San Ignacio, Belize
Adventure – To me, this is the one word that describes the country of Belize. Travelers come to Belize to experience an adventurous vacation whether it be exploring caves, hiking the jungles, taking a 4×4 expedition, or just tubing down rivers. Belize is a small country that makes up one of the eight countries in Central America. Belize is bordered by Mexico and Guatemala and English is the official language. You won’t find many Spanish Speaking people here like the other surrounding countries but many Belizeans speak creole which is a language that has been developed by mixing different languages into one. Belize is a relatively new country, at least the name Belize is newer since prior to 1981 it was known as British Honduras. Belize is generally divided into 5 separate regions: Belize District, Cayo, Northern Belize, Stann Creek, and Toledo. A majority of the visitors to include myself will head to the Cayo District for a few days to explore the jungle then many might head back to Belize City to hop on a ferry to one of the nearby islands. The Cayo District is where my adventure really started and the main hoping point here is the town of San Ignacio.
San Ignacio is located in the jungles of the Cayo District. Belize does not have the best infrastructure or highway networks, so getting to San Ignacio does take a little bit of planning but it’s really quite simple. There is a small airport in San Ignacio that has flights to and from Belize City. We met a couple on their Honey Moon here in Belize, and they flew and used the airport and said everything worked as expected without issues, so there is that option. The cheaper option and the option we opted for was to hop on a bus that went from Belize City to San Ignacio. Think of the “Yellow” school buses we use in the States. These are similar to the shuttles used for transportation. The journey is about 2.5 hours and isn’t the most comfortable journey but it is interesting and one heck of an experience. All the buses will make a stop in the capital city of Belmopan before being directed to San Ignacio or other destinations.
Here is what we did to arrive at the bus station from the Philip Goldson International Airport (Belize City Airport).
Set aside $50, this will pay for the taxi to and from the bus station from the airport, $25 each way. A taxi is basically the only way to get here from the airport. Once you arrive at the bus station, buses leave toward San Ignacio every 30 minutes so no worries if one pulls out once you arrive. Bus fares are 7 Belizean Dollars which equates to about $3.50 USD. You pay there and wait for one of the buses to start boarding. Generally, it is first come first serve and you can sit anywhere on the bus. The bus will make frequent stops between Belize City and San Ignacio but all buses will stop in Belmopan for about 15 minutes before continuing on to San Ignacio. To get back to Belize City, buses pick up is the same location as the drop off area and it mimics the same route back to Belize City.
Many locals ride the bus but most travelers especially budget travelers use it as well. We met many interesting people while taking the bus. We met a guy from Canada who goes around the country planting trees. We also met a group of Germans from my hometown, Wiesbaden who were traveling around Central and South America for months. It’s funny, since San Ignacio is not very big and many people have similiar itineraries, we ran into many of the same people every day we even made friends with a Portuguese/Canadian couple because we saw them on a few tours, in town at restaurants, and even ended up in Cay Caulker at the end of the trip. We went out together for drinks and had an incredible time and made great travel memories with them.
San Ignacio, Places to Discover and Eat!
San Ignacio is a relatively small town in the middle of Belize. Although small, San Ignacio is a great base station for travelers looking for an adventure and take part in day trips and fun exploration. The Cayo district is full of Ancient Mayan Ruins, sacred caves, lush jungles, and is close to the border of Guatemala. San Ignacio is pretty walkable so I wouldn’t recommend renting a car or anything and most tour companies will provide transportation anyway. Many of the restaurants, shops, markets can be found in the downtown area while other restaurants and attractions are a short walk from the down town area. We stayed directly downtown at the Maya Bella hotel. Although most people come to San Ignacio for day trips away from the city, there are a few fun attractions to do within the city that should not be missed. Jill and I had a full free day here without any tours to exploring the town and we have a few hours after the tours to explore and eat. Here are some of the fun attractions and activities to do within San Ignacio.
AJAW Chocolate & Crafts – We stumbled upon this place and went inside since there was a big advertisement for chocolate tours and we can’t pass up learning about and eating chocolate. It was not quite what we expected, in fact it was much more interesting and better then we expected. We got to watch and partake in making and eating traditional Mayan chocolate. The staff showed us the whole process from extracting the cacao bean and turning it into a paste using traditional stones to grind the beans. We then made chocolate drinks from the paste with hot water. At first you could taste how bitter real chocolate really is. Then by adding natural sweetener to it like honey it becomes more familiar to our taste buds. Trying the chocolate at various stages and learning about it here was a phenomenal experience. The owner here who presented the tour to us was of Mayan descent and we ended up learning a lot about the Mayan people and their cultures.
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Cahal Pech – Cahal Pech is a arge Mayan site just outside of the downtown area. We walked here from our hotel in just a few minutes. We started our day early here and arrived at 7 am when they opened. We practically had the whole site to ourselves for several hours. I’ve been to several Mayan sites around Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico, and this one is ranked up there with my favorites. We freely explored the ruins on our own pace, you can even climb the ruins and walk around the structures without issues. This site is not commercialized like some of the bigger ones making it even more enjoyable. There is an interesting museum here and I think we paid around $5 USD to visit the site. Cahal Pech is a must!
