lodge’s four rooms has a wall of windows that looks down on the jaguars. The cats spend the night in a cage directly under this room and when we slept there we could  feel and hear their rumblings off and on all  night. When they took a break the silence was deafening.

During the day the jaguars roam and posture in their roomy fenced in habita and the view of them from our room made us feel like we were in Caesar’s box at the Coliseum, minus the gladiators. To say this room is unique is an understatement.

A rare black jaguar named Bosch (a Mayan word for black), at home at Ballum Na Lodge in Belize.

A wild female jaguar comes around the enclosure on a regular basis to check out the boys behind bars. Maybe that’s why the brothers don’t get along, as their multiple scars attest.

Mopan, one of two resident jaguars at Ballum Na, looking right up into our room.

Check out our brief video, shot from our bedroom, to see (and hear) the jaguars at Ballum Na Lodge.

Road-free-zone: Jungle Camp

Ballum Na is literally the end of the road so transferring from Ballum Na to Jungle Camp requires a two hour boat trip along the Golden Stream (no jokes) which winds through acres and acres of untouched jungle. The ride is incredibly peaceful–both because of the natural silence and the scenery and because Belize Lodge & Excursions uses nearly silent, non-polluting electric engines for its boats.

The area is wildlife rich, especially the river which is a magnet for everything living in the jungle. We were hoping to finally see a tapir (the national animal of Belize). The strange pig-meets-anteater creatures are plentiful here. We saw lots of tapir tracks down to the water’s edge, but no tapirs.

We did see a troop of howler monkeys, lots of birds and a big boa constrictor warming itself up on the riverbank–the first boa we’ve ever seen though, surely, not the first one that’s seen us.

With no roads, the commute between Ballum Na Lodge and Jungle Camp is done in a boat along the wildlife-filled Golden Stream. The two hour trip was so relaxing we didn't want it to end.

Believe it or not, there's a six foot long boa constrictor wrapped around these tree roots in the river bank. We spotted it during our boat ride from Ballum Na Lodge to Jungle Camp in Belize.

The riverbank was also home to a crazy flower called a Aristolochia grandiflora–but you can call it a Pelican Flower. It grows on a vine, often along riverbanks, and the blooms we saw were nearly a foot long with a four foot tail coming off it.

The thing has a smell that humans hate, but bugs love the stench until they realize they’re trapped inside the flower. From there there’s only one way out, a route which forces the insects to help pollinate the flower. Very Little Shop of Horrors.

We saw dozens of these foot long Aristolochia grandiflora (aka Pelican Flower) blooms during our river commute from Ballulm Na Lodge to Jungle Camp in Belize.

Around a bend in the river, Jungle Camp suddenly appeared like a mirage. It’s got more than a little bit of the look and feel of African jungle lodges with a huge and welcoming common room and 10 thatch-roof bungalows strung out like jewels along  a raised walkway that’s high enough off the ground to stay out of the way of high water. It’s not fancy, but it is very well done and the quality of the food was a delicious surprise.

Welcome to Jungle Camp where great food and an awesome bird watching platform await.

In another attempt to see tapirs we got back on Golden Stream at dusk for a night tour. The water was so calm it was like velvet or mercury. Despite our best spotting efforts we still got back to the lodge with no tapir sighting which shocked the excellent guides who said they see tapir all the time–along with all of the cats in the jungle including jaguars.

The next morning we were up before dawn with other visual prey in mind: birds. Bird watching at Jungle Camp is no passive stroll through the jungle, neck craned to the tree tops, hands clutching binoculars. Here, you enter the bird’s world via a unique aluminum platform 100 feet up in a ceiba tree. Mayans consider the ceiba to be a sacred link to the underworld. In this case, it was our link to the canopy.

Using techniques developed by wildlife film makers to craft perches from which to observe and film wildlife, the lightweight platform is rigged to a section of branches and trunk without ever penetrating the bark of the tree. As the tree grows the platform, which completely encircles the trunk, raises higher into the air right along with it.

This is the only way up to or down from a fantastic bird watching platform ingeniously rigged 100 feet (30 meters) up in a ceiba tree at Jungle Camp in Belize.

