Belize Family Adventure

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	Belize Family Adventure By Kurt Kutay February 1, 2002

Follow the adventures of Wildland Adventures' Directors, Anne and Kurt Kutay, as we travel with our 10 year old son and 6 other families (11 kids and 11 parents) through wild and friendly Belize, an exciting land of discovery and adventure for family travel. Detailed dispatches sent from the field are accompanied by images of wildlife, Creole and Garifuna people we meet, and rain forest hikes with Maya guides. We float through river caves, explore the Maya ruins of Tikal National Park, Guatemala, and conclude our adventure snorkeling and scuba diving on the largest barrier reef of the Western hemisphere. The trip is led by our Master Naturalist Guide, Mr. Sam Tillet, a local Creole and one of the best guides in Belize.

"I don't think we're in Kansas, Megan."

We are a fun-loving group of 22 adventurers, 7 families in all, 11 parents with 11 kids ranging in age from 3-13 years. The kids all know each other as students from Brighton School of Lynnwood, Washington. During the past two Spring breaks, the Nelson, Flegenheimer, Mostovoy, Astrof and VanDerhei-McMahon families have traveled together on Wildland family adventures to Costa Rica ('98) and Panama ('99). This year, the VanDerhei-McMahon's are accompanied by their blue-eyed, curly blonde 3-year old daughter, Carly, who has naturally taken to her role as group ambassador. Originally hailing from Wichita, Kansas, Mark and Megan Newman are on their first Wildland Adventure and looking forward to following the"Wild" road through the land of Belize..

From Dallas-Ft. Worth, the easy 2 1/2 hour flight over the Gulf of Mexico to Belize and the 40 minute drive to Crooked Tree Village just didn't seem long enough to be transported to such a rural village in Central America. Only 700 people live within a 7 mile radius of Crooked Tree Village. Our Creole guide, Mr. Sam Tillet, was born here and is now raising his own three kids who help out at his small hotel on the edge of the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary.

Our trip to Crooked Tree was highly anticipated because the school here had provided a list of supplies they needed at our request and our Brighton School Kids Care Club gathered needed items in a school-wide drive among students and teachers. An official from the Belize Ministry of Education, and the Crooked Tree School principal, Ms.Dacie Tillet (Sam's cousin) met us at the airport to help us get 19 boxes of student school supplies and teacher curriculum materials through customs, including a new stereo CD player and lots of kids music on CD. We piled into a huge yellow school bus, which is what they use for public transport in Belize, and when we arrived at Sam's hotel, there was a whole entourage of teachers and students from the school to greet us, including the local mayor. Sam had put up two flag poles with US and Belizean flags, setting the stage for speeches and presentations by delegates from both countries, young and old. The Belizean students danced, sang and recited poetry as the tropical sun set and parrots squawked as they flew overhead to their roost.

Just before turning off the dirt road into the Tillet Hotel, we stopped over a causeway surrounded by mud flats and water of the Crooked Tree Sanctuary. Crocodiles basked in the sun surrounded by wood storks, jacanas, cormorants, ibis, roseate spoonbills, and the giant jabiru stork--with a wing span of up to 10', the largest bird in the Western Hemisphere.