Checkin’ Tikal Mas Alta

Aw man… worst pun ever. Apologies. It came to me when I went for a curry at Serendip restaurant in San Ignacio on Saturday night (oh, great curry by the way). For those not bilingual (me included) – Mas Alta is Spanish for higher, and Tikal is indeed the highest, largest, most impressive site in the Mayan World (mas o menos). Sven, I hope you appreciate how committed I am to improving our linguistics.

Talking of which, my new favourite programme on Mexican tv is “Que dice la gente”, or ‘What do the People Say?’ - the Mexican equivalent of Family Fortunes. Apart from the advert for “Mucho Busto”, there is nothing more entertaining on tv.

Si es esta en la table, voy a darle el dinero personalemente!

Tikal was exactly what it said on the tin – truly huge temples (up to 200ft high) set deep in the jungle. And it was great to see a bit of Guatemala: much poorer than Belize, and obsessed with horses and football from what I could see. Enough chat, here’s some photos:

Temples break through the tree canopy. Only the Ceiba tree (on the right) is tall enough to compete with the Mayan constructions.

From the top of the temples you can see for over 20 miles across the Guatemalan jungle.


Restoration is - not surprisingly - a long standing task at Tikal. The Mundo Perdido (Lost World) temple at Tikal took a thousand years to construct, from 700BC to 300AD.

Smarmy tourist tarnishes ancient site…

On the Friday night I went to see the Nutcracker - Belizian style - at the national concert hall. Great fun, with some amazing outfits and a mix of classical, reggae and Punta-Rock numbers! Top tip - chucking a hundred kids into the cast guarantees a big audience of friends and family…

Actun Tunichil Muknal

Found my way to San Ignacio at the weekend. I’d heard a lot about this little town in the hills and it had just as much charm as I’d been promised. Plus I got my own room with a balcony to sit out on, for £7.

San Ignacio is the base for some of the most unusual and adventurous tours in Belize. I did two of them at the weekend.

On Saturday I had an unforgettable trip into what can seriously and soberly be described as ‘another world’. Actun Tunichil Muknal is the Cave of the Stone Sepulcher, a sacred Mayan site described by our guide as one of the top 10 caves in the world. I’m not sure exactly who compares caves (and how?), but by any measure, this was an awe inspiring experience.

Going Underground. Nervous, me?

After a long trek through the rain-forest, the adventure proper starts with a plunge into a 20-foot-deep pool at the cave entrance. This is followed by almost a mile of squeezing through gaps, wading or swimming across underground pools, and scrambling up rock-piles and through giant caverns.





Filming for Alien V starts any day now.







It was hard to say what was most impressive – the adventure side of the experience; the size, beauty and atmosphere of the cave or; the impressiveness of the Mayan pottery and ancient remains. The whole thing is made even more unnerving by the sightless catfish swimming around in the water near your feet, while pure white millipedes and other unusual insects crawl across the walls and large bats flit overhead.

Our guide describes how the Mayans made beautiful pottery, just to be brought into the cave and ritually smashed, in sacrifice to the gods.

But what makes the cave world-famous is those human remains. I found it difficult to get my head round the fact that I was entering a tomb, untouched by humans for more than a thousand years. The cave was rediscovered in the 70s, explored by scientists in the 80s and opened to visitors about ten years ago. There are virtually no concessions to tourists, with just one small ladder at a particularly tough climb, and no other safety precautions.

Even more surprisingly, 95% of the original artefacts have been left lying in the cave as they have been for more than a thousand years. At several points the guide said things like, “watch you don’t stand on those pots just to your left there”!! Bizarre…


The skull of a teenager, sacrificed to the gods. The skull looks alien, because he Mayan practise was to encourage deformity in sacrificial victims. A board would have been strapped to the child’s forehead at a young age, causing the skull to grow deformed. The skull has become calcite-encrusted over hundreds of years.

…and hard to see the experience being sustainable as the cave becomes more famous and popular. Now that National Geographic have visited, it can only be a matter of time before things get roped off and protected by glass boxes.

But for the moment, it’s just a fantastic adventure, the climax of which comes in the deepest, darkest corner of the cave. After wading, swimming and climbing through a thousand feet of gullies and caverns the guide asks for all our headlamps to be turned off. After a few moments of utter darkness and silence, he shines a torch onto the remains of the Stone Sepulcher herself, the complete skeleton of a young woman, a princess in the Mayan world, who was sacrificed to the gods some 1,200 years ago.

