Thursday, June 11, 2009

2009 BELIZE SUMMER TOURIST SEASON STARTS GOOD!

The deepest water crossing is in daylight at the entrance to the Actun Tunichil Mucknal ( ATM ) cave.
A mile underground at the XIBALBA entrance to the nine plaines of existence of the Mayan underworld theological myths. An adventure NEVER to be forgotten.
The ATM cave is not a European style trip. This is for adventurer explorers.




BELIZE SUMMER TOURIST SEASON STARTS VERY GOOD! ( 2009 )

Tourism seems back to normal after a bad winter due to the USA financial scare, followed by the fear campaign to do with the new flu virus. June 8th in Belize saw a flare up of tourism and by June 10th, the summer mini-tourist HIGH SEASON, which runs through the third week in August was statistically right on track with previous years. We do this by referring to Hostelbookers.com, internet statistical back office numbers for tourism visits and travelers in diverse countries around the world.
Here in Belize, the summer tourism flow peaked this week and we can judge this by two of our guests who returned yesterday from the ATM ( Actun Tunichil Muknal ) Cave trip. This is a unique visit to the underworld of the ancient Maya, for the sacrificial center, a mile under the ground, at what is known by the Maya as the Nine Planes of Existence they postulated of their Underworld theological myths, starting at XIBALBA.
Our guests reported that PACZ TOURS, who we always use for the ATM trip in the Western Twin Towns, because of their reputation and professional reliability, from our experiences, here at Falconview Backpackers Adventure Hostel in Western Belize Recreational Area, were running two groups that day for the ATM cave trip. Our two guests were in the first group of ten people and apparently Pacz Tours had a second group of seven in another van. The guests also reported that there were many tour groups going into the underground rugged wild, pitch black cave system, and their group at times had to wait until a previous group had forded, a stream, or climbed through some rocky terrain, before their own group could proceed. They said the place was full to capacity by many tour groups yesterday when they went, with headlamps shining all over the place in the pitch blackness of the Maya underworld. This archeological site has restricted entry and controls.
All indications are that tourism is back to normal after a deprived Winter and Easter season here in Belize
Our guests are usually low budget types, usually University age students, up to middle class family types in their early 30’s. We offer beds for eighteen persons and have two dormitories, with the lower dorm having eight beds and the upper second floor dorm with four beds. ( bunk beds ) We also have two furnished apartments, with kitchens, and verandahs overlooking the two valleys here, hot water showers and usual conveniences of a furnished overnight apartment. Our dormitory rates are $11 usa per night plus 9% government tax and $45 usa per night for the two furnished apartments each, plus 9% tax. Depending on length of stay, size of group, season of the year, we often negotiate the price to suit the clientele.
Our home website is: http://folkmusicfl.tripod.com/adventuresinbelize and our informative site on the Western Belize Recreational Area with news and photos of life around here constantly updated is: http://westernbelizehappenings.blogspot.com As I write this in the Falconview Hostel front office, it is 5:30 a.m. in the morning and the mountain mist has formed over Green Parrot Valley, which mist will probably burn off by 9 a.m. I can hear many different types of tropical birds waking up and chatting. The sun has not yet come over the hills, but daylight is here of low grey intensity and the most noisy birds are the green parrot flocks in the trees, deciding which farmers fruit orchard they are going to raid in the upper Belize River Valley today a hundred and fifty feet below us in elevation.

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