The only way up to or down from the platform is in a seat-like harness which the guides hoist up using a rope pulley system. This ensures you are fully awake by the time you reach the platform. With weather rolling in the birds were laying low the morning we made the journey up the tree, but it was still spectacular to be in the canopy. Truly one of the best bird watching locations we’ve ever seen.

Karen as that look on her face because she's about to...

...get lowered 100 feet (30 meters) back down to the ground.

Check out our video, below, for a 360 degree, birds-eye view  from the amazing platform 100 feet (30 meters) up in a sacred ceiba tree.

Just you and the iguanas: Moho Cay private island

A restaurant and collection of 10 bungalows take up practically every inch of tiny Moho Cay, part of the Port Honduras Marine Reserve. BLE bought the island from the previous private owner and was granted the right to continue operating the lodge here even though it falls within the protected area.

The atmospheric bungalows on Mayo Cay are built using room-size soft-sided tents erected under thatch roofs.

The result is absolute serenity. Karen spent almost an entire day napping which, it’s fair to say, almost never happens. Bungalows employ an innovative mix of room-size soft-sided tents with a thatch roof over them and breezy porches built off the front practically over the gently lapping water.

The view from our bungalow on tiny Mayo Cay, Belize.

The warm shallows around  Moho Cay are full of red starfish and small stingrays and snorkeling gear is available as are fishing excursions–though those activities would require getting up from your nap.

Iguanas FAR outnumber humans on Mayo Cay in Belize.

Iguanas FAR outnumber humans on Mayo Cay in Belize.

As impressive as jaguars and private islands and ceiba tree bird watching platforms are, the innovative environmental work of BLE owner Ken Karas, an enthusiastic realist with Theodore Roosevelt hair, is even more ambitious and noteworthy.

Ken, an accomplished wildlife film maker who has worked on projects around the world for National Geographic, PBS and others, has amassed (and protected) hundreds of thousands of acres of land. His goal is to create vast wildlife corridors–essential to healthy migration and breeding patterns for dozens of species, including jaguars–ultimately traversing the entire country.

His string of lodges exists on a corridor that connects the last stretch of lowland broadleaf habitat (at Ballam Na) in the interior with the coastal habitat and the sea (at Moho Cay, via Jungle Camp). When we met him Ken he was in the process of acquiring 20,000 new acres of land which would provide the only connection between two inland “islands” of land in the north.

How does he work on such a large scale? He makes the land pay for its own protection. By having his land carbon certified it literally pays to keep the jungle pristine. Simply put, Ken is able to calculate the value of all that healthy jungle exhaling out all that clean air, then sell those carbon credits to corporations required to offset their pollution. Make a profit. Buy more land. Repeat.

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Related posts:

1. Belize Briefs: Tips, Quirks & Foibles After 2.5 Months in Belize
2. Tiny Town – Belmopan, Belize
3. Filosofy in the Flats – Turneffe Atoll, Belize

Welcome to Cockcomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize, the world's first jaguar sanctuary.

Of course, we arrived at the sanctuary hoping to see a jaguar and we did our best to increase our chances of a sighting.

First, we decided to camp in the sanctuary. This was not a hard decision because the lodging option in Maya Village, the nearest “town” to the sanctuary, are not cheap and not great (we paid US$25 for a grotty, basic room with a shared bathroom at Nu’uk Che’il Cottages the first night because it was late by the time we arrived).

Also, the campground in the sanctuary happens to be awesome. A large, grassy area has palapa-covered, flat tent sites plus an outhouse and an area for cooking over a fire with ample firewood supplied. There’s even a rain-water cistern. The camping fee of US$5 per person also includes access to a well-equipped communal kitchen that’s shared with anyone else staying in the sanctuary’s other basic accommodations which includes a dorm and shared or private cabins.

A big plus about camping here (besides the bargain price and great facilities) is being in the sanctuary itself where mornings and evenings, in particular, were heralded with a symphony of jungle noises. Sadly, none of them were jaguar growls…

At 3,688 feet Victoria Peak, seen in the distance, is the second highest mountain in Belize.

Staying in the sanctuary also allowed us to just wander away from our tent at dusk and stroll down the dirt road that runs through this corner of the sanctuary in the evenings, which is when the cats start to get active. We saw gibnut (picture a huge hamster), tiny brocket deer and a small yellow bird fast asleep on a branch during our night walks and we even got what we believe was a fleeting glance at a margay, but no jaguar.