Actun Tunichil Muknal, Cave of the Stone Sepulcher

D-I’ve got the Caye

Another top holiday weekend. Teri and I went out to San Pedro, so missed out on the Garifuna celebrations but had a really relaxing weekend. Had a fantastic meal at the best restaurant in Belize. Did some great shopping, chilled, sunbathed, swam…

On Sunday I got up at 5am to do the big one – The Blue Hole. For millions of years, The Blue Hole was just a cave on dry land where huge stalactites and stalagmites formed over eons. And then in the last ice-age, rising sea levels flooded the cave, the ceiling collapsed and the Blue Hole became a submerged sink-hole, plunging hundreds of feet below the surrounding shallow sea.

The dive was definitely an experience. I got to a depth of over 40m, at which point it was disturbingly difficult to make out the surface. Visibility was still good even though the lighting was poor and I could see a chasm below me which was also unnerving. There was little marine life – just a few gigantic groupers. The attraction was the cave itself though – I could swim in and out of huge stalactites and had the real sensation of being in a different world. Due to the nitrogen levels we could only spend 8 minutes at that depth. Not especially pretty, not much in the way of fish, but really atmospheric. Thanks to Everette and his company, Belize Diving Adventures.

[underwater photo of me TO FOLLOW!]
Me, 139 feet under the Caribbean. This picture was taken by Ivan Leshko, a photographer on our dive. More photos on http://www.leshko.com/. I didn’t invest in an underwater camera for this trip, so all the other photos here are taken by me on photogenic and wildlife-rich Half Moon Caye, two hours by speedboat from San Pedro.

Three Cayes Trees

Now been in Belize for 10 weeks, done 6 dives, spent 3 days snorkelling. Here’s the fish I spotted snorkelling for half an hour at Hol Chan Cut. This was all in just one small area, where a channel cuts through the barrier reef.

Eagle Spotted Ray - Southern Stingray - Green Moray Eel – Octopus - Great Barracuda (one huge example was 4-5 feet) - Nurse Shark (6 feet plus) - *Turpon (huge fish) - Goliath Grouper - Tiger Grouper - Nassau Grouper - Red Grouper - Parrotfish (inc Midnight Parrotfish) - Black Durgon - Scrawled Filefish - Big Snapper - Horse-Eyed Jacks – Pufferfish – Squirrelfish – Hogfish – Flutefish - Blue Tangs – Grunts. And a variety of angelfish, damsels, butterfly fish, snappers, wrasses…

…didn’t see any Shellfish. Hope I haven’t caught the last one.


The giant green Moray Eel appears extremely aggressive though when I came across one in October I ‘remembered’ that it was harmless and spent a bit of time getting really close to one. And then the last time out our guide warned me that they can actually hospitalise you, so erm…I’ve been a bit more cautious since. The eagle spotted rays are a spectacular and other-worldly sight. So great to see them up close. Also saw good examples of Brain coral, Fire Coral, Staghorn Coral, Common Seafan Coral and Elkhorn Forest Coral.

Half Moon Caye is home to both the rare red-footed booby (above) and the magnificent Frigate Bird (below).

So that’s been the diving in Belize. Hope to do quite a bit more in the rest of my trip – i should have good opportunities in Australia, Kenya (Lake Victoria), Tanzania and South Africa. I’m also really keen to get into wreck diving. I’ve seen one wreck under the water, just a fishing boat, but it scared the hell out of me. It was a real buzz. And wreck diving has plenty of potential. According to historians, around 10,000 ships lie at the bottom of the Great Lakes in the US. That’s not even out at sea! That’s on lakes… inland! There’s a few wreck dives in Scotland – I’ll have to try this when I get back home.

There’s only one wreck dive in Belize – a boat deliberately sunk to create an artificial reef for marine life. This is symptomatic of something that Belize is getting right – it’s respect for the marine environment. There are a large number of marine parks for such a small country, with a large proportion of the coastline and reefs completely protected from fishing.


Mari’s brother-in-law Wilbur is in charge of one of the key environmental organisations in Belize. Good to see that Belize takes this so seriously.

