Black Orchid Resort moving forward in 2014

The new year brought many positive changes and game changing moves for the directors and team of Black Orchid Resort. Never before have we seen so many changes and developments in such a short time! Recently we completed the Thompson Building which includes 3 Garden View Luxury Suites and 4 River Front Luxury Suites, The Sky Roof which includes the roof top lounge and mini pool and The Spa at Black Orchid Resort.

With all the new developments  comes new personnel and at Black Orchid Resort we did just that by hiring the best employees in all of Belize. This action has yield positive guest feedbacks and increase efficiency in customer service delivery and quality assurance. We would like welcome the following personnel who we are confident will make your stay at Black Orchid Resort a super experience.

Raul Rodriguez

As a young and vibrant individual Raul has excelled in his young life and comes to Black Orchid Resort with positive energy for development. Raul has ten (10) year experience in various capacities in the hospitality industry including: food & beverage manager, concierge, tour guide, front desk manager, reservations manager, & recently sales & marketing manager.

The team at Black Orchid Resort welcomes Raul as the sales & marketing manager and look forward to all the positive developments.

Master Chef Dennis Roache

Chef Dennis was born in Kingston Jamaica. He has over 30 years’ experience and specializes in Jamaican and International cuisine. He was trained at the Jamaica Cooker’s School, Oceana Hotel and most 5 star properties in Jamaica.

Chef Dennis arrived in Belize in 1994 in search for a home where he can apply his love for food preparation. He was firstly contracted by Petrojam Ltd. and work as a head chef at the Santa Cruz Lodge for several years. Over the years Chef Dennis shared his experience in several high end properties including Best Western, Captain Morgan’s, Caye Chapel, Cayo Espanto and most recently at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Belmopan.  

We welcome Chef Dennis to the Black Orchid Resort and look forward to delicious gourmet meals!

Cesar Elder Vasquez

Cesar was born in the beautiful Spanish speaking town of Orange Walk. Throughout his childhood he moved constantly and relocated to different towns and villages since his dad served in the police department. His love for his country became evident at an early age as he traveled every year to a different location in Belize.

Cesar has worked in the Tourism Industry for over
12 years in a wide range of capacities which include Marine Guide & Supervisor, Boat Captain, Terrestrial Guide, and Dolphin & Animal Care Trainer. He has special training in Customer Service, Historical and National Interest, Archeology, Natural History, & Healthy Reefs and Animal Care. He is an advocate for responsible tourism and ensures that this is promoted in his tours and activities.  He has led both international universities and college groups throughout various locations in Belize always ensuring that each and every client need is well taken care of.

We are happy to Welcome Cesar to our team at Black Orchid Resort and know that each minute spent in his capable hands will be worth your while. Click here to view tour options

 

 Staicy Montero

The very young Staicy recently joined our team as the spa therapist for the newly constructed Spa at Black Orchid Resort. Staicy received all her training from the Holistic School of massage and has worked at a very prominent facility before joining the team at Black Orchid Resort. We guarantee that every time spent with her will be revitalizing, relaxing and rejuvenating. Click here to view our spa facilities and treatment options.

 As 2014 proceeds we will continue to bring exciting news as we look forward to hosting you on your next Belize Vacation.

Christmas in Belize 

More than any other holiday Christmas is a truly multicultural celebration in Belize. It has to be, with over 10 ethnic groups in a population of around 300,000 people. Christmas traditions are freely shared and borrowed.

So while Belizeans share the European or North American rituals of decorating Christmas Trees , hanging lights outside their homes, exchanging greeting cards and baking fruitcakes, they also look forward to homegrown festivities. For what is a Belizean Christmas without a sip or two of country wines, picking up a fork and grater and singing traditional "Brukdown" songs like "Good Morning Miss Lady," and other favorites from the Ole Time Creole Christmas "Bram"? Belizeans still wait to greet the Garifuna Jonkuno dancers on Christmas day, are enthralled by a performance of the Maya "Deer Dance" or a re-enactment of Mary and Joseph looking for an inn as part of "Las Posadas."

Whatever ethnic group or combination thereof, a Belizean may consider himself or herself to be, one commonality is that Christmas is traditionally a time to visit family and friends. To prepare for all these people making the rounds, weeks go into making everything like "new." Everyone pitches in to clean the house from top to bottom, hang new curtains and lay fresh "marley" (linoleum).

