Cruise Port and Excursion: Belize and the Community Baboon Sanctuary

How a baboon pooped on my head and other adventures

Belize

Our second port was Belize.

Like two ships passing in the night...

We took the tender boats into shore this time. The kids thought it was a blast to ride on the smaller boat, and it was quite the ride, too. I think it took us 15 or 20 minutes to get to shore. 

TenderingSeagulls

And this child just slays me. It’s like she was meant to live her life in the lap of luxury, hanging out on yachts and sailboats in the Caribbean. I crack up whenever I look at this picture.

Glamour GirlBelize

Once in Belize City, there wasn’t a whole ton to do, so we checked out all the little shops. It seems The Pharmacy Where You Have No Need of Prescriptions was quite popular, and now I’m kicking myself for not getting a cheap inhaler at least.  But, I wasn’t sure if I should trust it. I’m still not, actually. Forget I said anything.

While others were shopping, we hung out around the shops. My middle daughter had fun playing hand jive games with her cousin. He was such a good sport to let her teach him all her girlie games.

Chloe and Tychon

I think my husband was pretty bored with the whole shopping thing.

My Little Playmate

Although, I have no idea why, because there were lizards to be caught…

Lizard Chaser

…adorable nieces to photograph…

Estee

…and Christmas decorations to admire (I must admit, it was jarring to notice all the Christmas decor whilst in such a tropical environment—every time I had to remind myself that yes, Christmas really was just one week ago!).

Christmas!

There’s my oldest looking beautiful in Belize.

Bria in Belize

As fun as shopping can be, we only have so much money and so much need for souvenirs.  Everybody pretty much decided it was time to get back on the boat, except my brother and his wife, my middle daughter, and me. We went on an excursion to see baboons at the Community Baboon Sanctuary.

First, we had to take a ride in a taxi cab that was probably 20 years old and had no seatbelts. It was about a 40-minute drive out to the preserve and my daughter had a good nap on the way.

The drive was worth it, though. The preserve was more like The Garden of Eden.

Garden of Eden

It is run by a group of Belizian Rastafarians who live right on the sanctuary. They bathe right in that river and they sleep in huts they built themselves. I was most amazed to learn that none of them even wear shoes—especially as they were showing us all of the various poisonous plants in the area.

Chloe in Paradise

We got some lessons in baboonology and a lovely tour of the jungle.  Of course, you’re never sure if you’re going to be lucky enough to actually see the baboons, but we were hopeful. Apparently, there is one particular family of baboons that has become trusting of the humans. The family consisted of a male, his two female mates and their five offspring: all male, the youngest of which was only a few months old.

Nate and Brittany

And we were very, very lucky. Of course, I was the luckiest of all, but we’ll get to that later.

We heard the monkeys before we saw them, and then, before we could blink, there was a monkey making his way down to us, and his tiny little baby brother following.  Even the preserve owners were shocked about this, because the baby hadn’t ever come down that far before. He was so adorable to watch—just like a baby learning to crawl or walk, his swinging from branch to branch was uncoordinated and wobbly and oh so cute.

Baboon BrothersBaboonBaby BaboonBaboon

The baby didn’t come all the way down, but his big brother certainly did.  He wanted a treat!

BaboonBaboonBaboon

And so a treat he got. There were about 10 of us in the tour group, and we each got to have a turn feeding him a piece of banana. We put it in the palm of our hand, held it out to him (with the help of the Rastafarian guide) and he would grab our hands with his little monkey fingers and gobble it up. It was truly an amazing experience.  My daughter was thrilled, even though you can’t really tell that she actually fed the baboon because I was so excited watching her that I forgot to take a picture until it was over. But you can tell she was excited about it.

Look Mom!

My brother was the last person to get to feed him, and so he got to feed him about five times so he could finish off the banana. This is a good shot of how the monkey grabs your hand to take the food.

