Adventures Inland

April 20, 2017

We traveled to Belize City on Thursday on a water taxi that took about one and a half hours. It flies through the water but I am not sure how many miles we have to go to get to the city. Probably 15 to 20. We walked through the city blocks upon arrival and made our way to the bus station. It was bedlam. We had to forcefully shove ourselves onto the bus, all 14 of us made it on one bus thank goodness. Our first stop was the zoo about midway between Belize City and San Ignacio which was our ending destination. Belize is 64 miles from the Guatemalan border in the west to Ambergris Caye which is the island that San Pedro is on. But bus rides always take longer than expected so we made it to the zoo in a little over an hour.

Once in the zoo we saw so many incredible animals, birds, reptiles, felines, and rodents. It was incredible to see all of the native animals to Belize, the majority of the animals are being kept in captivity because they had injuries or traumatic experiences that brought them there. Just a side note, I got to see an ocelot, which was probably the coolest experience. I sang a Phish song to him and he woke up from his nap and walked down the trunk of a tree to greet us. It may have been coincidence but I think he liked the sound of my voice. We saw multiple species of jaguars that were lazily lounging and occasionally playing with one another. Howler monkeys were watching us with just as much curiosity as we had looking at them. I really wonder what they are thinking, I danced for some of them but they just stared not amused. Hm. There were bird species that I have never seen before, eagles and hawks the size of a large pelican, toucans, storks, owls and parrots. It was lunch time for the animals when we went so that was cool to see all the fruit and veggies that the herbivores devoured. I could go on and on about the zoo but I will move on. Side note, I got a great Garifuna Soul CD at the gift shop, I am pretty excited about sharing that with friends.

We eventually made it to San Ignacio after another bus ride, caught on the side of the road like a vagabond. We pulled into the town square and groggily walked up the road to our hotel, the beloved Mallorca. Owned and operated by the most generous and caring Indian family who call the hotel home. We made ourselves comfortable and settled in for the night. The next day we journeyed to Caracol which was one of the biggest Mayan city centers in the expanse of their civilization. While only 20% of Mayan ruins are excavated you can sometimes determine whether or not the mounds you see rising all around the jungle are stone temples laid away for centuries. I was haunted and deeply moved by the experience of walking through these ruins. We passed through many different types of forest to get there, including a beautiful pine forest that reminded me of home. As we approached the ruins we all tried to take in as much of the nature as we could. I have included a picture of the Ceiba tree. It is the 'tree of life' here in Belize and sacred for the Mayas. They believed that the tree branches stretched up the heavens 13 levels, the trunk was rooted in the earth and our present mortal lives and the roots led down to the underworld 9 levels. The roots of the trees they believed created the stalagmites and stalactites in the caves that are very common in the limestone rocks that are present in this area. The tree is incredible. When you see one that is over a hundred years old or more it is mesmerizing, really nothing compares to seeing old trees.

The rest of the trip through the ruins at Caracol was very informative. We received a great history lesson from our tour guide, Mario. I am glad that this trip preceded the caving adventure we would have on Sunday because we learned about the historical significance and spiritual importance of the caves. These ruins border Guatemala and were about 2 hours from San Ignacio so we had a nice and bumpy ride to and fro. The following day we decided to check out the ruins that were closer to San Ignacio, called Xanantunich. I will put photos from there on the next post. That was my favorite site. It had the best 360 degree view I have ever seen. It reminds me so much of the blue ridge mountains out there. I love it.