San Ignacio Mana Kai camping , Banana Wine by Locust and Honey from Hopkins
We left Gales Point with Mitch and he let Sean, Robert and I out on the road to catch the bus to Belmopan and then on to San Ignacio. They threw our luggage in the back and we hopped on. It cost us $2.00 US each to ride to Belmopan. We got off at the bus station and waited for Sean who had gotten off earlier to visit with one of his projects. The bus station was an interesting place to watch people. There was a lady selling sandwiches singing about her sandwiches to the tune of Jingle Bells.
We then got on the bus to San Ignacio. It was very crowded in the beginning but then thinned out. Arrived in San Ignacio and Sean took us over to meet David. David runs a tour agency and also has a jungle lodge. He was also recommended to us by some friends back home. To get to his jungle lodge you have to canoe across the river and then climb 180 steps to get to his lodge. We decided not to do this and Robert went and found us a place Mana Kai on the river.
We had a nice room for $20, cleaned up, took a nap and then went to the market. This is a very nice market and good place to get supplies before moving on. We got ourselves some nice veggies and some chicken. There is an outdoor area where you can cook. Robert made ginger chicken with squash, carrots, onion, red bell pepper, and garlic and of course ginger.
While we were cooking, the man staying in the rental tent came up. His name is Ras David and he is making and selling banana wine. Robert bought some--it was not quite fermented and Robert put it aside in the room fridge to drink in the morning. It was supposed to also be an energy drink.
We finished the last of our cashew wine and then had the wine we had brought from Belize City.
The owner, Xavier came up and visited with us. He is a teacher and we shared some of our similar tales of woe.
He had some interesting stories of when the flood came earlier this year. The room we had was up on a rise and did not flood. The next day Luis, the caretaker told us his experience of the flood and the snake that came into his room and onto his bed which is on the second floor!
The cooking area is quite interesting. There is an oven that was built by a man from Africa and then a grill to the side. Inside the oven is a shelf where Xavier's wife cooks bread. Ras David cooked his meal over wood that he and Xavier had gathered.
The next morning we were going to set off for Tikal. Luis said he would get another tent for us to rent if we came back through, and went to the market and found a taxi driver that would come to our room and give us a ride to the border.
We fixed our breakfast in the room and left about 9:00 am. Made it to the border in Benque in about 15 minutes.
We splurged and took a private taxi direct to Tikal for less than $20 each. This is much more than the buses we would have had to take, but we got there in much less time....
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