TRAIL BIKES CAN BE RENTED IN TWIN TOWNS FOR 2009 TOURIST SEASON

PACZ TOURS AND RENTAL TRAIL BIKES

Western Belize is full of dirt roads. A trail bike is ideal to get around. A German guy apparently has this tourist season in 2009, put out trail bikes for tourism rental. For saving money on tours, this probably is the way to go. You want to go the long distance inland to CARACOL ruins, definitely. Or tour the Belize Alps back roads. Be sure you have a map though. I was told by BOB the retired army Englishman living here and helping to manage PACZ TOURS that two of the bigger trail bikes charge $70 usa per day and the rest of them charge $50 usa per day.

written by: Falconview Backpackers Adventure Hostel, tel: 663 5580 your HOME away from HOME and lots of adventures and expeditions.

FALCONVIEW BACKPACKERS ADVENTURE HOSTEL CHRISTENS NEW FUNKY THIRD FLOOR APARTMENT IN THE ANNEX

NEWS FROM WESTERN BELIZE JAN. 5TH, 2009

Honey has gone up about a 100% in price, from around $8 bz a quart to over $15 Bz a quart. Some people are also complaining that there is price fixing in the Macal River market vegetable stalls. Grumbles heard from housewives, say that the stall holders seem to be agreeing on what prices to charge.

TWIN TOWNS TOWN BOARD has a notice up, that TRADE LICENSES not paid for this week, ( by the 10th ) will be fined an extra late paying fee of $150. Most trade licenses only cost about that anyway, for small businesses, or around $175 in our case.

Got to pay property taxes as well and currently we usually keep ourselves one year pre-paid in good standing.

HILLVIEW hasn't had any garbage pickup for starting six weeks now, from the TOWN BOARD of the TWIN TOWNS. The side road has been graded up just past Eden High School for the second time in the past three months. The grader does not come into our streets up in HILLVIEW though.

HANNAHS RESTAURANT a favorite of TOURISTS in the banking sector of downtown San Ignacio is reporting record setting tourist numbers since Christmas. PACZ TOURS say they are doing good also. We have been getting email reservations, but people have not shown up for the most part. An annual problem we attribute to the bus drivers not letting backpacker tourists for us off at the EDEN HIGH SCHOOL side road, at the entrance for Santa Elena Town. We have a sign on the highway, but when the bus drivers and conducters take our people across the river into San Ignacio, we lose them to the hustlers working for the hotels there. Plus we have difficulty for our business, because we cannot get internet service in HILLVIEW our suburb of Santa Elena Town. Lack of internet is hurting us a lot financially. Caye Caulker is reporting they are swamped with tourists. The Western Belize Recreational Area, Tourist season seems good for January. Though on Sunday we didn't see much tourists at Xununtanich Mayan ruins, other than busloads of CRUISE SHIP tourist groups. Not our local overnighters like usual. Magana Pottery Works in San Jose Succotz was complaining on low sales of pottery items at the tourist stalls by the Xununtanich ferry and said he has not been able to sell any, to CRUISE SHIP concessionaires.
Our new third floor apartment, a funky pine wood siding furnished apartment was ready and got christened by a new couple for a couple of nights, to test it out. Looks cute with all that varnished wood inside. Real homey with their own verandah, kitchen, etc. and couple of hammocks and benches looking over the two valleys we have here for scenery. Weather has been good and dry this January.

Saturday morning photo at Twin Towns Macal River market.

Two Mennonites selling Yogurt made by Janet at her Saturday stall, along with some other homemade delicacies Janet Lohr is a Mennonite widow with a small farm about two miles out of the Twin Towns area of Cayo. With five daughters, she has 32 cows. The cows this morning she said, are being milked at around 15 gallons a day. There is not enough milk production in Belize, so there is no trouble selling fresh milk. The young 18 year old girl visiting, is another Mennonite by the name of Melanie Shetla. Her family immigrated to Belize from Indiana, USA. The Mennonite community originally moved into Belize about 50 years ago and cleared jungle land. They are now the most industrious immigrant Belizeans in the nation and produce most of the agriculture and industry and manufacturing. There are dozens of different cults, or sects divided by charismatic preachers, each with their own intrepretation of the Bible. They build and maintain their own roads and schools.



Flute player at the Macal River Twin Towns market in Cayo District. The Western Belize Recreational Area and Agriculture economy. This was a Saturday market in the morning photo. This man plays a mean saxophone, he says he learned in New York City where he was a professional street musician. Now back in Belize without saxophone, or money, he would dearly appreciate if someone would donate him a saxophone, to earn a living with in Belize. He has no money to buy, or import one. I've known him for about five years here. What he has is a good quality wooden flute. Sometimes he gives lessons.

THREE NY CITY GIRLS ABANDON COLD FOR WESTERN BELIZE RECREATIONAL AREA

Three New York girls, Katie, Lauren, Julia, comrades from working together, arrive in Santa Elena Town, Hillview on the slope of Green Parrot Valley, staying at FALCONVIEW BACKPACKERS ADVENTURE HOSTEL. They are splitting a week of early vacation at cut rate airfares for December, 2008 at $144 USA roundtrip, by American Airlines to Belize City airport from New York City. Half their vacation will be spent in WESTERN BELIZE RECREATIONAL AREA and half on Caye Caulker, just inside the Barrier Reef, at TINAS BACKPACKERS HOSTEL on the beach. Here they are holding coconuts each, fresh from the tree in the background of the backyard of the hostel.
That night, they slept about 11 hours non-stop, as they were tired and the trip down took two days, with a sleep over required in Miami. Their plans are the two Mayan ruins of Xununtanich, Clarissa Falls for lunch and swim, then Cahel Pech. The following day they are doing the Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave Trip, to the entrance to XIBALBA underground passage of the Maya to the Spirit world. With sacrifical skeletons, pottery and a mile trek fording three streams in darkness. ( Well they will have head lamps! ) From there they will be off to Caye Caulker on the Great Coral Barrier Reef and Tinas Hostel, and hopefully, time permitting a trip to Shark Ray alley for a swim with these animals, then on to Hol Chan Channel Marine Preserve in the Barrier Reef to see thousands of different kinds of fish while snorkeling.

http://westernbelizehappenings.blogspot.com
http://folkmusicfl.tripod.com/adventuresinbelize/

TINAS HOSTEL IN BELIZE the TOP WORLD PARTY PLACE FOR BACKPACKERS !

NEWS RELEASE!


Hostel world travelers have rated my daughter "Tina's Backpackers Hostel" on the beach front at Caye Caulker, just inside the Great Coral Barrier Reef of Belize, as one of the TOP Party places in the whole world. Beating out many even in Thailand.

Here are some links on the internet.
http://tinashostel.blogspot.com
http://lifeinabananarepublic.blogspot.com
http://falconview0.tripod.com/tinasbackpackershostel/

Germans are a particularly rowdy party crowd. With 32 beds, she crams them in somehow.

Dad's hostel is not so busy in the party sense. We deal more in adventures each day. This is home base for adventures in Western Belize, at "Falconview Backpackers Adventure Hostel". As we get more crowded and expand, I presume we will get to partying as well. We are just entering our third season and just in the guidebooks this year. All our ratings are 4 and 5 star so far.

http://folkmusicfl.tripod.com/adventuresinbelize/ ( main website )
http://westernbelizehappenings.blogspot.com ( news of life out here in Western Belize )