RAMP ON TO BELIZE FROM YOUR PC

By LAN SLUDER

Up-to-date, in-depth and accurate information on Belize is now as close as your home PC. Using the global electronic resources of the Internet, commercial on-line services such as CompuServe, Prodigy, America On-Line, Apple's e-World and Microsoft Network, or private bulletin boards, you can research, plan and even book your next trip to Belize on-line.

With nothing more than your trusty Mac or IBM-compat, a telephone, a modem and some basic software, you can read extracts from guidebooks to Belize (or read BELIZE FIRST Magazine on-line), view color photos, maps and even video, chat or exchange e-mail with people in Belize, learn which hotels are good and which aren't, get today's weather report from the Caribbean Coast, find out what real estate is for sale at what price, skim brochures on Belize resorts, and then, if you care to, make your hotel, car and airline reservations on-line.

Here's a comprehensive guide to on-line resources on Belize.

RATING THE OPTIONS

Here's how BELIZE FIRST rates the Internet and the commercial on-line services in terms of information about Belize, ease of use, cost, Internet ramping, and access to/from Belize:

INTERNET
The Internet, especially the Web, has plenty of information on Belize, but whether you can find it and make use of it is another matter. In many ways, the Internet remains a passive system, with what interactivity there is taking place with computer serv you move around the Web and other parts of the Internet. Netscape is the class act in the field, although Mosaic is also popular and there are many others. Commercial services also offer their own proprietary Web browsers.

Commercial on-line services, by contrast, offer an easier and often cheaper way to get information. They are designed for user friendliness; if you can use a word processing program, you can logon and quickly learn to use the major services such as CompuServe, AOL or Prodigy. Information is well-organized. If there's information on Belize, you'll be able to find it. Access is based on hourly charges of about $1 to $3.

The commercial on-line services now have about 11 million active subscribers. By the time Network from Microsoft ramps up, that total is expected to grow. The Internet is thought to have as many as 30 million users. But these numbers are somewhat misleading. Many connected to the Internet use it only for e-mail. Some have Internet access but never use it, or use it infrequently. A large number of Interneters are college students who are on-line only because their university gives them free access, whereas most commercial services attract adult users who actively choose to pay for access. Plus, the Internet numbers include a sizeable portion of the commercial on-line service membership -- it's not a unique universe.

Indeed, when looking at the activity levels of commercial on-line forums to those of comparable forums, called newsgroups, on the Internet, in most cases the commercial services have much more traffic and therefore much more information. For example, the main travel forum on CompuServe gets some 25,000 messages posted to the forum each month, far more than all the usenet travel newsgroups on the Internet usenet newsgroups combined. Plus, CompuServe has about 25 other travel-related forums, on subjects from scuba diving to traveling to Italy, with tens of thousands of messages posted on them each month.

You can have your cybercake and eat it, too. All of the major commercial on-line services now are also ramps to the Internet highway. So you can use, say, your CompuServe, AOL or Prodigy membership to access the Internet and the Web. The commercial services are moving away from text files on their own internal services to graphical and hypertext files similar to those on the Web.

THREE TOP JUNGLE LODGES:

Chan Chich, Chaa Creek, Blancaneaux: Which One is Right for You?

By LAN SLUDER

At the best of Belize's jungle lodges, you can spend the day with the ancient Mayans, share the night with jaguars, then awake to a full breakfast of tropical fruits and fresh-made breads before a bracing swim in a tropical river or lake.

You're in the real bush, far from the echoes of civilization, not in a manufactured Disneyjungle. Yet the beds are thick and comfortable, and the beer is cold. The showers roar with plenty of hot water, and you can drink from the tap, or enjoy a rum-and-tonic with ice without fearing for your tummy.

Belize has many excellent lodges, among them duPlooy's, Hidden Valley Inn, Ek' Tun, Banana Bank, Mountain Equestrian Trails, Five Sisters, Pine Ridge Lodge, Windy Hill, and Maya Mountain in Cayo, Lamanai Outpost in Orange Walk, and Fallen Stones in Toledo. But few would disagree with rating Chan Chich, Chaa Creek and Blancaneaux at or near the very top among lodges in Belize, and for that matter in all of Central America.

Each of the three offers a unique experience, but they are all different, with different appeals. Here's a look at these three special places, with comparisons to help you decide which is right for you.

Chan Chich Lodge

Chan Chich has been featured so many times in so many publications around the world that management is almost blasˇ about press relations. "Oh, I didn't even know we were in The New York Times," said Josie Harding, who with her husband, Tom, manages Chan Chich, when told of a major feature story in the Times & Travel section earlier this year.

