MA to AZ and beyond

[rob cote]

Saturday morning, we woke up leisurely. We got to moving outside and eventually rounded up our friends Will, Terry, and TJ as they did the same. We all kind of spontaneously coalesced near the bathrooms and talked a while about our plans. We all agreed that Finca Ixobel was an ideal location with great facilities, and we'd love to stay, but for the ticks. As we talked, it became clear that we were all a bit sad that our best plans involved leaving. We decided to head to the pond for a swim together. I was the only one who had used the waterslide yet, and I wanted to go again.

We headed down to the pond together. I kind of glossed over the pond so far. My bad. So, it's probably man-made, but I'm not exactly sure. Maybe simply man-enhanced in areas. There are stone stairs to get in and out, for example, and some of the edges were probably dug out to make it a bit deeper. It seems to be naturally spring-fed, though, and the water is crystal clear. Next to the pond there are some tables and chairs, as well as a large thatch-roof palapa that houses a bar with a large seating area. Unfortunately, during our stay, the bar was closed up, but we imagined what it'd be like with a bunch of people, maybe some music, and cold beverages. In our imaginations, it was even more fun!

We got the waterslide wet and slid down it several times each. TJ and Will were both impressed by the slide's performance as well. It goes faster than any of us expected! We had a good time frolicking about in the water for a while. It sure beat the heat of the day. Eventually, we got out and dried off. We talked a while longer outside the pond, until we realized we were standing on an ant highway and they were not best pleased. They nibbled at our feet which left itching welts all over. We took it as a sign that it was time to leave, so we headed home to pack up our things and say our goodbyes to everyone. For now.

We left our site and paid at the gate. I don't think that's how it's supposed to work, because the guy at the gate seemed confused, but I asked if we needed to go to the restaurant to pay and he said no. He took our money, which was the correct amount for our stay, and we left. We stopped in Poptún to grab groceries and I was surprised to find a massive speaker blaring music in the diaper aisle. It was nice to have good music throughout the store, but I was also glad I didn't need to shop for any baby items, because my ears would have been bleeding. It was...odd.

After stocking up, we headed to Ixpanpajul Natural Park in Flores. We paid for a night and a skywalk tour each and then we found parking in a large field near some cabins. There were a few families in the park, but it's so large we felt like the only ones around. It's a really nice spot. We relaxed and hung out with Terry and TJ, who decided to come to the same spot but arrived separately. With a clear view of the sky, we setup our Starlink so everyone could get a bit of internet. The same lack of shade that allows for connectivity is troublesome in that it allows the van to heat up in the sunlight. We opened up all the doors and windows to keep things as cool as possible inside but since we've been out of the mountains in western Guatemala, heat management is increasingly a challenge.



As we were beginning to think about dinner plans, the howler monkeys started howling. They sounded close. Mandy had just started preparing ingredients when Terry said she wanted to go find the monkeys. I asked if she cared if I tagged along, so a few minutes later we were bushwhacking through the jungle, following our ears. We had a pretty steep hill climb and there were no trails to speak of, so we were carefully navigating around the thick underbrush. If you've ever heard howler monkeys, you know how angry they sound when they scream. I didn't really know anything at all about them, and it's pretty easy to convince yourself that they're violent when all you have is that sound to go on. Terry pointed out if we had to run, things wouldn't end well for us. How nice of her to point that out. Around that time, we finally spotted the monkeys in the treetops, so I was naturally terrified. I wanted to at least get a bit downhill so if I did have to run I wouldn't be trying to navigate the hill as well as everything else. We found a better vantage point on flat ground and we watched for a while and listened to their screams. As it turns out, while they're making all that racket, they're just hanging out in the trees eating. They don't look violent at all. Of course, it was still a bit uncomfortable because I didn't know their habits at all. And then I started looking around for others and realized they behind us too. We were surrounded. And the sunlight was just starting to fade a bit. It was around that point we started to head out of the woods and back towards our vans.



Over dinner, we relayed our findings to our spouses. It was a lot of fun, as scary as it was in the moment. Ultimately, it was totally fine. It was really neat to see the monkeys, totally wild, just doing their thing. Though it's a natural park, they're not in any sort of containment. The monkeys are free to come and go as they please. After dinner, we hung out between the vans, waiting for night to cool down the interiors. We took cold showers in the park's facilities just before bed. It helped a little.

 

[rob cote]

Sunday morning, we took a hike. Inside Ixpanpajul Natural Park, there's a decent hiking trail that includes a handful of cable bridges above the jungle canopy. Of course, we couldn't bring Loki on the bridges - there's no way he'd walk across them anyways, plus it'd be super unsafe - so we started out early before it got hot and left him in the van. The hike starts off somewhat steep, but then gets milder once you're uphill a ways. Terry and TJ are birdwatchers, so it was fun to have people point stuff out to us who actually know what they're seeing. All that looking up was starting to make my neck sore, though. But it paid off, because we ended up following a trail right underneath about a dozen monkeys that we'd have missed if we weren't looking up. And it's hard to look up while you're also trying to watch where you place your feet. We watched more monkeys hanging out for a while and did our best not to get peed on.





We continued hiking towards the top. The cable bridges are awesome because it affords the opportunity to look down at the treetops instead of up. It's a relief for the neck. It's much harder to see wildlife from outside the jungle, though. But the views are cool anyway. At the top of the hike is a large palapa with hammocks and a sliver of a view of Lago Petén Itzá just north of Flores. We botched the pronunciation into "peetin eetza" and then rearranged the letters into "eatin' pizza". After we cooled off a bit and enjoyed the views enough, we hiked back down to let Loki out of the van. The hike down was much faster than up. At the bottom we rode this crazy rope-based wind-up 4-seater carousel ride thing. Everyone faces towards the center post and someone walks it in a circle to wind the ropes around the post. When it's let go, it spins back down towards the ground. But it actually gets going rather fast; fast enough that I got a little bit queasy. Mandy had the absolute time of her life - she hasn't laughed so hard in a while. I loved that.

When we got done playing like children and went home, it was still plenty cool in the van, too. We hiked the lower, flat portion of the end of the hike with Loki, mostly just wandering around in a semi-open area at the end of the trail. There are loose sheep all around, but Loki doesn't much care about them. We saw something that we think may have been a coati, and something that hopped like a rabbit that was definitely not a rabbit, and another rodent that kind of looked like a tiny pig. Loki was much more interested in all of those creatures, but we kept him on a leash, of course.



After noon and talking with Terry and TJ about what to do with the rest of our day, we all decided to head into Flores proper and check out the island. We debated which van to take and ultimately decided to take ours. For some reason, our batteries seem to be depleting more quickly than normal of late, and so we seized an opportunity to drive and charge them back up. We all piled in and drove over to Maya Mall and parked in their lot. From there, we walked over the bridge to the island on foot. It was SO HOT outside. We had to follow the shade wherever possible for Loki's feet. And our own comfort, too, I suppose. I'm not sure what will happen to the island in the future, but the lake level has risen recently and part of the island is submerged today. It was interesting to see the roads just disappear under the water. I don't know what the solution is, but I'm sure it's frustrating for the home and business owners who have lost their space.



