After leaving Missoula and a night of rest in Denver we arrived into Belize early in the afternoon to start our first adventure to Central America! During our hour-or-so ride to our jungle paradise, Pook's Hill, our driver answered our questions about Belize's culture, climate, and wildlife. A bumpy and beautiful drive down ended our last leg of the drive where we learned about the local flora of the Jungle including the sacred Mayan tree, the Ceiba Tree, or Tree of Life. This impressive national tree's branches reach to the sky and the trunk of the younger trees are covered in intimidating spikes.
The national tree of Belize, the Ceiba Tree or 'Tree of Life' (Joe Devine)
Immediately after arriving at Pook's Hill we were immediately greeted by one of the owners or the lodge, Ray, who treated us to a welcome drink and introduced us to the lodge. We familiarized ourselves with our cozy cabanas. The accommodations at Pook's Hill are the perfect rustic escape from modern living, although they do supply electricity via solar arrays and generators as well as hot water which is supplied via burning Cohune nuts, a native renewable resource.
Relaxing at Pook's Hill (Joe Devine)
After exploring the lodge and conversing with the other guests and Ray over dinner we headed to bed for the best night's sleep I have ever had. There is nothing that compares to falling asleep to the sound of the jungle!
Jess was so helpful in talking me through some of the trip options I'd told her I was interested in, and then also bringing up similar alternatives with more flexible dates. Now that everything is booked I realize all the extra things she figured out for us as well, besides booking the transfers from and to each location, she realized that we wouldn't make it to my desired flight time on three departure date and was able to easily add another day so that even our departure day is stress free!
Wendy
2 months ago
Good candid advice and suggestions; prompt replies.
Ken Johnson
2 months ago
Thoughtful and highly responsive service.
Robert Shwab
4 months ago
The trip planner understood what we wanted to do and see, and found what we hope to be a great match for our interests and style of travel.
Karen
6 months ago
Basically everything. The transfers from lodge to lodge were all timely and smooth (even though we arrived 3 hours late!) with great drivers. The lodges and food were all top notch. The guides were excellent and very knowledgeable about local history and wildlife. Chaa lodge stands out as exceptional. I ended up with an infection leaving Chaa, but they arranged for driver to stop at doctor, and he even got us to a pharmacy for prescription and a great drive to coast.
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