Camping in the sanctuary also put us in the perfect position for hiking. Most of the Cockscomb sanctuary is totally undeveloped and set aside as a true human-free haven. However, a small area has been developed for human use and it offers 12 miles of gorgeous trails, beautiful waterfalls and swimming holes and a meandering river perfect for tubing (tubes area available for rent  for US$2.50 a day).

The super-ambitious can even climb to the top of Victoria Peak in the Cockscomb Mountains via a trail through the sanctuary. At 3,688 feet, Victoria Peak is the second highest mountains in Belize and it takes most people three to five days to summit and return.

We stuck to the trails within the basin and the foothills.

Our own private swimming hole at the end of the Tiger Fern trail in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize.

First we hiked the 4 mile (round trip) Tiger Fern trail which delivered some steep sections before we reached the pay off: two waterfalls with swimming holes. While we cooled off in the deep, clear, wonderful swimming hole beneath the upper falls a tiny hummingbird darted in and out of the waterfall spray, apparently taking a shower. A short climb above the waterfalls leads to an overlook with good views of Victoria Peak and the Cockscomb range–so named because its ridge line looks like a rooster’s comb.

A hummingbird takes a bath in one of two waterfalls accessed via the Tiger Fern trail in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize.

The next day we tackled the various easy walks in the basin itself with eyes mostly glued to the trail since there are deadly fer-de-lance snakes here. Then we headed up the 3.2 mile (round trip) Ben’s Bluff trail. Less steep than Tiger Fern, this trail also leads to a great waterfall.

A stand of hobbit-ready trees in a seasonally-dry mangrove area within the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize.

A stand of hobbit-ready trees in a seasonally-dry mangrove area within the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize.

Perhaps the ugliest jaguar sign we've ever seen...

Cockscomb is also home (or on the migration path) for hundreds of species of birds including scarlet macaws (best seen around noon when the heat inspires them to roost in the shade), swooping parrots and huge guans.

Special thanks to Abel, a guide from Ian Anderson’s Caves Branch Adventure Co. & Jungle Lodge, who turned up in Cockscomb to do some early morning bird scouting and allowed us to tag along. Abel pointed out many birds that our untrained eyes might never have seen, including these…

A laughing falcon in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize.

A black-headed Trogan in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize.

A violaceous trogan in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize.

A lineated woodpecker in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize.

A tiger heron in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize.

A boat-billed heron in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize.

GLAD WE HAD

Even professional guides are impressed with our SureFire flashlights which helped us see all kinds of critters during night walks in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary.

Our ExOfficio Bugs Away pants and shirts, impregnated with Insect Shield repellent, kept the mosquitoes at bay so we could really enjoy our campsite.

Because we had the campground all to ourselves we took over a second palapa and strung up our Hennessy Hammocks for afternoon napping.

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Related posts:

1. Belize Briefs: Tips, Quirks & Foibles After 2.5 Months in Belize
2. Our Latest Work: Gators. Tent. Swamp. Really. – Okefenokee National Wildlife Reserve, Georgia
3. The Birds! – Belize

After two and a half hours on severely pot-holed pavement (which is even worse than pot-holed dirt) we were happy to park the truck at the ramshackle village-run welcome station near Bonampak archaeological site. Here you’re required to pay 71 pesos per person (about US$6) to the local Lacandon community.

That pre-entrance fee entitles you to a seat on an old school bus with all of the windows missing for the 20 minute drive to the site itself. Almost as soon as the bus pulled away from the ugly mess of unfinished concrete at the ejido entrance station we entered another world. Green, lush, flourishing jungle surrounded us and was so dense and alive it seemed as if it might grow over the road behind us.

This, finally, felt like being in the mythic Lacandon Jungle. Leaves bigger than a Smart Car, deep silence, crazy shades of green, a real sense that you (and your fancy GPS and hi-tech bug-repelling clothing) really do not know how to survive here, a combination of simplicity and severity that is foreign and humbling.

