Belize

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I love Tikal, I wish LL had more packages closer to the site and more packages in Guatemala in general. I never did the border crossing from Belize to Guate - heard it can be dicey these days with some armed bandits in the area - tourist bus was recently held up - O - looking forward to hearing about your Belize trip.

[bonniejoy03]

Loved the border crossing.....but was quite scared. Never had armed guards around the bathroom! No worries!

So, what are your impressions of Ka'ana? I did look at their website and noticed how much it has changed since I visited a few years ago. I see they have villas now.

[omegaet]

We made the border crossing from BenqueViejo, Belize to Melchor De Mencos, Guatemala. Our guide and driver for the day, Elias Cambranes, simply parked his vehicle in the secure parking area on the Belize side and we all walked through the border control processing booth (leaving Belize behind) and into Guatemala.

Once inside Guatemala, we walked a short distance to where our guide had arranged for a properly licensed and insured van for the drive through Melchor on to Tikal.

There was an armed presence on both sides of the border crossing, but at no time did we experience any concerns or issues....traffic appeared to be moving through without delays.

On our drive to Tikal we passed through a couple of roadside check points, which were manned by national police armed with automatic weapons. There were no problems at these stops, as our guide was properly credentialed and our passports were stamped and in order.

On the return trip from Tikal,we shopped in Melchor at a small bodega to buy a couple of bags of locally grown coffee. Once again, we had no problems, the people were very friendly, sold us the coffee at local prices rather than tourist prices (a savings of about 50%).

We'll make a blog entry about Ka'ana experiences shortly.

[Mountie]

Dude, you're going to have to change your name from omegaet to Indiana (something). Police with automatic weapons, border crossings between Third World countries, shopping in border town bodegas! I hung out on the beach and went diving when I was in Belize on my Luxury Link vacation.

[jsattapr2]

-O-, any bugs biting this time of year?

[Mountie]

Bugs! I can tell you the coast was loaded with bugs when I stayed at Las Terrazas Ambergris Caye resort - Luxury hotel Belize - Las Terrazas Resort

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The last time I was in Belize was about 5 years ago and all the archaeological sites we went to that were near the Guatemala border all had many, many armed guards on patrol.

Omegaet- I am curious how was the departure from the airport back to the states - the last time we came through this airport security was pretty lax - I am wondering if it has been beefed up?

[omegaet]

Departure security process at BZE? Not an issue when we passed through......very quick and appeared very routine for the personnel in charge.

When passing through Customs upon arrival, I did find it unexpected to be questioned in detail regarding the duffle bag of items we were taking to the http://www.kaanabelize.com/ Pack For A Purpose project.

The agent instructed me to removed 'all' of the items for his inspection.....general curiosity or suspicion....who knows?

During the time consuming and bothersome process, I continually assured him everything was being 'donated' to students in a local school and that I had no intentions of selling any of the items.

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Interesting - I am taking a bunch of stuff to Nicaragua for the Pack for a Purpose - mostly school supplies. Hope we do not have a similar problem

[omegaet]

denise...could have been one or more reasons I received 'special' treatment by Customs:

1) My physical appearance is possibly suspect.

2) The duffle bag had been secured in bright yellow luggage wrap at MIA to minimize pilferage and therefore made it difficult to open and inspect upon arrival in BZE

3) I neglected to request a letterhead document from PfaP or the school indicating the purpose of the items (I will request a letter in the future when participating again)...might have expedited the inspection.

At the end of the day......no harm - no foul...and the school received their items!