Central America: Part 1, Belize

Summary  We’ve had ten days of beach-life on the islands of Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker: diving, snorkeling and chilling out. Then a week inland at San Ignacio, visiting Mayan ruins, exploring caves and canoeing, as well as just hanging out, drinking beer. The weather has been patchy, often raining but never cold. Next stop: Guatemala

We flew to Mexico on January’s 12, swapping Chelmsford’s -2 degrees C for the blazing 30+ heat of Cancun.

From the airport we took the air-conditioned ADO bus to Playa del Carmen – through flat but green countryside. We’d booked a Private Room at the Green Villa hostel, which turned out to be the other end of town from the bus station, so a lengthy trek down the resort’s main street was tough in the heat! We actually ended up with a dorm of bunk beds to ourselves, which was not great but ok for one night only…

Slept ok then up and out to get the bus to Chetumal, from where we’d planned to take a boat to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye, Belize. Arrived there only to find the boat was full so took the advice of a guide and got a Taxi to the border, and then a Belizean taxi to the nearby airstrip and a Tropic Air flight to San Pedro. This felt like quite a treat, and saved a lengthy boat journey, so well worth the extra cost.

Landed at San Pedro and shared a cab to Pedro’s Inn, the hostel we’d booked for the next few days. Pedro’s is owned by a guy called Peter, originally from Amersham as it happened, so he was familiar with Bovingdon. They have a couple of pools and a bar selling pretty good pizzas, as well as the ubiquitous Belizean beer, Belikin.

The room was pleasant enough, and it was only a short walk to both the seafront and the centre of town. We booked two dives the next day with Ambergris Divers, and had some tasty food at Wild Mango’s cafe.

There’s only one main paved street in Ambergris Caye and the traffic is almost entirely made up of golf carts and bicycles plus the occasional taxi or pickup. It’s small enough to walk everywhere, stopping at cafes and bars as you please. Some bigger, swankier resorts along the beach-front like Ramon’s Village, but it’s mostly shabby-chic at best.

A couple of little highlights were the Reef seafood restaurant, and almost opposite, fabulous ice-cream and sorbets from DandE’s.

The diving was a little disappointing – the weather was very mixed, and they’d had a lot of rain the last few months so that may explain the poor visibility, but also there was very little marine life in evidence. On the first dive it was so bad that I was actually surprised when I saw a fish after about 20 minutes!

The second dive was an improvement – lots of soft ferns and coral and rather more fish, although still lacking in variety, and not much small stuff visible. Saw plenty of Nurse Sharks however.

Prices for the renowned “Blue Hole” were about $300 each so we decided to move on to Caye Caulker for a few days, about 20 mins by water taxi.

Caye Caulker is even more laid back – it’s like one big beach with wooden shacks built on it. The streets are all just white sand, all the shops and stalls are independent local businesses and lots of houses offer food or laundry services. It has a slightly dodgy reputation but I suspect that’s only in evidence if you stay out late drinking into the night. We felt very safe and welcomed wherever we went.

On Saturday we went Snorkeling with a local tour operator – sadly the weather was poor again and we were freezing in the boat as it crashed and banged it’s way to the Hol Chan marine reserve. Snorkeling was tricky in fairly choppy waters but we did see Eagle Rays, lots of Stingrays and Nurse Sharks, a couple of Turtles and some big shoals of fish, Snappers and smaller reef-fish. And a Conger Eel for good measure 🙂

On Sunday it was hot and sunny as we walked south along the beach down to the nature reserve, past the airstrip. Saw a baby stingray in the shallows and an Osprey drying it’s wings perched high in a tree. Just around the corner the female was in the nest atop a telegraph pole. Walked back up the shore stopping for coffee and a rum-ball at ‘Ice-n-beans’, then back to base to chill out.

We had booked a three-dive Blue Hole trip with Frenchies Divers for Tuesday so Monday was a day for lazing about on the various jettys in the sun. We had to be at Frenchies for 4:30 to sort out our dive gear, then headed to the ‘split’ at the North end of the island for a sun-downer and stopped by the coffee shop for a bag of mini-doughnuts 😛 Then got caught in a sudden downpour heading back to the hotel.