Helping the jungle vibe along was the fact that our guide from the ejido was a young Lacandon named Chan Bar who  (like most of the scant remaining Lacandon people–some estimates claim there are fewer than 800 alive today) was wearing the traditional white unisex tunic and sporting the signature long black hair of the Lacandon. He was even carrying his bow and arrow. It all could have felt contrived, but Chan Bar was so naturally at home that it made sense and felt true. Chan Bar is so emblematic of the Lacandon that we later spotted him in an official tourism promotion video made by the government of Chiapas.

The main plaza at Bonampak archaeological site, home to some of the best-preserved stelae and paintings in the Mundo Maya.

The Bonampak site, which required its own entrance fee of 41 pesos (about US$3.50), does not have massive temples or vast excavated areas. It’s really just one plaza. Within that plaza, however, lie some of the most intact stelae in all of the known Mayan world. The stone used by the Mayans of Bonampak is harder than the stone used in other part of the Mundo Maya and that means they’ve weathered better over the years, despite the fact that they remain in position in the plaza without much protection from the elements. Stelae 1, a particularly giant white stelate which is nearly 20 feet (6 meters), is one of the tallest stelae in the Mundo Maya.

Stelae 1 at Bonampak--at nearly 20 feet (6 meters) tall it's one of the tallest stelae in the Mundo Maya.

The inscriptions on the stelae are still so clear that even our completely untrained eyes could  make out distinct images in the storytelling carved into each awesome stone panel. Okay, we had no idea what the story was about, but we could at least make out recognizable icons and characters.  It was thrilling. The carving was in such good shape that we asked Chan Bar in confidential tones if the stelae were really originals and not just great copies. He just smiled at us as if we’d asked the dumbest question of the day.

Well-preserved carving on a door lintel at Bonampak archaeological site.

Bonampak’s other draw is the Temple of the Murals, a strip of three small rooms with walls covered in some of the best-preserved murals. Time and tourism have faded some of the color and there are now guards outside each room and rope barriers inside each room to keep tourists (and their wandering hands) away from the murals. As if to reinforce the “do not touch” rule there was a 2″ scorpion on one of the walls. When we pointed it out to the guard he gave us a Mexican version of the “And…what’s your point?” stare.

Still-vibrant wall paintings in the Temple of the Murals at Bonampak archaeological site.

Still-vibrant wall paintings in the Temple of the Murals at Bonampak archaeological site.

Even without the scorpions, the murals are exciting stuff, depicting scenes of battle and prisoner torture and ritual tongue piercing and fancy rulers. You know, everyday Mayan stuff.

A Lacandon boy playing in the main temple of the Bonampak archaeological site.

Yaxchilán

From Bonampak we braved the pot-holed pavement once again and headed toward the riverside town of Frontera Corozal, passing through Lacanja on the way. We pulled into this Lacandon village to check it out and went away with the feeling that Lacanja exists in a kind of no-man’s-land between Lacandon culture and a Mexican village.

There is no ambiguity about Frontera Corozal. It’s a dusty town in the dry season and a muddy town in the wet season and would be little else if it weren’t the jumping-off-point for Yaxchilán archaeological site.

In Frontera Corozal we checked into the Escudo Jaguar hotel (you can’t miss it–it’s bright pink) just in time for a surprisingly good dinner in the hotel’s restaurant. In the dining room we met an American couple (Jed and Sam) and a French couple and we all agreed to visit Yaxchilán together in the morning so we could split the cost of the lancha (a small boat with an outboard motor) that must be hired to reach the site. They boat captains will tell you it’s a set price of 900 pesos (about US$78) for up to seven people, but haggle hard.

On our way to the Yaxchilán arcaheological site which is reached only by boat.

Like Bonampak, the journey to Yaxchilán is a big part of the thrill. The lancha ride, which takes about an hour each way and cost us 600 pesos for six passengers (about US$9.00 each), goes up the Usumacinta River which doubles as the border between Mexico and Guatemala. We enjoyed the cool morning air and saw quite a few birds, though much of the river side jungle on the Mexican side had been sacrificed for corn fields. The Guatemalan side of the river looked pretty much untouched since no roads really go out there and there are no real settlements.

Our video, below, lets you tag along as we journey up the Ucmancinta River in a lancha to reach the Yaxchilán archaeological site in Chiapas, Mexico.

