The weekend began Friday afternoon with a much needed nap. That night the group went to a place called Cactus Plaza to eat tacos and celebrate being done with our first week of student teaching.
Saturday morning we got on the road around 7 AM and headed straight for the Belize Zoo, about 2 ½ hours away. We get there, pay our fee and the man gives us a once in a life time opportunity. For a small donation to the zoo (US$10) we could go feed and play with Junior. Junior is a two year old spotted Jaguar. We immediately jumped on the offer. Junior is precious (well, as precious as a 115 lb. Jaguar can me). I got to feed him chicken legs and pet him.
The rest of the zoo was also awesome. I saw spider monkeys, black howler monkeys, many different types of cats, the Harpy Eagle (biggest eagle in the world), Crocodiles, Snakes, Parrots, Toucans, a stork with an 8ft wingspan, and so many other animals!
After the zoo we went to Xunantunich, a Mayan ruin site. That was almost as scary as climbing Lamanai except the climb has a few breaks in it. I was able to walk about the top and see from all sides (whereas on Lamanai I was too scared to stand up, it was a small top there). We visited another site, Cahahpech after that, it was more “residential” it seemed, I was able to go down hallways and look into rooms and such.
Saturday night we stayed at a place called Marta's in San Ignacio and ate in the restaurant of the hotel. The beds were soft, the A/C cold, and the showers hot. I was a happy kid.
Sunday morning we woke up and headed to Aerial Trek Belize to go Zip-Lining. We got into our gear and climbed to the first platform. Being short has its disadvantages in this adventure. The guy had to literally lift me up by the middle of the harness (he could do it one handed) and hook my center thing in. I didn't mind though, it was kind of funny. Zip Lining was scary and amazing all at once. We did a total of 6 runs, of varying lengths and speeds. At the end we repel off of the final platform, straight down, no rocks to push off of or anything. If you know me, you know I'm scared of repelling, I've had some bad experiences (all of which ended with me crying) So I was definitely nervous. It started off slow and then WOOSH! I went down fast. Needless to say I screamed, loudly, and in a pitch probably only dogs are able to hear. But once I hit the ground, safe in the arms of Kent [haha] (he was the one at the end of all of the runs to keep us from smacking into trees) I was ready to go again.
We had other plans though so I will have to go zip-lining again another time.
After zip-lining was cave-tubing. Wearing nothing but my bathing suit, some shorts and flip flops we began our trek into the rain forest, with two guides, and carrying out inner tubes with us. We hiked about 45 minutes and came to a form in the road. Take the well worn path and start where everyone else starts or hike another 45 minutes up a hill and back down on a path that few have chosen and start at another cave system. We decided to keep hiking. After some falls and slides and trekking through the mud we finally made it to the entrance of the cave.
It was gorgeous! We began just lazily paddling (with our arms, not oars) down the cave and he said, we're going to go to my secret room. So we set our tubes and side and climb back into this cave and inside there is a small waterfall that is AMAZING. He then says, back over the waterfall is another of my favorite rooms. Only a few of us chose to go there, you have to climb along on your belly to get through. Oh man, the rocks were sharp (my knees look a little worse for wear)! But we got back there and there is this clay he says has never seen the light of day and is really good for the skin, so like good little tourists, we slather it on. I can honestly say it worked and my sunscreen-induced zits are now gone.
After that we go a few kilometers down river, stopping here and there to cliff-jump (I've pushed my body to so many limits this weekend, I'm surprised I can still walk)! The entire cave-tubing took a few hours and at the end we got to swim around in the river for a little while.
A stop for pizza afterwards (it was delicious) and we were on our way home. It was d a quite ride as everyone was exhausted!!
Like usual though, I put off lesson planning until the last minute so last night I had to finish my lesson plans for this week. But I got them done though and made it to bed around 9:45.
This weekend has been amazing!! I feel like my talking can't do it justice. I wish I could have taken pictures of the cave tubing, words can describe the way it looks coming out of a dark cave into the light and rain of the jungle.
But the weekend is over and it's back to school for me! I've got two classes to teach today, one at 1:00 PM and one at 1:45.
Two professors are in from Murray State for the next few days to do some observations, maybe they'll take us out to dinner? Haha... the food here continues to be delicious every time.
I will get some pictures up this evening at the Internet Cafe.
Hope you are well.
-Amy
This all sounds so awesome! I'm glad you are having a good time!
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