It's been the last week of my 3 months of travel in Central America and Amy and I have spent the whole week in Belize.
We arrived early on Sunday morning, into the Western town of San Ignacio and after a very early start (4.40am, with Amy having to scale the gate at the hotel and me passing all the bags over the gate, as we thought that it was locked, turned out it was very easy to open!) and border crossing, we found a hotel, followed by a cafe where we got a hearty breakfast. After it was nap time!!
We booked two activities to do in San Ignacio and the first took us tubing down the Caves Branch River. We were given a big inflatable tube and basically floated down the river, through two quite high ceiling caves. I'm not a huge fan of caves and usually avoid going in, but Amy really wanted to do it so I decided that as long as I didn't have to crawl through any small gaps, I could manage it!
Turned out to be super fun and not scary at all! They gave us head torches and life jackets and after a short hike in the jungle, with a couple of river crossings, we made it to the entry point. Comfortably fitted into our tubes, we floated peacefully along the river and through the caves. The first cave was not that spectacular, but the second had pretty limestone formations and a freezing cold waterfall.
We parked our tubes, climbed out over the side of the rock by the waterfall and went off to explore the 'Diamond Cave'. This was my favourite part of the whole day as the cave was beautiful. Every surface that you looked at glistened and sparkled like tiny diamonds as the cave rock was covered in quartz. The limestone was also sweating, so tiny beads of water caught the light and it looked like fairy dust had been sprinkled everywhere!
Mounting our tubes once again, we continued the float down stream and made it safely back to the start. The tubing escapade has not cured me of my cave phobia, but it certainly was very enjoyable.
Second on the agenda for San Ignacio was a trip to the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. It's an area south east of the town and obviously, as the name suggests is a pine forest! We drove into the forest and visited the Rio Frio cave first. It had lots of stalagmites but was nothing special like the Diamond Cave of the previous day. We explored some of the waterfalls around the reserve and went for a swim at Big Rock Falls. This was by far the most spectacular and gave you a nice massage if you managed to pin yourself under the falls for long enough!
Next day we departed for Belize City and the zoo. The city itself was pretty horrible and within the first half an hour, we had been ripped of by a taxi driver and a hotel owner. Not a good start. Our experience of the city didn't improve as we found no good food to eat and having wandered round, it was run down and very unappealing. Luckily, we only stayed one night.
A bus ride back out the city in the afternoon took us to the Belize Zoo. I wanted to go to spot some of the big cats and was not disappointed! The animals in the zoo have all been rescued or born there and they live in natural surroundings. We saw pumas, jaguars and ocelots, as well as various other animals.
Our final stop has been Caye Caulker. An island 30 minutes boat ride from Belize city. The small town has colourful wooden buildings lining the sandy streets and an unbelievably laid back, friendly feel. We took a snorkelling trip out yesterday and enjoyed the varied sealife and colourful coral of the reef that runs along the Belize coast. I was thrilled to spot a turtle, lots of sting rays and some sharks (friendly ones luckily!).
It's now time to close this chapter of travel and part ways with Amy. It's been an amazing three months of travel in a fantastic part of the world, small but with so much to see! I've really enjoying having friends to travel with and the excitement of deciding where we go and working out how to get there.
I'm flying back to Costa Rica tomorrow to begin the 4 weeks of volunteering that I signed up for. This will be a new experience with new challenges. Hopefully it will all be good!
We arrived early on Sunday morning, into the Western town of San Ignacio and after a very early start (4.40am, with Amy having to scale the gate at the hotel and me passing all the bags over the gate, as we thought that it was locked, turned out it was very easy to open!) and border crossing, we found a hotel, followed by a cafe where we got a hearty breakfast. After it was nap time!!
We booked two activities to do in San Ignacio and the first took us tubing down the Caves Branch River. We were given a big inflatable tube and basically floated down the river, through two quite high ceiling caves. I'm not a huge fan of caves and usually avoid going in, but Amy really wanted to do it so I decided that as long as I didn't have to crawl through any small gaps, I could manage it!
 |
| All set for the launch into the river. |
Turned out to be super fun and not scary at all! They gave us head torches and life jackets and after a short hike in the jungle, with a couple of river crossings, we made it to the entry point. Comfortably fitted into our tubes, we floated peacefully along the river and through the caves. The first cave was not that spectacular, but the second had pretty limestone formations and a freezing cold waterfall.
 |
| Floating through the first cave. |
 |
| Classic silhouette picture! |
We parked our tubes, climbed out over the side of the rock by the waterfall and went off to explore the 'Diamond Cave'. This was my favourite part of the whole day as the cave was beautiful. Every surface that you looked at glistened and sparkled like tiny diamonds as the cave rock was covered in quartz. The limestone was also sweating, so tiny beads of water caught the light and it looked like fairy dust had been sprinkled everywhere!
 |
| The quartz in the 'Diamond Cave'. |
 |
| Formations on the limestone created by water. |
Mounting our tubes once again, we continued the float down stream and made it safely back to the start. The tubing escapade has not cured me of my cave phobia, but it certainly was very enjoyable.
 |
| Floating, relaxing, enjoying the scenery! |
Second on the agenda for San Ignacio was a trip to the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. It's an area south east of the town and obviously, as the name suggests is a pine forest! We drove into the forest and visited the Rio Frio cave first. It had lots of stalagmites but was nothing special like the Diamond Cave of the previous day. We explored some of the waterfalls around the reserve and went for a swim at Big Rock Falls. This was by far the most spectacular and gave you a nice massage if you managed to pin yourself under the falls for long enough!
 |
| The Rio Frio cave. |
 |
| Rio on Pools waterfall. |
 |
| Taking a dip at Big Rock Falls. |
Next day we departed for Belize City and the zoo. The city itself was pretty horrible and within the first half an hour, we had been ripped of by a taxi driver and a hotel owner. Not a good start. Our experience of the city didn't improve as we found no good food to eat and having wandered round, it was run down and very unappealing. Luckily, we only stayed one night.
A bus ride back out the city in the afternoon took us to the Belize Zoo. I wanted to go to spot some of the big cats and was not disappointed! The animals in the zoo have all been rescued or born there and they live in natural surroundings. We saw pumas, jaguars and ocelots, as well as various other animals.
 |
| The magnificent puma. |
 |
| The resting jaguar. |
Our final stop has been Caye Caulker. An island 30 minutes boat ride from Belize city. The small town has colourful wooden buildings lining the sandy streets and an unbelievably laid back, friendly feel. We took a snorkelling trip out yesterday and enjoyed the varied sealife and colourful coral of the reef that runs along the Belize coast. I was thrilled to spot a turtle, lots of sting rays and some sharks (friendly ones luckily!).
 |
| The quaint, sandy streets of Caye Caulker. |
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| By the swimming beach on the island. |
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| 'The Budgetman' gave us some of the best food that we ate on the island. |
It's now time to close this chapter of travel and part ways with Amy. It's been an amazing three months of travel in a fantastic part of the world, small but with so much to see! I've really enjoying having friends to travel with and the excitement of deciding where we go and working out how to get there.
I'm flying back to Costa Rica tomorrow to begin the 4 weeks of volunteering that I signed up for. This will be a new experience with new challenges. Hopefully it will all be good!
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