An unusually hilly site, Yaxchilán requires quite a bit of climbing in order to see all of the areas. It’s slippery and sweaty but also worth it to see what remains of this powerful Pre-Classic and Classic era Mayan city. Many of the lintels that the site is famous for have been moved to the excellent Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico City for safe keeping, but there’s still plenty to see (stelae, cockscomb rooftops, lots of excavated plazas and structures) and plenty of atmosphere to soak up. Not to mention the howler monkeys and emerald toucanets (or were they aracaris?).

Yaxchilán archaeological site in Chiapas, Mexico.

Yaxchilán archaeological site in Chiapas, Mexico.

Yaxchilán archaeological site in Chiapas, Mexico is famous for its carved lintels. Many have been taken away to various museums, but this one remains at the site itself.

An ornate cockscomb roof structure on a temple at Yaxchilán archaeological site in Chiapas, Mexico.

Despite the mosquitoes, this was easily one of Karen’s favorites Mayan sites so far. Allow a couple of hours at Yaxchilán before returning to Fontera Corozal, back down river.

Yaxchilán archaeological site is unusually hilly and to reach beauties like this requires a jungle climb.

Yaxchilán archaeological site in Chiapas, Mexico.

Yaxchilán archaeological site in Chiapas, Mexico.

TIP: Get on the earliest boat you can out of Frontera Corozal (arrange it the night before if possible) to maximize your alone time at Yaxchilán before other boats start arriving. If you get on the earliest boat (around 8:00 am) you’ll also be back in Frontera Corozal in time to grab a quick shower before checking out of the Escudo Jaguar hotel. Also, you can buy your entry ticket for the site at the INAH office in Frontera Corozal or at the site itself.

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Related posts:

1. Mujeres y Mayans – Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico
2. Zapatista Signs of the Times – Chiapas, Mexico
3. Just One More Day – San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico

The rough road that leads to Las Nubes in Chiapas, Mexico almost got the better of us, but we finally reached this collection of 18 wooden cabins and a nice camping area on the banks of the Santo Domingo River. The river drops here creating a series of rapids and swimming holes which are the main attraction. When water levels are normal the water is clear and blue and you can swim in the refreshing pools. During our visit we were afraid to even approach the bank and walking across a footbridge over the churning whitewater and tumbling rapids was heart-pounding.

The Santo Domingo River as it rages through Las Nubes in Chiapas, Mexico.

We walked past a few more seemingly-abandoned very large cabins in the jungle on our way up a trail to a dramatic overlook about 300 feet above the river–which felt like a relatively safe distance, at last.

The Santo Domingo River as it rages through Las Nubes in Chiapas, Mexico.

Las Guacamayas

We didn’t stay at Las Nubes long, however. We were anxious to get to Centro Ecoturistico Las Guacamayas and check out their namesake scarlet macaws (which are called guacamayas in Spanish). NOTE: the road to Las Guacamayas was mostly paved and all of it was in good shape (a relief after the bone crusher out to Las Nubes), so don’t be scared off if your guide book talks about a bad dirt road.

Las Guacamayas was started by locals in the Reforma Agraria village–mostly aging original settlers and descendants of the folks from Oaxaca who were encouraged to move here by the Mexican government in 1976 as a way to populate this border area and work the land.

Our wildlife-filled campsite at Las Guacamayas in Chiapas, Mexico.

In 1991, the locals organized themselves and set up a 14.5 sq. km preserve where they placed 30 nests of scarlet macaws–a flamboyant relative of the parrot which used to have a large range in Mexico but is currently found primarily in the southwestern region.

This preserve, on the banks of the Lacantún River abutting the vast Monte Azul Biosphere Reserve (one of the most bio-diverse areas in all of North America) has been very successful at increasing the scarlet macaw population and attracting tourists.

With the help of a group called Sendasur, a community-based organization devoted to preserving the flora and fauna in Southern Mexico and promoting sustainable tourism in the region, Las Guacamayas has expanded to include tour guides and a host of tours in the jungle and on the river, palapa roof cabins with private hot water bathrooms and a lovely open-air riverfront restaurant (the Sunday brunch buffet looked particularly good).

There’s also a wonderful grassy area very near the river that’s been set aside for camping, complete with running water and flush toilets and cold-water showers which are cleaned daily all for 30 pesos (about US$2.50) per person per night.

Just part of the flock of scarlet macaws which took over a tree next to our tent in Chiapas, Mexico.

