Cayo Scoop! The Ecology of Cayo Culture

Congratulatoins, Blancaneaux Lodge!  Maxim Magazine ranked them as one of the sexiest hotels of the world for their Enchanted Cottage.  Being located in Mountain Pine Ridge surely helped with the ambiance.  Well done!

"This is the deal: skinny dipping in a private pool in the middle of the rainforest, stars impossibly bright above you, so secluded from everything else in your life that you become the only two people who have ever existed on the planet, at least for a minute.  That’s what The Enchanted Cottage at Blancaneaux offers, plus a private bath house with a Japanese tub, steam room, open fire, under-floor heating...let’s just say it’s luxe. Bonus: the cottage comes with a full-time chef and attendant, who is available at the touch of a radio button whenever you’re in the mood for a snack or cocktail.  Or both."

The Huffington Post published another great article about Belize, and while they seriously underplay Cayo, Xunantunich and Caracol are mentioned as their favorites.  Blancaneaux gets a good mention too.

"Sure it has the beach, mountains AND tropical rainforest sprinkled through the country, but Belize also has its fair share of incredible archaeological wonders.  Get an up close and personal look at Mayan ruins by traveling to any number of ancient sites-- our favorites are Xunantunich and Caracol."

The Cayo Tour Guide Association is having their first Tourism Eco Conservation Camp this July, and they are having a raffle to raise funds for the event.  Get your raffle tickets, and you could win 2 nights at both Blancaneaux Lodge and Turtle Inn for 4 people.  Transportation to Mountain Pine Ridge and Placencia is included.  Tickets are only $10, and you can get them from any CTGA member.

Sacred Heart Junior College students are making good progress with the Big Rock Trail improvement.  They are half way through their 10 nights there.  Check out the pictures so far at https://www.facebook.com/groups/549155755177741/

"The Big Rock Trail Improvement Project is underway. 8 SHJC NRM students, 6 SHJC volunteers, 4 trail builders from New York and team leader Chad Burrow braved rain and cool weather this weekend kicking off the project.  They'll work and camp in Belize's Mountain Pine Ridge for 10 nights volunteering their time to make one of Belize's premier destinations safer and more accessible. Belize Trails, Blancaneaux Lodge, the Cayo Tour Guides Association and SHJC's NRM department are proud sponsors of this outstanding effort!"

Great article about looking for jaguars in the MPR area with Roni Martinez.  

"Roni Martinez is conservation officer at Blancaneaux Lodge, a gracious bit of tourism infrastructure in a particularly peculiar part of Belize.  Take those pines, for example.  Much of this country is clad in broad-leaf rainforest, damp and exotic, full of orchids and bromeliads, strangler figs, vines and creepers.  Huge palms stretch upwards.  Ferns shoot sail-like fronds up to the canopy.  Below all the dripping vegetation lies soft limestone, riddled with caves and cenotes, once thought by the ancient Mayans to be the gateways to the underworld.  However, the area around Blancaneaux, known as Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve, is a geological oddity.  It's a huge granite massif, which means acid soil: no good for rainforests, but perfect for the Honduras pine, with its long, elegant needles.  There's still plenty of moisture around, but the hard bedrock sees the rains flow straight off the land into rivers: the Macal, Rio Frio, Rio On and Privassion Creek, which flows past Blancaneaux in cascades of swirling brown."

Blancaneaux Lodge, located in Cayo's Mountain Pine Ridge, has been called one of the world's best lodges by Fathom.  They give recognition to Roni Martinez, their conservation officer, along with many others for their outstanding service.

"There's something special in the air at Blancaneaux Lodge, Francis Ford Coppola's magically remote, secluded oasis, situated on 70 acres in the northwest corner of Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve in western Belize's Cayo District.  It's the warm familiarity you feel visiting beloved friends and family...  The staff is terrifically friendly (first name basis, please) and includes fun and informed guides (Eddie, Geraldo, and Jorge), the passionate conservation officer, Roni Martinez, and genuinely hospitable veteran manager, Bernie Matute."

The Travel Channel has listed their top 10 Jungle Lodges, and Cayo has 6 on the list.  Chaa Creek, Blancaneaux, Parrot Nest, and Table Rock(picture) are there, showing that Cayo is the place to visit for adventure, eco-tourism, and relaxation.

10.  Chaa Creek
8.  Blancaneaux
7.  Hidden Valley Inn
6.  Table Rock
2.  Sleeping Giant

1.  Parrot Nest

Congratulations to all the outstanding lodges! 