It seems almost unnecessary to describe this famous lodge: That it's owned by Belikin beer magnate and Belize Coca-Cola distributor Barry Bowen, a seventh- generation Belizean; that it was designed and built about seven years ago by Tom Harding, on a Mayan ruin, a controversial siting that most in Belize now dismiss as uncontroversial; that it is in a magnificent setting on the 125,000-acre Bowen Gallon Jug farm, surrounded by lush jungle accessible through well- maintained cut trails.

From the moment you arrive at Chan Chich, you realize this is a first-class operation, with considerable money and energy lavished on it, but all in good taste. The entrance road is paved to international standards. The grounds are beautiful, with lush tropical plants and trees, helped along with plenty of irrigation water when needed. The 12 thatched-roof caba– as are strikingly situated literally in the middle of a Mayan plaza. These ruins are unrestored and, to the casual eye, resemble large mounds of earth. The cottages are tasteful, with local woods, 19-foot high thatched roofs, wrap-around decks with hammocks, two queen beds, 24-hour AC-current electricity from a generator, plenty of cold and hot water, potable water from the tap, and cold water from a Bowen & Bowen water cooler in each room. The area is so free of security worries that the caba– as do not have locks or keys.

Chan Chich cottages have ceiling fans but not air conditioning. Barry Bowen is planning a new resort near Chan Chich, which will have more luxuries, including air conditioning. Just outside your door you'll find a bird-watcher's paradise. Some 300 species of birds are said to be in the jungle which surrounds the lodge. Birders, either in groups or independently, make up 30 to 40% of the guests. A flock of ocellated turkeys haunts the grounds. Howler monkeys and all kinds of other loud-mouthed wildlife hang out in your back yard. (A few people have a hard time sleeping due to nocturnal creatures jabbering their heads off.) Ocelots, Belize's two species of deer, peccaries, howler and spider monkeys, many snakes including the fer-de- lance, crocodiles, and to a lesser degree jaguar and puma are routinely seen here. You can walk the miles of jungle paths with a guide (recommended at least on your initial walk), or use a booklet published by the hotel (US$10) for self-guided trails.

The restaurant is an attractive wood-paneled room, with gift shop upstairs and the hotel office to one side, and a small library to the other. The bar is in a new thatched building next to the restaurant; it opened in December 1994. Meals at Chan Chich are filling and well-prepared, if not of gourmet standard.

Chan Chich is, very simply, for most visitors, the most memorable lodge destination in mainland Belize.

Contact: Chan Chich, P.O. Box 37, Belize City. Tel. 501-2-75634; fax 501-2-76961. U.S. office: P.O. Box 1088, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568; tel. 508-693-0856 or 800-343-8009; fax 508-693-6311.

Rates: 1995-96 high season (November-April): $100 single, $115 double, $35 each additional person, plus 7% tax. Full-American plan meals: Add $40 per person adults, $30 children under 12. All-inclusive plan is $135 per person double, $190 for single. There is no service charge, but it is suggested guests leave a gratuity at the office on check-out, which is shared among all staff. The all-inclusive rate includes soft drinks, beer (but not hard booze) and most activities including guides during the day. Location: In an isolated area of Orange Walk District, near a former logging settlement called Gallon Jug, south of the Rio Bravo conservation area and only a few miles from the Guatemala border.

How to get there: Getting here by road takes a bit of doing. It's almost four hours from Belize City. After Orange Walk, the road is mostly unpaved, in good condition overall but with some rough spots, which get rougher after a rain. The sections in the Programme for Belize lands and Gallon Jug lands are in good to superb condition, by Belize standards. (Going the shorter route via back roads from Cayo is precluded by the fact that part of it is through private lands, not open to the public.) The roads are a moot point for most Ń 90% of visitors here come by air. There's a landing strip about 3 miles away on the Gallon Jug farm. Javier Flying Service offers round-trips from Belize City's Municipal Airport on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at US$98 per person. Cost is higher on charter flights from the international airport.

Blancaneaux

This, of course, is Francis Ford Coppola's resort. In the early 1980s, the renowned film director, mastermind of the Godfather movies and creator of the only film about Vietnam which adequately conveys a sense of that absurd U.S. war, bought what was then a hunting lodge. Later he began developing it as a resort, and it opened to generally excellent world reviews in late 1993. Coppola visits Belize frequently and he was at Blancaneaux four times during the first six months of 1995, Blancaneaux staff said. The resort is a combination of rustic and hip: It has five two-bedroom luxury villas (the newer ones feature art from Coppola's private collection, and all are beautifully designed and decorated, if very pricey by Central American standards), seven thatched-roof caba– as with screened sitting areas with views down the hillside, and, for the time being at least, three small rooms in the lodge.