A breakfasting scarlet macaw.

That would have been perfect enough. Then we woke up after our first night to discover that the tree next to our tent had been taken over by scarlet macaws.  They’d flown in for breakfast and up to 10 at a time were feasting in a tree literally right next to our tent. While other visitors to Las Guacamayas were out tramping through the sticky jungle trying to spot macaws we spent the entire day in our comfy camp chairs sipping coffee (and, later, cold beers) and watching the vibrant birds stuff themselves silly.

In the late afternoon a small family of howler monkeys showed up as well and decided to spend the night in another nearby tree. The following morning their dinosaur-like roars (they really should be called roaring monkeys) served as our (very early) wake up call.

Don’t miss our video, below, which gives you an up close look at the macaws and the chance to hear howlers monkeys at close range.

A male howler monkey marking his territory by howling like mad using a pouch under this chin to amplify the sound to truly creepy levels.

But one creature really took us by surprise (see below). Meet megalopyge opercularis, otherwise known as the Southern flannel moth, the pussy moth or the puss moth.

This 3″ long dude was inching its way along the riverbank and when we spotted him he quickly rolled up in a defensive ball. We know enough to never touch caterpillars or centipedes–they’re often poisonous. Little did we know that this fluffy guy is extremely poisonous–hence one of his other names: the asp caterpillar. This crazy thing eventually turns into a really glorious moth (and loses its poison).

Mother Nature is cooler than we’ll ever be.

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Related posts:

1. Las Guacamayas (Scarlet Macaws) – Photo of the Day
2. Mujeres y Mayans – Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico
3. Just One More Day – San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico

Sadly, we didn’t make it to the city of Veracruz in time for Carnaval. However, when we learned that Veracruz state is also home to some of  the best and some of the first white water rafting in in the country we had to go check it out. Here’s what we found on the water in and around the rafting mecca of Jalcomulco–and look for more eye-opening discoveries from Veracruz  state in our next few posts. 

This part of Veracruz state has two things which are crucial to a good white water river: mountains and rainfall. In fact the highest mountain in Mexico, 18,490 foot (5,636 meter) Orizaba volcano, can be seen from Jalcomulco on a clear day. And the area averages almost four feet of rain each year.

It was nearly 90° where we pulled over and took this picture near Jalcomulco, however, the weather on top of 18,490 foot Mount Orizaba was still wintery.

Folks started running the rivers here decades ago and today there are around 40 different rafting companies to choose from. 

We chose Mexico Verde, which has been running the rivers around here for 16 years. They also run a very unique “base camp” on five acres of land that was once cleared and turned into a mango orchard (the arms of the massive old trees still provide welcome shade and more mangoes than you can shake a stick at). The jungle has crept back into the orchard over time and current owner Mauricio and his staff have gently carved out a wonderful retreat in the midst of it all–thanks in part to the United States Army. 

Who knew an army surplus tent could be transformed into a 3-star suite with a private bathroom?

Mexico Verde’s overnight guests are accommodated in army surplus tents bought in the US then brought to Veracruz and transformed into four bed rooms with shared spotless and roomy bathrooms or suites with their own bathroom. There are beautiful rugs on the hardwood floors, and nice sheets and private decks. Even Wi-Fi. 

At Mexico Verde your 3-star tent suite comes with morning coffee service on your front porch.

The army tents aren’t the only things that are being recycled at Mexico Verde. The company reclaims and reuses all water via a cutting edge on-site system. All garbage is sorted and either composted or recycled. And there’s even a nursery where indigenous plants are being grown and replanted around the mango trees. 

In case you didn't get wet enough after a day of white water rafting there's always Mexico Verde's pool--the small hot tub is particularly inviting.

Three delicious meals a day, a refreshing swimming pool and a soothing hot tub don’t hurt either… 

The well-traveled owners of Mexico Verde love the Grand Canyon and this bridge spans a small creek that's been labeled "Barancas Grande" or Grand Canyon.