We wandered around and ultimately stopped in at Maple & Tocino for lunch. We got a milkshake, a cold coffee, and split chicken and waffles. The fried chicken was excellent! The rest was decent, too, but the chicken really stood out to us. Loki got to pass out on their cool tile floor while we ate, and he was perfectly behaved the whole time. After we ate, we walked the rest of the island. It doesn't take long. We climbed to the summit of the small hill, hoping for a view, but there really wasn't much of one. Eventually, we made our way back to the bridge, back to the mainland, back to the van. And from there, we drove back to the park.



We spent the rest of the afternoon and night hanging out between the vans. Terry and TJ carry a lot of games in their van. They taught us a strategic board game about birds which was fun. There was a lot of different aspects to the game, so it was somewhat challenging, but we enjoyed it. As it got too dark to continue playing, we showered one by one to cool off before heading to bed.

 

[rob cote]

Monday morning, we packed up our things to prepare to head out. We said see ya on the road, or see ya on the internet to Terry and TJ. They were going to hike the skywalk trail again to try to find more birds. We had to drive to charge our batteries. Plus, it was time to check out somewhere new. We drove around the lake clockwise from Flores, west and then north. We ended up in Finca Jobomó at the Corazones en Accion Jungle School.

The jungle school is a really interesting and unique place. So first, some history. A couple, Suzanne and Mario, founded a public school here years ago. They had some struggles, and ultimately decided to change things to a private school. Today, the school teaches 3-400 students of all ages, I think K-12, though I'm not certain they use that nomenclature in Guatemala. Anyway, to build their school, they bought a large chunk of jungle land. It had been deforested by logging, and they set to work reforesting it by planting thousands of trees all over the 800+ acre property. To further combat the deforestation caused by logging, they set up a woodshop, called Itza Wood. It sounds backwards, right? But their woodshop only uses sustainably harvested wood for everything they make. So, you can get a lot of stuff in exotic hardwoods without the guilt of destroying forests. We saw all their products and they're really beautiful pieces. They're legitimately excellent woodworkers running the shop. We'll definitely be shopping there when we have a house again. They also have an aquaponics growing area which needs some work, but will be used to grow fruits organically on site. There's also a dorm-style housing unit onsite, which doesn't appear to be used? I believe they also have private rooms. There's a kitchen, which could very easily become a restaurant by just developing a menu and staffing it each day. They said we could enjoy a meal there if we just told them ahead of time so they could plan for it, so it's operational, but they don't seem to use it regularly.

And finally, Mario carved out a little niche in the jungle far away from the rest of the goings-on at the school. Suzanne called it his man-cave, but it's hardly that. What he's built is...well I'm not even sure what to call it. Firstly, I suppose, there's a building with about 7 bedrooms in it. There's a swimming pool with a waterfall. There's a large palapa with several picnic tables. There's a soccer field, an outdoor yoga studio, indoor and outdoor bathrooms. There's a tienda with an oven, which I suspect will one day serve hot food? There's even a massive outdoor wood grill and wood-fired pizza oven.



However, when we showed up, we didn't really know any of that. We just saw on iOverlander that one person had stayed there years ago and that the hosts were nice. It was a little chaotic on our arrival, but we soon met with Mario, and he asked what we needed. I said a spot to plug in if you've got one, but it wasn't critical. We didn't know how long we'd stay. He asked why, and I said mainly for cooking, because our kitchen is all electric. He said we could cook there using their equipment instead, so we wouldn't need to plug in. He hopped into a Mahindra pickup and told us to follow him. He set a fast pace through the jungle, and I did my best to keep up. He took us to his "man-cave" and showed us around, indicating that the whole place was ours to use, less the bedrooms. It's like a tiny resort back there, and way more space than we needed. We were shocked. Mario left us and we set about exploring in more detail. I'm not sure why, exactly, but the space hasn't been used yet. I think they're really only missing advertising, and maybe a little staff, because everything else seemed 100% ready.

Mandy reached out to Terry to let them know what we'd found. I don't think they'd decided where to go yet, but they ultimately decided to follow us which was nice. It was cool to have the space to ourselves, but it was so big that it was honestly better with a few more people around. They had some difficulty in getting to the place; in town, the rear overhang of their extended Sprinter got stuck on a road somewhere, so they had to get some help to get unstuck. Eventually, though, they made it, and we figured out a suitable parking arrangement. Afterwards, we all set out to explore the jungle together through the network of trails that have been cut. Terry, of course, wanted to find more birds. Mandy and I wanted to find some more monkeys. We ultimately found both but spent the most time watching the monkeys.

Afterwards, we headed back to our little oasis in the jungle to cook some dinner. We built a fire in the giant gill - it's about a 5 foot square - and cooked up some chicken thighs and rice. The rice didn't even come out hard! Terry and TJ cooked their dinner too, since there was plenty of room to share. We hung out between the vans playing bocce in a mostly-cleared area, but with some trees still around as obstacles. The end of the game was a hustle because it got too dark to easily see which balls were what colors. Afterwards, we relaxed in our chairs a while away from the dinner fire to cool off before bed. We took outdoor showers - which are always better than their indoor counterparts - and then went to bed.

 

[rob cote]

Tuesday we stayed at the jungle school all day. We got up and had a nice leisurely morning. While I was trying to sort out a suddenly very stiff neck, Mandy chased some monkeys that were directly above our van. They slowly moved tree to tree through the canopy, and she followed them a while. It wasn't like she was running them down on foot. I stretched out on the yoga mat by the bocce field. We hung out with Terry and TJ for a while and decided to make some focaccia later in the day, so Mandy started the dough in the morning to get it ready in time.





We all decided to explore the jungle a bit more, but this time separately. Our friends ventured out ahead of us, and by the time we were setting out to wander, they were on their way back, so they joined us to continue walking. We didn't really find much, but it was nice to just be walking around in the jungle. Even better was that it was not very hot or humid, as I expected all jungles to be. It was certainly warm, but it was not extreme. Eventually, we found ourselves near the front of the property. We checked out the woodshop and a few of the other buildings around, and then bumped into Suzanne.

Suzanne offered us a tour of their whole facility, which we happily accepted. This is where we learned about all the stuff going on onsite that I mentioned previously. She showed us their school, which they're obviously very proud of. She showed us the woodshop storefront which has incredibly nice stuff. We especially liked the tableware. A thing that we've noticed all around Guatemala, and heard from locals directly, is that there's not much work. I'm not sure why that is, exactly, and I won't pretend to know. But everywhere we've been, people clearly want to work. I mean, everyone has a tienda, a restaurant, or they're making something by hand. We have seen very few people looking for handouts. But there aren't skilled jobs; the country doesn't seem to be developing any major infrastructure or anything like that. Suzanne said they've had numerous people show up and ask to work doing anything at all. That's why it was really nice to see what they're doing to kind of empower people to achieve more. For example, there are a lot of sawmills and lumber yards around. A lot of people doing basic carvings, too. Woodworking is definitely a common skillset all around Guatemala. But we've seen very few fine woodcrafts, like what's coming out of Itza Wood. It's just on another level of quality. But it seems like if you give the people access to the equipment necessary to make stuff like that, they're happy to do it. Ultimately, that's how I'd kind of summarize what they're doing there. I think it really flies in the face of a lot of the stereotypes, and I think that's awesome.