There is a frenzy of baking, searching for fresh ingredients for holiday meals, stocking up of rum and flagging down the coca-cola trucks circling the neighborhoods to load up on cases of soft drinks.

The typical Creole "kriol" Sunday dinner of rice and beans and potato salad is spiced up at Christmas with the addition of turkey, stuffing AND ham in place of stewed chicken followed by rich black fruit cake laced with rum or brandy. The Mestizo specialty is white relleno, a delicious soup with pork stuffed chicken or mechado olives, raisins, saffron, or pebre roast pork with gravy all served with hot corn tortillas. Christmas dinner for the majority of Mayans might be tamales with chicken while families who raise pigs or turkey might use this as a substitute for chicken on this special occasion.

Spirits are an important part of the Christmas season, which in Belize lasts for two weeks, longer than in some countries, yet considerably shorter than the Belizean Christmases of the old mahogany cutting days. Back then, African slaves, free laborers and more recently, in our grandparents' time, the Waikas, an Amerindian group from Nicaragua, used to end their season in the forests with a month-long "spree" in Belize Town, now Belize City.

Although the settlement's men no longer find themselves separated from the womenfolk for months at a time, the festive atmosphere and the free flow of money and rum, remain.

So does the pilgrimage to Belize City, specifically to downtown Albert Street to buy their fancy curtain material, toys for the children or Christmas candies. The buses are packed, and the streets are elbow-to-elbow as shoppers squeeze their way past street vendors selling special imports of apples, grapes and pears.

Central American immigrants sell all manner of glassware and Christmas ornaments on the street-side while the more permanent merchants, the descendants of colonial families, or recent arrivals from India or Taiwan do a brisk trade in everything imaginable, from clothing and shoes to porcelain figurines, television sets and cd players.

Of course it is not just about food, or shopping. With over 70% of Belizeans considering themselves Christians, the celebration of the nacimiento (birth of Christ) is well established throughout the country and across the various cultures. Most celebrations from the Las Posadas to the Deer Dance include prayers, vigils and a midnight Mass or "Misa de Gallo" on Christmas Eve.

So as you can see, Belizeans still love their Christmas, and the various cultures all contribute something unique to the holiday mix. It is a great time of year to share in these traditions that have been handed down for generations. Join us in Belize this Christmas.

by Karla Heusner

THE BLACK HOWLER MONKEY

The Black Howler Monkey, (Alouatta pigra) known as the ‘baboon’ in Belize has very limited range including Belize, Southern Mexico and Northern Guatemala. It is one of the six howler monkey species found in Central and South America. One of the most remarkable traits of the howler monkey is its loud, rasping howl, which can be heard roaring across the forest for well over a mile. Throughout most of its range, the Howler Monkey is endangered from hunting and habitat destruction. Fortunately, Belize has a healthy population of these loudest of primates. Visitors to Black Orchid Resort are most likely to come to a very close encounter with this specie especially if they opt for a river cruise down the Belize Old River!

The black howler monkey typically lives in troops of 4-12 individuals, with one to three adult males and multiple females and a dominant male heading the troop. The monkeys are strictly vegetarian eating a wide variety of leaves, flowers and fruit.

Howler monkeys have short snouts and wide-set, round nostrils. Their noses are very keen, and the Howler monkey can smell out its food up to 2 miles away. Their noses are usually roundish snout-type, and the nostrils have many sensory hairs growing from the interior. They range in size from 2 to 3 ft. excluding their tails, which can be equally as long, in fact in some cases the tail has been found to be almost 5 times the body length. This is a prime characteristic. Like many New World monkeys, they have prehensile tails. They can grasp items with it, hence why they are often found using their prehensile tails for picking fruit and nuts from trees.

They have lifespans of 15 to 20 years. Males are, on average, 1.5 to 2.0 kg heavier than females.

Howler monkeys generally move quadrupedally on the tops of branches of trees along the Belize River, usually grasping a branch with at least two hands or one hand and the tail at all times. Their strong prehensile tails are able to support their entire body weight. Fully grown adult howler monkeys do not often rely on their tails for full body support, whereas juveniles do so more frequently.