Pic with a story. The first diving I did in Belize was with Aqua Dives. Having asked them to watch out for me as I hadn’t dived for a year, they had me way down at 33m, doing a drift dive and running down to 100psi as we chased after a turtle… this is the Aqua Dives boat, stranded out at Long Caye where it ran aground last Wednesday!

Fish Lingers

Tori the Shellfish (library photo)

Some of you have been in email correspondence regarding the ongoing adventures of Tori the (erm, dead) Shellfish. You may remember that a few days after the fishing trip, my neighbour Mr Torres had mentioned that he knew someone who could have my triangular friend injected with botox (or something like that) and preserved so that I could send him home and have him mounted on my wall.

I was kinda stunned by this offer. Putting aside moral doubts, and concerns over appropriate packing, postage costs and leakage, my main concern was over UK customs regulations.

However, there has been a further exciting development over the weekend. I now have a potential buyer for Tori here in Belize! Turns out that Mari’s brother-in-law has been looking for a Shellfish for some time as apparently they are extremely tasty and considered to be a rare delicacy.

So… stuffed and airmailed, or sold and barbecued? I could start an internet vote. Might include a third choice, in case the British Museum of Natural History get in touch.

In other developments, in reponse to concerns over the ongoing heatwave here, Tori has now been moved from Mr Torres ice-box to the secure depths of Evan’s freezer.

Is it a bird, is it a fish... is it a travel iron?

A little bit of Bliss and a little bit of that…

Man, it’s been ages since I’ve updated the site. There’s been nothing quite as outstanding as the trip to Mexico to report on. Instead I’ve been very busy working away. And been busy outside of work too. Am building up a portfolio of bizarre and unlikely tales these days!

Last week I had my big meeting with the director of BCVI. This was the key moment in my three-month project. The meeting went well. And work done so far is broadly on track. There is still plenty to do though and I’ve been very busy in the office since then. Overall, I’m relieved to find that the work should be a really helpful contribution and I’m very pleased with how things have gone.

In fact, I’m now making changes to my plans so that I can do more charity work during the rest of my trip. As well as being rewarding in itself, doing the charity work has allowed me to be really integrated into life here – I have an interesting time at work and a great social life outside of work in a way that I wouldn’t have if I was just travelling and lying on the beach.

Didn’t think Belize was a world leader in technology until I saw this horse and carriage with fully-integrated poopa-scoopa. Maybe not a great feature for long-distance passengers…

I’ve been in touch with the Red Cross in New South Wales and I’m hoping to get involved in a project with them when I’m there in the Spring. This might involve working between Melbourne and Sydney and I’ll have to extend my stay in Australia, and sacrifice time in SE Asia. Sure it will be worth it though.

Outside of work, I’ve been busier than ever. Went to see a Mexican Acapella group - Voz En Punto - at the Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts. Really entertaining - the sort of act that would go down great at the Edinburgh Festival. Went to a fundraiser with Teri last weekend, which was a really nice night out and an introduction to Belize’s unusual auction rules, where I bid Bz$70 for a meal for two, was outbid but still had to cough up the 70 bucks – was for charity though! Also went back to my favourite weekend retreat, Caye Caulker, with Naomi last weekend.

And I got to the Museum of Belize at last, the highlights of which were the intriguing public accounts of state executions, major fires and hurricanes, the last two of which are as perilous for Belize now as they’ve ever been.

Someone asked for a picture of Belizian jugs. I hope this is sufficient to satisfy all you pottery enthusiasts out there.

This weekend past, Evan and Mari invited me along to Mari’s father’s 65th birthday party at his house in San Estefan, up in the north of the country. I felt very honoured to be asked and it was a great weekend… photos below. Also borrowed a bike and managed to crash it and take all the skin of one of my knees. A lot of the time I’ve felt like I’m about 22 again over here, and sometimes more like half that…

Evan and I were in charge of the barbecue…


…it wasn’t friendly territory for vegetarians, or chickens.


Lovely photo of Mr and Mrs Vega. Note the bottle of Scotland's finest.

All the children… (Mari is at far right)


…and grandchildren

Next weekend is another holiday weekend and Teri and I are going to enjoy a wee bit of luxury again out at the Cayes. Also hope to scuba dive the world-famous Blue Hole. Should be pretty special...