We continued our tour through the various accommodations, and checked out the kitchen, as well as the gift shop. The gift shop is similar to the woodshop in that they use it as a place to showcase local artisans. It's on a smaller scale than the woodshop, but the idea is the same. The textiles, jewelry, and other crafts they sell there just seemed to be a bit better quality than similar things we've seen elsewhere at shops and markets all over the country. Afterwards, we made our way back to our campsite area. We had mentioned to Suzanne that we wanted to talk more, though, so she was going to round up Mario and come by later.



Mandy finished preparing the bread and then I got to work building a small fire in the grill again. So we could bake it. We needed a fair bit of hot coals to cook the bread, so while we were waiting for those to form, we reheated leftovers for dinner. Once we had a nice pile of orange coals, we spread them out and put the Dutch oven in there with the bread inside and placed some on the lid as well. Then, we let it bake for a while. I think about 45 minutes or so. There wasn't quite enough heat on the top, so we flipped it part way through, which is atypical, but it worked perfectly. We took it out to cool a bit before slicing it up and sharing it. Of course, now Mandy wants to bake bread using this method exclusively. It was SO GOOD.



Suzanne and Mario came by after the bread was finished, and we talked with them a while about all the projects they have going on around the property and other opportunities for a work-stay arrangement. They'd never done anything like that before, so they had a lot of questions about it. We haven't either, but Mandy knows a bit about how it's typically executed. Our only complaint about our stay, if you can call it a complaint, was the cost which was about $20US per night. Realistically, it's reasonable, especially outside of Guatemala. It's just that it was the most expensive place we have stayed yet. But more than that, we were genuinely interested in helping them out because they seem like genuine people, and they're doing good things for the community. Ultimately, no agreement was reached then, but they gave us a lot to think on, and us them, too. We have plans we need to stick to for now, but the consensus was for us to let them know after we've done the things we have already scheduled. Chiefly, going to Panama. We shared some bread with them, and they loved it. We gave them a couple ideas we had for minor tweaks to the space that could make it a touch nicer. The overall impression that we got was that they really want people to show up and start using their space. I'm not great at advertising, but I guess this is it? They're not paying us or anything like that, I just want to honestly recommend this spot because it is one of our top few favorite spots we've seen so far. It was quite special.

Anyway, after dinner, we hung out with Terry and TJ. We found the light switch, so once the sun went down, we weren't in total darkness like the previous night.

 

[rob cote]

Wednesday, our battery was low. Which was the first time I was absolutely certain something was wrong, because we'd been so diligent about not really using any significant battery power. Lights and fan, and occasional water pump was really it. At that usage, we should have been good for at least a week, perhaps two or more. It had been less than two days. I got out my multimeter and a couple basic tools to do some research. As I think is pretty common, if not standard, our lithium house batteries have a built-in circuit protection whereby the terminals are disconnected from the storage medium in the event of a short-circuit. We've (read: I have) triggered this before. Those of you who have been reading since way back may remember.

I had a theory that perhaps when I triggered the circuit protection and put the batteries to "sleep", perhaps one or two didn't wake up afterwards. Because in order to "wake up" the batteries, they need to see a "small" voltage. I don't know what the range on "small" is, though. So, my theory is that when I wake them up by using the shore power charger, perhaps one battery sees the necessary voltage, and then immediately comes back online with a too-high voltage for the other batteries to wake up. As you can see, I'm not an electrical engineer. I have no idea if there's merit to the theory. But it was a guess, and it gave me a direction. So, I disconnected the positive lead on the battery under the passenger's seat and checked voltage on the battery directly, as well as on the lead. I saw about 12VDC on both, so the under seat battery was definitely online, as well as at least one of the two rear batteries. It's significantly more work to do the same test on the rear batteries, so I shelfed that idea for a moment.



Then, I started disconnecting DC circuits one at a time (by pulling their fuses) and measuring current in each leg. Mandy had quit hammocking to help to turn things on and off as required for current measurements. I thought perhaps some component somewhere had developed some sort of issue that was causing it to draw more power, but not so much that the fuse blew. I knew that this was unlikely, but I had to rule out everything in order to verify that the batteries were in fact losing capacity. They shouldn't be, because they're only a couple years old at this time, but you never know. Perhaps we got duds. Ultimately, I found nothing. Which is something, right? I mean, it's data. I plugged it into my algorithm and mulled it over a while. Luckily, TJ is also a mechanical engineer - er, he was, but now he's retired - so we talked it out some together. That's always helpful. Another thing that's really helpful for me is to completely forget about the problem for a while. So, I put everything away.



We had to pack up to leave anyways, so late morning, we made our way out of the jungle school a little after Terry and TJ left. We continued our circuit around Lake Eatin' Pizza (aka Lago Petén Itzá) and stopped at a tiny parking lot on the lakeshore between a couple restaurants and a dock. It's not really clear to us who runs the whole thing, or what goes to what, but it was a really neat spot. So, you can park in the parking lot across the street from Ernesto's Restaurant overnight for 50Q. I don't think Ernesto collects the money for parking though. And then, along the dock are a few tables underneath palapas, at which you can order food brought out from a restaurant. Again, I'm not sure which one, but we saw a waiter running plates back and forth across the street and down the dock. What an awesome spot to have a meal! If only Loki would have gone on the dock with us.



So, when we parked, we realized we only had 40Q. We asked about an ATM, and were told there is one, but not until the lights come on. I was really confused. We tried to ask a bunch of questions to get some clarity on what that was supposed to mean, but we didn't really make much progress. The guy collecting money was totally cool with it, "no problem, I'll get 10 from you tomorrow". Alright, sweet. So, Mandy asked Terry to get us some cash since they were headed to an ATM anyways. By the time Terry and TJ arrived, though, it was after dark. Not sweet. They were having some issues of their own. They expressed surprise at us not having caught up to them along the way around the lake. Apparently, their van was exhibiting a severe lack of power, and they had to creep most of the way and stop several times. They had driven all the way back to Flores to get to a place where there was electricity so they could extract cash from an ATM. Then it all made sense. "When the lights come on" would indicate that the grid power is back on. DUH! It was just a really odd way of putting it, but it totally makes sense now.





ANYWAYS. We hung out with them for a little bit and finalized plans for the next day. Unfortunately, the biting insects were out in droves, so we were all driven inside soon after.

 

[rob cote]

Thursday morning, we gave our friends our Starlink and our dog, and then we drove away. We cruised from Ernesto's to Tikal to check out some old stones!



We arrived at the entrance to Tikal early, because we'd heard that it can get really busy with long lines for tickets. Though there was one other couple there at the same time, we were the only ones at our particular ticket window. So, there was no wait at all. We got our tickets, hopped back in the van, and drove in. Once in the park, it's an absolute dead zone for cell signal, so we just hoped that Loki would be fine all day. We parked and checked out the visitor's center. There, there's a giant 3D map of the ancient city, which kind of helped us plan, but also kind of not.



We used the restrooms, and then walked into the park. We had passed on a map earlier, but when offered one yet again, we accepted. For 4Q, it was kind of helpful. We compared it to a billboard-style map on a post inside the park entrance and it sort of matched up. We just winged it from there. We realized early on that the map had less than stellar accuracy, so we only loosely relied on it. The other thing is that the maps and signs reference and indicate structures that are sometimes still underground. I think. We're not positive on this one, but it seemed that way to us.



