A Christmas Tale Retold After 10 Years of Belize

 

It is Christmas Eve and I lay in my tent camped on the edge of a whitewater river in the jungle of Belize with my clients. It is now ten years on since I first came to work  here in Belize, and I find it just as alluring  now as I did then ( though perhaps a dab more normal than I thought of it back then). Sleeping in the jungle with the sounds of the multitude of life around me, the stars twinkling above me and the roar of the rapids on the river next to me; I am brought back to a group email ( no blog back then) I first wrote of this experience back in 2005. My words then echo now in my mind as I sit being present to what's around me. I have included my old email below along with some photos I have taken over the years in Belize to accompany .
I hope you all have a great New Years and... Keep exploring.

Jaime

 

Written in 2005

Dark, wet and moody Jungle, where the rain falls so hard and for so long the ground pools even when it’s flat. The air itself becomes wet and the jungle rings with the noise of drumming everywhere. It stops suddenly, just as it started, though what is left now are the heavy drips that build from the upper canopy, drumming all the way down till large droplets strike the sodden earth. Now the sound of the river returns, a constant buzz from the nearby rapids, the frogs start calling and singing, the jungle is now alive with a new kind of music, and overture of tones and harmony that clutter, yet give symphony. A toucan flies across the gap made by the river winding through the jungle.

We are camped out on the side of the Moho River, in southern Belize's Toledo district. This trip is a four day journey through the jungle via the Moho, which runs a path

 

That leads to 5meter pool drops and an assortment of shoots, just to add excitement to the otherwise tranquil setting. We travel on inflatable two person rafts or kayaks, sometimes known as duckie's, they are stable and durable, and thus we can let our clients captain them without a guide, after a little lesson of course. All around us is life, howler monkeys in Ceiber trees, four eyed grey opossums who come to see who is in their territory at night, multitudes of birds, from eagles to Grackles (a type of black bird), to Oropendulas with their TUI like calls (for those in NZ), to the tiger Heron, who has a call a little like the gentle rumbling snarl of a tiger.

Boy I am humbled by the beauty and magnificence of this world. The two Mayan guides I work with, Pedro and Camellio, live in such a simple way and are so in tune with and knowledgeable of, the jungle we travel in, that I feel like an alien on an in hospitable planet, though boy I am super happy to be here.

Pedro is teaching me how to catch Green Iguana from the kayak. The iguanas hang out on trees along the river and when you surprise them on low branch they leap into the water. The trick is to paddle up slowly with your PFD of and as the jump you jump in after them, grabbing them by the tail until they stop spinning then they just relax until you let them go, quite amazing. I have not yet caught one, they are dam fast.

I found an amazing snake (in fact I found a number of them over the week), called the blunt headed tree snake, delicately long and super thin, it is a striking creamy white with large terracotta orange bands on it, its cat like eyes give away that it is poisonous, though it is extremely docile and even if it did bit it mouth is small and its fangs at the rear of the mouth (the specialises in eating frogs and their eggs, as well as insects). This particular Snake curled around one of my fingers and made itself at home staying there for 20 min's until I encouraged it to move to a tree.

 

Previously the trip starts on the ocean out on the Caye's (the name for the islands here) on the barrier reef of Belize (the second largest in the world). Here the sand is white and he water is warm and clear, the snorkelling great, eagle rays, morays, sea turtles and sharks, not to mention the multitudes of fish species found amongst the coral. Out here on the Caye's( pronounced Keys), brown pelicans dive for fish along with yellow and blue footed booby's, who in turn get harassed by frigate birds for their food. The frigate cannot dive for its own fish, due to the huge wings and little body, though it must resort to piracy.

On some of the Caye's live spinney tailed iguanas, a lot more ferocious than the green, however I did catch one (see attached photos). Out here we kayak from key to key or patch reef to patch reef, snorkelling and eating and drinking, catching seafood when we can. The kayaks are also set up with a sail so we can sail when the trade winds are blowing. Out on the Caye's I think of myself as more of a snorkelling guide, as that's what we do mostly, so it is very cool to spend so much time in the water and getting to know the foreign fish here.

  

However this place is amazing and has so much potential, the people are very friendly, though can be quite in your face sometimes. The Mayans further south, are simple and quite, living of their farms as they have done for centuries. It is interesting to live in a country with so much ethnic diversity, Creole, Garifuna, Mayan, and Mennonites, all different languages, and culture, though one nationality.

Any hew; I am great, merry Christmas and happy new years to you all.

J

 

September 8th: Were The River Flows; A 2nd Return from the Grand Canyon.

 

3 days ago I, Along with 15 other individuals stepped off four rafts onto the muddy shores of the Colorado River at Pearce ferry Arizona. Over the last 16 days we had traveled 280 miles through the Grand Canyon following were the river flows and now our fantastic journey was at an end. It had been a journey of dynamics, dynamics of people from all over the world who were mostly strangers to each other brought together by their common friendship with me and a sense of adventure. It was a trip also of dynamics of water, traveling a rocky passage carved by the river, Rain in the desert, rapids, hydraulics and currents of a chocolate and monsoon swollen Colorado river; river travel also being a stranger to some on the trip. This trip was about discovery and exploration, following in the footsteps of a rich history of exploratory pioneers, traveling one of the mightiest rivers in the Americas which for many was a trip of a lifetime, for some it was a return journey, and for a number, it seeded the desire to return.