The grounds are beautifully maintained, with a view of the Privassion River, which offers excellent swimming in a dammed-up area. The piney woods setting, however, may remind guests more of North Georgia than of Central America, but the presence of orchids and exotic flowers will soon dispel that notion. In the main lodge, the restaurant features pizza from a wood-fired oven and glorious pasta dishes, along with fresh veggies from the lodge's gardens. The bar serves cold drinks and wines from Coppola's vineyards in a convivial atmosphere. The massive bar countertop of slate is the work of the talented Garcia sisters, whose workshop and museum/gallery are in nearby San Antonio village.

Managers Anne and Colin Wood are originally from Scotland but have lived and worked in the hospitality industry in several parts of the world. Their kitchen is one of the best in Belize, although some find it odd to have an upmarket Italian restaurant in the middle of rice-and-beans country.

Coppola clearly has spent a lot of money on the resort, much of it on infrastructure. He installed a hydro-electric plant to generate power from the river. Earlier this year due to low river levels it could only generate power for three to four hours a day, after which the resort went to back-up diesel generators. Also, he installed a commercial-grade water purification plant for river water, and a satellite telephone system (though the rooms do not have telephones).

Service is more than competent and very friendly, from a multilingual staff, including Ramon Vargas (a native of the Cayo District who studied in the U.S. and danced professionally in Belize and Cuba), Francis Rodriquez, (a Garifuna from P.G. who speaks five languages), Albert Valentine, John Chuc, Bernardo Matute, and others.

Contact: Blancaneaux Lodge, Mountain Pine Ridge, Central Farm Post Office Box B, Cayo District, Belize. Tel. 501-9-23878; fax 501-9-23919.

Rates: 1995-96 high-season : caba– as US$110 single, US$145 double, villas US$275 double, plus 7% tax and 10% service. Add US$40 per person for lunch and dinner package. A continental breakfast is included in the basic rate, but the restaurant staff subtly pushes extra-priced a la carte breakfasts. Packages including air service from Belize City are available. Dinner restaurant meals a la carte run about US$15 to $30, not including drinks. 5% surcharge on credit cards, an unfortunate practice. Location: In the Mountain Pine Ridge of western Belize, just off the road to Caracol, within the Pine Ridge Reserve.

How to get there: It takes about 2 1/2 hours to drive from Belize City. You pass a check point as you enter the Reserve. A private airstrip is near the resort. Blancaneaux has purchased a 9-passenger aircraft and will have a private pilot in residence to bring in guests on group packages. Charter service is also available from Belize City.

What to do nearby: By all means, see Caracol. Visit the Rio Frio Caves. Discover a waterfall or two. Drive back to San Ignacio to visit Xunantunich and Cahal Pech, or for nightlife and a change of dining pace.

Chaa Creek Cottages

Despite worthy and growing competition, Chaa Creek, which first opened its doors in 1981, remains the premier cottage colony around San Ignacio.

Owners Mick and Lucy Fleming, like the Hardings at Chan Chich, are widely known and well-respected through the hospitality industry in Belize and the region. They appear to have the art of running a jungle lodge down to a science. One suspects, for example, that the reason why Chaa Creek still uses kerosene and paraffin lamps to light the thatched caba– as owes more to an understanding of what customers want than the practicalities of electrical generators.

Chaa Creek's luxe-Maya cottages have baths en suite (as elsewhere at Belize lodges hot water is provided by propane insta-heaters), lovely Guatemalan bed covers and attractive furnishings. There are no phones Ń hooray! Most of the rooms are in duplexes, not as private as the single-unit caba– as at Chan Chich or Blancaneaux.

Despite the well-kept grounds, at Chaa Creek you're not in Kansas anymore. You may find a bat flying around your room, or in the morning discover a huge insect in the shoe you left out.

The lodge is on 330 acres in the rolling limestone foothills near the Macal River, with good swimming. The setting is picturesque, overlooking the rolling hills of Belize and Guatemala beyond. Immediately adjacent to Chaa Creek is the Panti Medicine Trail, well worth visiting. Canoeing, mountain biking, horseback riding and hiking are also available at Chaa Creek.

Earlier this year, Chaa Creek opened its new Natural History Centre and Blue Morpho Butterfly Breeding Centre. At present, neither quite lives up to its public relations, and it seems a bit cheeky to charge US$3 to visit the two small sites. The butterfly farm, in particular, is nothing more than a small screened shed. If you've seen butterfly farms elsewhere in Belize or Costa Rica, this may be a disappointment. Still, the potential is there. It's a good idea, and one that likely will grow and mature.

There is a small gift shop on site with a decent selection of Guatemalan goods.

Chaa Creek's bar is first rate, a fine place to gather after a day of touring or river rafting. (Keep a flashlight handy, though, for the after-dark stumble back to your casita.) The restaurant serves more-or- less typical lodge fare, plentiful and tasty but in most cases not memorable. Breakfast, with fresh Guatemalan coffee, freshly baked breads and fresh fruits and jam, is always excellent.