Honestly, we probably should have had a guide. And perhaps you should, too. We didn't get a ton out of it, and so there's not a lot I can relate to you guys here. But that's not to say we didn't have a great day. We definitely enjoyed walking around somewhat aimlessly for a few hours in the sun, looking at old rocks. That sounds sarcastic, and it probably is at least a bit, but we truly did have fun. It's nice to get a teensy vacation in the form of not having the dog around, but we still love him, obviously. It's just that we wouldn't have been able to go to Tikal at all if Terry and TJ didn't watch him for us, so we were super thankful for that. We read the Wikipedia page about Tikal before we went though, to get at least a basic understanding of what we were going to see ahead of time. Essentially, it was a mega city in its heyday, from like 200BC to 8-900AD ish? Years are ballparks. I should double check (but I won't) the figures, but I believe I read within like a 20 mile radius around the city there were half a million people at the height of its population. Somewhere in that neighborhood. Which is huge, especially considering that today it's just surrounded by forest and no one.





Anyway, like I said, I am not a Tikal scholar. I probably don't even have the requisite knowledge to be a base level idiot on the subject of Tikal. But the structures were impressive and it was great to walk around stuff so old. After we made a big loop encompassing a decent majority of the visible structures, we started to get hungry. We headed towards the exit and stopped at the restaurant there for lunch. The food was really good, and not as expensive as we were anticipating, which was nice. After lunch, we stopped for diesel on our way back to the lake. While Mandy was getting the tank filled, I walked across the street to try to find cream for coffee. It's hard to find cream like in the states; usually it's more like yogurt consistency, but even that is tricky to find sometimes. I struck out at a couple tiendas but struck gold at the fruit stand next to the speed bump on two mangoes for 5Q.

We went back to the parking lot next to the lake and Loki was SO EXCITED to see us. Which lasted all of like two minutes, because then he was hot and panting. It was pretty toasty. Humid, too. The report on his day was all excellent marks. He just chilled the whole time and had no issues whatsoever. Terry and TJ loved having him. The reason we left them our Starlink was so that they could have unfettered internet access to research their van's issues and try to come up with a plan to resolve them. TJ and I talked it out and we took a look around underneath their van. We came up with a theory that may or may not be accurate. My best guess is that the transmission somehow got low on oil. While underneath, I was looking for leaks. There was some slight evidence of wetness around the dust cover at 6 o'clock on the bellhousing, but it seemed like an old leak. Everything else was dry. But since it was low on oil, it was causing their lack of power and weird shifting issues. They said sometimes it would rev high and not move very fast, hills were a challenge in general as the van would go very slowly uphill, and sometimes it would slam into gear hard or hunt around trying to find the correct gear. I looked up the procedure in WIS for changing the oil in their van's transmission and relayed the instructions to them. We also found the fill pipe. I recommended doing a fluid and filter change which would get the old fluid out as well as ensure the transmission had the proper amount of fluid in it. The dipstick is a Mercedes-Benz shop tool, not an actual engine part, so there was no other simple way to check the fluid level, short of finding a dealer. I think the closest one to Flores was in the neighborhood of 800 miles away.

We hung out with them outside for the afternoon until the bugs came out to consume us all. We worked on a plan for the days ahead and came up with something that worked well for us all.

 

[rob cote]

On our way back from Tikal Thursday afternoon, we finally got approval to bring Loki into Belize. So, Friday morning, we found a veterinarian/auto paint shop in town to write us another health certificate for Loki. We have one from Mexico, but Belize accepts them no older than 10 days, I think. We just gave them copies of the necessary documents, and they write up a new document that says he's healthy and up to date on the necessary vaccines. Then he's legal. But we weren't quite ready to go to Belize just yet. After sitting in the parking lot for several minutes discussing options, we decided it best to stick around to support our friends.



Terry and TJ had made an appointment at a mechanic shop in Flores to get their transmission fluid and engine oil replaced. After we were finished at the vet, their van was already under the knife. We cruised the few blocks across town to where they were at to supervise/keep company. I felt a bit of responsibility since I have already changed the transmission fluid in our van, and theirs is quite similar. The procedure isn't exactly the same, but I had access to the official procedure, so we could verify it was done correctly. Their mechanic had no English whatsoever, so communication was a bit of a hurdle, but he was really patient with us, and he did a great job given what he had. That is, no new parts besides the fluid. It's not ideal, we know, but it's the best that could be done. After the job was finished, TJ and I took the van for a ride and he was pleased to find that most of the symptoms were gone. There was still a minor rev flare on the 3-4 shift. I told him to keep an eye on it and make a note of any changes, but that it should probably get them home. I suspect as it was driven low on fluid, the clutches didn't stay engaged properly, or didn't engage as quickly as they should, and that caused them to wear. Now that they're worn, even with the proper fluid level, they don't grab quickly, so they slip, causing the rev flare. In any case, I think they should be able to make it home if they're careful with it. They've got a new transmission on their to-do list, but it's less stressful to do it at home, rather than while abroad. So hopefully that works out for them.







So, after all that, it was getting on in the afternoon and we were all dying from the heat. Mandy had spotted a restaurant while we were driving into Flores this morning that also advertised a pool. Katok was the name of the place. She messaged them to ask if we would be able to park there overnight after using the pool and having some dinner there. They kindly said that would be no issue at all, and in fact there would be no charge for parking! Awesome! We all decided a swim would be a much-needed refreshment, so we met there. Mandy and I stopped along the way for me to get new flops as my Chacos were starting to deteriorate rapidly and it was getting annoying tripping over them all the time. I found some new ones I wasn't crazy about, but they were better than the Chacos in their current state. By the time we got to the pool, I think heat exhaustion had me near to dying. It hit so suddenly, but it took all my effort to walk to the pool. I got in and cooled off some. TJ ordered a pitcher of beer for us all. I probably should have gone for something else, like water. But it worked, anyway. After a few minutes with some sort of sustenance in me, I was feeling much better. We got menus and ordered some dinner, too. We got a skewer of grilled chicken and veggies and split it. We also got plantains in mole for dessert. The food was excellent. The pool was, too, and we had it nearly to ourselves. There are actually 3 pools. There was no one else but us at the swim-up bar, other than the bartender who was super nice. No one cared that Loki was hanging out with us next to the pool. For a totally chance find, this was an awesome stop. An excellent ending to an otherwise hot and boring day.



After we ate, they seemed to be pretty much closing up. I think the restaurant stays open later than the pool. We paid and evacuated so they could go finish working for the day. Terry and TJ were planning to go to Tikal early so they decided not to stay the night at the restaurant, since the parking lot is gated and doesn't open until too late in the morning for their schedule. They left and drove towards Tikal before dark to park just outside the gate there. We tucked ourselves into a corner of the parking lot and hung out outside with Loki until the sun went down. Pretty much as soon as the sun is gone, the bugs all come out and start chewing on us. It's not really the right vibe for us, being eaten and whatnot, so we went inside. I needed more food, so we heated up some leftovers before cleaning up and getting into bed for the night.

