Belize, South America

Port area of Belize

When the ship reached Belize we made a call to Banana Bank to see if they could come and pick us up for a horseback ride. They made the arrangements for us and we were told where to wait for a taxi driver to pick us up. We waited for over an hour. Brent was getting really antsy and started talking to another taxi driver to see what he could offer us. Our driver showed up just in the nick of time in an OLD Lincoln Town car. It died on him in the middle of the intersection and we held our breath as he tried to restart it. It was a VERY long drive to Banana Bank from the port, especially one in poor working order.   Colette, our driver, stopped at a road side stand and prepared green coconuts for us. They were delicious and the bananas were out of this world!

Ashley enjoying her coconut


The road into Banana Bank was a VERY rough road that was washed out and had very large rocks. I've seen similar roads in the mountains of Colorado that are meant for 4X4. The Town Car was able to make it, but it was a rough ride. Colette finally stopped at a dead end.  My nerves are shot at this point and I just knew the coconut and bananas we'd just enjoyed was our last meal.  We reluctantly got out of the car.  I was so relieve to see an opening in the tree to reveal a river bank. We were lead   down the steep river embankment where a boat was waiting to carry us to the other side.
The guide that met us there introduced himself as Eddie. He had his wife and children with him crossing the river with us. He explained that this is how they take their children to school everyday. Eddie also went on to explain why he had abrasions on his face and his arm (they looked horrible). While he was on a horseback ride the day before, a child was hiding and spooked his horse. He went on to say " I don't mean to scare you." Sorry buddy, too late!

Cabana @ Banana Bank

As we walked up the embankment on the other side of the river, this is what we saw. They have several of these cabanas in the yard. We were invited into the dining hall were fresh squeezed orange juice and apple cake were served to us. After our snack we were ready for our ride.

Blair on her horse Bumblebee.

Ashley and Blair on their horses passing a Belizean home. There was a small girl standing beside the house with a chicken. After seeing this, the girls are definitely more thankful for what they have.

Brent and Cazaar in the Forest

Banana Bank has 4000 acres of forest, teak, and mahogany plantations.
After the horseback ride, they fed us an incredible lunch. We had stewed chicken, rice and beans, coleslaw, watermelon, and fresh squeezed lemonade.

Some of the animals that we saw in the yard:

Tika the jaguar.

Several different kinds of birds.....

I think Brent was getting a little nervous that the bird was going to bite his ear!

Ashley appears that she is having too much fun holding the crocodile.

Blair, the animal lover, thoroughly enjoyed them all!

Chica the spider monkey enjoying a little lemonade.

We went on a river tour after we had lunch and toured the yard. We were hoping to see the howler monkeys that we heard earlier, but all we were fortunate enough to see were plenty of iguanas and this heron.

On the tender boat after our long day in Belize.