We have arrived in the jungle! What a change from the Caribbean Sea!  We are right on the border with Guatemala in a dense foliage of palm trees and vines with very steep terrain – and literally in the middle of nowhere!

We have no cell service and WIFI only at the bar – we are of the grid!

We are at duPlooy’s Jungle Lodge near San Ignacio. It is like a semi-fancy camp for grown-ups.  Frank and I have our own cabin (called a bungalow) with lots of privacy – we can’t see anyone through the thick trees.

We have a studio-type suite with bedroom, seating area, kitchen, bathroom.  No air-conditioning so we can hear the sounds of the jungle all around us.

And best of all – a front porch with a hammock.

Also – some pretty cool local art.

We walk out our door to a series of elevated catwalks that take us to the dining room and bar – also open-air.

There are 36 guests at the lodge, and since we are so remote, we all pretty much eat here.

They have a grill where they toast the tortillas – which smell wonderful in the morning at breakfast.

The 3-course menu each evening is written on a chalk board.  here is even a buffet for the birds right off the deck, and kinkajous stop by to eat bananas out of our hands at dinner.

This is an ecolodge, which means they strike to be as ecologically friendly as possible. They only use solar power and a back-up generator.  They even have a candle-lit lantern in our bungalow to encourage conservation after dark.  And it gets DARK here!  Thankfully, we also brought flashlights.  They also do not use plastic straws and instead, use a bucatini noodle (according to Frank) – so you have a crunch snack at the end of your cocktail!

We are armed with LOTS of bug spray (and have already gotten bitten so know we need to do a better job).

But we are ready for adventure!