That evening we ate at Pasta del Caso – lovely fresh pasta, red wine and great deserts, and then watched the 8:30 showing at the outdoor cinema: Wolf of Wall Street.

Up at 5am for the Blue Hole trip, we boarded the boat as the daylight arrived, speeding out into the open water. The Blue Hole dive took us down to 40m, so that was the first dive if the day. Much anticipated, it was something of a let down in dull conditions and average visibility, with almost no marine life in evidence. Some huge stalactites made an impression but it was otherwise dull… more of a ‘Grey Hole’ quite frankly!!

Thankfully the other two reef dives were much more interesting, with plenty to see: turtles, rays, sharks, a Conger and three Octopi all sharing the same rocky outcrop at the end of the final dive. More like it! In between we had lunch at a small island with a red-footed Booby colony. Also spotted iguanas and plenty of Frigate birds.

Wednesday morning we checked out and took the water-taxi to Belize City, then walked to the Bus terminal and got a bus to San Ignacio, through lush countryside, becoming more hilly as we left the coast. The bus was busy: people constantly getting on and off. We got to San Ignacio early afternoon and found a cheap room (US$25) before wandering around the town a bit. Booked a tour to the ATM Cave for the next day, had some cold beer and an ice-cream and then returned to the room to shower and chill out.

Thursday’s trip to the cave system at Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) (http://www.pacztours.net/actun-tunichil-muknal) turned out to be even more intrepid than I imagined. Started easily enough, with a bumpy minivan-ride to the site, in the Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve, just south of San Ignacio. Wearing only clothes that we were prepared to get wet, we then hiked for 45 minutes to the cave entrance, including three waist-high river crossings.

The entrance itself is the outflow of a stream which runs through some 11kms of limestone caves, and we had to swim into the mouth to start exploring the caves themselves… we had helmets and heads torches but were often waist-deep and sometimes swimming in the clear, cool, fast-flowing water. After much clambering and squeezing through gaps we reached some big caverns complete with Mayan pottery and several sets of skeletal remains – quite eerie as you can imagine!!!

The rock formations and crystalline deposits were stunning but cameras were not allowed so no pictures we have no photos but it was an amazing experience. We returned, muddy and damp but quite exhilarated 🙂

On Saturday we went to the local market in the morning and then headed up the hill to Cahal Pech (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahal_Pech) – a Mayan ruin just outside the town. It was drizzling lightly, but still warm and my boots had almost dried out after the cave tour…! Cahal Pech is one of the oldest Mayan sites in Western Belize, having been occupied in some form since 1200 BC. It was rediscovered relatively recently, with excavation / restoration starting in 1988 and completed in 2000.

Saturday night on Burns Avenue – the local hospital – was a little more busy than usual, with plenty of by now familiar faces outside ‘Flayvas Bar’ and the ‘Wing Stop’ opposite and a nice, friendly atmosphere.

The sunshine returned on Sunday so we sought advice from Bob at Pacz Tours and took a ‘Collectivo’ taxi (runs on fixed routes and will pick up as many passengers as possible) out towards the river crossing from where we walked up to the spectacular Xunantunich Mayan city remains, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xunantunich) near the border with Guatemala.

A large site, prominent from c. 600 AD, the highlight is the 40m high ‘castillo’ from the top of which you can see for miles in all directions: West into Guatemala, and East as far as Belize City on the coast. We spent a good hour at the top, sat in shade on the cool stone looking out over the landscape. Fabulous 🙂

We were back at Flayva’s by 2pm for a cold beer and some lunch. In the evening we shared some very delicious food and cocktails at Bar Fuego – quite a modern place, unlike everywhere else in San Ignacio…!

