Belize it or not...

The final leg of my Belize trip was a stop in the inland town of San Ignacio (aka Cayo). From Placencia I took a quick but exhilerating early morning ride water taxi ride to Mango Creek. Finally after 3 days of soggy weather the sun was gently rising as we sped through channels in the mangrooves. From Mango Creek it was a direct bus to the capital, Belmopan. Fortunately I only had to wait a couple of minutes for the bus to Cayo. The bus wound through some mountains, past orange groves, and houses. Before I knew it I was Cayo, which was nothing like I had expected it to be. I had heard from many people that Cayo was the kind of place you could get stuck in. I´m not sure why that would be the case. It did have the advantage of being a little bit cheaper than the other places I had been in Belize, but then again there wasn´t any beach nearby either. Maybe you have to be in Cayo for more than a couple of days to truelly appreciate it. There are a ton of expats there, so there must be something about it.

Anyways, my main reason for going there was to go cave tubing. Cave tubing was fun, but did not turn out to be the crazy adventure described to me by my friend who went this summer. I found out from the guide that the trip differs in various seasons depending on what the water levels of the river are like. When I went the water was very low, so the trip was more of a relaxing lazy river kind of ride. The first part of the trip involves hiking to the starting point of the first cave. The guide pointed out some trees and plants, which I´ve entirely forgotten about. What I do remember is eating some termites that he pointed out to us. First he pointed out the small termite mound attached to a tree. Then he told us that they tasted like carrots and mint. Of course the intriguing flavor combo meant I had to try some. Luckily the termites were really really tiny, so it was easy to eat them without thinking about it too much. And guess what? They really did taste like carrots with the slightest aftertaste of mint. Mmm. Refreshing. Too bad you would have to sit there all day to get any real amount of nutrition.

Finally, after about 30 minutes of walking we reached the starting point of the "ride." We hopped into our tubes, turned on our very weak headlamps, and away we went into the pitch black darkness of the first cave. Being in the caves was very calm relaxing and at the same time the utter darkness was a little unnerving. There really wasn´t much to see because flooding during the high season had eroded or broken most of the cave formations. The coolness factor comes from floating down a subterranean river in a tube. At the end of the cave you finally see the light from outside and it´s a bit like being reborn.

the view inside the cave.

the sunset on the ride home.

Cave tubing was a pleasant way to end my trip in Belize. The next day I crossed the border to Guatemala, and that experience was pretty, ¨eww!¨, although Guatemala has since redeemed itself with me. But, more on that next time.

Happy New Years! (Can you believe it´s almost 2009?!!)

xx,
gwen

Next time: crossing the border to Guatemala.