Review

Howdy folks! Today we don’t have many pictures from our caving experience. I did grab a few of some farming activities here and a Teakwood farm. The fields are old orange groves they removed all the trees and scraped them down and will plant corn or beans on. The dirt looks hard and lacking nutrients. According to the guide he said it’s beautiful dirt when the rains come next month.

The pictures yesterday you may have seen some smoke in the background, that smoke is part of the haze here from the slash and burn farming. They do just that then plant as quickly as possible before the rains come and the jungle takes back over.

Our guide from today is supposed to be sending me some pictures of the caves, if he does I will post them.

Now for the reviews. We have decided that the Monday to Friday being located here in San Ignacio was just the right amount of time for a town like this for us. It is fairly good sized with the twin city as part of the area. It is just spread out when it comes to walking here. There is the little area by the market but after that everything seems randomly placed. Our restaurant last night was a couple blocks up and then down from the main drag and there wasn’t much else around to indicate there was a good restaurant there. That means you will be walking a lot with minimal payoff. You may find good stuff or you may forget where you saw good stuff. On one hand it’s nice because it’s not super touristy and on the other an nice centralized area would be nice for more touristy stuff. The other thing we noticed is that it’s poor here more so than expected. The poor probably won’t change much but tourism will change how some of it looks in the future. Our guide today did say that the tourist industry can be a good place for a job “if done right”. I find that to be a positive. There is stuff to do and if you were wanting to maybe do the drinking with locals finding a place closer to the market would be advisable, also if you don’t want to walk down the hill or pay for taxis. Taxi rides are $5 USD each way. If you are going to just be jumping off from San Ignacio for excursions in this area it doesn’t matter where you stay.

Cahal Pech Village Resort was a good option overall for us, it was a good price and things are clean. I will complain about the cabana as it does not do well with the A/C and today upon our return from the cave tour we found the cleaning ladies left the sliding door open a crack and the bathroom door open that had the shower window open so all the dehumidification was lost we had developed over the last few days. A note about the sliding door, it is not the door they lock to keep people out, there is a side door that the room key opens. It does open to a screen porch. We didn’t have any problems during our stay so far but I would probably stay in the main building if I was to come here again if anyone else wants to come. I could do without the music they play at the bar, it’s not a big area but they have the volume of a dance club and you can hear it in the cabanas as well as the building. They do turn it off or down around 9pm.

The staff are friendly but they are not as attentive in the restaurant as a decent restaurant back in the states. We got our own water refills most the time, you have to ask for table salt and pepper. Servers don’t refill tables besides their own which is inefficient and a simple way to make customers feel tended to. They are laid back here but at times it seems too much. Remember when traveling that other cultures do things a little different. They don’t rush you out here but sometimes I want my bill so I can settle up and leave. The food has been okay overall but nothing special. Prices are cheap for some stuff but then not any cheaper than back home with less volume and quality. For dinner you are looking at $15-20 and a small breakfast is $9 for and average. Lunch $10-15. Now if you want rice and beans all the time, which the local way you can go cheaper. Some of your tours come with lunch so take that all into consideration when deciding on meal plans or all inclusive offerings.

I do want to make mention of some differences I have noticed that you should take into account when traveling and going to ruins or sacred sights. Here we are climbing all over stuff and touching things wearing whatever. I will say that it’s good and bad. These things will only last so long doing that with a lackadaisical attitude. The injuries will put a damper on that sooner or later. Also dress codes in different places is something to think about, here I’m wearing shorts, in Peru they want men to be respectful and wear long pants. I was lucky in Peru as I had my Columbia pants with the zip off and on legs. I don’t think that it was all the sights but I do believe Machi Picchu was.

I tried out the Neutrogena Beach sunscreen today in the pool after we got back. It smells nice, it’s a little greasy going on though not as bad as the Coppertone. Once in the water I didn’t notice anymore and it wasn’t when I got out.

I’m also trying some RealTree Fishing Guide shirts, the bright blue one I wore the other day and a gray one. I have to say they are excellent for this type of weather. They are lightweight and they dry fast. They are a good match with the above mentioned pants. I think that Columbia has some guide shirts as well, I may have to try them and finish out my hot weather travel wardrobe. Anything that cuts weight going in the bag is a plus and they still look good after being packed.

I’m mostly ready for our move to the ocean. I have my bag pack I just need to round up personal stuff in the morning after breakfast. The tubing trip will be a nice end to the jungle experience. I know this is the low season and it’s hot before the rains come next month, this is a good time to be here. They do get a party crowd from the way it sounds during the high season. If you’re going to come, the last two weeks of May is when you want to be here.

Be good or at least good at it!