Day 5 – 4 November

While the day got off to a slow start, David took some pictures of the beach by our cabana.  Click here for the whole view of the beach by our cabana.

  • A 220° view of the beach in front of our cabana
  • Ours is the brown one
  • Note Stacy's very muddy socks on the railing.
  • The view from our cabana
  • The beach at Hopkins
    • The bottoms of our shoes - that is how much mud was STILL stuck!
    • The main room of our cabana

      After eating breakfast and then getting lunch to go, we visited The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (also known as the Jaguar Preserve) and had our lunch. Then, we took the Ben's Bluff Hiking Trail to a waterfall. It started pouring rain about 5 minutes before we reached the waterfall. We hiked up to Ben’s Bluff to see the view. Since the trail was now muddy, we kept an eye out for cat-like footprints. We think we saw one in the mud, but no sign of the jaguar itself.  Click here for pictures of the Sanctuary hike. Click here for an interactive Map of our Hike

      When, we got back from the Wildlife Sanctuary, Stacy went swimming right outside our cabin. Unfortunately, it was getting dark and there were cold patches in the water, so she didn’t last long. That evening, we enjoyed a Belizean dinner on the beach. Dan was invited to a drumming lesson.  Click here for a movie taken during the lesson.

      • A flower outside of our cabana
      • Dan drumming (note the blurry, fast moving hands)
      • Dan after his lesson
      • Dan's hands after his drumming lesson (you can see where his ring caused blood to flow)

      Day 6 – 5 November

      This is the day for driving up to Corozal near the Northern border of Belize with Mexico. First, we investigated a property we had seen in this area of Belize, but did not go off-road. We drove the Hummingbird Highway in the east to west direction. We passed Belmopan and tried a coffee shop there to get Dan and Christy a coveted latte

      • A street in Hopkins
      • A Post Office!
      • Dan with caffeine
      • A view on the side of road

      We then visited the wonderful Belize Zoo (click here for pictures). We arrived in Corozal, found our guesthouse and had dinner. David and Stacy went for a stroll around town that evening. We were right along the Corozal Bay. The town had a sea wall but no beach.

      • Sunset
      • Sunset
      • Our guesthouse in Corozal Town

      Day 7 – 6 November

      We walked into town and went to a real estate agency that  Josh had recommended. We were shown a property and had more discussions with this real estate agent.  Christy was not feeling 100% and remained behind.

      • Christy working hard on her day off
      • The view from our room
      • The jungle on a property we looked at
      • Dan by the jungle
      • Stacy in the water 1 mile from a property we looked at
      • Another White-collared Manakin -- not happy about our being here

      After lunch, we visited Cerros (click here for pictures), a Mayan ruin on the water. Besides the SWARMS of mosquitoes, it was nice (David has a new theory as to the downfall of the Maya, they were exsanguinated!). Much of the site has not yet been excavated. Getting to and from the site involved crossing a river on a hand-crank ferry.

      • Christy enjoying lunch
      • Dan speaking to a jeweler we met in the local market