 

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Saturday morning, we didn't stick around after the gate was opened. Actually, they opened it up right as we started up the van in preparation to leave; the timing was perfect. From there, we had about an hour and 20 minutes ride to get to Melchor de Mencos, at the Belize border. NOW, it was time to actually enter Belize. Exiting Guatemala here was quite simple, although there was some vehicle traffic, so it took a bit of time just due to that. Once we were actually able to process paperwork, it only took 10 minutes or so. We exchanged all our quetzales to Belizean dollars in Guatemala. Entering Belize took some more work, but it was balanced by the fact that we could conduct all the transactions in English. Fluency helps.

The general order of things is typical - we first had to enter ourselves into the country, then the dog, then the van. People are usually the simplest; show your passport and pay if required. Sometimes Loki is the easiest; some countries hardly scrutinize anything. For entering Belize, Loki actually took the longest, because we'd started his process the week prior and waited for government approval. Easter added some to that timeline. Then, we went over documents with Baha personnel and realized we didn't have enough cash to pay for Loki's entry. Which can only be paid in cash. Frig. We had no US dollars to exchange, so I took a cab to the closest ATM to get some money. The round-trip cab cost us twenty Belizean, bringing us even further from our goal because it was for naught. At the ATM, I entered Mandy's PIN wrong too many times and got locked out. I tried my ATM card, but I've probably never used it (who uses an ATM card, ever??) so I have no idea what the PIN is. I tried a cash advance on my credit card, but that didn't work either. The cab driver was fantastic, he offered to take me to another ATM a block away because at the time I wasn't sure if it was my stupid fault or if the ATM was not functioning correctly. I tried to call Mandy for the PIN, but her phone has been intermittently working for reasons unknown. Google shut off her international data prematurely, but she should still be able to make calls and send texts, but she can't most of the time. I tried to call the card company but after several minutes on hold, I gave up. I didn't want to upset the cab driver for making him wait there for free. Or charge me more. Empty handed, we returned to the border. Mandy suddenly recalled that we had a secret stash of Mexican pesos, so I dug in the van for those and exchanged them on the Belize side. By some miracle, after the exchange, we had enough to exactly pay for Loki's entry with none left over.



We moved on to importing the van, which was pretty straightforward. No issues there. Conduct paperwork at one window, pay by card at another, then drive through a toll booth where an agent inspects everything. Finally, we were in Belize! We drove to Mana Kai Camping & Cabins in San Ignacio to park for the day. It was H O T outside. Definitely the warmest weather we've been, besides a single outlier day in Las Vegas where it was 104F. In Belize, it's humid, too.



Once we parked, I set to work stripping apart our kitchen. I'd had an idea, after not thinking about the battery problem for a while. See, in that time, I'd noticed that every time I listened to it, our refrigerator was running. I began to think that it wasn't shutting off at all. As well, it seemed like the food and drinks inside it weren't getting as cold as they used to. It's hard to be sure when the difference is slight. So, my idea was to clean off the condenser coil. When I got the counter removed, which took some doing, I found it to be full of dust and dog hair. Bingo! That can't help efficiency. I vacuumed off most of it, then I connected a needle fitting to our air compressor hose and ran that through there to blow everything out and get it nice and clean. I did some light inspection work while I was in there, but felt confident in my repair after not seeing anything else out of line. I put everything back together. The thermocouple readout for my digital multimeter began to drop the registered freezer interior temperature. Nailed it.



Completely saturated with sweat after putting away my tools, I sat outside under the shade of a tree. Mandy had gone for a ride with our new friends Michael and Layne to purchase insurance for our van - a requirement we'd overlooked. Michael and Layne had been in-country for a few weeks by this time, so they were our trusted local experts. They're also travelling in their van, and they're from Florida. When they got back, we spent the afternoon and evening with them just taking it easy in whatever shade we could find so as not to work up a sweat. I took a cold shower in the campground's facilities which helped to take the edge off. Loki and their dog Rusty each laid under a vehicle doing nothing. Once night had fully set in, we opened up the windows near our bed, set the fan on full volume, and tried to find sleep.

 

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Sunday morning, we left pretty early. We followed Layne and Michael out of the campground, then switched positions and lead them to the grocery store. We had to stock up on some things. The grocery store was a little interesting; kind of like a hybrid between American grocery stores and Guatemalan grocery stores we've seen. The products were labeled in English, but a lot of the ingredients available are more common across Central America than regular America. Anyway, we got frozen chicken to help out our refrigerator a bit, in the case that it wasn't actually fixed.

From the grocery store, we continued leading our teeny convoy of two. We headed to Blancaneaux Lodge to snap a few pictures of their menu. Layne and Michael had mentioned sharing a pizza between us at some point. We weren't staying there, though. Just a little bit further up the road is the fantastic San Miguel Campground nestled right next to Big Rock Falls. When we arrived, we were surprised to find Terry and TJ there. They had just arrived and were checking in, too! A quick view of the campground showed us that the sites were quite large and open. We all decided to share one site, paid, and moved in. Loki and Rusty hopped out and, since they're both old and familiar, got on great. They largely don't care about one another, which is awesome because we don't have to worry about any fights.





After we checked in, we all took a walk down to the river that runs right next to the campground. It's a pretty steep hike down to the water since it's in something of a canyon, but the stairs are well-built. The waterfalls are gorgeous and the swimming hole they create is just perfect. We spent a few hours here playing in the water and it was idyllic. The water was clean and clear, the temperature was perfect, and there were tons of rocks for diving off. The only thing missing was a comfy spot for Loki to relax, but he made it work. We had an awesome time hanging out swimming with our friends and doing flips into the pool.





Afterwards, we hiked upstream a bit to the top of the waterfall. Here, the river was much broader and shallower, so Loki could get in easier. He doesn't like to go in water if he has to go down anything other than a gentle slope. He's quite picky. But the shallow, sandy-bottomed pools were perfect for him to wade in and cool off some. They weren't great for swimming for us, though, so it was just Loki time. After he was satisfied, we hiked back up to the van and spent the afternoon chilling. We played some off-road bocce, laid in hammocks, and just generally had a relaxing evening.



Since it seemed like our refrigerator was still running nonstop, and we had no option to plug into shore power, we opted to cook outside. So, I set to work building us a fire in the firepit. We all gathered around as the sun set and enjoyed each other's company until it was time to head to bed. It actually felt like camping, for a change.

 

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Monday, we decided to go for a ride. The weather was a little bit iffy; it looked like rain was likely, but just as likely not. Most of us wanted to check out Caracol, but Layne offered to stay at the campground with the dogs. We were so thankful! Everyone else piled into our van and I drove us towards the ruins, about an hour away. We only traveled on pavement for a short time, then the road turned to dirt. They're in the process of widening and re-paving the whole route to Caracol, so it was neat to experience it before the highway is complete.

Michael and Layne had previously attempted this drive in their 2WD Promaster, but having recently been stuck and running into some problems getting unstuck, caution won and they turned back halfway. The road is a little bit rough, and in sections, a little bit steep. It's always smart to be cautious, but we didn't have any issues. Where it turned to dirt, Michael advised that it would remain rough at least as far as they'd made it, which was pretty far. So, I hopped out and let air out of the tires and softened the shocks for comfort. And speed. We cruised the rest of the way around 25mph or so. We noted that the rear shock knocking noise was back; it had disappeared for a time. It was a pretty ride, but I was keeping in mind what the roads might turn into if it were to rain. Luckily for us, it stayed dry the whole way to Caracol.