For our last full day in San Ignacio we went kayaking on the river Mopan, with a freelance river guide called Henry. A taxi took us upstream as far as the Guatemalan border, and dropped us off with the inflatable kayaks. Once in the water we drifted with the current under a blazing hot sun, barely seeing a soul, save for the occasional fisherman or woman washing clothes in the river. We did see all manner of birds: blue and grey Herons, Egrets, Vultures, Buzzards, Kingfishers and Swifts. And a great many Iguanas: mostly big, orange-tinged males, basking in trees or on the river-bank. Sometimes they would throw themselves into the water as we got close, even from ten or twenty feet up, which made a hell of a splash!

Our serene progress downstream was punctuated with frequent stretches of ‘rapids’, which whilst not remotely dangerous, added a certain buzz of excitement, and usually a welcome soaking on a hot day.

After two hours we stopped for lunch – stewed chicken, rice and beans, cooked by Henry’s wife and delivered to the rendezvous spot by our taxi-driver. Two hours later we were on land again, changing into dry clothes at a riverside bar. Cold beers all round – except for the taxi man of course, who had a coke…

It was a great way to spend our last day in Belize – in the big outdoors, relaxing, in complete peace and quiet, with occasional moments of excitement and activity. Thoroughly recommended!

Next stop: Guatemala!!

Barcelona!!

Somebody suggested a long weekend in Barcelona so this Friday we landed at a rented appartment with Raks, Alena, Priten, Anisha, Madz, Bharat, Parin and Sid. It was hot hot during the day, but we went out Friday for a typical trawl of the bars and clubs around Las Ramblas. It was a bit of a mad one and we eventually got a Taxi back in the small hours. I think I left Smeeta’s camera in the cab – dammit!

The next day we crawled out of bed and spent some time at the beach – a local gay nudist beach as it happens. I felt ill enough to not even make it that far, but we went out again in the evening. On Sunday we packed our things only to discover that we’d misplaced our passports, so we spent the day traipsing out to the Police Station to report them stolen, and then to the Airport to see if Easyjet would let us travel without them. No such luck, so we’d have to stay another night and get some temporary travel documents from the British Consulate on Monday morning. All of this was a bit of hassle, but we did find a lovely little hotel on Las Ramblas itself, just next to the Fish Market, and we went out Sunday evening to a great cocktail bar, run by a Brazilian guy who made the most fantastic Mojitos. And very good Tapas. So not all bad… 🙂

Erik’s Leaving Do

This week Erik and Adrianna will head back to Slovakia to settle down and bring up little Dominik in more familiar surroundings.

I’ll miss the Bezak around the office, not to mention playing him at Badminton and ping-pong but he’ll still be part of the team and will be over to visit in June hopefully.

On Tuesday we went out for a few beers, starting at the Beehive and then moving to the White Hart once the Chelsea fans had gathered to watch their epic victory over Barcelona. I stayed over at Paulo’s flat in the Maltings and got to work 8:30 the next day feeling slightly the worse for wear…!

Jayesh & Priya Part 1

This Saturday was Jayesh & Priya’s Registry Wedding in Finchley, so we got dressed up and met up with everyone at Avenue House for the ceremony and subsequent photos, before reconvening at a restaurant on Finchley High Road.

In the evening we gathered at Mak HQ for more food and lots of chat and even a bit of singing and guitar playing.

Wet Wales Weekend

This Easter weekend we set off to Brecon to catch up with Mum for a couple of days. Unfortunately the weather was almost unremittingly wet, so major walks were out of the question, although we did manage a walk along the canal.

We also drove up North of Brecon around the Llyn Briane reservoir and surrounding hills – a very beautiful area even in the pouring rain!

On Saturday evening we had a lovely meal at The Black Swan, and generally ate too much and did not do enough exercise. Not exactly Plan A! But nice all the same :-). I also got up close and personal with a fully grown North African Milky Eagle Owl at the Mountain Centre, which was quite a buzz!!

On Sunday afternoon we headed over see to Roger & Angela and Sean in Monmouth. Roger cooked us all some fabulous Roast Lamb and we ate very heartily indeed (again!) and chatted all evening. Roger showed us some fascinating photos of various family members going back several generations, and took us through the family tree he’d researched on Ancestry.co.uk, which currently goes back to the early 1800s…! On Monday morning we shared a very fresh coffee, courtesy of the raw beans I had brought with me. Yum.