Nate feeding the monkey

There’s not much in the world that can beat feeding a wild baboon, until it decides to poop on your head. I was just standing there, innocently taking pictures of the monkeys after they’d gone back up into the trees, when I felt quite the thud on my head. At first, I thought the guy next to me had hit me with his camera (yes, that’s how it felt!), but then the sanctuary guide started telling the monkey he had no manners, and I realized what had happened. My brother verified that my hair was indeed, um, soiled.

Baboon

I choose to believe it means good luck for the rest of my life. And I apologize to my sister-in-law for having to sit next to me and my stinky hair in a cramped taxi cab for 45 minutes on the way back to shore. She should get good luck for the rest of her life, too.

Chloe

And that’s about it for Belize!  We barely made it back to shore in time to jump on the tender and be on the ship for all aboard. But the tight timetable was totally worth it, even though I was late to dinner due to an unplanned shower. 

After all, not many people can say that a wild baboon pooped on their head in Belize.

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Stephanie

Ha ha ha, that is so funn… Oh, I'm sorry, that's terrible.

(tee hee hee)

alpinekleins

The photos are beautiful, the kids are darling, looks like a wonderful time. So much fun!

Kristin

Andrea

What, no pictures of the "incident"? Great story!

Heidi

What Andrea said. And, that photo cracks me up too! What cute kids you have!

The Atomic Mom

Lara, I'm sure your Romanian taxi skills just kicked in on that taxi ride! 🙂

Annie

Hilarious story, Lara, the monkeys are definitely characters–I think my brother Donny is still scarred from being attacked by one in Guatemala!

Unknown

I am so disappointed that there is no photographic evidence of the baboon-doo hairdo.

Those pix remind me so much of Puerto Rico.

Serene is my name, not my life!

LOL, nice!
And your pictures are amazing! I'm so jealous!

Goob

lol, wow. Only a woman of infinite confidence and knowledge of her own value would see being pooped on by a baboon as a sign of good fortune. Bravo Lara, Bravo.

Unknown

What a good sport your were. I am not so sure that I would have been. Great pictures too.

debra
takingbelize.blogspot.com

Lacy@uphillandsmiling

awesome pictures 🙂 your daughters are SO cute!

Hilary

Just a goodie to put on your list next time you have to tell 5 random facts about yourself… 🙂

Unknown

Thanks for sharing. At least I can live vicariously thorough you. AMAZING!

Anne-Marie

hahahaha! That is hilarious! Maybe not at the time, but a great memory. Gorgeous pictures and I was laughing so hard at the one of Sophie! Your description of her was so perfect & fitting to her expression. Love it!!

Chandler

Oh, man! The most interesting animal that's ever pooped on me is a pigeon. I think you *are* going to be lucky for the rest of your life—you need at least some compensation for that!

And I can't believe you once wrote that you thought you were boring. You get a gold medal in "interesting life" for this story!

Christine

We are headed to Belize next Feb. Thanks for the Baboon heads up.

Erin

What a beautiful place! They should sell those little umbrella hats for situations like that.

The whole trip sounds just amazing.

Debbie

What great photos. I am very envious. Well, not of the poop but of everything else:)

Rae

What a great thing to add to your list of lifetime firsts! (And hopefully lasts, at least as far as the poo goes…)

Loralee and the gang...

I LOVE Belize! What a great trip! (Except for the poop, of course!)

Relyn Lawson

Am laughing so hard. SO HARD that I am choking.

Either you cleaned up the story, or you were very calm about the poop thing. I think I'd have had a little fit right there.

I definitely think you get the good luck for life award. Still… how cool is that?

LisAway

You are seriously lucky! Chosen, I would say. What an adventure, what cute baboons and what great shots of your own little baboons, too!

peachytiffers

Hahahahha, oh my goodness, that is funny! and cool at the same time. 🙂

Pet Taxi

Love this blog, keep up the great work wish you all the best..

Pet Taxi