San Ignacio

Arriving in San Ignacio by bus
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San Igancio, is hidden amongst the jungle covered hills of inland Belize. Only 3 hours away from Belize city it is a MUST SEE for anyone traveling to Belize. San Ignacio is full of friendly people who are all eager to help you have a great time. As towns go it is pretty small which is great as you will never get lost.

If you are coming from  Belize City (helpful hint people call Belize City "Belize" here! It can get a little bit confusing!) you will need to get on a Benque or San Ignacio bound bus. Buses run every roughly every half hour, although the journey is reasonably long it is a great chance to experience Belizean life, watch out for the tamales sellers, incense sellers, Mayan, garifuna, kriole, everyone gets on, you get a real glimpse of Belize on these buses!! If you are travelling from Punta Gorda upwards you will need to change bus in Belmopan. At the moment the fare from Belize city is 7bzd and 3bzd. If you are traveling to San Ignacio by bus you will arrive at the bus station, I am using the term bus station loosely! As soon the bus pulls up crowds of people selling "ice" (this is a cup of crushed ice covered with flavored cane syrup... a rainbow in a cup!) ghetto pringles (plantain chips, my personal favorite) and bags of fruit. Once you have passed through the rest of the sellers you will be approached by the taxi drivers and the call "taxi taxi miss mister, taxi taxi" If you want a taxi just hop on in, but most of the hotels in the town are in walking distance. If you are hungry grab some tacos from the taco lady under the stripy umbrella, three for a dollar! As I live here I haven't really stayed in many of the hotels here but there are lots including J&R's guesthouse, Venus, Casa Blanca, Marthas and Central Hotel. These all range in quality and price, you are able to check out your room before you stay so you should find something you like! Once you have unpacked and freshened up it is time to hits the streets and explore!

San Ignacio is only 3 hours away from Belize city it is a MUST SEE for anyone traveling to Belize

Looking down into Town
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There are so many things to do here, horse back riding, caving, treking, kayaking, visit Mayan ruins.... the list goes on. Within 10 minutes (steep) walk of the centre of town is Cahal Pech, there are a couple of attractions here... first the ruins, secondly the resort where you can swim in the pool and get a great view over the town and finally on the way back down the hill into town Cayo Twist, a fantastic ice cream parlor! Ten minutes walk the other way out of town and you reach Branch Mouth where you can swim in the murky cool river, spot iguanas dropping from the trees and generally relax to the sound of the river and the birds. I enjoy just walking around the town watching people go about their business, browsing in the shops, chatting to people. In such a friendly town it is inevitable that someone will stop and talk to you! Don't be scared, they are not trying to hustle you (most of the time) the people here are just genuinely friendly! If you ask them they will fill you in on all of the facts on Belize, it's history, culture and politics. Everybody has such a wealth of knowledge, more than you will ever find in a guidebook.

A view of San Ignacio from my roof
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If you fancy something a bit more adventurous why not go on one of the many tours that are availalbe throughout the area. Mayawalk offer some great tours to Tikal (Guatemala) Xunantanich, ATM and many more.

After all that adventure you will probably be peckish.... and if San Ignacio is good for adventure, it is just as good for food!!