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Published: February 11th 2011
I left Caye Caulker with Sunday morning's 9.15 water taxi (Bz$20) to Belize City. At the pier, I met with Amy and Andy (the Kiwis I'd met on the boat on the way to Caulker). They were also going to San Ignacio so it meant we could do the trip together and share any taxi costs. The boat ride was only 30 minutes. When we arrived in Belize City and asked the taxis to take us to the bus station, they anounced it would be Bz$10. My guide book said Bz$6 so I wasn't having it. He quickly came down to Bz$9 but only agreed to the 6 when we started walking away. It felt a little like my haggling skills were getting better. So Bz$2 each and we got to the station just as the Belmopan bus was going. The taxi driver stopped it (parked in the middle of the road to block it!) and told us to hop on. It was only Bz$4 to Belmopan (this is the actual capital of Belize – it was changed in the past after Belize City was destroyed by a hurricane) and a further Bz$3 from Belmopan to San Ignacio.
When we got
there, it was only lunchtime and as the New Zealanders got in a taxi to get to their hotel, we agreed we were bound to bump into each other around town later. As they agreed the taxi fare (I didn't hear any haggling... ) I was looking for someone to tell me how to get to my hotel. That's when I met “Star Black”, who also introduced himself as the only black man in the city (it wasn't true). He wanted to flog me anything I could wish for: taxi ride, tour, anything else, so I thought he would be a bit disappointed when I asked him for directions to walk to my hotel.
“Oh, it's just up here, come with me, I'll show you!” It really was around the corner, but in the time it took us to get there, he'd managed to say he knew a place where I could stay for free. Hmmm... Not that I was suspicious, but... OK, I was suspicious! So I said thanks but no thanks and went to get my room. Bz$20 for a single room with a rubbish fan (but a fan nonetheless) and shared bathroom with hot water.
ATM tour
First river crossingMustn’t grumble. I really think that was the cheapest in the city.
So I dropped my stuff and went hunting for a supermarket, but everything seemed to be closed. I didn't really have anything in my backpack in terms of lunch options, so I really wanted to find a shop. As I walked down the street, I bumped into Star again, who explained he worked for a tour company and was determined to sell me one of them. He was full of sh*t but if I could get a deal out of him, I was a taker. He introduced me to the guide: His brother David Simpson (so “Star Black” would be a stage name I guess) and clearly the 2nd only black man in the city (I met a few more later.) They were offering me a combination of 2 tours cramped in one busy day for Bz$130. That didn't sound too bad but I wanted to shop around before agreeing to anything.
Then I asked where I could get some food and Star explained that the shops were closed until 4pm (siesta time I guess) and took me to the market. After getting some supplies there, I enquired
ATM Tour
Martin breaking a mini coconut as to the location of Cahal Pech (Mayan ruins about 3km away from the town.) He replied “Are you a good walker?” I said I was OK and he answered “Come with me!” So I had my own personal local guide now! What followed were 40 minutes of quite fast uphill walking in the boiling 2pm sun. In those conditions, “a good walker” I was not! He went half way to the site with me, up until the point where I couldn't get lost anymore. All the while, he was telling me about all his businesses and money and land all around the country and swore he wasn't after a girl or a wife: “I have 1000 girls, I don't need a girl!” (imagine with the accent) So maybe he was just being helpful after all! (I remained unconvinced at that point)
Anyway, I got to Cahal Pech, exhausted, dehydrated, too hot and glad to find some shade. The ruins were nothing special and probably not worth the BZ$10 I had to pay to get in. But back in San Ignacio, there wasn't a whole lot to do, so I guess at least than kept me entertained for an hour
ATM Tour
The entrance of the cave or 2. When I returned to the town, I did some food shopping (only basics as I didn't have kitchen access)and went to ask all the tour companies about their prices. I quickly got convinced that the ATM tour (xxx) was “the one chicken” (sorry – private joke – only a couple of people will understand the chicken reference), basically the must do tour in the area. It was also recommended by the Lonely Planet, but prices were ranging from Bz$150 to Bz$175, a bit more than I wanted to spend. Having spoken to most operators, Mayawalk was my favourite but also at the top end price-wise. However, they'd mentioned they might be able to do me a deal as they had quite a few people booked for the next day already, so I returned, ready to haggle my way to the ATM caves (Actun Tunichil Muknal). In the end, I got it for Bz$140, which I thought was a great deal. For this, I was promised a full day tour (starting at 7.30am the next day) to an underground river a couple of hours drive from San Ignacio. We would start with a 45 minutes walk in the jungle
ATM Tour
In the cave to reach the cave and then hike and swim up the river until we reached some Mayan remains (skeletons and artefacts). All of this with an expert guide there and back and also with home-made lunch thrown in. It sounded exciting and a bit more challenging than the other tour options. So I had the whole evening to look forward to it.