Black Orchid River Cruise – Explore Beyond

Take a motorboat cruise on the Old Belize River through the jungle. As you cruise the waterways teeming with crocodiles and iguana sunning in the trees, listen for the vocals of howler monkeys and birds and gain first-hand knowledge of the culture and history of the Belize Old River. At Black Orchid Resort we have several water crafts that can accommodate groups from 2 – 22 people comfortably.

Click here to see video of River Cruise from Black Orchid Resort.

Mayan site Caracol

Caracol is one of the most impressive Mayan sites in Belize. It is situated few hours’ drive from Black Orchid Resort deep within rainforest in the Cayo district, on a high plateau of 1650 feet (500 m) above sea level. Although one of the most challenging Belize ruins to reach, the trip to Caracol is also one of the most scenic drives.

This is the largest known Mayan center of Belize (over 35,000 buildings have been identified on the territory of over 80 sq mi (500 sq km)). Caracol consists of about 20 major plazas, each surrounded by temples, many with commemorative stone stelaes. The main temple (named Ca’ana – ‘Sky Palace’) is 145 feet high (45 m) is now almost fully restored. This is the tallest manmade structure in Belize!. You can enjoy unforgettable breath taking panoramic views over the forest clad mountains.

One of the ancient Maya world’s largest and most important city-states, Caracol thrived during the Classical period (250-850 AD), it held sway over the region and influenced and interacted with other important centers. Caracol sprawled across 65 sq mi (170 km²) (area much larger than present day Belize City!) and contained an estimated population of between 120,000 to 180,000 inhabitants at its peak around 700 AD. The urban area had a radius of 6 mi (10 km) around the site's epicenter. Over 20 miles of broad causeways radiated out of its center like spokes of a wheel, linking a vast network of ceremonial, administrative and trade centers with farms, aquaculture ponds and habitations fed by one of the ancient world’s most impressive irrigation systems. They had astronomic observatory here as well.

The site was discovered in 1938 by a logger looking for mahogany. That same year Archaeological Commissioner A.H. Anderson visited the site and named it ‘Caracol’ (Spanish for ‘shell’ of ‘snail’). The original Mayan name is unknown.

The drive to the site in the early morning occasionally allows guests to take a glimpse of tapirs, jaguars or ocelots, as they break their forest cover to cross the road. The sprawling site contains huge Ceiba, Mahogany and Sapodilla trees and is superb for birding (the rare Keel-billed Motmot is one of the many residents of the site). Wildlife such as Howler and Spider monkeys, the Oscellated Turkey, Coatimundi, Gibnut and Grey Fox are often sighted while quietly wandering along the site’s causeways or along trails connecting the plaza groups.

To book the tour, please write to info@blackorchidresort.com or call +1 866-437-1301 (US/Canada Toll Free)

Rate: $220 USper person when 2 or more participants (includes transportation, entrance fees, guide and lunch). 12.5% tax will be added to the price.
Length of the tour: 8 hours (including time on the way).

Explore our other tours at: http://www.blackorchidresort.com/belize-tours

Complimentary continental breakfast at Jungle Lounge

Now we offer our guests complimentary continental breakfast. We serve it at our Jungle Lounge (by riverside, right next to the pool) from 7am to 10am. This is very convenient choice for those who are leaving early, as they don’t need to wait for breakfast, it’s already waiting for them. But most of our guests still choose to order full Belizean or American breakfast at our restaurant. Start your day with a good breakfast and enjoy your Belize Vacation!

We want to make our website perfect!

Please share your ideas how we can make our website perfect!

A website is like a city – we can build and refurbish it on and on; and still – we will always have a possibility to make it yet better. We launched our BRAND NEW website on November 15 and we’re still improving it. You – our guests – are the main judges who can tell us if we have succeeded. Please check once again http://www.blackorchidresort.com/ and let us know a few things:

1) Does the website look appealing enough making YOU wish to come to the Black Orchid Resort?
2) Can you easily find all the information you need?
3) Are all the parts arranged the way you can simply understand what is where on our website?
4) Is all necessary information provided about our resort and Belize?  Please let us know if we have to add any more details.

All questions, suggestions and remarks are appreciated very much!  (You can post them as comments here or e-mail to: marketing@blackorchidresort.com