Adventures on the Mainland

We have just returned from our inland excursions. We left San Pedro on Monday morning. Our travels included a water taxi to Belize city and then an extremely crowded bus to the Belize Zoo and then another extremely crowded bus to the San Ignacio Resort Hotel. The Belize Zoo was much different from the Zoo's that I've been to in America. The animals lived in very tight quarters and they all paced around as if they couldn't wait to escape. We saw a lot of animals that are native to Belize, like the tapir and jaguar. Our resort that night was like a God send after a week of no water and untrustworthy power. The showers were wonderful and we were blessed with a pool and plenty of other fantastic amenities. The next day we woke up early to cross the border in to Guatemala where we went to tour Tikal (the biggest and best Mayan ruins of them all). We hiked and climbed many different temples and took lots of pictures! It was so cool to see the way that their communities were built and hear about how much work went in to building each structure. Apparently all of Belize is built on limestone.
The next day was our tour of ATM which stands for Actun Tunichil Muknal. We hiked through the jungle and then once we got there we strapped on our helmets and made our way in to a giant cave. Our tour guide Martin took some great pictures of us diving in with all of our equipment on. We saw lots of cool looking shadows. At one point Martin made us turn off our head lamps and walk in a straight line through the cave in silence. It was really scary but fun. By the end of our cave diving and all the cool things we saw we were exhausted and couldn't wait to get our dry clothes on.
Thursday was a free so I laid out by our nice pool for most of the day and then later went in to town to shop and buy souvenirs. Friday morning we all piled in to a 15 passenger van and made our way to Caves Branch which is an outdoor adventure resort. The property was so beautiful I couldn't believe it. I was one of the lucky six girls who got to stay in a gorgeous bungalow, the rest of the girls had to stay in a bunk house full of bugs. That afternoon we went to swim in the blue hole which was freezing cold. The meals at Caves Branch were absolutely amazing. We had fresh vegetables for the first time in weeks and homemade bread. I stuffed myself at all the meals.
The next morning we all went off on our separate excursions that we had signed up for the night before. Jeanne, Tess, and I had all signed up to hike to the black hole and the repel in to the bottom of a cave. Our hike was the most strenuous activity of my life. It was like we were rock climbing at certain points. On our hike we saw a giant Hooter Owl up in the trees. Our tour guides were named Chico, Mojilio, and Pablo and they told us great stories all the way up to the top of the cave. When we finally got there our hearts started beating really fast and we all were getting really nervous about the drop. The guides strapped on all our safety equipment for us. We dropped one by one; Jeanne went first, then Tess, and I was last. When I got to the edge of the cliff my stomach flipped and I was so worried I was going to let go of the rope and fall to the bottom. Once I got going I felt more and more at ease. On the way down I saw an eagles nest with eggs that she had just laid. It was the most exhilarating thing I've ever experienced! After we had all made our way to the bottom we hiked in to the middle of the cave and had a picnic lunch. It was a great way to end the adventure and a wonderful way to top off the week inland!