It was only about 5pm by the time I'd wrapped this up and I decided to head for the river for a bit of fresh air and shade. As I walked down, I heard a voicing shouting at me, telling me there was a nicer spot to the right. Yes, it was Star again, clearly not doing much tour selling. As we sat by the river and I declined the invitation to eat lobster in the evening, he spotted a couple of American “friends” (they'd had the Star treatment the day before) who came and joined us. Star was telling us about his ice cream business and after a while, we all agreed to follow him to go and try his chocolate/banana and his sweetcorn ice cream inventions (no way I'd have gone alone, but at 3 against
1, I fancied our chances). On the way, he told us all about the trees, plants and fruit on the side of the road and we even got to try some. He also told us he was an expert and teacher on medicine with plants. Eventually, we got to try the ice creams (the chocolate/banana was succulent, but I wasn't so fond of the sweetcorn) and got a special home-made anti itching lotion (made with ganja amongst other things!) rubbed on our legs. After that and the grand tour of the little house, we finally escaped back to our respective hotels. I had a quiet evening, typing the blog and reading up a bit on Belize and Guatemala, with an early night required for the early start the next day.
In the morning, I left after a double serving of cereal (I probably could have done with a full English considering the day ahead, but was slightly limited). There were 14 of us in total, which meant 2 guides (no more than 8 per group): Martin and Danny. I was assigned to Martin's group, which I was happy about as he was one of the people I'd spoken to the
ATM Tour
It wasn't all sensible, there was some silly moments too! night before, so we already had a bit of rapport going on (and the Danny bloke looked like he didn't give a sh*t). After a quick briefing and a check to make sure we had all brought the necessary gear (we were given a list at the time of booking), we piled up in the chicken bus, ready for some action. After a few stops to pick up our lunch and allow us to buy some snacks, we joined the unpaved road (including river crossing) leading us to the heart of the reserve. On the way, Martin (Danny still looked uninterested) gave us the low down on where we were and the vegetation and history around us. Then, after reaching the car park and getting all our necessary gear together, we set off with our respective guides for the jungle trail. This wasn't just a 45 minutes walk on a jungle path. This was like being a kid again and on a field trip with a great teacher, learning about the things mother nature has created. We stopped many times to learn about the plants and the animals along the way and by the time we reached the cave (3
ATM Tour
What can I say? river crossings later), we felt that we understood the jungle a little more. After dropping our rucksacks, the guide took all our pictures by the mouth of the cave (he was keeping hold of all the cameras in a dry bag) and sent us straight in for a short swim in the not so cold water. After that we walked upstream, with water from ankle to neck deep, stopping many times to look at stalactites, stalagmites and other rock formations and take some pictures, but also to hear about the legends of the Mayans and what those caves meant to them. There was quite a spiritual approach to it from the guide and it was very much about thinking about how the elders would have felt about things and appreciating what nature had provided and respect it (seemed very much like an. eco-friendly tour too). I can't explain how amazing it was, you have to experience it to understand. It went from turning off the headlights and being in complete darkness, with one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of us, just walking and trusting that we weren't going to hit a wall, to listening to Martin
playing music by gently hitting the stalactites, via some silent times to reflect on what the Mayans would have thought of any given sign. Eventually, after about half a mile, we reached the sacred place. That meant we had to take our shoes off, put socks on and cover up as a sign of respect. Then we entered an area filled with artefacts that had been left in-situ (mainly pots) for hundreds of years. We listened to more tales and history of the old civilisation and then moved on to where some human skeletons had been found. It was really impressive, and Martin's lighting with his big torch allowed us to take some really wonderful pictures.
Along the whole way in and out of the caves, we got overtaken by a few groups from other agencies (we also bumped into Amy and Andy), some clearly doing a quick “in and out” and not getting into as much details as we were. By the time we got back out, it was about 4 hours later (more than average) and we hadn't seen the time go, but we were all ravenous. We devoured our lunches (including delicious cake) and quickly headed back
to the bus where Danny's group was waiting for us. After a quick change into dry clothes, it was time to head back to San Ignacio, with everyone (from both groups) having had the most fantastic day.
It was 5.30 by the time I returned to the hotel and after a quick shower, a walk around the town (there really was nothing to do and it took 15 minutes to walk around slowly) and a quick chat with the American couple from the day before (they were staying in the next hotel), I returned to my quarters where I was pleasantly surprised to find an unsecured wireless connection on which I hurriedly jumped and spent most of my evening, planning the next day's journey into Guatemala.
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delphine
non-member comment
tu te languis autant de Phil!!