Category: Belize

A summary post for five days? Thought you’d get away from it eh, no such luck!

It’s been a whistle-stop trip through Belize to get to Mexico, just five nights, but of course a highly memorable one. We return to backpacking life with a literal bang as our latest two-hour-late-shuttle bus taking us north to Mexico and pumping diesel fumes into the aircon has just burst a tyre. However, it does me the chance to befriend a cat.

Our time in Belize has been magical (nausea and belly-aches notwithstanding). The cave systems, colourfish fish, and James popping the question will no doubt be the memories I take with me, over how rough I’ve felt in the in betweens. However, those low moments only served to remind me how lucky I am having James by my side to look after me through the bad, as much as to share in the good. For me, remembering James putting his arm around me, looking with full love and concern in his eyes as I shook uncontrollably on the boat feeling full rotten, is one of those moments that I will oddly cherish, and one of the many reasons there could have been no other answer to his question than yes.

So, we leave Belize as fiancés, something for many years I never thought would be on the cards for me. I’m so glad to have stuck to my guns (and put my mother through many years of worry!) and waited for the right person, rather than the person who happened to be there at the right time (as I think society can pressure women especially into doing).

Belize will, of course, hold a special place in our hearts for this reason, but Caye Caulker especially. For being not just a beautiful place, but holding a wonderful moment of our relationship forever. We hope it remains the calm, idyllic space it is today. We worry that the writing is on the wall for how it will continue to develop. Typically it is only governments that can stop the uncontrollable tides of the tourist trade, so we hope they find a way to manage it sustainably, and can protect this wonderful area with the same care they have of the ruins in the cave. After all, pachamama was here before even the maya, so why not give her the same respect as they have our ancestors’ artifacts.

Being able to speak English again has been a nice respite from the last six months of Spanish, but it’s time to continue up the gringo trail, through the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico’s east coast, stopping at Bacalar and Tulum on the way to Cancun, where we’ll meet up with our friends Hector and Sophie. Then one last stop, and we leave Latin America behind for this trip.

Vamos, pero no tan rapido…

Rule of Three

The Maya believed in three main spiritual levels, the above, the here and now, and the below. So, it’s only appropriate to continue the rule of three in their honour.

Highlights (Alex) – getting engaged!!!!, the amazing colours of the fish and coral, swimming through the darkness of the ATM cave as the light from our torches reflects onto the walls

Highlights (James) – ATM caves, whole experience, adventure and artifacts. Snorkeling, swimming with sharks and seeing so much amazing stuff under the waves. Proposing to Alex, being able to enjoy the evening and the day afterwards celebrating with loved ones from afar.

Lowlights (Alex) – feeling sick on the snorkeling trip, stomach pains and weakness from Guatemala, diesel fumes on the shuttle out of Belize

Lowlights (James) – the journey out of Belize took forever for what we thought would be a quick journey, we should know better by now. Seeing Alex unwell on the boat and having my own issues with the snorkel/mask. Being too polite and British to use the kitchen full of Spaniards in our Airbnb until I was starving and desperate.

Takeaways (Alex) – It’s easy to neglect your deity when things are going well, begging your god(s) in times of hardship is nothing new. Humans will do barbaric and horrendous things in times of desperation, living unsustainably caused this desperation for the maya civilisation, let’s hope we find better solutions than offering up our enemies’ insides or children! James and I have talked about growing old and our futures together many times, but there is just something different knowing that for sure for some reason. Maybe being engaged provides me the confidence and assurance that I am worthy after all.

Takeaways (James) – The island of Belize has a lovely balance between tourism and locals sharing the land, it’s what I imagined a Caribbean island should be like without tourists needing to hide in their resort for safety or avoiding being pestered for their dollars. However, how long this will last remains to be seen, with Heather from Tsunami Adventures telling us two new tour operators are opening every week; this has the undesired knock on effect of locals being forced out of their homes and pushed out towards the fringes of the island. My final takeaway is you’ve got to move with the times, some tour operators have terrible old websites, refuse to move away from doing everything by email and won’t use social media or Viator/Get Your Guide, sure these services take a cut but they massively increase your reach.

Description (Alex) – where we got engaged! Haha. White sands and earth, so different to the sticky red clays of South America, but also incredibly green. Calm and friendly

Description (James) – very chilled out, go slow island vibes. Caribbean paradise. Mainland doesn’t offer much but the ATM caves are incredible.

Entertainment

TV & Film: Justified

Books: Red Dragon

Podcasts: Red Devils

Where We Stayed

Maria & Arturo’s Airbnb (San Ignacio): 4.5 ⭐️ huge room, lovely hosts, could do washing for free, terrace with hammock, huge bathroom, amazing breakfasts, but expensive for a room, net curtains giving no privacy or shelter from morning light, and felt a bit under their feet when wanting to use the kitchen

Blue Wave Hostel (Caye Caulker): 3 ⭐️, was fine, nothing special, charged for water refills, kitchen was small and cutlery was dirty, bathroom doors didn’t lock or locked too well!

Birdhouses (Caye Caulker): 5 ⭐️, amazing views, privacy, 3 kinds of air con, huge modern bathroom, free bikes, lovely host, where we got engaged, eek.

