Scarlet Macaws are not Spotted, Either

For my last excursion in Belize, I called Shal and booked a ride to the town of Red Bank (the one in Belize, not the one in New Jersey, right next to Asbury Park...although I like going there, too.)

Just outside Red Bank is jungle known to be a Scarlet Macaw nesting area.  January and February is peak time to see the birds.  Of course there's no guarantee you'll see them.  Best you can do is hire a guide, go to the jungle and have a look.

So, that's what I did.

Red Bank is a little less than an hour from Placencia.   It's a nice ride and a beautiful morning.  

                                   On the way we passed this boy walking his bike, his horse and a dog.

 Every time we turned onto a new road, it became a little less 'road like'.  Paved road becomes dirt road, dirt road becomes a tractor road and that becomes a muddy, bumpy path.  Shal's van slipped and slid but did a great job getting through.  We parked it in an orange grove and set off on our hike.

 Did I say hike?  It was more of a mountain climb.   Occasionally, Shal would stop to listen for the macaws,  then decide which direction to go. We got to a spot where the path split.  Shal turned to me and said, "We'll go this way, but it's going to be uphill"
"Going to be uphill?", I thought.  It's already been uphill!
At the next fork, Shal said, "We'll go this way, but it's going to get steep"
"GOING to get steep??"
And then he said, it's only about 40 more minutes.  Really?  For the first few minutes I kept telling myself I misunderstood him.  Surely he must have said fourteen minutes, not forty.  But, no.  It was a tough hike.  Steep parts.  Slippery parts.  I could feel my heart pounding in my teeth.  Quite a workout..

At first, I thought we were going to have to cross on this tree trunk, but the path went around the ravine.

                                   This was the view from almost the top.  It was very beautiful.

 We sat and stared out this vista for over an hour looking for macaws, but saw none.  I needed nearly every minute of that time to recover from the climb!
 Heading back down the mountain, while not as heart-pounding as ascending, was slippery and difficult.  I only fell once...which I thought was pretty good!

We tried three more areas where Shal thought we might find macaw, including along this river.  It was a very beautiful spot, but no macaws.  Actually at this point, after that cardio-workout jungle hike up the mountain and back, I'd have been kind of mad at the birds to show up here - on flat land, half a mile from the car!

On the way back there were bananas on the path.   Maybe it was the hiking endorphins making me a little giddy, but it cracked me up, so I took a picture.   I guess it's not that funny - there were banana trees everywhere along the trail.  But, still...

It was a nice day, even without seeing the macaws. We did see woodpeckers, parrots, parakeets, a laughing falcon, at least 10 types of butterfly and many beautiful plants and flowers.  It was a great trip!

When I got back home, in the evening I decided to take a walk down the main street.  I ran into my Rasta friend Antonio.  He was full of questions - "Where's you bike?", "Do you want to get a beer?", "Do you want to buy a CD, necklace...?", "Where are you staying?", "Will you come back to Belize?"

I chatted with him for a moment and went on my way.  Later when I returned up the street a woman sitting in front of a shop called me over.  She was very exotic looking - dark like many Belizeans, but with bright blue eyes.  She was stringing beads to make a necklace.  I half expected a jewelry sales pitch when she said, "Dat man?  Dat man you talk to before.  He baaad news.  Very bad.  He jus want you money.  Dat's all he like is himself, money and da ladies.  Very bad news."

I said, "Oh I know.  I've been warned, I've run into him before."

She responded saying, "Yeah, He very bad.  He break doors if he think you have money."

!!!!

I reached down to pet her dog.

"And he hit my dog once.  He only like himself and money.  Da ladies he like, but he don't like animals"

Well...don't like animals? - that's the final straw.  Good bye, Antonio.

I went home and checked my multi-layer security system.  That system consists of:

A screen door with a latch.

 A door lock

Guard dogs. 

A nail in the wall that keeps the window shutters from opening

 Battery-powered window alarms that beep, beep beep if the window opens.

 Rock, paper, scissors.

And me in my zebra pajamas.

(My willingness to post unflattering pictures has been the bravest thing I've done!  LOL)

The first day I got here, Lee showed me around.  I learned how to close the window shutters.  She pointed out that there were nail holes in the walls and nails on the window sills to keep the shutters closed.  She also told me how to work the little window alarms.

Then she said, "You should probably close the shutters when you are out or when you are sleeping...and don't leave valuables, like your laptop in view, they'll cut the screens. reach right in and take stuff."

"Really?"

So that night a I sat wondering what on earth had I done in coming here, alone, for a month.  Before going to bed I latched the hook, locked the door, pet the dogs,  put the nails in the wall, turned on the alarms and looked through my stuff for anything that might serve as a weapon.  Best I could come up with was a pair of scissors.  I also found a rock on the kitchen counter (the previous tenant must have been weapon-minded as well...), and placed them on the shelf next to my bed.

The fact that they were sitting on paper was a happy coincidence that I didn't realize until some days later....rock, paper, scissors!  lol

If you get past all that you have me to deal with.  If my zebra pjs don't scare you, at the very least you'll have a fight on your hands.  (The image of zebra-me in the dark yelling "I have a rock and scissors and I'm not afraid to use 'em!", sends me into giggle fits)

Everything's been fine - no problems.  I dutifully tuck away my laptop every time I go out and take reasonable safety precautions that you would traveling anywhere.  Well, except for a couple of mornings where I woke up and realized I totally forgot to lock the door.  LOL   Ooops.