Adventures Inland 2

April 20, 2017

Saturday was the day we adventured on our own and a group of us decided to go to some ruins about 8 miles from San Ignacio. We took a bus to a ferry and took it about 20 yards across the river. The most beautiful green, blue, teal river I have ever seen. Then we walked one mile uphill to the ruins, which were incredible. They were my favorite ruins that we saw. We climbed to the top of every single one and took in the views of the valley and mountain range around us. We could easily see San Ignacio in the distance and Guatemala was a short distance to the west. The foliage around the ruins was beautiful, trees, flowers, and all sorts of greenery. This adventure was so meaningful to me and I shared it with some incredible women pictured below in our favorite tea joint in town. Our relationship has grown so much in a short time. You share a lot with people when you're in a foreign place, it gets real honest real fast.

After the ruins we strolled around the market. It was an incredible open air market with so much to see and people to talk to. I got some trinkets and things for friends and family as well as a beautiful hand-woven blanket for myself. The people at the market were so kind and shared a lot about their culture, family and traditions. By the time we finished up there we were exhausted and ready to get out of the sun. Nights at the Mallorca were great fun.

The following day we ventured into one of the most sacred underground wet cave in Belize. We could take no pictures and carried nothing with us. We swam into the cave and from the entrance on were either in ankle, knee or chest-deep water until we made it to the dry chamber. Chances are back in the day of the Mayas, the cave was dry and more easily navigated. By the end of the civilization when they were experiencing extreme drought conditions they increased the amount of sacrificial offerings to their Gods, which they believed could be reached in the depths of the earths through cave formations. Therefore, there were numerous artifacts, pottery, animal and human remains that littered the dry cavern of the cave. All of it has been left there and preserved in the caves calcified limestone including the human skeletons. We traveled through a maze of red tape that led us a safe route through all of the remains. The energy in this cave was incredible. I cannot imagine how many people traveled through these caves, desperate for survival and willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their communities and loved ones. Our guide was so invested and passionate about the cave and his Mayan ancestry. He tried to make our journey just like those of the Mayas who traveled by natural torch flame. We turned our headlamps off a lot and were in complete darkness where he would recreate the flickering of a flame. I am getting chills just retelling my experience.

The cave you see pictured here was from our journey to Caracol when we stopped half-way to adventure. We also stopped on the way home at this incredible collection of granite pools and waterfalls formed by the flow of a river.