Belize con Mis Padres

On the 26th of April, Ami and I welcomed the Chima parents to Central America!

We met them at the Belize City International Airport in the morning. And, from there Ami and I were reintroduced to a world we had not experienced since we left the states, more or less. We had an airconditioned minivan pick us up at the airport and drive us cross country (only an hour, as Belize is a small country) to San Ignacio, the fist stop on the Chima train. We checked into a resort with a pool and an air-conditioned room. Now, for the large part, Ami and I have enjoyed our experiences sweating out our travel days on chicken buses, and attempting to fall alseep in humid, stuffy hostal rooms. But, this was a welcome break.

The highlights from San Igancio:

1) Tikal. Tikal. Tikal. We made the trek into the northeastern part of Guatemala from San Ignacio in order to lay our eyes on the amazing, breathtaking sites of Mayan architecture present in Tikal. We made the hike up 3 of the monumental sites to take in the breathtaking views of the region. We also made the hike through about 80% (a quote from our guide) of the Tikal ruins.

2) Chaa Creek. A eco-friendly resort. We went to this resort to spend some time relaxing. Little did we know that the ´pool ín this ecoo-friendly resort was actually a creek. We were allowed to borrow two of the canoes and row ourselves down the creek. We swam a bit in the chilly creek and with teams of Dad and Mom versus the young ACs, racing in our canoes. I don´t know if growing up in Fiji was an advantage, but Dad along with Mom took the cake each time we rowed down the creek.

The next stop was Ambergris Caye, a resort island set in the Caribbean. We made the hike from San Ignacio via minivan and water taxi, arriving at the Holiday Hotel in the early afternoon.

The highlights from our stay here are the following:

1) We rented a golf cart, the primary means of transportation (in addition to bikes and walking), and drove around to see parts of the island removed from the main tourist location. Quite a bit of development is ongoing, mostly of homes and condos.

2) We went snorkling in the Caribbean waters, and wow, the worlds second largest reef (behind that of Australia) and the sea life did not disappoint. We saw several types of fish, a shark (not a man eating type) and numerous, I mean numerous sting rays.

The last stop on the Chima tour brought us full circle and back to Belize City. We stayed at a hotel named The Princess Hotel. Our time in Belize City consisted of happy hour drinks, shopping at the tourist cruise ports and exploring downtown. The city itself is not exciting, but nonetheless an area my parents wanted to see. We made the trek over to Old Town Belize, about a 10 minute drive from downtown and a tourist creation to provide tourists with a history of Belize. Our departure from Old Belize back to downtown was the highlight of our trip to old town. We had arranged a cab to wait for us and take us back. But, of course, business called, so he left. Cabs are not plentiful from Old Belize, and when they are there, they are expensive. So, we walked to the side of the road in hopes of catching a cab back to town, but while waiting, my folks decided to pose for a picture trying to hitchhike. Well, it worked. Next thing you know a pickup is waiting for us to take us back to town!


Overall, having the Senior Chimas around was great, and just as quickly as we welcomed the air-conditioned transportation and accommodations, within a blink of an eye we were back on the Chicken Buses.