I am traveling to Belize this Febuary. I love San Pedro but have decided to go to San Ignacio and check out the jungle. Where is a good place to stay, preferably in town? What are some good day trips around San Ignacio?

I stayed at Chaa Creek while I was there, really nice place and you are right in the midst of wildlife. Great food, comfortable beds and plenty of activities such as horseback riding, canoing, mayan farming, nature walk, they even have a thing called creatures of the night. They take you around and show you what is crawling around, very neat.

Here's a picture I took one morning. The sounds in that part of the world are amazing as well.

http://www.richguy.com/pictures/belize/000247.htm

Let me know if you want more pictures, I can post them somewhere for you.

What is the island on the picture you have labeled 'home seet home'?

It's somewhere out of Placencia to Raguana, in the middle of the ocean, I think for a tourist attraction. Made me chuckle.

If you want to stay in town, there are several nice, clean and cheap hotels, Matha's is by far my favorite place but they tend to get booked up so I would contact them asap. A good person to contact for tours is Patrick Warrior, you can e-mail him at [email protected] or call 606-7714. There are several good tour companies as well and Eva's restaurant is a great place to get info once you get there! www.Barbsbelize.com is a good site to check and Barb was just here and should have a lot of info for you. Have fun!

We just got back on the 20th. We stayed at a family run hotel called Aguada. It's across the river from San Ignacio in Santa Elana. We loved it. The staff treated us as if we were family and helped us arrange for the trips we wanted to take, including Tikel. We still went into town every night and had dinner with the locals. It was great. They have a web sight. Just type in Aguada, Belize, it will pop up.

www.aguadahotel.com. Nice place - great for families. Also recommend Cahal Pech Village & Smith Family Farm - both walking distance to town. There are many inexpensive little places right in town but you would probably want to see a room before booking. A bit further from town but still pretty accessible are Log Cab Inns, Windy Hill and Casa Maya (I stayed here this trip). Crystal Paradise isn't too far either. I have stayed at them all. Great side trips available to ruins, caves, river activities. I did Che Chem Hah cave this trip and it was awesome! Numerous huge caches of Mayan Pottery in perfect shape! Pics to come soon. Feel free with any questions.

We just returned returned from The Aguada. We had a great stay with Bill and his family. Great bunch of people and great staff, Sonia and Erminia. Good Food and Great Drinks!! Get Erminina to fix that Aguada Coloda. Shalue arranged all of our tours and they all were great, we especially loved Tikal with Cesar and his brother and CaveTubing with the O'Briens. They are very tourist oriented people they recommend great restaurants in the area. Ask anyone in Cayo about Bill Butcher and you will only hear the best remarks. Good Spot!! If you head this way have a chat with the granddaughter, Taryn. Amazing child!!

We had the same experience at Aguada. They arranged all our trips and everyone knew Bill, including the Belize border guard. We had Walter, Ceasars' brother for Tikal. We visited the ATM cave whick was not for the faint of heart. If you do go to Aguada, stop in Belize City and get Taryn a subway! It's her favorite and she doesn't get there often. She is a really cute kid.

And she's a great artist too!