Inland Adventures

The view of San Ignacio from our hotel room

Wow…it’s been an awesome week traveling on the mainland! Our group had so much fun—we spent the night in a zoo, went spelunking and zip-lining, visited gorgeous waterfalls and Mayan ruins and relaxed! Also, we were lucky enough to stay in a very nice resort, which was a welcomed change from our somewhat primitive hostel here in San Pedro.

Our trip began last Saturday morning. The other interns and I took a water taxi to Belize City and then crowded onto a bus that carried us to the Belize Zoo.  After exploring the zoo for a while, we found the cool campsite where we would spend the night. The rooms were set up like dorms and had several bunk beds in each room. Thankfully, we had a bathroom and a shower! The zoo is literally in the middle of nowhere so we spent the evening playing card games and relaxing.

Our room at the zoo

Sunday morning we awoke to screeching birds that nested near our room and were determined to wake everyone up before sunrise.  After a delicious breakfast at the zoo, we packed our belongings and crammed into the bus. After an extremely bumpy 2-hour bus ride into the mountains, we made it to our destination for the day: the ATM Cave.  I knew that we would be spelunking (a fancy word for cave diving), but I had no idea it would be so much fun!  The river runs through the cave, so we rotated between swimming and walking when the water was shallow. Mayans used the ATM cave for sacred rituals so there are artifacts and relics strewn throughout. It was amazing to see pristine pottery unscathed by humans and complete skeletons of Mayans who spent their last day in the cave. Leaving the center of the cave was an adventure—we had to squeeze through treacherously tight spaces and swim our way through deep water in pitch-black darkness. It was probably the coolest thing I have done in my life! After a long day in the cave, we took the bus to San Ignacio, a beautiful town on the west side of Belize.

Our spelunking group!

Our resort in San Ignacio was amazing! It sat on the edge of a mountain, overlooked the entire village, and had a gorgeous view of the mountains in the background. We were ecstatic about our next few days in San Ignacio. On Monday, several of us went zip lining in the jungle! Flying hundreds of feet over the trees was exhilarating and again, the view was breath taking.

Zip-lining!

We spent Tuesday at the Caracol site. Caracol was a huge Mayan city that flourished about 1000 years ago. These Mayan ruins were different from the others I have seen because there were huge temples, observatories and trading sites. I was amazed at how massive the structures were—especially the temples. It was so cool to climb and stand on top of the gigantic buildings!  After Caracol we went to a gorgeous waterfall in the mountains. We spent the afternoon jumping from the top of the falls and swimming in the cold water.

Climbing down the Mayan temple

After a relaxing day by the pool on Wednesday, it was time to leave. On Thursday, we caught the earliest bus out of San Ignacio, headed to Belize City, and hopped on the water taxi back to San Pedro.  It felt so nice to return to the laid-back town that I almost consider my home!  

Kids playing downtown in San Ignacio

Thanks for reading,

Katy G