Hanging Around Belize – Taking it Belizey

Weekend of June 25th, 2005

So this weekend we stayed in San Ignancio each night but took some crazy fun day trips. We wished we could have been at Kirsten and Eamon’s wedding in Boston though! I hope it was a blast!

Friday night we stayed in and played a crazy game of Spades with Jackie and Colin. Let’s just say after about say 6 hands, Jim and I were down by 500 points! We all know how Jim has a tendency to overbid J I am at fault too though. We are continuing the game this week because they are only at 410 now and we have finally broken BACK into positive points J

Saturday morning, we woke up early and took the local bus to the Belize Zoo. Again, the local bus was an adventure but we made it there in just about 2 hours (mind you it is only 30 miles from San Ignacio but the bus stops a ton and was pulled over and ticketed by the police for who knows what!). The zoo was amazing - it only contained animals local to Belize and those that were either rescued because they were injured or those born in the zoo. The TAPIR was the craziest animal - let's just say he had a HUGE male part - we all couldn't figure it out! The monkeys were everywhere and you could get really close to all the animals. Though, the animals that blew our minds were the jaguars. We could have literally stuck our hands out and pet these gorgeous animals we were so close to them. There were a few spotted ones and one black one. SO COOL! The zoo prides itself on keeping the animals in a very natural habitat so it wasn't like going to the American zoos with the animals all caged up.

From there, we hit up Old Belize - the worst $10 we have ever spent. It is supposed to be the museum and cultural center for Belize but it is FAR from anything impressive. It was a joke. We hung out at the man made lagoon there for a few hours until we got sick of the oil slick forming near us. Yes, it was pretty nasty. It was right outside of Belize City.

We waited and waited and waited for the local bus to come but it didn't. We were 65 miles from San Ignacio. After about an hour of waiting, a Ford Explorer pulls up and tells us he can get us to Belmopan which was at least a lot closer. So the 4 of us hop in (Jim, Colin and Jackie were there too) and inside the car are 4 men, all kinda partying it up. It was crazy to say the least. One guy pretty much owns 1/2 of Belize, another guy was a tourist friend from Florida, another was on the town council of Orange Walk (a city up North) and another was a tour guide. This was the most interesting ride we have taken in a long while. They were hilarious. We stopped at a local place on the way to Belmopan and got something to eat and drink. These guys were a riot. We finally arrived in Belmopan and then were able to catch a local bus to San Ignacio. Home sweet home.

We woke up again early on Sunday morning to get to a tour group by 7:15am. We went to see the cave ATM (Actun Tunichil Muknal) which was located about an hour or so from San Ignacio. After riding on a BUMPY road for about 30 minutes, we arrived at a small lot where we all got out. We put on our water shoes and proceeded to hike through the JUNGLE for 45 minutes, crossing 3 rivers by foot along the way. This hike alone was an adventure. Once we got to what they called "camp" (which was just a bunch of palm huts covering picnic tables) we ate an early lunch since we wouldn't be able to eat in the caves. From there, we hiked down to the entrance of the cave. This site was by far one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen in my life. Jungle forest surronding a cave opening with blue water flowing out of it. To get into the cave, we fastened our shirts to the top of our helmets and hopped into a 20 foot deep pool of cold, yes cold water. I never thought I would be cold in Belize but I was. We just wore our suits, our water shoes and shorts as we proceeded to go further into the cave, treking through water up to 6 feet deep the whole time. It was absolutely amazing. This is what we called a TRUE ADVENTURE. The formations weren't as impressive as they were at Carlsbad Caverns (where we stopped at in New Mexico on our cross country trip) but the water part was amazing. When we finally got to the "dry" part of the cave, we hiked up this 25 foot face and took off our water shoes and put on socks (which were kept in the dry bags along w/ our cameras) to view the rest of the cave. This part was amazing too. There were Mayan Pottery Ruins and SKELETONS everywhere!!! 14 total skeleton remains - mostly just a few bones and skulls but at the end there was one full skeleton remain - all of them were heavily crystallized but you could still see the shapes fully. Amazing - they estimate they were human sacrifices back in 800 AD. There was a National Geographic documentary done on this cave back in 1999 I think so if you are interested, check it out. We can't wait to see it when we get back to the states. This place KICKED BUTT - anyone coming to Belize that has an adventurous side has to check out ATM!

We didn't get back to San Ignacio until about 6pm. We were beat and passed out. What a fun and adventurous weekend!!!