San Ignacio Hotels

• doug91
• Reviews: 15

User Rating

Clarissa Falls Resort: Nature lover's delight

Basic and affordable lodging, a nice restaurant, a pretty little river with a tiny waterfall out back, and resident toucans and parrots made this one of my wife & my favorite stays. The basic comforts are a great value for the price. The hostess was very friendly, chatted with us during our meals, arranged our day trip to the local ruins (and woke up early to be sure we'd have breakfast on the morning of our trip). We wish we could have stayed longer.

Quick note: selecting an "appropriate type" from the list above is a bit of a challenge for this property. The rooms are thatch-roof cabins, ours had a private bath (not sure about the others), and there's camping available on the property as well.

• Opinion of Price: less expensive than average
• Address: Western Highway, Mile 70, Cayo, Belize
• Related to: Archeology, Budget Travel, Birdwatching
• Written May 8, 2008

Falls at Clarissa Falls

2 more images

---

Was this review helpful?

• monicarc
• Reviews: 158

User Rating

Helpfulness

• Turnstiles
• Reviews: 3

User Rating

• rafgys
• Reviews: 263

User Rating

• Earthtourist
• Reviews: 14

User Rating

Helpfulness

• Babzz
• Reviews: 370

User Rating

Helpfulness

• Bwana_Brown
• Reviews: 3530

User Rating

Helpfulness

The Trek Stop: The 'Common Area'

The Common Area is also known as 'la champa', a chicle (harvester) term for a shelter. It was the real central gathering area at the Trek Stop where most of the action took place. A large open air but covered seating area with two long tables took up most of the space. This was attached to a small room that housed one of the computers and served as the 'office' for the Trek Stop. Adjacent to this was the kitchen area that contained a freezer, refrigerator, stove, sink & counters, utensils, crockery, pots and pans. If you wanted to buy your own food or prepare meals yourself, this was the place to do it (see Restaurant tips). The wall between the seating area and these two rooms was stacked high with books of all descriptions, but they mostly pertained to information on this part of the world. The owners, John and Judy, are both long time naturalists and they had every conceivable kind of book on birds, animals, insects, flora, Mayan history, geography, all the travel guide books, and so on. I really enjoyed browsing through these in our relaxing moments (perhaps after grabbing a cold Belikin beer from the fridge)! In addition, guests were free to use highspeed computers in the office as well as a laptop on the outside tables (and 3rd computer in the Restaurant area) to browse the internet for no charge for as long as they liked!

Unique Quality: One of the beauties of the Trek Stop was the constant stream of travellers passing through or staying for a few days. While there, we met (among others) a backpacker group (6 Canadians, 4 Americans, 1 Aussie, 1 Belgian and 1 Brit) who were finishing off a tour of South and Central America, a group of 7 American guys from Utah, a group of expert American cavers, two sets of young Canadian couples, an older American couple with a young boy and an American couple from Oregon closer to our age. It was great to exchange information on the various tours and experiences as both they and us were trying to decide what to do next. Toward the end of our week, with tours of Xunantunich and Tikal, Mopan River tubing and the Actun Tunichil Muknal sacrificial cave under our belts, we were handing out 'expert' advice left and right!

• Opinion of Price: N/A
• Related to: Eco-Tourism, Road Trip, Backpacking
• Written May 16, 2006

Office/computer room at left, kitchen right

1 more images

---

Was this review helpful?

• Bwana_Brown
• Reviews: 3530

User Rating

Helpfulness

The Trek Stop: An Eco-Friendly Spot

Our cabin was nothing fancy, but it did the job. It contained one double bed (with a two-inch thick piece of foam on wooden slats for a mattress) and a bunk-bed arrangement that was not made up for sleeping, so we used it to throw our clothes and other things onto. Screened windows with wooden louvers on each side-wall provided a breeze and the building was also partially shaded by the abundant trees on the property. The front door was lockable and the custom was to simply leave your key hanging on the pegs in the 'Common area' office when you left the site.

The roof was made of corrugated tin, and it was fairly high to also allow for better cooling. However, in the few night rain showers we experienced, it made a bit of a racket as the drops struck home. That noise and the less than plush sleeping arrangements brought back fond memories of camping in days gone by, so I was not long drifting off to sleep again! There was also a distant noise from the Western Highway as heavily laden semi-trailer trucks went through their gears as they climbed up the hill from a speed bump located near the Supermarket in San Jose Succotz, but we seem to have survived that too.

Unique Quality: What was really unique about this place was that it is very eco-friendly. All the toilets were deep pits (second photo) with a bowl of wood chips sitting inside each one. Once you were finished with your business, a handful of chips was to be thrown down the hatch to help with the decomposition. The toilets worked very well - they were very clean, usually nobody else there at the same time and there was not much in the way of smells either.

A few steps away from the toilets were the concrete shower stalls (third photo) and a sink with a mirror where you could wash your hands, do make-up (don't worry, I didn't) or shave. The showers each had lockable doors, an entry way where you could hang your clothes and a nice big shower area. The water was provided by a rainwater catchment system that fed into a large tank on top of the building, and the water temperature seemed to be warm enough to be comfortable. Because it was a natural catch system, guests were requested to just turn the water on to get wet for lathering up and then again to rinse off. No problems there either. The site also had it's own power generating system to run the lights, appliances and computers.

• Opinion of Price: N/A
• Related to: Road Trip, Eco-Tourism, Backpacking
• Written May 16, 2006

Our bed on left & unused bunk bed for a closet!

2 more images

---

Was this review helpful?

• Bwana_Brown
• Reviews: 3530

User Rating

Helpfulness

The Trek Stop: Set in Lush Grounds

Oh man, was I ever glad I spotted this place in my research for our trip to Belize! The Trek Stop was a fantastic place to spend a week in Belize, located as it is in the forests of the countryside beside a sleepy little village! The 22 acres of forested grounds are very nicely landscaped, even to the extent of small signs pointing out different types of trees and plants and what their medical and other uses are. This place is run jointly by a laid back long-time American couple, John and Judy, and their Belizian partners - and they really know what they are doing! I would definitely go back there any time.

Unique Quality: As described in the books, this really is a back-packers paradise with a choice of tenting (US$5), five small cabins (US$12-20) and three large cabins (US$24-34) with all these using shared shower facilities. In addition, there are two large cabins with private showers/toilets (US$35-60) with the price range in all of the above depending on how many people are staying in each cabin. People in the 'shared facility' cabins use any of the four composting toilets, shower water is provided from rain catchment barrels and these facilites were all very clean and worked extremely well. The Trek Stop has a restaurant serving meals all day long from about 7AM-7 PM, as well as a separate kitchen area where you can prepare your own meals if you feel like it, a 'common area' where guests can sit and mingle, read from the extensive library or use the free internet facilities on three computers! Also on the grounds is a Frisbee 'golf' couse cleared in the jungle and an educational centre describing the history, geology and plant/animal life of Belize. We paid US$25 per night during our one week stay at the Trek Stop. This is how good they were - when we did our overnight trip to Tikal National Park in Guatemala, they let us leave our gear in our cabin for no charge! It does not get much better than that for customer satisfaction.

• Opinion of Price: least expensive
• Phone: 501-823-2265
• Website: www.thetrekstop.com
• Related to: Backpacking, Road Trip, Eco-Tourism
• Written May 16, 2006

Me on the balcony of our No. 7 Large Cabin

1 more images

---

Was this review helpful?