Our trip from the island of Caye Caulker to the inland Guatemalan border town of San Ignacio was long and used three different types of transport. We walked 10min to the port, cruised once hour on the ferry to Belize City, caught a 15min taxi to the Bus Station, a four hour public bus ride to San Ignacio via the Capital and finally a 15min taxi ride from the bus station to the hotel. The diesel bus was 100 years old and sounded like a tank. There were open windows in place of aircon and locals kept getting on an odd a thousand times. This reminded me of Africa but the bus was a lot better with everyone in seats instead of sitting in the aisle on petrol drums !!! Antonia’s first chicken bus ride and not a good one. She wanted a window seat and got heat stroke instead. This was made worse by her very late partying night last night. I covered her in wet microfibre towels and she could not wait to get off. We had to assist her to walk to the hotel and thankfully a cold room was waiting for her. It was operation recovery: a cold shower followed by electrolytes. I then pumped up the aircon and let her sleep while I joined the rest of the group to visit the Mayan Archeological site of CAHAL PECH perched high up on a hill overlooking San Ignacio.
San Ignacio (Pop 16,997) was founded in 1800 and the centre of the lucrative Mahogany Industry exploited initially by the British. It has absorbed its sister town of Santa Elena and only 101km from Belize City even thought the bus ride felt like it was 1,000km from Belize City. San Ignacio centre has nothing to see except for many churches since this place is very religious. The best is the view of the city from the ruins.
Cahal Pech was a palatial, hilltop home for an elite Maya family, dated to as far back as 1200BC.
The site is a collection of 34 structures, with the tallest temple being about 25 meters in height, situated around a central acropolis. The site was abandoned in 900AD for unknown reasons but archaeologists suspect it was due to political disagreements. The earliest pottery in western Belize is found here. The name Cahal Pech, meaning "Place of the Ticks". The site is overgrown with forest with trees growing on the structures themselves, which have absorbed big quantities of water to fuel this process.
Got back to the hotel late arvo so I went for food to the huge new supermarket just opposite the hotel. Hot BBQ chicken and chips. The lady gave me extra and Antonia had long forgot her heat stroke as she laid into them !!! We watched Creed 2 that evening.
The following morning was a big day trip organised via Viator and dedicated to a Mayan Ruin and Cave Tubing. Xunantunich is an Ancient Maya archaeological site in western Belize, about 110 km west of Belize City and only 15min drive from San Ignacio. It served as a Maya civic ceremonial centre to the Belize Valley around 600AD at which time the population was nearly 200,000 people. Xunantunich's name means "Maiden of the Rock" in the Maya language which refers to the ghost of a woman claimed by several people to inhabit the site, beginning in 1892. She is dressed completely in white, and has fire-red glowing eyes. She generally appears in front of largest pyramid called the "El Castillo", ascends the stone stairs, and disappears into a stone wall. The first modern explorations of the site were conducted in the mid-1890s. Xunantunich covers 2.6 sq km2, consisting of six plazas surrounded by more than 26 temples and palaces. The largest pyramid (temple to the gods) is called El Castillo built in 800AD using 45,000 tons worth of limestone blocks. It is close to 40m tall and overlooks the border between Belize and Guatemala. The best thing about this pyramid is the well preserved frieze on both sides. The frieze depicts the birth of a god associated with the royal family, gods of creation, as well as the tree of life (which extends from the underworld, the earth, and the heavens. This was a great sight to visit since it is well preserved, easy to walk, you can climb every monument and best of all - not as many tourists as the 3 other major sites we visited.
We then drove 2hrs to the Nohoch Che’en Caves which are part of an archaeological park half way between San Ignacio and Belize City. We had lunch on arrival and suited up with life vests and helmets and walked 30min through the thick lush humid jungle with occasional rain until we reached the start of the cave system. The Nohoch Che’en Caves are a system of 19 large cavities or caves running for 11.3km long. Each cavity has its own grandiose stalagtites and stalagmites and other odd shaped limestone formations. We all grabbed our tubes which looked like giant green doughnuts and entered the caves on fast flowing rapids which were a lot of fun. Many of us crashed into the side walls. Lots of laughs. The current then slows right down and you need to use both hands to paddle. Your arms end up bruised as the side walls of the tube are big and you end up brushing up against the filling plug or handles. A paddle is needed here. We also swam between two chambers and there was not much climbing. Once we got to the last chamber we turned off our head torches and it was so pitch black that you could not even see your hands in front of your face. What is most amazing is that there are animals that live in this darkness. Millipedes, long-legged thin spiders and crickets. They all use antennae to feel their way around and smell to detect food. The other surprise was the comfortable water temperature – not cold at all. We spent a total of 3hrs in the caves and emerged into a sunny day. Belize is actually very famous for its undergraound cave systems. It was Antonia’s first time cave tubing. I had done this before in Northern Thailand and South America. Lots of fun.
We got back around 1730 after a 90min drive back. We visited the supermarket and it was another night in watching Creed 3. Antonia was now a fully fledged Rocky-Apollo boxing fan !!! A strange way to celebrate our last night in Belize.
Enjoy this final post of Belize…
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