We hopped out and got tickets to explore. We wandered around the ruins on foot for a couple hours. Caracol is much smaller in its spread than Tikal is, so it's easier to cover in less time. A park guide mentioned that it was a busy day at the park as we were entering, but there were hardly more than a handful of other people there besides us. We toured the whole park, again not truly knowing what we were looking at, same as in Tikal. But we enjoyed it nonetheless. It was even more fun with friends. We lost Terry for a while, but she was just off chasing birds, as we expected. Once everyone was done wandering, we regrouped at the van and climbed back into our assigned seats.



I drove us back towards the campground, but we decided along the way to head back to Blancaneaux Lodge to pick up some pizzas for dinner. This place is extremely nice, and we felt a bit out-classed. The entire dining area and patio, including all the furniture, floors, walls, and ceilings, etc. are all constructed of mahogany. There, of course, it's just the local building material. But to us, to see so much in one place was just absolutely wild. In the states, it'd be an insane amount of money. As we paid, I sampled a slice of pizza to make sure it was good. It was. We headed back to the campground so Layne could get some while it was still warm. It had rained for a couple hours at the campground, so Layne, Loki, and Rusty got cozy inside their van. The dogs had no issues; Loki is accustomed to the space between the front seats, and Rusty's spot is by the driver's feet when they're not driving. So, it worked out perfectly.

I took the opportunity after dinner to triple check that the shock absorber hardware was tight since it had been making noise all day. What I found was much worse than loose hardware. It seems that the upper bolt sheared off inside the body of the van. This is a common problem on these vans, so I'm not entirely shocked (ha!). I called the shock manufacturer, Van Compass, and confirmed my assumption that the best course of action in the short term would be to remove the shock entirely until I can get replacement hardware. I also ordered a replacement bushing because as you can see below, it's lost. As well, I ordered their "Baja Brackets" which reconfigure the upper bolt into a double-shear installation which is significantly stronger than the OEM single-shear bolt. So this won't happen again. I hope.





The rain was gone, so we had another evening around the fire. Until the rain came back. Everyone was on the fence about heading to bed early to stay dry, until TJ took out a tent/awning and set it up next to the fire. We stayed around the fire for another hour or two into the night until we went to bed for sleep more than dry.

 

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Tuesday morning, I did some further investigation work surrounding our refrigerator. I pulled off the countertop again. I wanted to confirm that the refrigerator did not have a service port on it already. On Michael's recommendation, we had scheduled an appointment at Cabral Auto Electric to hopefully add refrigerant to the system. Not truly an appointment, he just said to show up Wednesday morning. With much more observation done, it seemed like the symptoms were aligned with a low refrigerant state. It probably has a leak somewhere that's taken ~3 years to manifest. Norcold customer service were absolutely useless beyond "you must visit a registered service center". They're all in the US. Our hope is that the band-aid of adding refrigerant will at least get us a functioning refrigerator until we're back in the states, and we can figure out a permanent solution then.



The good thing is that all that reassured us that our batteries were still functioning as normal. It only seemed like they were dying much faster than they used to because the refrigerator was consuming much more power than normal by running all day long every day. After we put the kitchen back together, we added some water to our tanks, packed up, and left. We said our goodbyes to Michael and Layne, as they were headed to Guatemala, back the direction we'd come from. We said our see-you-laters to Terry and TJ, because we weren't really sure when we'd see them again, but it at least seemed likely. We drove from San Miguel Campground to Belize City. There, we got a piercing valve for R134a system service, on a recommendation from Jim at Cabral Auto Electric. This would allow our "unserviceable" refrigerator to have refrigerant added.



We stopped for groceries and then headed to Old Belize Marina to park for the night. We had low expectations for this spot, but it was actually lovely. There was a constant 10mph breeze off the ocean - which we were parked directly next to - so the heat was totally bearable. And there were no bugs at all. There was also no one else around, except the occasional boater pulling into or out of the docks.



We set up our Starlink and finished editing video to upload overnight. I had fun (read: not fun) extracting a rock from the mini-HDMI connector so we could actually plug it in. I can't wait to remove that connector from the system. We played around with window openness to find the ideal breeze for both our sleeping positions. With that dialed in, we climbed into bed to watch a show before sleeping.

 

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Wednesday morning, we started laundry in the marina's machines early. We took showers, too. The water pressure was nearly nonexistent, but I think it was because the water was also running to the washing machine at the time. Who knows. At 9:00am, Mandy was planning to receive a video call - which she did - that was a follow-up interview with a hospital in Florida. She began looking for work, fully expecting it to take far longer than this to find a good opportunity. It's a little unclear what the position is exactly; they said it was a new role, but it sounds like very similar work to what their floor pharmacists are doing. So perhaps it's just an additional floor pharmacist? In any case, she notified them we're rather far away at the moment, and she won't be able to start until mid-June at the earliest. That didn't seem like a deal-breaker for them, so she'll be in touch whenever we get back to the USA. It's quite close to our friends' house in Florida, at which we've stayed in our van before. They're already excited for us to return and we don't even know if we are yet, but that's comforting. At least we'd have somewhere to be and familiar faces around while we get our feet on the ground. We'll see.

After the phone call, we packed up and hurried over to Cabral Auto Electric to service the fridge. Unfortunately, Jim's day had already filled up with work by about 10:00am. He told us to shoot to arrive there by 7:00am. So, we digested that and figured out a new plan. From there, we drove towards Dangriga by way of Belmopan so we could cruise along the Hummingbird Highway. We'd heard it was the most scenic drive through Belize.

We haven't driven all the roads in Belize, of course, so we can't confirm that. But it is a quite beautiful drive. Belize doesn't have much mountainous terrain, but the Hummingbird Highway cuts through some of what it does have. They're more like large hills, but it's still exciting to see new landscapes. To me, it kind of felt like eastern Guatemala, except all the signs were in English. And the houses were more American style with wood siding and sloped roofs. It was pretty neat.



Along the way there, Mandy called out a sign which read "Scenic mountain lookout" so I turned us around to go check it out. It was at the Sleeping Giant Rainforest Lodge, so we had to check in at the gate there. We weren't sure where the hike was, exactly, so we asked in the office. They said we were welcome to hike it but recommended to also get something to eat in their restaurant, since it's private property and we weren't hotel guests. Along the hike, we spit-balled being hotel guests, but it seemed like all the rooms were full according to their website. Plus, we have a couple hotel stays coming up soon anyways, so we should just save our money and be patient.



The hike was pretty easy, about 20 minutes up some stairs to a 3-floor gazebo on the top of a hill. The hill is surrounded about 180 degrees by plains, so there's great views from up there. It's pretty hot and humid, though! Loki had to catch his breath at the top for a bit. Truth be told, we all did. We eventually hiked back down and headed to the restaurant onsite. We got cochinita pibil and nachos with smoked brisket. We also got flan because we've never had it before. All of the food was really good. We might have gotten a pizza instead if we hadn't just had it two nights ago. Loki laid next to the table the whole time and didn't disturb anyone.



