Hey U Wan Do C da Jungle?

Rayman acting like a Howler Monkey

Time gets away from us so quickly down here. Let's see...we fell in love with Placencia and so of course stayed longer than we originally planned. Each day we would go down to the front desk and ask if our room was available for another night and then we'd book it. We had decided when we could no longer have our room it would mean it was time to move on. So we were able to stay until last Thursday when a large group was expected at the hotel. 
Placencia was filled with exotic fruit trees, and snapper, conch and rum were plentiful. We met and talked at length with many locals who work hard to make a living and raise their families. We realized on several occasions just how small the village of Placencia really is - we started to see many of the same faces, could call them by name and then started learning their life's trials and tribulations. 

Placencia Soursop...makes excellent daiquiris

For example - 
On Wednesday night we talked at length with a gentleman that resembled Morgan Freeman. He spend part of his time in Belize, his native country, and the other part in New Jersey. We would see him on just about every walkabout around Placencia. He and his nephew, whom we met over cocktails, were building some houses on property where they already had a couple of very nice houses. The next morning we waited to get on the Richie's Bus we took back to Belize City and met a woman and her husband from New York. She had a Mexican mother and Black father and loved Hopkins, but her husband loved Placencia so they vacationed in Placencia first and were on their way to Hopkins before heading up to the Cayo District to visit her mother. They knew "Morgan Freeman" from New York and New Jersey as well as Placencia. When "Morgan Freeman" happened to drive by while all of us were waiting for Richie's to arrive, he waved and a big group of us waved back all thinking he was waving at them. We ALL knew him...including the woman sitting alone that the NY couple realized they knew from their original Belizean days...she was on her way back to New Jersey after getting a divorce from Morgan Freeman just two weeks prior!!! 
We bought beautiful wooden bowls hand-made by Tyrone. Tyrone and his wife were busy raising their two children and trying to figure out whether the cruise ship terminal out of Placencia was going to have a positive or a negative impact on their lives. It was a big and valid concern of theirs. They had been attending town hall meetings and their biggest concern was that they would be asked to "mass produce". They were adamant their craft of carving beautiful bowls and other things from wood could never be mass produced. They had a nice storefront that they were very pleased with. They explained the business started with Tyrone's dad who was an original carver and came to Placencia only on occasion to sell. Then they started setting up a table on a regular basis that grew into a 2-table business and so on until they built a storefront. Their 4-year old son became a favorite of ours and he loved coaxing us into playing soccer with him.
 

Through the mangroves

Hiking in the Jungle

There Really are several Howler Monkeys in this tree

We booked a trip with Rose one day to go up the Monkey River and see the jungle and it's wildlife. By land, Monkey River is quite a long drive from Placencia but by boat is was about 45 minutes south. Our captain was Kimoni and when we got to Monkey River we picked up Rayman as our jungle guide. There were only five of us on the boat so it was a relaxing and exciting trip through the open and rough water in the panga, then through the mangroves to the mouth of the river and the extremely small village of Monkey River. We heard about the earthquake that hit Monkey River hard back in 2009 along with seeing a crocodile, tarantulas, blue crab in their inland holes, teeny tiny bats on the trees, birds, and of course the awesome howler monkeys. I love monkeys! and could have been a Jane Goodall type in another life. It was only fitting that I spotted the first monkey, even before Rayman or Kimoni. :)
Rayman told us a lot about how they still use parts of the trees and native plants for medicinal purposes such as treating snake bites, ear aches and infections. We stopped in Monkey River and had lunch of snapper, rice and slaw before leaving to go find the manatees. 

Rayman working hard to crab it without getting pinched...

Out comes the blue crab!

Kimoni told us about the days when they had few tourists and they would take them out in hopes of spotting manatees because they knew if they could spot the manatees the tourists would give them a nice tip. Otherwise, it was an unpaid boat ride for the tourists. There were no licenses or regulations when tourism was in its infant stages. Again, he was concerned about the impact the influx of tourists from the cruise ships is going to have on Placencia. Interestingly, the manatees we encountered were just off the coast of Harvest Caye where they are building the huge cruise ship terminal.  He said there were "save the manatees" campaigns but the cruise ship business won out.
It was an awesome day in da jungle!
More on Placencia and the trip up the peninsula  to come!