Valerie & Jack

Our next guests were Valerie and Jack from Alabama, who had rented a car and were driving around Belize with the long-term goal of moving here. They’ve been to Belize before, but had never managed to get to the Mountain Pine Ridge. They had wanted to stay here for more than one night, but we were booked solid so they took the one night they could get. Fortunately, they were very easy going, since when they arrived Tom was out trying to resolve our internet problems, and I was picking up Lauren in San Ignacio. They let themselves in the gate and made themselves at home in the dining room to wait for Tom’s return – exactly what we would have told them to do!


Tom got home and got them settled in their room, and then when Lauren and I arrived I finished making dinner. We had a great dinner conversation, since all of us come from very diverse backgrounds and have lots of stories to share. We got the plans set for the next day, when they were planning to drive to Caracol and take Lauren with them.

The Caracol day went almost as planned. They left here in the morning, with their lunch packed, and met the convoy at Augustine. They went to Caracol without a guide, and had no problems touring the site based on the informational brochure. They had left here too late in the morning to go to Rio Frio before the convoy left, so they decided to do that on their way back. It was a good plan, but that road – the same one where the Kia van had slipped off and had to be engineered out – must be in really bad shape because even with 4WD and Valerie’s expert driving, the small Suzuki SUV was not able to make it back to the cave. After doing what Jack described as a 36-point turn, they made it back to the main road, skipped Rio On Pools, and returned here shortly before dark with a very dirty car.

We had time for a quick Belikin before they headed off into San Ignacio, where they planned to spend the night before heading back towards the coast the next day. While they were out, I had made plans for Lauren to go to the Offering Cave the next day, so they promised to return when they have more time so they can do some of the other adventures that are so easily done when using Moonracer Farm as your base camp.