With our bellies full, we continued the drive. We stopped at the Country Barn dairy farm/creamery for second dessert. They make ice creams and had come recommended by at least a few people. Mandy got a chocolate ice cream which I thought was bad. Mandy was reluctant to agree but she didn't rave about it, either. I got a frozen coffee, which is cold coffee, coffee ice cream, and ice, blended together. I thought it was really good. We continued driving to Dangriga, although we actually landed just south in a town called Hopkins. Along the way, one of the balls of our bed lift struts separated from the bracket. Mandy inserted the lock pins and we kept driving. Unfortunately, they're a press-fit design rather than the standard threaded end with a nut, so there wasn't anyway to reinstall it that wouldn't fall out again in short order.



There's another marina there that allows overnight parking. Terry and TJ had just arrived before us, which I think we knew prior to arrival. Mandy and Terry stay in touch. I just try to keep the van between the lines and avoid the holes in the pavement. We pulled in there and parked next to them and then we all took a walk down the road. We walked to a public access beach to find it was completely covered with red seaweed. Which I think is actually algae? I'm not sure. The whole beach and water was covered with some kind of plant material. We didn't stick around. Back at the marina, TJ and I stole one of our own hood lift strut ball ends to repair the bed lift. Then, we found our way to the bar and tried to decipher their happy hour deals. Terry had gotten a lot of conflicting information when they were previously at the bar; happy hour starts at 4:00 (right after they cashed out), it goes until 8, it goes until 10, it goes until closing which is at 9, happy hour is 6-8, no that's two-for-one which is different. It was a whole confusing thing and it seemed like there were more conflicting answers than questions. Ultimately, we got a beer and it was cold, and that's all I wanted. Not having access to cold drinks in such a hot area is definitely a downer. We built our chairs and sat between the vans until it got well dark outside and then we all headed to bed.

 

[rob cote]

Thursday morning, we got up at our own pace. We made some breakfast. We took some showers at the marina. We wandered around a bit with Loki. I took some time to catch up on forum posts here. We began driving back north late morning. We stopped in at the Country Barn again to get frozen coffees. Mandy knew better than to get straight ice cream this time.

We made a wax appointment in Belmopan at Spotless Beauty. Yadira was awesome. Michael had jaded us a bit, I think, with their rather unfortunate experience in Belize getting stuck in the mud and needing extensive repair to their van. Yadira flipped all that on its head for us. She was the first Belizean we really talked to more than "this is how much you owe" for whatever we're buying (usually groceries). Afterwards, we had to get diesel, which hurt a bit. Belize is more expensive than Guatemala and Mexico by a fair bit. It's more aligned with USA prices across most of the board, but diesel is actually about $6/gallon which on the high side for the US even, I think. We haven't been there for a bit, so I could be wrong.




From there, we returned to the marina in Old Belize. We knew it was a good spot with a nice breeze and no biting insects. And fairly cheap. Plus, we wanted to be near Cabral's place so we could arrive early in the morning. I took the opportunity to try and catch up on more forum posts here. It's tough when it falls more than a week behind! That's honestly about it. It was not a very eventful day. Mostly just a lot of writing. It takes a lot of time. Someday we'll go back and read all the posts and remember all the things we've forgotten that we did, so it'll be nice for that.

 

[rob cote]

Friday morning, we didn't dilly-dally. We headed to Cabral Auto Electric as soon as we were all up and ready to go. When we arrived, I set to work removing the countertop again. I had some recent practice, so this went rather quickly and very smoothly. I know all the tools I need, and each fastener that has to come out and none more. Jim showed me where to install the service port, so I set to work on that as he finished up a project he was already working at 7:00am. With the valve installed, we attempted to add refrigerant, but SOMEone forgot to open the valve. I won't say who, but he definitely lives here in this van. With that issue fixed, we were able to get a little bit of gas added to the system, but Jim didn't seem satisfied. Something was off. We pulled a vacuum on the system, then tried again, but it still didn't seem right to him.

Eventually, he noticed a second line that was crimped-closed from the factory. He said we must have the service port on the wrong line, so get another one and install it on that line. So, Mandy and I ran into the city to the hardware store to get another, returned, and installed it on the line. This required actually removing the fridge from its mounts, which wasn't that much additional work. It gave us an opportunity to clean underneath the fridge, which has been buried for a couple years now. It wasn't awful, but cleaner is better. I was also able to retrieve a nut I'd dropped down there. With the second service port installed, Jim was still not convinced that things were working properly. He suggested the possibility that our compressor was not pumping anymore, and he readily admitted it was outside his expertise. As the name implies, he primarily repairs automotive electrics, like alternator rebuilds, and A/C systems. Things of that nature. Although a refrigerator is "the same" as an air conditioner, there are subtle differences. He recommended we go see Moses, who lives just down the road.

We followed Jim to Moses', because it was too difficult to explain how to get there. I'm not sure if he actually lived on a name with a street. They spoke on the phone before we headed over, in what I believe was Creole, and I think I caught Jim trying to determine whether Moses was "before or after the Chinese store"? Most of the words, although they sound English, are completely indistinguishable. Anways, we met Moses, and he was eager to help us out. He got out his refrigerant manifold and a can of R134a and I showed him where our service ports were. He hooked everything up and ultimately just added more refrigerant. There was still vacuum in the system; Jim was just hesitant to add too much refrigerant. I could tell right away Moses had "the feel" for it.

Moses has a story, I am sure. We only got a snippet of it, but I feel like I need to write it down because he was a fantastic human. So, their house was pretty ramshackle, but we don't judge. As he was working on our fridge though, he said last year a hurricane destroyed their house. He indicated where it had been. There were no signs of a structure at all. "So, I had to build us a new one". It wasn't a particularly nice house, but to recover from having everything taken by a storm, to getting a roof back over your family's heads in a year must be hard. I've never tried it, and I hope I don't have to. He was totally upbeat about it, though; it was just a thing that had happened. He also shared that "everything in my house came from the garbage." But not in a self-deprecating way. He just genuinely enjoys fixing what others throw away. Just yesterday, he said, he'd taken in a washing machine that someone was throwing away. He replaced one hose inside it that leaked, and he was currently washing the fourth load of laundry in it, while we were there. I totally vibe with that. I told him he'd be appalled in the states to see what people discard. His whole business is appliance repair, and he took the opportunity to show his two sons the work we were doing in the van. Actually, all three of them helped me to reassemble the kitchen after the work was done. He passed the wrench to the eldest and the drill to the youngest. I just had to indicate what hardware went where, for the most part, and they did the reassembly for me. We chatted for a bit after everything was done and back together. We asked him what we could pay him for helping us out because he really saved our asses. He refused to accept anything, even a warm beer from our not-yet-fully-cooled-but-on-its-way refrigerator. We thanked him profusely and we hoped to never forget Moses' generosity.



We had asked Moses and his wife where we could get rice and beans, as that is THE dish to get in Belize. On their recommendation, we went just down the street to Roadside Diner. We got frigid sodas from the cooler, and I ordered a plate with lamb. Mandy got chicken. It was way better than either of us expected! They were completely different in spice flavor, but both hinted at an Indian style. The lamb was fantastically tender. They added some extra sauce on top of the rice and beans. So good! The plates were about $5 each, which was really cheap by Belize standards. Definitely the best food we had in the country. That aligns with our theory that the cheaper the dish, the better it tastes.