"After a day of high adventure in Belize’s rain forest — caving, hiking, canoeing, zip-lining, birding, wildlife-spotting, horseback riding, climbing Maya ruins or mountain biking — at one of the country’s jungle lodges, you can look forward to a delicious meal, good company, Wi-Fi and a comfy bed.  Here are our picks for Belize’s best lodges in all price ranges."

Xunantunich and Blancaneaux Lodge were featured in Caribbean Belle Weddings magazine.  Conch Creative's majestic picture does Xunantunich right.  More pictures from the wedding can be seen on Conch Creative's website.

"Epic spread in the new issue of Caribbean Belle Weddings.  The couple photographed amidst ancient Mayan ruins at El Castillo, Xunantunich, Belize, where legend says, 'a maiden dressed in white' would appear.  The photographer, San Pedro, used Maya legends for inspiration on the day.  Photography by Conch Creative Subscribe online to CBW at www.caribbeanbelleweddings.com"

Blancaneaux Lodge is teaching students from San Antonio and Cristo Rey the  importance of organic farming as part of their community outreach programs.  Thanks, Blancaneaux!

"Teaching our upcoming generations the importance of ORGANIC farming.  Not only feasible but also healthier.  Part of our community outreach efforts at the San Antonio and Cristo Rey Schools."

You can see 100's of pictures of the Big Rock Falls trail construction project at the Belize Trails fan page.  They have before and after pictures, pictures from the road flattening phase, camp pictures, and even pictures of the fun.  Enjoy!  Thanks to all those involved.

"We have recently completed a project improving the trail to Big Rock Falls in the Mountain Pine Ridge.  Thanks to Sacred Heart College, Mariposa Jungle Lodge, Blancaneaux Lodge, Mountain Equestrian Trails, Twin Town Transport and all the individual volunteers who helped make this project successful!  Now it's a little easier to get to this view."

The New York Times lists Belize, and gives MPR as an example, on their '52 Places to go in 2014' travel article.  They mention Blancaneaux and the recent flight expansions that Tropic Air has made. 

"Twenty years ago, when Francis Ford Coppola opened Blancaneaux Lodge in western Belize, relatively few travelers had ventured into this small Central American country.  Slowly they arrived, many of them curious to witness the scenery that had captivated the film director, which he described in an email as 'completely remote, with a beautiful pristine river you could drink the water out of and the most star-studded night sky I had ever seen.'"

Feelgood news of the day. Blancaneaux Lodge is giving back to the local community, and is working with San Antonio Primary school to get an organic garden growing.  Plant those seeds!

"One of our Community Outreach Projects and how Blancaneaux Lodge helps our communities to be responsible with our environment."

Cayo gots an amazing write up in the February edition of Hemispheres Magazine.  Caracol, Rio Frio Cave, and MPR are described and shown in pictures.  Blancaneaux Lodge is where the author stayed, and it gets a great review.  The Flavors of Belize cookbook also got a great mention in the article too.

"You stop at a military checkpoint, then proceed to the Rio Frio Cave.  Belize is riddled with caves, many of which contain human remains.  The Maya would perform ritual sacrifices in these places because they believed they were portals to the underworld, through which the Sun God, in the form of a jaguar, would travel at dusk.  The Rio Frio Cave is open-ended, so it wasn’t used for sacrifices—but it was used, as evidenced by the Mayan pottery fragments scattered around.  The crown jewel of the Cayo region is Caracol, a sprawling ruin that once was one of the most powerful cities in the Mayan world.  At its peak there were maybe 150,000 people living here, roughly half the present population of Belize, and the whole city was clad in plaster.  It was mysteriously abandoned 1,200 years ago and rediscovered by a logger in 1937."

Great article on Cayo with mentions of Mountain Pine Ridge Mayan ruins, Caracol, and even raptors, scarlet macaws, and jaguars.  Some of the pictures featured are from Roni Martinez, Blancaneaux Lodge's conservation officer.

"From Rio Frio Caves, we drive through winding roads toward Caracol, the largest archeological site in Belize, watching the outside scenery dramatically shift from pine ridge habitat to moist, leafy rainforest.  Sitting shotgun, our insightful guide Jorge tells me to keep my eyes peeled for a jaguar or a Tata Duende, the elf-like forest spirit with no thumbs and backwards feet.  Legend has it that this mischievous mythological creature takes small children in the forest where he steals their thumbs.  I'll hold onto my mine . . . for now...  

Carcaol's Caana (Sky Place) temple stands at 14 floors.  We climb the massive stone temple with almost obliged reverence (due to the size of the steps) and find at the top sweeping blue skies and a sea of emerald forest.  It's an exhilarating workout."