Belize Guides - Our Staff in Belize

Charlie Woodward

Charlie is both a manager and a guide for us. He spends most of his year in Idaho. He works as a geologist, community college teacher, outdoor educator, and outdoor adventure guide. He also designs and installs renewable energy power systems-- solar, wind and hydro--through his own business. He discovered sea kayaking and warm-whitewater on a trip to New Zealand in 1990. This is Charlie's tenth year of guiding for us in Belize.

Neri Chi

A native Mayan, Neri has been guiding inland with us for ten years. He is a U.S. trained river guide, having worked for Bill Dvorak during the summer of 2001, guiding on the Arkansas and Dolores Rivers in Colorado and the Green River in Utah. He specializes in the natural and environmental interpretation of the jungle and is an expert in Mayan history.

Mary Avila

Mary is our Belize City manager. She does everything! A Belize City native, she is the perfect person to locate all of the hard-to-find items we need for the island. Everyone who visits us meets Mary, she runs our home base where our boat is docked. This is her sixth season with Slickrock.

Mark Hopkins

Mark Hopkins has been guiding since 1988 and started out leading sailing and canoeing trips in Maine. Since then he has worked as a guide and instructor in Jackson Hole, New Mexico, the Virgin Islands, and Alaska - where he also worked as a commercial fisherman. Now based out of Oregon, he spends part of the summer running sea kayak trips in the San Juans and has another career running his own graphic design business. This will be Mark's ninth winter working for Slickrock in Belize and enjoys putting Marie Sharpe's hot sauce on every meal he eats while there, and slaying bonefish during his off-time.

Victor Myers

Victor spends his life outdoors kayaking, biking, climbing and snowboarding. He has been guiding professionally as a sea kayak instructor in Alaska since he was eighteen and has also worked as a climbing instructor in the Red River Gorge. While pursuing a degree in photojournalism he worked as a bike mechanic and raced mountain bikes on the weekend. This is his eighth season with us in Belize. When he's not assisting others on their vacation, he is off to paddle in wherever there is water and gradient. Look for him living in a van down by a river near you.

Joelle Bienvenue

Joelle is from Quebec, Canada where she comes from a background of adventure tourism. Since 2000 she has been working as a sea kayak guide in Quebec and British Columbia. Her passion for travel and the environment ensures that her guiding is particularly inspiring and she is always ready to try something new and exciting. She discovered Belize while studying Spanish in Central America. This is her sixth season with Slickrock.

Mario Perez

A longtime guide, Mario is of Mayan descent and was originally from Guatemala. His extensive training with other outfitters in Belize and an interest in his surrounding world has developed his wide knowledge of natural history, cave archaeology, cave biology, and cave geology. He is a member of a team of cavers that is doing a Belize cave survey and mapping each year. He is also a member of the National and International Rescue Team for Belize. He also has studied medicinal rainforest plants, and the natural resources of Belize. Although this is only Mario's second season with us, we are excited at how much has added to our program already.

Magdeleno Yacab

This is Magdeleno's first season with us. He is an experienced river guide, having worked for several years for Mopan River Resort, Belizean Sun Tours, and Duplooy's Resort, all in Belize. He's a fabulous addition to our team; we are very happy he has joined us. He is from the village of Benque Viejo in Western Belize.

Apolitico Salam

This is Apolitico's eleventh season with us, he originally came out to help with the rebuilding after Hurricane Mitch, and he was such a fantastic addition to our island family that we wouldn't let him leave. A Mayan from the community of Silk Grass, Apolitico is our groundskeeper and caretaker. His weekly lecture on the Mayan people is a huge hit. We truly could not do what we do without his help. All of our guests enjoy trying to beat him on the volleyball court!

Aurora Roches

Aurora joined us ten years ago, and is now our head cook. She is incredible! We love having her out on the island with us. She is from Dangriga, Belize. When not on the island, she spends her time raising her family. She loves working for Slickrock and plans to spend many more years working with us and she hopes all the guests love the food.

Lavern Garcia

Laverne has worked with us out on the island for six years. You will love her cooking! She comes from Hopkins Village, a Garinagu community. She speaks Garifuna, Creole, and English.

Marcy Norales

Marcy is now on her fourth year with us. She is doing a fantastic job helping Aurora and Laverne in our dining hall. Marcy is of Garifuna, and from Dangriga, Belize. When not on the island she enjoys helping her friends with new hair styles and experimenting with new recipes.

Martin Ramirez

Martin originally came to work with us three years ago to stand in when Apolitico took a rare week off. He takes such good care of the island grounds, that we get him out to the island as much as we can. Martin is of Mayan descent, and from Silk Grass, Belize.

Have questions about our Belize accommodations?

Don't hesitate to give us a call: (800) 390-5715, or send us an email: slickrock@slickrock.com.