More pics here on Flickr…

Chew Magna Christmas

Christmas Day 2011 was hosted by Kev & Di at Limeburn Hill, Chew Magna. Food was great, Joel & Issy had more presents than I’ve ever seen and Rory’s first Christmas was a great success all round. Lucy and Bo looked very well and Rory himself was very smiley, at least when he wasn’t feeding or sleeping…!

Smeeta spent Christmas with Tara & Priten, ahead of Tara’s knee op on 28th, but Mum was able to stay with Kev & Di, and I stayed at Ursie’s in Pensford, along with her good friend Pascale. Ursie and Pascale spent Christmas Day itself with a local charity, serving dinner for some old people and some Chinese students.

On Christmas Eve I took Mum to midnight mass in Chew, which reminded me exactly why I don’t go to church anymore. Strangely familiar and yet strangely discomforting too.

On Boxing Day we watched various things on TV, including the Blackadder Story and Hot Fuzz, and Pascale cooked us a lovely authentic Coq au Vin, and I headed back home that evening, full of good food and Christmas cheer.

Fresh As…

Did you realise you could enjoy The Freshest Coffee in the World, anytime you like? Here’s how…

Really fresh coffee is like fresh bread – so unbelieeevably good you’ll wonder how you ever put up with the plastic stuff. And it’s not difficult to make: ‘slow-roasted coffee’ is just a marketing slogan – all it takes is 10 minutes in a good hot oven.

Forget £200 home-roasters, all you really need is a £40 electric coffee mill – available from JohnLewis, of course 😉 I’ve been buying raw beans from JamesGourmetCoffee.co.uk for over a year now and roasting at home in our electric fan-oven, and now I can’t buy ground coffee any more – it just doesn’t cut it…!

The raw ‘green’ beans are frankly unpromising: small, silver-grey-green, rock hard and seemingly inert. I can’t imagine how anyone ever thought you could use these things to produce the world’s most popular hot drink. But after ten minutes at 230 degrees C the transformation is complete: out come little shiny brown, crunchy nuggets of the most intense and recognisable flavour.

Place a handful or two on a baking tray and after 4 minutes or so you’ll start to notice that acrid, bitter smell of real coffee roasting – if you’re my age or older you’ll recognise the smell from walking past Cawardines on Whiteladies Road or wherever… Another minute and you’ll hear the first few beans pop and crack as they expand and shed their outer skin (the ‘silverskin’).

DON’T be tempted to open the oven door as the temperature drop will ruin the process. Be patient… it doesn’t take long. Nine minutes should give you a medium roast, ten medium-dark and so on. All ovens are different so it will take a bit of trial and error, but go for less time and more heat rather than longer in the oven.

Once the time’s up the beans need to be chilled immediately to stop the roasting process – I put them straight in the freezer in a metal colander for a minute or two. Discard the now papery-brown ‘silverskin’ – which contributes nothing to the flavour – and then grind before brewing your coffee however you normally do… Enjoy!!

Next time: more about the roasting process…

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Below: Krups GVX231 Burr Mill Grinder, see here… Don’t be tempted to buy a £20 blade ‘grinder’ – they really don’t work. A consistent grind is absolutely crucial for all brewing methods.

You can’t go wrong with a Moka pot… 😛

Highland Air~stream

We’ve just come back from a long weekend in the Scottish Highlands, where we spent three nights in that iconic piece of 20th Century Americana, the ‘Airstream’ Caravan.

And jolly good it was too! It was relatively new (they still sell them and the UK importers are based in Lancashire apparently) but the design still reflects the 1950s obsession with modernity, and you can’t help but imagine yourself in some road-trip movie or on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral.

The shower cubicle was way too small for me – I could barely move my arms – but otherwise we were well equipped with full cooking facilities, aircon/heating/hot water, and TV in our fairly spacious and comfy lounge. Views of the hills around Little Loch Broom made it all the more special.

We arrived early Saturday evening, having flown in to Inverness 11ish, picked up the car and spent a couple of hours in the town: had a nice lunch at Riva, on the river (doh! obviously) before raiding M&S for supplies and then set off for the West Coast.

