A LITTLE ADVENTURE

Not a desperately early start today, which was very appreciated. It enabled us to go to the nearby French bakery for pastries and coffee.

It was so tasty. Having started slimming world I had hoped that I could stick to some type of Central American version, but it is incredibly hard. I am hoping that the all the activity will offset it. It’s not that I am wolfing down all things calorific, it’s just the choice is limited.

On the way we stopped for a photo opportunity. There are many of these staircases to nowhere dotted around.

Meeting the others later by the hotel pool, waiting for our bus. It’s the first time I have ever seen a sign not to smoke weed by the pool, I had to do a double take.

We met our tour guide Lewis, who is lovely with a definite Caribbean twang. He called us all ‘brother’ or ‘sister’. He knew Sheffield as he had worked alongside his uncle in a kitchen carpentry business between Manchester and Oldham. He lasted two years, stating it was hard to leave behind Belize. His mother is English, which is not uncommon in Belize as it was once part of the Commonwealth and was once called British Honduras.

During the Great Depression the UK acted abominably, the mahogany and gum sales plummeted, they saw a chance to impose a stricter stranglehold on the colony. The independence movement began at this time and developed momentum in the ensuing years. There was a stop/start approach that began in the late 1960s to allow independence. Finally Belize were granted independence on the 21st September 1981. One of the sticking points was that as a colony it was still dependent on the ‘mother country’ for supplies.

As a result there needed to be some creativity, Mennonites were invited to Belize to cultivate crops, which they did and do successfully. There are around 12,000 of them now living in Belize. Lewis explained that there was a broad church within the Mennonite community, from the most devout who are not involved in ‘worldly’ practices, to ones who smoke, smoke weed, drink whiskey and are very money orientated.

Belize still has a very young looking Queen Elizabeth on their money.

They will soon be getting rid of any royal family on their money in a few months. Replacing her with notable politicians from Belize. Belize is one of the countries which wants reparations for the deep wounds that were caused by slavery.

Our first stop of the day was another Mayan archeological park, much smaller than Tikal but nevertheless very impressive in its own right. We travelled towards the Xunantunich Mayan ruins, disembarking by the Mopan river to be ferried across by an ancient hand cranked pulley. An American family who had joined us were worried about crocodiles, Lewis was quite stoical as he stated that humans have a way of eradicating nature so it wouldn’t be an issue.

The site was impressive and Lewis provided lots of information about the place and the outlaying area.

He told us about the Mayan belief systems. They viewed all of nature as sacred. Priests were extremely powerful and made decisions as to when corn could be planted, who could be sacrificed and when you could marry. They believed that the earth was flat and above it were 13 layers of heaven. Below was the underworld with 9 layers. It all sounded very complicated. I have started reading about it all as it is fascinating but hard to digest in the searing heat.

The Mayans were small as I have mentioned before, but the steps they built were huge. My little legs struggled to climb them as they are so deep.

After having spent quite a bit of time here we headed off to an area renowned for its underwater caves. It was a long drive, I slept most of it. As it was a long day we were provided with food, picnic tables were assembled and tablecloths and assorted paraphernalia put on them, and food, lots of food.

As Lewis and the driver set it all up Pete and I sat on an adjacent picnic table. Some workers sat opposite us, I didn’t notice them get up and leave but by that point it was too late. Pete and I had fallen down and the table had completely upended. It was a day of further embarrassments. My bruise on my leg is a very impressive reminder.

We are the only veggies in the group. Lewis made a point that there were two specific dishes for us and placed them next to us. That didn’t stop everyone having it, until the American man lumbered over and complained that there were only two pieces of fried plantain, pointedly staring at us. I gave him short shrift. We were also given rum punch, an odd precursor before going cave tubing.

In Belize there are underwater caves which you can travel through on inflatable rings. No idea who came up with that concept!

As you can see the ring isn’t far off my size. This had to be lugged through the forest across three rivers. I did the obligatory falling over twice in the river. It was quite heavy and definitely unwieldy.

It really was a long walk but I knew it would be worth it so pressed ahead.

Nearly there! Not the most glamorous of get ups. The hard hat was also quite heavy. This was near the entrance to the cave.

Having a cool off was brilliant and much needed. The water looked calm but had quite an undercurrent.

Typically very difficult to get into the tubes. I think everyone was as inelegant as me. They were all attached together and then we floated through a series of cave networks. Bats flew above us and it all felt very mystical. Lewis explained that these caves held alot of significance for the Mayans. It represented the underworld, but also the tree roots poking through showed it’s links with heaven.

It was a really beautiful experience and so calming. I thought it had just been me feeling soporific but pretty much everyone else had had a similar experience. It lasted all together about 45 minutes underground. What a day!