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We spent a few nights in San Ignacio and we love to explore a new place by sampling local restaurants and trying new things. Here are some of the restaurants and dessert shops we tried that I think are worth trying.
Erva’s Restaurant – Located downtown this small restaurant serves up fresh cuisine from the area. They had outdoor seating, which I generally prefer. I ordered the fried fish fillet and Jill had coconut fish. Both fish dishes were cooked nicely and we were very pleased with our first meal in Belize.
Guava Limb Cafe – This restaurant was probably our favorite. It caught my attention right away, the decoration and atmosphere was just so welcoming. This restaurant was two-storied. For dinner, I had the jerk chicken quesadilla and Jill had a traditional panini, both meals were excellent. They also had great looking cake here for dessert, have to save room for cake next time.
Ko Ox Han Nah – This restaurant was a popular one, we came at the right time because shortly after, there was a long line. Jill had the lamb burger and I had pork cutlets with coconut rice. The flavors here were unique to us, we really enjoyed it.
Sweet Ting – Passed by this cute little cake shop on the way to downtown from Cahal Pech. This place was tiny, but there were two tables inside and cakes in the display case. We purchased a couple slices of mocha rum cake and some cookies. Yumm Yumm Yumm!
The Ice Cream Shoppe – Who doesn’t love a good ice cream? Especially in new places with interesting and tropical flavors. I kept hearing the term soursop and saw it as an ice cream flavor and had to try. Soursop is a dark green prickly fruit and the inside is a whitish color. It’s super refreshing and tasted especially yummy in ice cream.
Day Trips from San Ignacio
Day trips are why tourists come to San Ignacio in the first place. I’ve said it many times, San Ignacio is where everyone comes to before going on single and multi day excursions. Honestly, there is no way anyone can fit in all the excursions they want in one trip. We planned on two, but after spending time here I can say there are at least 5 other trips I want to take that I didn’t even know about, looks like I’ll have to go back! We Here are the two trips we went on that were literally life changing! We booked our two day trips online prior to our visit. The tour company we went with is called MayaWalk Tours. They were incredible on both trips. You can go to their shop downtown to book tours, we just thought we have to book in advance, which is not the case but it can’t hurt especially during tourist season. They provide transportation, lunch, equipment if needed, and are full of informative information! The two tours we booked were the ATM Cave Tour and the Caracol Mayan Ruins and Rio Frio Cave. Other tours they do include trips to Tikal, Guatemala, and other nearby Mayan Sites, they also do cave tubing, horseback riding, birdwatching, and other cultural tours.
Actun Tunichil Muknal Tour – Otherwise known as the ATM Cave, was literally one of the best experiences in my life. I wrote a whole blog post about this, so I won’t go into to much detail. But If you only have time for one tour, I highly recommend doing the ATM Cave. This cave is famous for the Crystal Maiden, who is believed to be a young female sacrificial victim. There are other skeletal remains and artifacts throughout the cave. The main draw of the cave beside the Crystal Maiden, is getting to the cavern where she rests. For the most part, you have to swim your way through narrow alley ways of the cave, climb rocks, and slide down natural water slides. Cameras are not allowed here as people previously have damaged the skeletons with their cameras and it’s just a safety hazard, after exploring the cave, I completely understand why. Before getting to the cave and after exiting the group has to walk a bit to get to the actual cave through lush rainforest, we saw a fresh jaguar paw print in the mud!
Caracol Mayan Ruins – Expect rain if you are in the rain forest. Getting to and from Caracol was an adventure in itself. We lucked out as we were the only visitors that day and got a private tour with a guide through MayaWalk. Our tour guide Darryl, was great and used his own 4×4 to get us safely there. Caracol is tricky to reach, the roads are basically mud and everyone has to depart at a certain time and get escorted away by military vehicles as they have issues with bandits in the area come evening time.
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Caracol is a very special place to both Jill and I as this is where we became engaged. That’s right! I asked Jill to marry me on top of Canaa or the Sky Palace which is not only the tallest Mayan structure in Belize but still to this day it is the largest building in all of Belize. Of course she said yes and we’ve been married 1.5 years already.
Caracol is huge, it is said to rival Tikal, the large Mayan site in Guatemala. During its prime, Caracol probably had around 100,000 people living there which is huge! The site is estimated to cover about 75 square miles, which is bigger then any modern day city in Belize. The history of this site dates back to 1200 B.C. and peaked around 650 A.D. before it was abandoned like many other Mayan sites around Central America. Only a small percentage of the site has been excavated. Now there are a few plazas that are fully excavated. After doing extensive research on the site and using LIDAR scans, it is said that there are most like around 35,000 buildings here.
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San Ignacio, A Town for Adventurous Travelers!
I did not necessarily love San Ignacio but I loved the area and sites around the town. Most people who visit the area come for the adventure, the day trips, and the experiences. After spending time here, I realized that I must come back since there are so many other excursions I need to partake in. Since, we got engaged in Caracol near San Ignacio, Jill and I made a pact to visit the area again 5 years after that special day which is only 3.5 years away, so I guess I will be back soon!
Here are some fun animals we saw around San Ignacio!
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