“Over the years we’ve seen an increase in bookings for Belize family vacation packages to celebrate birthdays, wedding anniversaries, graduations and other significant events. A few years ago one family asked if Mother’s Day was celebrated in Belize, and if we could do something special for their mother.

This resort compound outside the scruffy town of San Ignacio, winner of environmental awards from the World Travel and Tourism Council, American Society of Travel Agents, Caribbean Travel & Life and others, offers 23 well-decorated, thatch-roof cottages above Chaa Creek. Most recently built are two deluxe one-bedroom “Tree Top Suites” perched in the hardwood trees above the Macal River, each with accommodations for four. Chaa Creeks’ 365-acre nature preserve also includes a health spa featuring treatments using botanicals in the resort’s rainforest, whose recipe is said to come from traditional Mayan shamans. The budget and eco-conscious Macal River Jungle Camp is where our family stayed — a rustic alternative to the cottage suites, with fixed canvas tents, cots with linens, and common bathing and dining halls. The main lodge’s stylish bar and terrific restaurant are a meeting place, even for those in the camp. The staff is wonderfully knowledgeable, friendly, and great with kids: gently placing a butterfly on our son’s wrist, pointing out a visiting scorpion, scarlet macaw or howler monkey, leading flashlight-illuminated nature walks, giving rides along bumpy dirt roads in an open pickup truck, even demonstrating tortilla-making.