Every Mexico Verde rafting trip is accompanied by a safety kayaker whose job it is to scout the rapids and be on standby to pluck any swimmers out of the water as fast as possible if need be. Mexico Verde also has a roster of highly-experienced and highly-trained and certified guides who speak English in addition to Spanish. Our guide, Coba, is from the local area but spent years guiding in the United States on many rives we’ve only dreamed of rafting. He’s also a biologist, by the way and helped us identify a lot of birds during our trip, including a juvenile eagle. Of the 40 or so river rafting operations in and around Jalcomulco, Mexico Verde is one of the few that employs predominantly local river guides like Coba. 

Off for a day of white water fun.

You can watch us and Coba (okay, mostly Coba) in action on the Rio Antigua in this video. 

Our raft and our raft-mates negotiating a rapid on the Rio Antiqua in Veracruz state.

We were rafting in the low-water season when the 10 mile trip down the Rio  Antigua, which plummets roughly 3,000 feet in just 70 miles, is at it’s most placid–which was still a lot of fun. In the high season (July/August) this same trip, which took us about two hours and rarely approached class III rapids, whizzes by in less than an hour hurtling through a never-ending series of class IV and V churns. 

Our raft and our raft-mates negotiating a rapid on the Rio Antiqua with the help of our guide, Coba, in the back of the raft.

Just look at how spastic we all look coming out of this rapid, like a bunch of clowns in a bathtub. Now look at how calm our guide Coba is there in the back of the raft. It looks like he's meditating as we flail about in the water.

Our raft and our raft-mates negotiating a rapid on the Rio Antiqua in Veracruz state.

GLAD WE HAD
Waterproof housing for our Flip video camera  (good up to 30′ deep) which let us shoot the video in this blog post
Chaco sandals which are slip-proof  and stay on our feet no matter what the river throws at us.


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Related posts:

1. The Other Coast – Costa Esmeralda, Veracruz State, Mexico
2. Cortés the Settler (welcome to the first town in the New World) – Veracruz State, Mexico
3. El Tajin Archeological Site – Papantla, Veracruz state, Mexico

There are many cascades and many swimming holes to choose from at Cascada Tamasopo.

The first waterfall we visit is Cascada Tamasopo where the blue-green water and calcified pools instantly remind us of Havasu Falls in Arizona, minus the long, dusty, hot walk to get there.

There are many cascades and many swimming holes to choose from at Cascada Tamasopo.

Cascada Tamasopo is more like a network of waterfalls and swimming holes (most of them thoughtfully marked with depth signs) than one single cascade and we were disappointed that the weather was still a bit too chilly to get wet.

The Pago Pago waterfall on the Rio Micos.

The Pago Pago waterfall on the Micos River is part of a collection of waterfalls called Cascadas de Micos. Short, wide, gentle Pago Pago and it’s meandering pools and streams is a very family-friendly waterfall area with wooden rowboats, life vests and ample shaded tables.

Cascada Minas Vieja is a bit out of the way but it rewards with both drama and serenity.

It required a bit of a drive through seemingly endless sugar cane fields and past seemingly endless trucks hauling the cut cane out, but Cascada Minas Vieja didn’t disappoint. A short walk down to the falls revealed an even more Havasu-like water system than Tamasopo: bluer water, more cascading pools, plenty of campsite-ready banks.

Cascada Minas Vieja is a bit out of the way but it rewards with both drama and serenity.

All the waterfalls we visited in the Huaseteca are drive-ups except for the biggest one in the region and the largest waterfall in the whole state of San Luis Potosi: 344′  high Cascada de Tamul.

It actually took us two tries to get to Tamul. Armed with vague and confusing information and lots of unanswered questions (this road or that road? can you actually drive to the falls or do you have to take a boat?), we failed to reach Cascada Tamul on our first attempt.

Happily, we passed through the area again, giving us a second chance to get it right. This time we found the right road and we determined that while there may be a way to drive and/or hike to the top of Tamul, the most direct and easily organized way to see it is by boat which you will most certainly be paddling. Upstream.

Reaching Cascada de Tamul requires more than mere paddling.

After a bit of haggling (we got the price down from 400 pesos to 300 pesos) we headed out with a guide, three paddles and three life jackets. The river was beautiful and the current isn’t too stiff until we start getting closer to the power of this massive waterfall and a series of small rapids which require us to get out and hike on the bank so our guide can pull the empty boat upstream until we get past the rapids. It’s hard to imagine how hard this upstream journey would be in July and August when the Huasteca gets even more rain than normal causing water levels and water volume to rise.

