Spelunking with Mayan skeletons
Trip Start
Dec 16, 2011
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Trip End
Jan 01, 2012
San Ignacio, Cayo, Belize
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
So the next morning we left by 8:30 on a 2 hour drive to the cave. There was a nice 30 minute hike from the car park to the entrance, and then about a 3 hour hiking-wading-spelunking adventure in one of the most used caves by the Mayans. Most of the trip was in ankle to shoulder height warm limestone-enriched water, which is the same that forms the impressive stalactits flanking the narrow passage ways or huge chambers on our way to the most significant find -- a perfectly preserved limestone-encrusted skeleton of a young Mayan girl -- about 900 meters into the dark void. There were other skeletal remains, such as skulls, as well as a bunch of pottery. Now this really isnt caving and we had no need for safety harnesses, such as I did in New Zealand. However, instead of doubling back the way we came, we'd taken an alternate very narrow passage, which was a lot of fun, but not technically challenging.
We arrived back around 5:30pm and before going out to dinner ran into a couple American girls from NYC, Heather and Dana. They were on the same trip, but they separated us into different vans with different guides. The 5 of us ended up hanging out the next 2 nights. I decided to check out the ruins at Caracol, which is the largest Mayan site in Belize, while the rest of them opted for a canoe-kayak trip down a river. One of the dissappointments thus far in Belize, is the lack of wildlife. In the Yucatan penisula in Mexico, all the sites were littered with Iguannas, Egrets, and other critters. However, we did see a few cool things such as a colorful caterpillar and on the way back a large tarantula crossing the road... you know its big when you can see it going 20 mph. Speaking of 20mph, this was about the top speed as the road to Caracol is just dirt and dotted with potholes everywhere. We endured this for about 2.5 hrs both directions, but it was worth it. We also saw several Toucans flying and perced in the trees, but too far away to take photos. And speaking of photos, unfortunately this trip thus far hasn't offered very many picturesque scenes. On our way to the ruins we passed through the Pine Ridge Trail area. Its very strange to seem like you're in Wisconsin surrounded by Pines after being surrounded by lush palm-littered jungle, and after another hour and crossing a river, are instantly transplanted back to the jungle. In the pine region, there was sunny skies, but once we reentered the jungle, the humidity came back along with the overcast clouds, which isn't good for photos. Anyway, most of the 30,000 structures of Caracol were still buried under top soil and trees, but many have been semi- or fully-excavated, which is similar to Palenque in Mexico. Apparently, Caracol had been once a massive Mayan city with 150k people in about 350AD. It was so powerful that there's evidence that it had been the victor of many battles with the other nearby cities, such as Tikal and Copan, and thus the people even commoners were well fed.
Most of our group of 6 was fun, including a couple from Colorado and an Israeli guy, but also another couple that kept to themselves. On the cave trip, Paul and I were unfortunately stuck with a package tour group, but they were still nice enough to talk with.
Back in San Ignacio, Heather, Dana, Hopey, Paul and I probably did the most partying yet, as none of us had any early morning starts, and at least there was a night club in town, albeit rather dead like everything else. Unfortunately, my Caracol guide ended up being a creep that tried to get with one of the girls by buying us rounds of drinks and following us around. While Belizians overall have been low key and nice, the guides are mostly horndogs with absolutely no game trying to seduce white girls. The girls shared their lame lines with us, so it was at least amusing. Most the cheap drinks are made with locally made rum and mixed with soda or sugarly juice. There's two local beers, Belikin and Lighthouse. Belikin is savvy and bottles up to 3 different brews in the same bottle, which is only about 10.5 oz and lists the alcohol content of each, and is differentiated by its cap's color. There is also Belikin Premium, which comes in a different 12oz bottle and is very good. Lighthouse is a bit like Heinken. Overall, Belize has by far the best mass produced beer I've tasted in Central America.
Today, Paul, Hopey and I have made our way across the border to Guatemala, where we're spending Christmas in Flores, before staying within Tikal's national park. I'll write another blog shortly that summarizes my thoughts-opinions on Belize.
Adios, Barry (some more uncropped photos below)
BTW, one update from Caye Caulker. I was suspicious how the Conch tasted, and later learned it does indeed taste and feel like calamari, not fish, but it has less flavor I think.
