The Hummingbird Highway

Monday, December 18, 2023
The BNB on Triggerfish, Belize District, Belize
Once again we slept in and enjoyed another excellent breakfast.  Craig continued his practice of a muffin and juice -- cleverly ordering an extra for the road -- while Phyllis ventured out to the duck sausage hash, a tasty combination of duck sausage, bacon, apple, sweet potatoes and spicy orange hollandaise, served with a couple of eggs over medium.  It was of course a very large portion, which Phyllis graciously shared, and we waddled back to the room to finish packing for our last day in Belize.
We had reserved our last day to drive the Hummingbird Highway, which branches off the Coastal Highway north of Placencia and runs a short but scenic 55 miles northwest to the capital city of Belmopan.  We had a checklist of things to see along the way, starting with the world-famous Marie Sharp's Hot Sauce farm and factory.  Every single table where we had eaten in Belize had a bottle of Marie Sharp sitting on it.  (Well, maybe not at the Turneffe Resort, but they would hardly admit their gourmet food needed any taste boost, nor did it.)  Craig had become quite a fan, so we took the factory tour and tasting session, where there were maybe 30 different sauces (and a few jams) to try.  Craig tasted them all, including the new Red Hornet, while Phyllis only went about 2/3 of the way up the hotness scale.  We left with three standard bottles and four mini sampler bottles.  Luckily their shelf life is three years.
Next up was a pleasant winding drive through the verdant faming countryside, mostly citrus groves producing the green oranges we had seen everywhere and which Phyllis had not realized were oranges at first.  Then we entered the highlands, approaching the mountains that are actually the other side of the Pine Ridge Mountain Reserve we had driven through on our way to Caracol.  It is, after all, a small country.  As we got into the mountains, the next stop on our checklist was Miss Bertha's Famous Tamales, a roadside shack that only offers chicken tamales and cold sodas. 
Our next stop on the Hummingbird was the St. Herman's Blue Hole National Park, where we took a short hike on a jungle trail to the St. Herman's Cave.  We were only able to go about 200 yards into it, at which point the stream filled from wall to wall and going forward required inner tubes and a guide.  There was a group setting off just as we entered, which was a little noisy but did illuminate and illustrate the situation well for us.  As caves go, we've seen better, but it was a nice bit of exercise.  We also walked a separate trail into the "Blue Hole",  a collapsed limestone cave with a swimming hole in the bottom.  We expected it to be like the dazzling cenotes we had seen in the Mexican Riviera Maya but this was a rather poor relative, and not even very blue.  The most exciting sight was the numerous ant trails crossing the path, our leaf cutter friends again.  Safe to say that this stop was good to stretch our legs but not much to brag about.
Last stop, the Lamanai Chocolate Company, which is a farm that organically grows cacao and makes chocolate the ancient Mayan way.  Unfortunately we arrived just an hour before closing and the tour was not available (perhaps one has to reserve in advance) but we sampled some chocolate pieces and nibs and found several bars to buy.  Plus Phyllis got to cuddle a sweet kitten who insisted on being picked up (climbing her leg) while browsing.  
The Hummingbird Highway tour officially over, we drove through greater metropolitan Belmopan, the capital, population 16,500.  It became the capital in 1970 after a hurricane nearly destroyed Belize City.  Not much to see here, and before long we were driving past the airport and trying to find the Triggerfish B&B again as it grew dark.  We made it just in time, and settled in for the evening to repack for airplane travel and eat our assorted accumulated snacks so that Phyllis didn't have to go out driving in the dark.  Luckily Craig' foresight in squirreling away that extra muffin, the Banana Coconut, from breakfast at the Maya Beach Hotel Bistro provided us with a grand finale dessert.  

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