After lunch, we headed to Altun Ha. This is yet another ancient city. Perhaps just a town? Altun Ha is rather small compared to Tikal and Caracol. I thought the largest pyramid there had really interesting architectural design elements. The corners were rounded and it sort of has a banded appearance. Of course, I left my phone in the van as we wandered around, so the pictures are all Mandy's. I was still processing the interaction with Moses, so I wasn't fully present, either. We had entered the park with Terry and TJ, but soon after entering, we lost them and wandered about ourselves. Well, with Loki, which was great. He wasn't sure what to make of the old rocks. Neither were we. Experts point out that different cities have different design styles, but this was the first I'd noticed anything slightly different, which I explained above. It was pretty hot, and we tried to sit in the grass with Loki, but immediately were attacked by biting ants.





We returned to the vans, and I set to work making dinner of pork chops and broccoli. It was hot outside, but even hotter inside. I missed the sunset, unfortunately, but I hear it was nice. By the time I'd finished cooking, eating, and cleaning up, it was pretty much dark outside. I sat out there anyways, because I needed to cool off. We stayed in the parking lot at Altun Ha overnight. A couple of the bars there seem to have a sort of music battle to see who can play it louder. But the owners came by to see how we were doing, and Melanie even offered van-side beer deliver service. They were all super friendly and said we were more than welcome to stay parked there overnight, that there would be no issues. A guy walked by and offered us sweetbread for $1 that was really tasty. It was like a large cookie with cinnamon flavor. Terry said it would be great with raisins. This day really cemented for us that Belize and its people are wonderful, regardless of what Michael and Layne thought of the place.

 

[rob cote]

Saturday morning, we picked up trash around the parking lot before heading out. It's not much, but it's something. It's payment for free parking, I guess. I know everything helps, but we're holding an eyedropper on the beach it feels like. Afterwards, we hit the road. The pavement was quite nice for a while, actually. Until it wasn't. At some point, we reached a construction area where the road had been mostly removed in preparation to be reinstalled, I assume. It seemed to last until forever. We crept along at about 10mph because there was no one around, and I was too lazy to park and let air out of the tires. Eventually, we got back onto "real" pavement and continued the rest of the way to the border.



Leaving Belize was pretty simple. We paid the exit fee and got our passports stamped. We almost skipped getting the van exported, but an agent thankfully caught that for us and directed us where to go. We forgot one piece of paper to complete the procedure, so Mandy ran out to grab that. With the proper documents, it took only a moment to stamp and continue. We hopped back in the van and drove into no-man's land between Belize and Mexico. There were multiple roads, so it was a little confusing to figure out where to go, but I aimed for Chetumal which took us to the Mexican entry location.

We let an agent into the van which upset Loki a bit. We apologized profusely, but she seemed mostly unphased. She took our fresh produce which amounted to an onion, a few eggs, and a couple small tomatoes. We pulled into a parking space so she could review the papers we had for bringing Loki into the country. They accepted the 3-year rabies vaccine which was great because I couldn't find his most recent 1-year document in the stack of papers. She said it's not a problem so I could stop searching. Both are currently valid, so it's truly not a problem, but Belize and Guatemala don't recognize the 3-year vaccine. Anyways. That was done, so we set him up with windows open, fan on, and some peanut butter to occupy him while we went inside. We tried to work quickly because it was hot outside.

We got our passports checked and received documents for Banjercito. We paid the fee at Banjercito, then returned to the first window to get our passports stamped. Then, we got the overweight, non-commercial vehicle form from Banjercito to get the vehicle inspected by customs and stamped as "yes, indeed, it's not a commercial vehicle". Then we went back to Banjercito to pay the fee. Everything had gone really quickly up to this point. From exiting Belize until then, was probably only an hour or so, even including the driving between. I gave the agent Mandy's credit card. No, it must have my name on the card used to pay. I gave her mine to try, knowing that it wasn't going to work as I'd reported some fraudulent charges on it a few days prior. I actually just responded to an e-mail that the card company had sent, saying no, I don't recognize the charges. They called immediately then, but no one ever answered, I was just on hold for an hour before giving up. That was days earlier. I tried calling a couple days later, but my phone wasn't working at Altun Ha. I put it off for another day.

So, now I had to deal with that. I told the agent I needed to call the card company. Sure, no problem. She had our van title and my passport, so I wasn't comfortable leaving the window. So, I stood in front of the window for an hour and 13 minutes on hold. During the last 5 minutes of that, I actually talked to a person. Mandy had come in to see what was taking so long, reinitiated all the paperwork with Banjercito and Aduana in her name instead, so ultimately all I did on the phone call was to verify that they expedite the new credit card. It would have been too confusing to have them turn the card back on for one transaction, and explain that in Spanish to Aduana so they could re-re-initiate all the paperwork. I was so done at that point, I just wanted to quit. At the bank's customer service. Those hold times are unacceptable. The customs agents were totally fine, and I didn't take it out on them.

After Mandy paid, we were free to go. We continued the rest of the way to Chetumal. Along the way, we stopped at Chedraui to pick up some groceries. I opted to go in, rather than wait outside. I couldn't sit inside the hot van the whole time. I wandered around the grocery getting mostly everything on our list, then proceeded to checkout. I used a basket thingy for all the goods because I always feel ridiculous pushing a cart around. I've never filled a cart in my life. But, at the checkout, they didn't have bags. I just had the lady put the groceries back into the basket thing. I went to the exit and was told I can't bring the basket outside. But I didn't have the two dozen hands required to carry all the items I'd purchased. The security guard said I had to use a carriage, so I went to grab one. No, no, not that one, it has to be a metal one. So, I went to get a metal cart, threw everything inside it, nearly smashed the eggs because I was so done. Pushed the cart out, put the groceries away, pushed the cart in, walked back out to the van. I drove us to the exit to get to the main road where Android Auto was telling us to go, but a tree branch right before the exit was too low to get under. Thankfully no one was behind us because I'd have just quit. Instead, I backed all the way up to the building again, and continued out of the parking lot a different way.

After all that, we had no more issues getting to Yax Ha Cabanas and Camping. We pulled in and parked in a beautiful oasis that I was too exhausted to appreciate. We parked about 10 feet from the turquoise waters of the Carribean Sea between palm trees that litter the ground with fresh coconuts. There's a bar next to the pool and a DJ playing dance music all day. And our friends were already parked and hanging out, waiting our arrival. We exchanged our border crossing stories and all agreed that ours was far worse of the two. But we made it, and we were glad of that.

I set to work slicing a fresh pineapple up. Then, I split open a brown coconut. I saved the water and grated all the meat. I made Mandy a drink with the pineapple and coconut and spiced rum and some juice with ice because we can finally make ice again. Then, I made guac for the tacos, which were next on my to-do list. Tacos done; I minced some pineapple real small to top them with. I thought they were some of my best work. After all that, I could finally take a shower to cool off. Then I just sat outside. I discovered that there's a literal infestation of mosquitoes at Yax Ha; there were thousands around, even though there's a constant breeze blowing through. I'm not sure how they stick around, but they do. I was just checked out, so I didn't even care. We hung out for a bit, then finally went to sleep. I crashed immediately.