Belize Part 1:

Kristin and I got back from an 8 day vacation to Central America. We visited the country of Belize and had an amazing trip. The first part of the trip we went to Western Belize and stayed 4 miles from the Guatemala border in a tree house. The adventure began right away as we took local transportation for 3 hours to Western Belize. We read that many tourists would take these buses to this part of the country but we were the only Gringos on the bus. We got nervous as we rode at the back of the bus with our bags and had some interesting characters getting on and off the bus through the door in the back. This was a great ride and 3 hours Kristin and I won't forget.

We spent 3 nights outside of the town called San Ignacio in an area called Bullet Tree. A small community that hosted some crazy parties, at least the noise coming from across the river seemed vibrant.
Here are a couple of pictures of our tree house.





The first full day we were in the west we rented a trusty 4wd Suzuki which we took to the Mountain Pine Ridge Region of Belize. We drove through multiple small villages as we traveled through jungle on our way to caves, river pools, swimming holes, and waterfalls. We first stopped at the Rio Frio Cave. We hiked around the cave and grabbed some quick pictures. There are multiple army soldiers in this area as in the years past thieves from Guatemala would come and attack tourists. Two of the guards asked for a ride back to town. It was great getting to visit with the soldiers on the way back but was a little uncomfortable at first with the rifles they were holding. It made Kristin a little nervous to say the least.
Below is a picture of the Rio Frio Cave



The next stop we went to the Rio On Pools. It is a river system with a series of small pools and swimming holes. It was a great place to relax and swim a bit. We met some really nice people having a picnic and talked with them for a while. The gentleman was a pilot who lived in Belize and commuted to fly. He was generous enough to offer us a Coke which never tasted so good. There was something about the old fashioned glass bottle and a foreign country that made it that much tastier.



We then went to one of neatest waterfalls I've seen named Big Rock falls. It was so cool in that it had great swimming areas leading up to the falls and then a deep swimming hole just at the base. It made for a nice landing pad for some cliff jumping. Unfortunately Kristin couldn't partake. We were the only ones at the falls for some time. Almost unheard of here in the states. This was the highlight of the day along with just hanging out exploring another country.







In the evenings we would hang out in San Ignacio and eat at a local restaurant and enjoy a nice Belikin beer. They own a monopoly and is the only beer served in Belize. The food was amazing and we enjoyed the Belizean staple which is coconut rice and beans with stew chicken. We also got to try Sri Lankan food which I thought was great as I had a neighbor from Sri Lanka growing up. Great food!

The next day we went on an excursion where we rode a tractor from the outdoor adventure lodge and took inner tubes down a river through a series of 5 caves. We were in and out of caves as we drifted down the river with head lamps on. There were natural breaks in the caves where light would pierce through. It was beautiful. We stopped for lunch on the river bank and I found a natural rope swing. It was a tree root that was hanging down from the caves top. It was perfect and made for fun entertainment during our lunch stop. The local guide and I also found a rock to jump and flip off of into the river. Kristin and I had a blast experiencing this together. We also hiked for a ways through intense jungle through an impassable section of the river. Our guide cracked some Cohune palm nuts from the Cohune palm. It was fun to try some things the local kids would do growing up.

Some other fun pics:








Kristin and I had an amazing time experiencing a glimpse of the culture from Western Belize and after three and a half days we were ready to head to the beach.

to be continued....