July 7, 2022
Today was the day we were going ziplining and cave tubing. I was up early so I could make it to the market before we were picked up at 830. However, when I got out of the shower Kristin said they had switched our pickup time to 8am. WOOF. I ran to the market (aka the neighbor's yard stand) to get fruit for breakfast but the woman didn't have any change so I ran to the grocery store (aka the man across the street's home), bought some juice, got change and then headed back to the market for fruit. Kristin and I scarfed down our bananas, went to the bathroom and then hopped in the van. I hoped and prayed that my banana, granola bar and juice would be enough to sustain me through the caves (no bathrooms there!)
A nice man in a van picked us up at our gate and took us into town to a gas station where we transferred into a pickup to meet our guide 'Cisco, and another Canadian couple on their honeymoon, Sean and Michelle. We squished threesies in the back seat and settled in for the hour plus ride to our destination. Upon arrival we got suited up for ziplining. There were 6 lines in total, with the highest being 120 feet off the ground, and the longest being 1200 feet. We climbed to all of them. Each was more brilliant than the next. They took us through the jungle, over the river and out on the other side. The views were magnificent.
After ziplining we met back up with Cisco and got ready for cave tubing, or spelunking, as I later learned cave exploration is called. We had a 50 minute walk, with our inner tubes, through the jungle to the water. I was initially dreading this, however, we were shaded by palms and other jungle trees so the temperature wasn't bad. Cisco stopped a lot to share jungle survival tips with us, some of which included: if you need protein, crack open a termite nest and eat the termites. If you are trying to keep bugs, birds and other creatures away, find a dormant termite nest and set fire to it. The flames won't catch-it will just smoke. If you have horrible diarrhea you can find this prickly purple nut. Crack it open and suck the juices and you'll be stopped up in 2-5 minutes time for 2-3 days. If you encounter a jaguar (which he has 8 times over the years), make yourself really big and make lots of noise to intimidate it. If you encounter wild boars run like hell up the nearest tree and hang on tight because they will try to bring the tree down. 😳
Once we got to the entrance of the caves Cisco encouraged us to climb the rock face and jump from it into the clear water below. I was the first to scramble up and wow did the water feel great. Cisco shared a lot of Mayan history with us, including stories of how the civilization used to make sacrifices to their gods. The ancient Mayans were experiencing a severe drought so they entered the caves to be closer to the gods in the underworld and made sacrifices. First they started with animals, but it did no good. Then they went deeper into the caves and did human blood- piercing tongues, cutting fingers and nipples to extract the blood to burn as incense to the gods. These acts still did no good. Humans decided they needed to sacrifice themselves to the gods so they were offered in 3 different ways- decapitation, broken neck or ripped out heart. You guessed it. This still did no good. Finally, in their final plea to the gods the Mayans went deeper into the caves and sacrificed their newborn babies. And of course, this did no good. Why weren't the gods helping the Mayans you ask? Because the Mayans were deforesting the jungle and when there are less plants there isn't as much water. They were doing it to themselves. Sounds familiar... doesn't it?
Entering the cave was picturesque. The four of our tubes were tied together while Cisco floated on his back while pulling us along with a rope attached to his foot. We would float for a bit, then stop at a bank, get out of our tubes and explore it. Our first bank had TONS of bats flying overhead.
As we continued to float Cisco entertained us with stories of history, culture, and cave exploration. We hopped in and out of our tubes and climbed up the cave walls into nooks and crannies to get better views. We turned off our headlamps and floated in total darkness. We found deep areas where we jumped out and swam far below the surface. We even swam into tiny spaces where our heads barely poked out of the water. We found one of the sacrificing areas and got to look at pottery that was over 2000 years old. WOW. After 50 minutes of walking and 5 hours of floating Kristin and I hopped out of the water and navigated our way back to the entrance because I definitely had to go to the bathroom. Once the rest of our group returned, we shared an amazing lunch of chicken, plantains and rice, cole slaw and even jungle juice. When in Belize, right? Today was one of the best experiences I've ever had traveling.
We got back to our airbnb, exhausted from the day, and decided to head to Carm's, a local restaurant out of a lady down the street's home. It was absolutely delicious. I'm not sure what I ate, but there's a picture of it below.
We then stopped by the "beer store" aka a side window of a man's home with two steps leading up to it. We watched anxiously as a man rode up on a moto, walked up the window, yelled something in Spanish and then magically, from the back of the house, a man appeared, opened the window, motioned to the contents of the cooler and gave the man what he requested. We immediately stepped up and got some beers from the cooler and walked back to play games and drink our belikins on the back porch. We also did laundry at the outdoor machines and OH MY GOD we saw the biggest spider of our lives.
Did I mention that at night these are the sounds we hear? Bet you can't guess what's making them.
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