The next day, I got up early and was eventually picked up by Pacz Tours. Western Belize is quite pretty. Above are some orange groves. The oranges here are actually green (even when ripe) and are sold as hand-eaten fruit only to locals but exported internationally as orange juice concentrate.

I’m ready for the cave! You have to swim/forge through an underground river to get to the main cavern. My mind was blown. Just swimming through the cave was easily the best caving experiences. I kept stopping to look at formations and the guide (Ben) kept telling me that this was just MUCH more to come. I just couldn’t believe (belize@!) it. The water level was very high because of the massive amounts of rain Belize gets this time of year. It only added to the adventure.

The formations inside the cave were amazing.

Not only that, but it was a archaeological site. Mind blown even further. This was truly an adventure. There were no ramps for the elders, no dramatically lit up rooms, no crowds of screaming kids, only a few people taking pictures, AND there were artifacts that were over a 1000 years old. There were pieces of pottery of various sizes and functions. At one point, this cave was believe to be used as a sacred site of worship. I’ll leave it to wikipedia but the short summary is that the artifacts indicate that they were used as part of a tribute to the underworld.

There were no fences, no guards, just small pieces of neon tape pointing to artifacts so that you did not accidentally step on one. It is amazing how much this country trusts its people. I really appreciate not being treated as a child who will just poke and steal everything he sees. Ben, the guide, did an excellent job explaining the significance of the artifacts and how they are spread out all over the cave that I was acutely away of every step. In fact, we had to wear socks (no shoes) so that we could be even more careful.

Its a howler monkey!

I’m a happy cavedave. This makes the shortlist of best experiences in my entire life.

I never saw any of the ads, but this is apparently the picture on all the brochure covers. Evidence indicates that human sacrifices were performed in this cave. There are several well preserved human skeletal remains in the caves.

The ATM tour is reason alone in itself to come to Belize. Did I mention this yet? COME TO BELIZE. They speak english here! It is easy!

Dinner at Hannas with Andy and drinks at Faya Wata. Hana’s was excellent. Highly recommended for San Ignacio.

After the caves, Andy graciously offers to let me ride his dirt bikes on some of the local trails. I’m pretty excited. I had never ridden a proper dirt bike, just my sorry excuse for a dual sport. I can’t remember the name of the brand, but it is a Chinese dirt bike. They are allll over town. Apparently they just got imported for the first time to Belize and the poeple are going crazy for them. They’re pretty good and very inexpensive.