It's an Exciting World

We didn’t take any cameras with us to the ATM caves since they weren’t allowed inside.  They weren’t even allowed on the hike up to the cave, and had to be left in the parking lot.  The tour started out by fording a chest deep river, then hiking through the jungle for 45 minutes, including fording the river twice more.  The cave entrance was daunting, as it was something that belonged in Romancing the Stone.  To enter the cave you had to jump into a pool of water and swim upstream for a bit to get to a small ledge.  Then you had to go upstream through large boulders to get to the ruins.  There was one section where you had to get down chest deep and squeeze your head through a rock just so, where it looked like the rock would take your head off.  This was by far the most strenuous part of any tour I’ve been on.  The water made it both harder and nicer, since we were cooled down by all of it.

After about 3/4 of a mile we got to the climb up to the archeological site.  Once we got to the part with the remains we had to take off our shoes and then we got to hike into an area that had pottery everywhere.  There were also a good number of human remains.  Since the cave had water flowing all over the place many of the remains had been swept to different areas of the cave, and some were encased by calcite deposits.  The main attractions were in the back of the cave, that wasn’t too easily accessed.  The first skull was of a young child that most likely had hydrocephalus.  This skull was the reason for no cameras, since someone had previously dropped a camera onto the skull.  The second main attraction was the Crystal Maiden, which wasn’t actually shiny since it was dry when we were there.  The cave formations were pretty neat, and I really enjoyed the intense hike it took to get to the site.

The hike out was easier, but everyone was very tired.  We had lunch in the parking lot; the same lackluster lunch.  Everyone got cleaned up, and dried off.  Then we went back to Caves Branch and more or less crashed for the rest of the day.

We got up to go cave tubing the first full day in Belize.  We had heard that the previous week all water activities had been canceled due to high water.  We got lucky and the water was just low enough for us to go through the river of caves.  We had a long and bumpy ride out to the river, which is on the Caves Branch property, and then we got ready to go.  The water was a bit cool, but not too bad.  The diving booties were perfect for the water.

We started on the first cave and I was very surprised at how far it went.  I was also surprised when there was a loud popping sounds at the very beginning as one of the guides had the extra tube pop on a sharp rock.  We were in the first cave for a good 45 minutes.  The light was too low for the GoPro to really pick up the larger sections of the cave, but in the tighter sections, and where there were cave in windows we could get a good video.

There were a good number of bats in the caves, and we could see them flying around when we woke them with the headlamps.  We got through the first two caves, and had the option to stop there for lunch.  We declined and had to hike through the jungle for a little bit to get to the next cave.  Once there the guide told us to keep our lights off and do the cave in the dark, since it was a slow cave that was also deep, so nothing to worry about.

When we exited the dark cave, there was a massive group of people on the side of the river.  This was where the cruises would bring their guests and have them go through the last two caves.  This made it a little harder for us since we had to deal with cruise passenger tube flotillas.  The tubes they were on were connected together making large rafts of 12 to 16 people, and it was impossible to get around them.  At a few points these rafts got between us and we just had to deal with it.  Not too long after that we got to the end of the cave and had lunch.

As amazing as breakfast and dinner were, lunch was simple.  There were tortillas with veggies, cheese, and lunch meats.  The food was filling, healthy, but not all that tasty.  We got to chat with the other guests a good bit and made quick friends.  It seemed like the Caves Branch attracted a certain kind of person, which was the kind of person Steph and I get along with very well.

The morning of my flight, my mom was nice enough to get up early, even for her, and drive me to the airport.  I got there a little before Stephanie, but by the time I went through security she was waiting and we had breakfast at the only open restaurant in the food court.  The flight was uneventful, and we made it to Belize.  After clearing customs there was a guy with a sign waiting for us at the airport.  We headed to Caves Branch and got there mid afternoon, at about the same time all the tours were coming in from the jungle.  We hung out in the room until dinner.  The dinner was much nicer than we were expecting and it was a full 3 course dinner.  There was a different 3 course dinner every night.  The first course was pasta, soup, salad, and cheeses.  The second course was the main course of fruits, and entrees.  Many of the entrees were vegetarian and vegan friendly with a side option of meat, cheese, and eggs.  There was also a delicious desert course every night.  The staff there was also amazing, being both friendly and helpful.  Chef Jay was fun, and reminded me strongly of Carlos, a friend from the fraternity, who was a  Chef.  We got to chat with some fun people and then called it a night early.