Belize - Caves Branch - Day 3

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This morning we again joined Dave and Barb for breakfast. Before coming to Caves Branch, they spent several days at Caye (pronounced “key”) Caulker, which is our next destination. We take this opportunity to do a little advanced scouting for our next stop. What should we do? What should we see? Where should we eat? They are full of suggestions and recommendations. From the sounds of it they loved Caye Caulker and are confident that we’ll love it too. They are leaving today and heading to San Ignacio to see a traditional Belizean market. I know how much I love seeing these roadside stands filled with all the colorful local produce and can only imagine how much it must excite them.

At 9:00am we meet our guide for the Xunantunich Ruin tour. His name is Arnold. He was born in Honduras but moved to Belize with his family in the early 80’s. We jump into a smaller car and begin our 90-minute drive to the ruins. Like all of the other employees we have met at Caves Branch, Arnold is an extremely knowledgeable resource for almost any question. “Ask me anything and I’ll give you the answer, and if I don’t know the answer, I’ll make one up!” he says with a laugh. Every single conversation we have had with a local since we arrive in Belize eventually turns to the state of the U.S. economy and the effect it is having on them. Arnold informs us that this time of the year is typically the height of the busy season for tourism in Belize. Caves Branch regularly has 60-70 guests during the high season and the guides are used to working nearly every day without a break. Currently there are about 20-25 guests at Caves Branch and Arnold says he has only been guiding 2-3 days per week. You can’t help but see the effect it has on people around us at home, but I never really stopped to think about just how far it reaches.

We come to the river and Arnold tells us we need to get out of the car so he can pull onto a floating dock. It is a traditional hand-crank ferry attached to a cable that will take us and the car across the river. It only takes a few minutes, but is a neat experience nonetheless.

As we begin our trek up the hill to the ruins, Arnold provides us with the historical facts and background of the ruins. We stop at several sites and informative kiosks along the way, but we don’t get our first real glimpse of the ruins until we reach the top. It is a massive, towering structure and you can’t help but be impressed with the enormity of it all. It’s hard to imagine the Mayan people building this temple such a long time ago. There is a huge courtyard in front of the ruins. Rylee wants her camera. After some pictures and a bit more history, we begin our climb to the top. Like Abel the day before, Arnold is very attentive to the girls and their safety. When we get to the top we learn that Rylee shares her Dad’s fear of heights. After a few nervous minutes at the top, we are ready for the descent. We climb down the back of the ruins and eventually find our way to the side of the ruins where the girls find a grassy hill to climb up and slide down. It’s their favorite part of the day so far.

It’s now very hot and Arnold seems to sense that he is losing the girl’s attention. Almost instantly, he begins switching gears. We take a side trail and he finds a long line of leaf cutter ants marching through the woods. He explains to us what they are doing, where they are going, and how they eat. The girls love insects and nature and are hanging on his every word. He trails them to their home in the ground and begins stomping his feet. I’m not exactly sure what he is up to, but I can tell he has a purpose. Suddenly he lunges forward and returns to us with a soldier ant proudly clenched between his fingers. He explains that they come to the surface to defend their home whenever they hear an anteater approaching. He then allows it to clamp its jaws on his shirt and explains how they can be used like sutures to close a wound in the jungle. First you let them bite the wound and then you rip off their bodies leaving only the heads holding the wound shut. He now has Rylee and Paige’s full attention. Next he rips a leaf off a nearby tree and tells them to smell it. It is an allspice tree and the leaf is very fragrant. They both want one. For the grand finale, he spots a termite nest in the tree. Karin and I both know exactly what is coming next. He picks up a twig, digs open their tunnel which runs up the side of the tree and coaxes a termite onto it. Rylee turns her head in horror as Arnold pops the termite in his mouth and exclaims “mmmmm, good!”. He plucks several more termites from the tree and offers them to each of us. Mom and the girls politely decline, but curiosity gets the best of me and I stick one in my mouth. He says they taste like a minty carrot, and I have to agree that the description is pretty much spot on. It is surprisingly tasty for such a tiny creature, though I can’t imagine ever eating enough to actually sustain you.

It’s been a fun day, but it’s now time to leave. We stop at some souvenir stands and the girls each buy a bracelet. We grab lunch at a local restaurant for lunch which has a playground and the girls have lots of fun swinging, sliding and riding the see-saw.

When we arrive back at the lodge we decide to take the half mile walk out to the end of the road and go for a swim at “The Blue Hole”, a natural sink hole that fills with water. Because of the rain last night, the water is a murky bluish green. No one is here when we arrive. It’s a bit of an eerie feeling as I slide into the water with no idea what lurks in the depths below. As I float on my back across the middle of the hole, I imagine a crocodile peering up at me contemplating dinner. Eventually other people come wondering down the path, including the young kid who collects money at the entrance of the park. He informs us that the hole is about 25 feet deep in the middle. I ask him about crocs and he kind of laughs and says “yeah, we see them down here from time to time”. Not exactly the answer I was looking for. He also tells us that about 15 feet below the surface there is an entrance to a cave which goes several miles deep into the mountain. On clear days you can see it, but not today. Scuba divers sometimes come here to explore the cave.

Tonight is our last dinner at Caves Branch. The food here has been good, but nothing exotic. Dinner typically consists of soup, salad, bread, fish, meat, veggies and a starch. We have sat with different people at every meal and while I’m not normally fond of this type of forced interaction with strangers, I have actually come to enjoy this part of the day. People are always coming and going at Caves Branch, so there are always new faces to see and stories to hear. We spend some time writing e-mails before dinner and are late to arrive for the seating.

Because we’re late, there are no open tables and its now our turn to join some strangers. We ask to sit with a young couple who has obviously just arrived today, and they are happy to accept. After three days we’ve suddenly become the veterans of Caves Branch and now we are the ones being asked for advice while assuring our new friends that they are going to have a great time during their stay. They are filled with excitement as they contemplate what adventures they will take over the next 4 days. We learn that they live in Baltimore and are recently engaged. Like me, they have done most of their research on the Internet and it’s funny to hear them discuss the same reviews that I had read weeks earlier on places like TripAdvisor.com. We laugh as they talk about the technology withdrawal they are experiencing. No TV, no Internet, no cell phones! We also learn that their next destination is Caye Caulker, same as ours. We will have a two day overlap and hope to see them again on the island.

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