We experienced colours, Red in the desert heat, Blue around the scorching sun, Gold of Rattle Snake Scales, white of the water falls hidden up side canyons, Black of the Rain clouds illuminated by lightening and Brown of the earth filled waters of flash floods after torrential down pours. Ringtail Cats raided our camps at night, scorpions scurried about in the dark and stung a few, Waterfalls erupted from high cliffs and just as quickly disappeared as the rains stopped. In between the sun came and went, but there was always the river. The river of the color red (Rio Colorado) was our path and was often veracious and often tranquil, though always a place of comfort and fear as it lead us through the deep walls of the Grand Canyon where Huge rapids raged and glassy meanders calmed. Through the river we traveled, we swam, we played and we grew. Rafts and Kayaks surfed, flipped and charged lines through the white water (though more aptly named brown water on this trip), often we were left more dirty from the water washing over us than if we had rolled in the sand itself, and sometimes the side creeks cleansed us fresh.

Ultimately this was an amazing trip that none would forget, and as we drifted the last night through, sleeping, singing, dancing and drinking on our four rafts strapped together (kayaks stacked on the back), beneath the sublime stars and the last 40 miles of Canyon walls, we reminisced in glory of journey and in sorrow of end and all was right. When the next day’s sun gradually found us, we were quite and sober, relishing such a poetic end to a Grand Journey. For me this was a dream come true, to have shared this experience with some special people I have meet throughout my life and journeys of the world, though also largely because my dad came along, and all got to share in what I am passionate about.... life and adventure.

Jaime Sharp

 

From here down I post my trip log of more details that some may want to read

 

Grand Canyon log  august 21st – sept 5 2013

Day 0  20/8 Lee’s Ferry

Camped at put in after rigging rafts

I slept on raft. light showers that night had me with umbrella over me for shelter.

Day 1 21/8 Soap Creek

Quick intro to kit and kitchen from Raft outfitter.

Launched at 11am

Paddled 11 miles

Light rain at night lightening 

Group did great, such an awesome mix of peeps. Strong up river wind in afternoon had to camp early.

Great night at camp, everyone's slowly winding down

Slept on Raft, Heavy rain shower that night ( sleeping on boat was wet)

Day 2 22/8 Shinumo (I think)

Launched 9.30'am

Paddled 21 miles

Overcast afternoon (nice and cool)At house rock everyone ran there own boats, stu, Kyle , Bruce (whom swam half way through ) and myself . Was a good rush. Nathan ran Duckie  solo all day swam 3'Times

Kept going good kid. Glynn paddled raft through rapids,

And many others gave there hand. Motor raft group stole our site at 29mile so had to push on. Played guitar that night

Got raided by ring tail possums that night, all around kitchen and got into fruit on the rafts. Not much sleep for most of us, i Slept on Raft again

 

Day 3 23/8 Buck Farm

On the water at 9.30

Sunny morn over cast afternoon patchy night lightening

Stopped at a number of sites, nautilus canyon, red wall cavern , natural bridge. Flat days paddle of 14 miles. I kayaked in Jackson rock star, and swam playing around as I couldn't get my hand roll IN it. Had some fun.

Pulled into an awesome site for camp, Kayaked in a ok play hole, others went hiking, great salmon dinner Slept on Raft.

 

Day 4 24/8 little Nankoweap

12 miles

Slept in raft under tent fly though ended up being Clear sky's for a first night, over cast and cool warm all day. Morning yoga then walk up Canyon. Rafted 6 miles to canyon for water fall hike and lunch. Beautiful waterfall  3 naked men swimming. Lunch then on the water to little Nankoweap camp. Drinks in raft in sun then ribeye steak BBQ and no bake cheese cake 

 

Day 5 25/8 Cardenas camp

Rain all day and a 12 mile day

Fun day though near end raft got stuck in a sleeper hole and Kelly and ken got kicked around and then swam. Rest of run was wet and cold, though we were not far from camp. Had a night under the tarp drinking smoking cigars and playing music on iPhones over little speaker.

Slept in my tent for the first time

Day 6 26/8 Clear creek camp

Rain and more rain

Camped at clear creek 10 mile day

Finally into the Grand Canyon proper. Had a load of 7,s and our first 8 (Hance Rapid). Good fun big rapids, really worked me hard on the raft though got all the lines I wanted. At our camp was a fun little play wave for kayaking on. Rained most of day and all off night. Great dinner everyone exhausted. Got raided by ringtails again. slept in my tent again 

Day 7  27/8 Above Salt

I awoke to river levels up higher than usual, despite the dam control of the grand, due to side wash water feeding. I camped lower than everyone else and awoke to  the closest peg to the water on My tents being in the water

Today was the big water rapid run, granite, hermit and crystal. I ran the first two in the TRAK and walked back up to run the raft down, I got the TRAK airborne in granite, nailed the big wave on hermit then rolled , the raft line was messy on hermit we hit the two big waves side ways, though every one made it through  . Crystal had the TRAK packed on the back and I pushed the raft through it. Ryan got his raft stuck on the shallows after the rapid, took a while to get it off.