Karen takes a break as we paddle upstream toward Cascada de Tamul.

Our first glimpse of the 350' tall Cascada de Tamul.

Tamul is a very wide, very high, very powerful waterfall and our boat wasn’t able to go right to the face of it. The local guides take you as far as a huge boulder in the middle of the river and tie up there while passengers get out and sit on the rock to safely view the cascade. And it’s all downstream from there!

Cascada de Tamul, the largest waterfall in San Luis Potosi state.

We didn’t find out until too late that there’s a spot that’s perfect for camping (flat, sandy, shaded, all your own) just a few steps from Cuevas del Agua, a beautiful water-filled cave just downstream from the Tamul waterfall.

Here are some other Tamul tips: haggle; wear a swimsuit (paddling upstream is sweaty work and you’ll want to cool off in the river); don’t arrive at the village later than 3–this is a 2. 5 hour trip at best and no one wants to get back in the dark; avoid visiting during Mexican holidays when the area gets packed.

Cueva del Agua near Cascada de Tamul is a great swiming hole with beautiful sapphire-blue water and a great bat house.

Related posts:

1. Clowns and Cloisters – San Luis Potosi, Mexico
2. Oui Oui? Si Si! – Jicaltepec, Veracuz State, Mexico
3. Church Me Up – Cholula, Puebla State, Mexico

For around 360 pesos (about $25) for four people one of the captains for hire who loiter in a median in the road as you enter town will take you on a three hour cruise up the Estuary San Cristobal through the federally protected mangroves and jungles and waterways that lead to the La Tovara fresh water spring (add about an hour and another 80 pesos if you want to continue past the spring to a crocodile farm where the animals are bred and released).

Our prow pushed silently through still water as we floated through the jungle toward La Tovara Springs in San Blas, Mexico.

A juvenile osprey eyed us as we passed under it during our float through the jungle and mangroves.

After waiting around for over an hour hoping two other travelers would show up to share the cost of the boat, we finally gave up and convinced a captain to take just the two of us for 300 pesos. The moment we stepped into the small, open, brightly painted wooden boat and started to move we relaxed thanks to a shockingly quite and non-stinky motor, a languid pace and plenty of eye candy. All told we saw dozens of birds, at least a dozen crocs and just two other boats.

You can get the trip for less if you walk or drive across a bridge or go even further out of town moving closer to the springs itself. However, if you ask us, the most serene and “mangrovey” sections of the trip occur in the first 20 minutes so cutting out that stretch to save a few pesos doesn’t make sense, even to us.

This small crocodile, one of many toothy terrors we saw during our boat trip, didn't budge from his sunny log as we floated by.

An egret stood motionless above the glassy water looking for the almost imperceptible movement of lunch below the surface.

Our ultimate destination was the La Tovara fresh water spring where the boat docked and we got out to gawk at the amazingly crystal clear water (this spring actually feeds the town of San Blas) and its population of happy fish. There’s a restaurant here, shady tables and you can even swim in the natural pool that’s been discreetly built up at the mouth of the spring. Be warned, however: at least one swimmer has been attached by a croc here and though there’s now a big weighted chain link fence separating the large natural pool at the mouth of the spring from the river itself we decided against taking a dip.

The crystal-clear waters of the La Tovara Spring.

This bad boy was the largest crocodile we saw and more than big enough to satisfy any Wild Kingdom dreams.

A black Iguana warming up.

San Blas’ other (absolutely unprovable) claim to fame is as the birthplace of banana bread. All over town bakeries swear they invented the stuff and you can hardly turn a corner without bumping into a chance to buy a slice or loaf of pan de platano. We sucumbed at a bakery called Juan Bananas. Why there? No idea, but the bread WAS tasy and the label that came on it can’t be beat: it’s a crude line drawing of a palm tree and a banana tree with a hammock strung between them in which a sated customer (one supposes) slumbers as gargantuan mosquitoes swarm about. We told you there were epic bugs here…

This great blue heron stood almost three feet tall.

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Related posts:

1. Taste of Thailand – Sayulita Beach, Nayarit, Mexico UPDATED
2. Bicentennial Build Up – Mexico City, Mexico
3. The Mind-Blowing Museums of Mexico City – Mexico City, Mexico