Our Nightly Lullaby

Our nightly lullaby at Cotton Tree Lodge was provided by our friend, the Howler monkey.  The staff said there was only one nearby, which we're kind of grateful for, since a large group might have made sleeping impossible.   This You Tube video - taken in the pitch black, middle of the night from our room - has our Howler Monkey Lullaby

New Year's Eve Feast Island Style

Great NYE dinner at Waruguma.

Lobster Burrito

Ali, Liam (with "Bad Pedro" mustache) and Dylan

Cotton Tree Lodge Day One - 12/27/13

After waking and putting on bug spray, headed off to the community room for breakfast to start the day.

Today's main event was a "medicinal plant walk" with a local shaman Santiago Chub as our guide.  Before heading off to Santiago's house, we had to stop by the boot room to get our rubber boots for the muddy jungle trek.

Ali in the boot room

Santiago is from Santa Anna, a nearby village.  He's 54 years old and has lived in the area his entire life, learning from his grandfather, who lived to 104.  We spent a couple of hours with Santiago at his home and in the surrounding jungle.  Santiago showed us a variety of plants that were used to treat headaches, toothaches, upset stomach, diarrhea and other ailments.  He also pointed  out herbs that would help with the pain of childbirth and treat gonorrhea, which prompted some awkward laughter from our tour group.

Medicinal Plant Walk with Santiago Chub (center)

Santiago provided the first of several inspirational experiences on our trip.  He is very connected to the land, his home, his family and his Creator.  He spoke often of his gratitude for what has been provided by God.  He is a deeply spiritual man and not someone easily forgotten.

After our tour we returned to the lodge for lunch and siesta.  Post-nap activities included swimming and kayaking on the Moho river, where we saw lots of large iguana and beautiful white birds.  A very casual afternoon.

That night, Jenny joined a group on a nocturnal jungle walk lead by Armando.  She reports that they didn't see too much - an owl, lots of spiders, crayfish, snails and "water vines."  She also heard, but didn't see, what came to be our nightly lullaby - the Howler monkey.

Cotton Tree Lodge - Arrival

Cotton Tree Lodge is an eco-resort in the Toledo district of southern Belize, next to Punta Gorda on the Moho river.  We made the trip from Belize City by car; normally a 4 hour trip that took us nearly 5 hours in the dark, through the fog, on hilly, pockmarked roads.

It's only about 200 miles from the airport to the resort, but there are only three paved highways in Belize.  All other roads are dirt and are ravaged, if not washed away, during the rainy season (May to November) and tough to navigate the rest of the year.  The last seven miles of our trip to Cotton Tree Lodge, in the dark, in the jungle, were spent carefully trying to keep our Ford Explorer from getting stuck in the mud or worse.

We were met by a friendly, welcoming staff at CTL, who prepared a late dinner for us in the lodge community space.  After dinner, we were escorted down the raised wooden path to "Chris's house" where we would stay during our visit.  It's the home of the resort founder/director, Chris Crowell.  Chris happened to be on vacation away from CTL this week, so we were lucky to be able to stay in his cool jungle retreat.

Chris's House

The path through the resort

Second floor deck at Chris's house

Jenny enjoys the hammock chair

Liam in the upstairs room

Belize Adventure Begins

Our trip started early on the day after Christmas:  6:45 a.m. departure from East Montgomery Street so we might get to Dulles two hours ahead of our 10 a.m. flight to San Salvador on Avianca/TACA.  We were early, made it through security in plenty of time to have a coffee before boarding the flight.

Once everyone was aboard, the captain announced a one hour delay due to "heavy air traffic."  Forty five minutes later a family of four came on board the plane, which seemed to suggest the captain had not been exactly truthful about the reason for the delay.  We were concerned about making our tight connection (about 1 hour) in San Salvador for our flight to Belize City.

Despite arriving nearly an hour late in San Salvador and having to connect at the opposite end of the airport, our flight to Belize City was waiting for us (and about a dozen other people making the same connection). Our flight arrived in Belize at the originally scheduled time - clearly the "heavy air traffic" delays are built in to their flight schedule.

We picked up our rental at the Hertz counter and headed out for the jungle around 4:30 p.m.   Five hours later we pulled into our place in the jungle, Cotton Tree Lodge, tired after the 16 hour trip, but ready for the adventure to begin.

A Year of Change Ends in Belize

2013 was a year of change for the Regan clan.  We finally moved the homestead to Baltimore, aka Charm City, starting a new chapter and maybe new traditions for the family. In this spirit we traveled to Belize for the New Year, leaving early on the day after Christmas to travel to the rainforest of Punta Gorda and beaches of Ambergris Caye.  Once again, I'm attempting to capture our trip on this blog.  All photos are available through the link on the right.

"Our" house in the rainforest at Cotton Tree Lodge

The view from "our condo" on Ambergris Caye

Ireland Trip

Jenny and I were part of a State of Maryland/University of Maryland delegation that visited Cork and Dublin over Labor Day weekend.   We had a great trip, made new friends from here in Maryland and on the Emerald Isle.   Link to photos is at right.

Back Home

This was a great family trip.  We did lots of new things and really enjoyed each others' company.  I think we'd all like to go back to the San Juan Islands - a remarkably beautiful place.  Here are some shots to remember the trip:

Seattle Skyline from Water Taxi

Kids @ Pike Place

Mt. Rainier

View from Mt. Constitution, Orcas Island

Regan Family Kayaking

 

Rope Swing, Mountain Lake, Orcas Island

Searching for Orcas on our Last Day on Orcas Island

We had to check out of our great Crescent Beach Cottage at 11 a.m. on our last day.  We wanted to stay on Orcas Island as long as we could, so after we cleaned up and packed, we spent some time walking around the quaint village of Eastsound, touring the various shops and stopping for both sweet and savory pies at Passionate for Pies.  Dylan went for the classic chicken pot pie:

Post nosh, we headed over the Orcas ferry landing to check on the routine for our return ferry trip to Anacortes that evening.  Then back over to the other side of the island for lunch at Cafe Olga and our Orcas whale watching adventure.   We had been on a whale watching tour once before, several years ago on a vacation to Boston and the Cape.  It was OK, but not something high on our list to do again.   But really, isn't a whale watching tour to see "killer" Orcas a must-do when you are actually staying on Orcas Island??  Plus, there were reports and sightings of a newborn Orcas calf earlier in the week.  Maybe we might see the baby Orca.

We went out with the great crew from Deer Harbor Charters for a three hour tour (I know, cue the Gilligan's Island theme).   After about an hour ride to get to the areas where J-Pod frequent, we were rewarded with great views of the Orcas feeding and playing.  Here are some shots (check out how close they are to shore - imagine that as your daily view outside your window):

We didn't see the baby Orca, but we did see several members of J-Pod, one of three resident Orca pods in the Puget Sound.  We're all glad we got to see these magnificent creatures in the wild.

Liam's Big Jump

While we were at the rope swing, Liam swam over to the island in the lake that was across from the rope swing.  He climbed to the top of a large rock - and jumped!