Schimmers

Monday, April 16, 2012

Day 2 in Belize

On our first night we stayed at Barton Creek lodge, but we camped on the riverbend. This place was like Peter Pan's house at night. It's right on a relaxed river with a swim hole and rope swing. They made us dinner that night and we made some friends. One couple was 7 months into a round-the-world trip. My heroes.

I didn't get a good pic of this place but it's in front of the Land Cruiser

This dog was so rad. He just wanted to play. It was a fun way to wake up.

Barton Creek. We jumped in that night and took showered off in it. So nice.

On day 2 we hired a guide and hiked the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) cave and it was amazing. There were human skulls, mayan pottery, knives used to sacrifice people, stalacites, stagalmites, and more. It was the best hike I've ever done. We spent 3 hours in the cave and it goes back 1500 feet. You swim at parts and wiggle through cracks and crevices which open up to different chambers. Absolutely amazing. Plus we ran into a wild pig at the entrance of the cave. Bonus!

This guy was sacrificed to at the deepest part of the cave so the rain god would bless the mayans with water. Pretty cool.

Lindsay loved the butterfly farm they had at the place we stayed on our second night. I've never seen so many huge butterflies.

Cabins for $24/night. Place is called Trek Stop. Elena cooks good food there.

Day 1 in Belize

Our trip to Belize started out by Lindsay saying, "If we can't do our around-the-world trip this summer, I want to go somewhere on Spring break!" That was enough for me to start checking flights. I had always wanted to go to Belize and this Easter, flights looked good so we dropped in. All we had when we arrived was our Lonely Planet book, tent and clothes. No reservations, just a little money and an open mind.

We decided to break the trip up and head inland to San Ignacio for the first few days and explore the ruins and caves of the Maya then head east to the islands (or cayes). We are glad we did because Belize has the best ruins I've seen and the best spelunking I've EVER heard of. So, at the airport we rented an old suzuki 4WD with a broken spedometer and headed off to Xuantunich.

Xuantunich (Shoo-an-too-nich) in Belize. A beautiful Mayan plaza with a temple, adult and infant sacrificing altars and more. We spent Easter 2012 here and swimming in the Mopan River below the ruins.