You Better Belize It! Day 8 (Branch Mouth)
We had one full day left (April 7th) to bum around Belize, but we had done everything within easy access and we were about out of cash. We had no desire to pull money out of an ATM, so we decided to walk a mile down the dusty road from our hotel to Branch Mouth. Branch Mouth is where the Mopan River from Guatemala and the Macal River from Belize converge to form the Belize River. Apparently it’s a popular swimming place for the locals so we put our suites on in case we wanted to swim, but we changed our minds when we got there. It’s a beautiful spot, but we didn’t want to share the river with the rather robust pig who was hanging out there. We crossed the hanging bridge that looks like it belongs in a movie where someone on the other side cuts the rope before the other people can get across, causing them to dangle over the 200 foot drop to sudden death. OK, it wasn’t that bad. But like most things in Belize, it was a little scary. Some of the wooden slats looked like they would give out at any moment, and indeed some had probably done just that and were then haphazardly repaired with less than ideal replacements. We swam at the hotel when we got back, but there were some local guys who jumped off the bridge and swam for a while at Branch Mouth.

Sadly, this was the only frog we saw on our trip. It was lying in the road between our hotel and Branch Mouth quite flat and dehydrated.
It was a fairly lazy day for us. After we swam we went into town to take some pictures, had lunch at Hode’s, and then went back to our room to pack for our trip home the next day.

We walked by this mural several times and it made us laugh. The HIV/AIDS awareness message is serious, but the choice of words is a little comical.
Since we don’t have a lot of pictures to share from Thursday specifically, I thought this would be a good time to throw in some of the photos we took throughout the week of plants and animals we encountered on our hotel grounds.

These flowering bushes grew on the side of the road by our hotel, so we saw them every time we walked over to Hode's to eat.

This was the view from our cabana. You can see the playground at Hode's place where the red trees are (you might have to enlarge it).

We saw this guy frequently. He would lay on the sidewalk in the sun and then scurry into his hole under the sidewalk when we came within about 3 feet.

My mom had a mother-in-laws tongue when I was growing up. I've always loved it, so I was so excited to see it growing on the grounds of the Midas resort. It's the tall yellow and green plant.
I think you had a wonderful trip. One of a lifetime. Wonderful photos too.
what the belize! wow, i hadn’t checked your blog since the super hero capes post… i’m so jealous you guys went to belize! that is awesome! i love all the pictures of the ruins!