Stopped off for a little walk at the deep gorge at Corrieshalloch and managed to avoid the impending downpour before continuing on the A832 to Gairloch, eventually turning right onto the 6 mile single-track approach to the B&B site at Badralloch. Smeeta didn’t know we were staying in the Airstream so it was all a bit of a surprise to be shown around the shiny tube of ‘aluminum’…

On Sunday we had an excellent breakfast in the main house, courtesy of Ali and Mick, and then set off around the coast-road towards Gairloch. We stopped at the lovely beach at Mellon Udrigle and embarked on a walk around the headland in the bright sunshine. We saw a pair of seals playing in an inlet and enjoyed fantastic views back to the mountains inland, where the weather didn’t look quite so appealing!

We stopped in Gairloch for a coffee and a beast of a plum scone 🙂 and then parked at Gairloch Golf Club to start a walk up to the waterfalls at Flowerdale – ancestral home of the Mackenzies. The walk followed the river up the Flowerdale Glen, through lush meadows and woods, gradually gaining height until we reached the lower of two waterfalls. It was starting to look ominously grey so we doubled back rather than take the longer return route over the exposed hills.

We then drove to Redpoint, at the very end of the B8056, from where we had views across the Minch to the North-eastern coast of the Isle of Skye, before heading home as the sun set over the Atlantic. On route we stopped at the Old Inn, Gairloch for a welcome beer/vodkaLime&Soda and some crisps. Our return to the Airstream was then delayed somewhat by a couple of injured sheep lying in the road to Badralloch, which were retrieved by some local lads just as I was wondering how best to move them.

On Monday we headed North via Ullapool to the coast road to Achiltibuie, stopping at the lovely beach at Achnahaird before rounding the headland and being smacked in the face by the stunning view of the Summer Isles laid out before us under dramatic skies.

Taking the next stretch of coast road we stopped at another lovely beach at Achmelvich, again in lovely sunshine, before the rain really hammered down for the next hour or so as we meandered along the winding single-track ‘road’ through remote villages, passing loch after loch after loch… It is so pretty but you become punch drunk with all the beautiful scenery – it’s hard to take it all in!

After more heavy rain on the main road back to Ullapool the clouds cleared and we ate very fresh fish and chips on the quayside before heading back to our shiny silver ‘home’.

More photos here on Flickr…

DIY Banksy

I’d been wanting to add some visual interest to our redecorated bedroom and finally got around to doing something about it. I took the Banksy book to work on Friday having picked out a few pieces which I thought might work on the wall, deciding on the one with the Leopard slinking away having broken through the ‘bar-code’ cage. I took a photo with my iPhone and then scaled it up to a size which would fit on 8 A4 pages: 80cm x 60cm. Then split this one image into the 8 individual A4 pieces and printed them out at work.

I spent Saturday morning carefully cutting around the parts of the image on each A4 page to make the stencil, which took a good four hours with a steady hand and a sharp blade. Having spent the afternoon at Tara’s in Chelmsford meeting some friends from Australia, we got back in the evening and I stuck the 8 panels on the wall with some spray-mount, protecting the surrounding area with plenty of newspaper; and then set to work with the spray can… Just as Banksy would have done 😉

I really wasn’t sure how it would come out, so it was quite exciting to peel off the mask and reveal the final result… was pretty happy with it in the end. Looks good opposite the Tom Lewis print above the fireplace.

WPotY 2010, Natural History Museum

WPotY = Wildlife Photographer of the Year. The exhibition of 2010 winners is currently being held at the NHM, Cromwell Road, South Kensington. On Sunday, Smeeta and I met Jenny and Charlotte for a lovely Tapas lunch before spending a couple of hours marveling at the amazing images on display.

Charlotte was hindered somewhat with her recently broken foot but it was well worth the visit, and we got to chill out in the Members Room for half an hour with cups of tea and snacks – which makes all the difference when it’s really busy. As usual there were countless stunning, beautiful, fascinating images, many of which you can see here…

Camden first to shop for some trainers 🙂