Days 171 & 172: Belize City to San Ignacio and Xunantunich

We bid farewell to Belize City on Wednesday and rode towards San Ignacio, a town close to the border of Guatemala. The ride itself was just under two hours, but we stopped for lunch in the capital and had a delicious seafood pizza. We didn’t ride around Belmopan to see what the city looks like overall; however, the parts we did see looked so much better and more cared for than Belize City.

 

We arrived at our hotel in San Ignacio in the afternoon. We stayed at the River Park Inn for two nights at 92.25 BZD (~56.55 CAD) as we had plans to visit the Xunantunich ruins with Tim and Marisa on the following day and then cross the border into Guatemala on Friday with the Notier’s Frontiers team.

After unwinding a bit, we met up with Tim and Marisa in the early evening. We walked around the city center of San Ignacio and stopped for dinner at an Indian restaurant. San Ignacio is not an exceptionally beautiful town; however, it is lively and has the Caribbean charm that we were hoping Belize City would have had. It also seems to be a very tourist-friendly city, most likely due to its proximity to the Guatemalan border.

Phil’s daughter, Marine, had spent some time in San Ignacio a few years ago and she suggested that we go to the Old House Hostel where there was a little bar with live music. Friday night was blues night so that’s where we went. Unfortunately, the music was to start at 11:00 PM and, as nice as it seemed, San Ignacio was still an unknown city to us so we didn’t wait around that late. We did enjoy some drinks and conversation, and our resident musician had a solo jam session on the piano.

 

 

 

On Thursday morning, we met Tim and Marisa at their hostel and the four of us got some breakfast at a diner before heading out towards the ruins at Xunantunich together. We had to cross a river on a rickety old raft that was clearly sturdier than it looked since it easily held a few cars. The crossing was quick and we were on our way before we knew it. The river crossing was surprisingly free and the entry to the ruins was a very reasonable 10 BZD (~6.15 CAD).

Xunantunich used to serve as the Mayan civic ceremonial center. The name in Mayan means “Sculpture of Lady” and is a modern name as the ancient one is unknown. The “Stone Woman” refers to the ghost of a woman that several people have claimed to see at the site since 1892. She is said to be dressed in white and have glowing red eyes. She is said to appear in front of El Castillo, ascend the stairs, and then disappear into a stone wall. In case anyone is wondering, she didn’t come out to greet us.

 

 

 

 

 

After visiting the ruins, we had some lunch at a nearby restaurant and then went to the Tropical Wings butterfly farm at Trek Stop that was recommended to us. The entry fee was 10 BZD (~6.15 CAD). While not very costly, there was disappointingly little variety in the species of butterflies they had. We were hoping to see some blue morpho butterflies since they are supposed to be native to the region, but no such luck.

 

 

 

 

 

After the butterfly farm, we went our separate ways for the rest of the evening. To Guatemala in the morning 🙂