I Want To Go To Belize!

Pam and I were spending a quiet Sunday at home in Arizona when Belize got our attention with a segment filmed at Banana Bank Lodge. Hard to believe it was only yesterday. Anyway, we were watching one of those wild animal programs with Jack Hannah, thanks to our deep fringe TV antenna. At one point in the program, Jack spoke with the proprietor of the lodge. This man happened to be, as Jack put it, a real Montana cowman by the name of John Carr--

"John Carr!!" I yelled, popping up out of my booth seat in our camp trailer and nearly making Pam spill her soda, "That's my buddy!"

And so he his. We last saw each other at a rodeo in Arlee, Montana, during the summer of 1965. He rode saddle broncs about as well as anyone I ever personally knew. We'd met a few years earlier when I was going to college in Havre, Montana, riding a few broncs and bulls my own bad self. Forty-four years since the last sighting, but he'd remember me. Cowboys, like elephants, never forget.

On the TV screen, Jack and John were discussing a beautiful jaguar named Tikatu, or Tika for short. Tika had turned up at the Banana Bank Lodge as an orphaned kitten (cub?) and had been raised to adulthood by the Carr family. No wonder they call their place the Banana Bank Lodge and Jungle Horseback Adventure. Blend a former Montana cowman with a jungle that houses giant kitty cats...yup. That's an adventure, all right.

It didn't take long to start searching the Internet for a way to get in contact with my friend. After a few false starts, results began popping up nicely. There was mention of John Carr and his wife Carolyn having emigrated from the United States decades ago. Curiously, it was Carolyn's artwork that led to an email address for the couple and their various business enterprises. It only took one look at one of her paintings to make me a fan. Not that Pam and I could find a spot for something like that in our camp trailer right now, but maybe when we get this place built up....

Jungles are known for birds, to be sure, and Belize birding looks potentially rewarding to the max. Love to spend a week down there, doing nothing but watching where I put my feet and snapping digital photos of bird after bird after....

It didn't take long to compose a brief letter to my long lost compadre, reminding him who I was (assuming forty-four years as a fair stretch even for cowboys and elephants). For the next few hours, staying more than busy finishing up the Hub titled The Magic Bullet Survival Kit and doing a few necessary camp chores, I didn't bother to check my email...but when I did, John had already replied.

He explained the motivation behind leaving Montana--liking warm weather, for one thing--and assured me that he remembered me very well.

"I seem to recall you wore tourquoise chaps." he wrote. Exactly right.

He also suggested that I'd be welcome to hop on a plane, change planes once in Mexico, come on down, work with a few of his colts. Since John uses a whisperer style in training our fourlegged friends, I was more than touched that he knew me well enough to trust me with his babies. John, if I get a chance, I'll be there. Remember that old cartoon where a really slow, dimwitted fellow says, "Six munths ago I cudn't even spel salesmun, and now I are wun?"

Well, I've got an updated version for you: Six hours ago I couldn't even pinpoint Belize on a map, and now I want to go to Belize! See you at the Banana Bank Lodge ASAP. Or if you're full up at the time, I could maybe sleep on the beach or check into one of the country's many caves...?