Cruising Part 3 - You Betta Belize it!

Belize is an interesting place - far more Caribbean that our other stops. The people mostly speak English with heavy accents rather than Spanish, the races are incredibly diverse yet they don't really segregate socially (this description coming from our tour guides who were from the 2 predominate races, I wish I could remember the names now).  The crime rate is very low, school is mandatory but only till age 14, exporting to America is their big business (we saw the factory for Red Lobster's lobsters & the orange groves for Minute Maid) and with a short drive you can go through 4 distinct ecosystems (coastal, savannah, pine groves, & jungle).

Belize also has such a shallow coast that some parts of the country are actually below sea level.  Driving by the cemeteries there you can see that the ground is raised up & the mausoleums rise up a foot or two above the ground level to ensure that they get a proper 6 feet burial without being soaked with ocean water.  Because of this, the cruise boats can't come ashore, so for our second excursion we had to take a little boat over to the dock.

Josh had been to Belize before & loved his cave tubing excursion. We did some research & found a company that did the same tour for less than half the price of the cruise ship (cha-ching!).  Coming out from the pier we just had to walk across the street & we were at the location for X-treme tours.

They had a little dart board, so we played a few games - Josh got a perfect Bull's Eye! We're talking dead-center, like he'd stuck it there by hand.

I was terrible, but look, even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes & I also got an outter-circle Bull's Eye. : )

On the bus ride!  We were lucky, we had AC & the guides were really entertaining.  In true Latin American form we stopped half way at the store of the driver's friend so we could use the can & buy stuff. I wandered the aisles in amazement as I saw my Costco brand soy milk right next to Abuelita's chocolate & Spanish cookies.  You better Belize it!

Our bus brought us to the drop off point where we get our equipment. I loved being in the jungle again.

To get to the cave entrance you have to take a hike through the jungle, the start of the hike is crossing the river that we're going to float. (Here is where we find the true reason for the price difference - see Josh's tube compared to the yellow one behind? They had back rests & mesh booty-guards. Sissies.)

The rock formations & lush jungle were so beautiful. I might have gone a little crazy with the pics, but I won't make you look at all of them.

I know it wasn't Bolivia, but it was close enough to feel homey.  And the mosquitoes were bad enough to feel like a greenie all over again.

 This is the river entrance, you climb down & under these rocks...

...to the entrance here.  You used to have to jump in the water, but now they've rigged up a little platform to drop off of.

 "Fall back just like a coconut," the guide told me.  I was not a very graceful coconut & got plenty soaked falling back.  I bet the coconut wouldn't have gotten water up her nose.

 Looking back to the cave entrance:

 The secret jungle & staircase that descended the cave... we really wished we could have gone exploring over there.... doesn't it look like something awesome should be over there? Like the fountain of youth, a grail, a secret garden, something?

Floating the river was SO peaceful.  Taking a little rest in the tube would have been easy if it had been just a tad warmer... no sunshine = chilly cave.

 Lovely right? But this is actually Mayan Hell.  Not hell like the Christian idea of hell, but rather the passage way to afterlife or next like.  They had 9 stages of hell & the caves played a great roll in that belief. When these were excavated, some skeletons & ceremonial things were found.

 The joke of the tour is that if anyone ever tells you to go to hell, you can say that you've already been there, done that, & it was surprisingly cold.

 We traveled through 2 caves & when they end you get to float the rest of the way in the glorious sunshine & jungle. The view was amazing, I wish the camera could do it justice.

When the tour was over the guides were like, "Oh yeah, & you can jump off that if you want." They didn't have to tell Josh twice"

Here's the name of the place.... uh... well at least we have the words written here, even if I don't have a clue how to pronounce them.

We had lunch there with our group & got back to the pier in time for a little shopping in the tiendas. I wish I could have gotten a pic of the market, but a HUGE rainstorm came through & the camera stayed stored.   We did find some great knick knacks though (and for a good price since people barter better in Spanish).

Next stop Cozumel!