Chaa Creek recently has changed the access to the lodge. Now you have to stop and park some distance before you get to the main lodge area. Someone will come for your bags.

Chaa Creek does a booming and highly professional business in tours of the Cayo and Tikal, through its Chaa Creek Inland Expeditions division. It also attracts a considerable number of package and tour groups from the U.S., Canada and Europe. Contact: Chaa Creek, San Ignacio, Cayo, Belize. Tel. 501-9-22037; fax 501-9-22501

Rates: US$95 single, US$115 double; breakfast US$8, packed lunch US$7 (lunch at the hotel also now available), dinner US$22. Plus 7% tax and service charge of US$5 per person per day. All-inclusive rate (cottages, meals, activities only), $125 per person per day, 3-day minimum. Package and charter rates available. There is a 5% surcharge on credit cards, unfortunately.

Location: West of San Ignacio, about three miles off the good Western Highway.

How to get there: It's about a 2 to 2 1/2-hour drive from Belize City, all but the last three miles on a very good road. You can also fly into San Ignacio.

What to do nearby: Xunantunich and Cahal Pech, and a couple of newly discovered Maya sites, are nearby. Caracol is about 3 1/2 hours away. Visit the Rio Frio Caves. Go canoeing or waterfalling. San Ignacio and Santa Elena are pleasant towns, quiet except when the beer flows.

How the Three Lodges Stack Up

All three lodges are highly rated, but they do differ in the emphasis they put on different aspects of the lodge experience. Here are admittedly subjective ratings based on recent visits to all lodges by BELIZE FIRST staff and also by readers who turned in reports.

Natural Setting

Price/Value

Bird Watching/Animal Spotting

Accommodations

Dining

Bar

Service and Friendliness

Library: Selection of Regional Books and Magazines

On-Site Activities

Nearby Activities/Sights

Accessibility by Car

Accessibility by Air

Lan Sluder's travel articles have appeared in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Caribbean Travel and Life, Newsday and many other publications.

IN THE DAYS OF BRITISH HONDURAS

Two Recollections:

Belize City in the 1950s By Jane B. Hanrahan

Mule Carts and Lighters By Neil L. Fraser

BELIZE CITY, CIRCA 1954

By JANE B. HANRAHAN

"Nobody's driving to British Honduras tomorrow," advised the taxi driver at the Chetumal airport. "Probably there's a wagon going down Thursday."

To get from Mˇ rida, Yucat‡ n, to Belize in November 1954, we had flown to this capital of the then- province of Quintana Roo. En route our DC-3 had paused on a grassy strip in Cozumel to drop off current movies and new baseball bats for the Mexican troops there.

"Some British Army fellows are Christmas-shopping here," continued our driver. "It's a free port, you know. They'll need a ride back to Belice. You want a hotel?"

So he drove my husband and me to Chetumal's Hotel Iris. A gracious lady welcomed us. The next evening she showed us browning photos of her late husband, Didier Masson, a pilot in the first world war's Lafayette Escadrille and at one time the Pan American Airways station chief in Belize City.

It was Friday before the station-wagon driver gathered a full load for Belize. We climbed into the weathered Chevie with two English soldiers, an itinerant photographer and a corpulent scrap-iron dealer.

At the border, a dusty clearing with a mud-colored building, the Mexican official chatted with us in Spanish. A bit paunchy, he wore a khaki uniform open at the neck and smoked a cigarette. With a grin he waved us on.

A short way down the road the British Honduran station had a low white fence and blooming hollyhocks. A slim black officer with crisp creases in his uniform trousers asked terse questions in English. The humid heat remained but the ambiance had changed. We jostled and squeaked down an unpaved one-lane road through forests of logwood and mahogany. Occasionally a clapboard home stood on stilts above the swampland. Cable-ferries floated us across two rivers. An unofficial postal service, we collected several messages for Belizeans and a letter "for Lupita."

As we approached the capital, today's Belize City, bicycle traffic increased and some small European cars appeared. Horse-drawn wagons hauled bags of grain and cases of soft drinks. Store signs, block letters painted on board, announced "Bread and Buns," "Licenced for Sale of Drugs and Poisons," ŅAssurance." Black women in print dresses carried umbrellas against the sun.

White houses with green gingerbread trim sat back from the road leading to the Fort George Hotel. White picket fences and pink hibiscus hedges lined the lanes.

The new Fort George stood alone at the tip of the peninsula. With its floors and furniture of polished local hardwoods the 35-room hostelry offered a subdued luxury somehow lost in the bustle of today's enlarged chain hotel.

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