In the afternoon we had heavy ran at camp but then cleared and dried our gear .  Guitar songs that night

I slept in tent.

Day 8 28/8 Lower Bass? Lat 36.179 Lon -112.309

Sunny day camped at upper black creek camp

Paddled the TRAK  all day, dad did well pushing the raft, had a great couple of walks up to a waterfall and then to elves chasm. No rapids over 7, dad ran them all.

Nice night at camp good sleep all gear finally dry.

Day 9 29/8 Keyhole? Lat 36.39924 Lon -112.567163

Played guitar in black creek slot canyon in the morning, amazing acoustics, I wished I recorded the song we came up with while in there.  In TRAK all day again. Good small rapids fun day.

slept in raft again

Day 10 30/8

In TRAK stopped for lunch and hike at deer creek. Camped with another group at a late camp site.  we had Bootie shots that night for all the swimmers so far,  I went to sleep on a flat rock, then had to leave because of ants, so slept on raft then a heavy rain storm came in the night and i had to scramble to set up tent on before mentioned large flat rock.

Day 11 31/8 Below National

Didn't sleep well,  rainy morning, Got on water to see loads Of awesome waterfalls from rain . Sighted 4 rock falls from camp .

In raft all day with TRAK slung across back of raft. River chock full of crap and wood. Good camp spot, and afternoon rain. slept in tent.

Day 12 1/9 Upper Chevron

Today we hit LAVA FALLS, sunny day, packed up camp went up side canyon for morning explore, then paddle 16 miles to lava, ran in kayaks first(TRAK down guts) all went well. Kyle ran first raft hit line sweet, Ryan next flipped at top, eventually after prepping rafts for flips, Bruce and I ran our rafts, Bruce got almost all The way though rapid and then flipped on bottom wave, I fortunately nailed The line. RE Flipped rafts down stream, paddled to camp late no lunch. Great camp bootie shots  Awesome stars in sky.

Slept in my tent

Day 13 2/9 Parashant camp

Lazy morning in camp

Blueberry pancakes

On water by 10.15 Am 

flat water float stopped at petroglyphs for lunch. Super hot day. Floated and drank beer, meet other rafters shared stories of lava falls fun. My solar charger started playing up.. Nice camp by 4.30 (perralgry?) snoozed on raft and Awoke to practical joke of me floating down stream with ken yelling help, help boat afloat. I rowed back in a dazed surprise to find everyone hiding and taking photos, quite funny; they had me tied to a long line and I had been floating out there for a while before they had woken me up.'it even took 8 people to slide my raft off the beach without waking me.'

Great dinner and great stars. Hot night, I risked sleeping on boat again, despite afternoon antics and the evening lighting on the horizon promising rain. 2 full days left :(

Day 14 3/9 Middle 220 camp

9.30 start 20 mile day to 220 camp

Meet up with other raft groups, had a social float with slip in slides, rock jumps, beer trade for Tabaco, and then an awesome camp. That night we gate crashed the commercial operators a camp up from us. We ran in in with leprechauns outfits and it turned out t be “strip botchi ball”  game called “debauchery ball”, with young female raft guides half naked, there were a few men naked too including a bunch of us by the end of it. Then after some naked hugs we said good night.

It was a great night to sleep on the raft.

Day 15

Relaxed morning simple breakfast, nice time by the river, finally the group seems to be relaxing though some issues with some. We said hi, bye to the girls from last night as they floated by. The. We headed off down river. A few rapids then we hit the diamond creek take out, said hi to the American cool dudes and dudetes we had Been jumping of shit with, they gave us their left over rum and gin. And the girls from last nights debauchery  also said goodbye again.

From there we visited and swam at travertine creek, what stunning spot . After lunch we pushed on, then on the first big rated 5 rapid Bruce Jon and Fiona got flipped out of the raft again, in a sticky hole at the bottom. it was a quick rescue with Bruce the only one that got separated from the raft.

We struggled against the wind for a while as it blow up river and then paddled some other solid mid grade rapids. It is exciting to explore a new part if the canyon from our last trip down here.

that night was our highlight, we Had an amazing night float, bouncing off rocks, drinking laughing sleeping through the last 40 miles of river, while the dark canyon walls whizzed past us framing the night sky.

Day 16

Awoke to a stunning morning on the last piece of the canyon, too soon the sun was on us and.it was hot. Ran behind schedule on float time, took 14 hours instead of 12 for the last 40 miles. Pulled out at Pearce ferry at 11am. 

then we where in Flagstaff reloading gear into cars and heading to our Backpackers and out for dinner and a night of drinking and rock and roll bands.

Amazing trip.

More Pics here

Another Blog of the same trip By Fiona McBride here  Part 1 and  Part 2