Cutting Room Floor

• The young lad who helped us find our Airbnb in San Ignacio, and our joy in being able to communicate our plight in English
• Google opening hours being wrong all the time
• There are no cars on Caye Caulker, just a giant fire truck. Everyone else gets around by golf-cart or fixie bicycle
• Being told that there are two crocodiles (Alfred & son) that sometimes come into the tree out from of the Birdhouse to shake down the branches and eat the less stable of the nesting birds
• Hearing the howling wind and rustling trees at night in our Birdhouse. Absolute peace.
• Bimbling about on bikes around the island
• Finally figuring out how to brake on a fixie (you pedal backwards!)
• The owner of the tour company lamenting at how competitive the island has gotten since she moved and setup there from Canada with her Belizian partner 20 years ago. Back then, she had to have health tests and also approval from the local community, now anyone can come here and setup shop.
• The competition is thinning out the demand, the island is only so big, and so there can only be so many tourists doing tours each day, sadly this means Heather has to palm us and other tourists off onto other companies to make it work.
• The competition is also way more tech savvy than she is. They are coming from abroad knowing how to have an online presence and get listed on Get Your Guide or Viator. But they take 20%, she tells us. We can’t help think that unless she modernises, she will get pushed out of the market. Surely some customers with a return of 20% less is better than no customers? Adapt to survive and all that.
• The bikes on Caye Caulker are in such high demand that you could end up paying $250 for some rust bucket piece of metal so they get stolen all the time apparently
• The lady who came up to me in the cafe to tell me I was the spitting image of her friend from college, even including my mannerisms. I forget her name, but future me looked good for her age! She apparently also worked in Sothebys in London, where Ben used to work. She took a few photos and I hope her friend was as flattered as I was. Perhaps there’s a time warp in Caye Caulker!
• The couple in their 70s on our snorkel trip in such good fitness. I asked the lady her secret. She said she exercises often, she dances salsa and samba, swims all the time, and walks a lot. They’ve also just taken up nordic walking, apparently it uses 20% more of your muscles!
• Franklin giving the same lady the chance to drive the boat, something she said she’d never done before. The joy and happiness was infectious, one of those genuinely happy for someone else moments.
• Franklin giving his son Raymond a hard time for almost everything he did. It was Raymond’s 16th birthday no less, and surely you can only blame the teacher if the pupil doesn’t know what he’s doing.
• Raymond being such a sweet kid, clearly not one for following in his dad’s footsteps, but doing as he was told with care and respect and trying his best.
• Finding out that getting seasick whilst snorkeling is a real thing, not just because I’m a weak dog. Similar to being in a car, if you’re looking at a flat floor and then your body is bobbing about all over the place, it’s going to confuse your brain. Add in water splashing in and out of your ears, plus bobbing my head above water everytime Franklin yelled out a fish name, this also confuses your brain. So maybe there’s hope for me yet, at least with scuba diving, or snorkeling in calmer waters!
• Kids throwing rocks in-front or behind their football that kept ending up in the water to “push” it back towards the shore, clever!
• The many little lizards and geckos speeding around like tiny, tiny dinosaurs. Hard to dodge on the bikes!

The Photos

Arriving into Belize, not the climate we expected, and not the climate we stayed with:

This sign with somewhat conflicting messages in a public park for children. Almost like two different people painted this with very different understandings of what it was for:

Politics in most countries (look at the banner):

Queenie on bank notes:

Setting off for snorkeling:

The glorious kitchen view, I’d happily cook looking out at this every day!

Just before James popped the question, little did I know!

In the restaurant for Valentine’s Day after the proposal, pretty apt:

A black rabbit hopping down the road in Caye Caulker without a care in the world for all the pedestrian, golf-cart, bicycle or stray dogs traffic:

Blazing sunsets:

I am chosen one! This little tabby coming for cuddles as we waited for our shuttle bus tyre to get replaced. Smitten:

Warning: This blog post contains content that some readers may find vomit inducing.

As we arrive on the Caribbean island, we’re greeted by a huge ‘Welcome to Caye Caulker’ sign adorning the pier. Surrounding us are beautiful green palm trees, turquoise waters and white sands. I can already feel that this is the right place for my romantic intentions. Alex doesn’t have a clue!

Instead of staying a night in Belize City first (which we overheard was a bit on the sketchy side) we’ve got here a day earlier than planned for a bonus day. On the way to our one-night accomodation, I stop by Martinez’s Street Food. It doesn’t look like much, just a window of a non-descript house opening out onto the street, but it has come highly recommended. By late afternoon they’d ran out of their famous jerk chicken, but luckily they still had some beef, and it was delicious.

We get settled into the Blue Wave Guesthouse and as Alex is feeling a bit ropey still I suggest she has a rest while I go to the “barbers”. I actually go to the Pelican Sunset Bar, which is one of the potential proposal spots for tomorrow. It is not quite how I’d pictured it, no beach, a bit of a shack and far too touristy. I scratch it off the list. I order a Happy Hour cocktail and sit on a stool overlooking the bay. I inhale half the cocktail as soon as it arrives and with my heart rate at over 130, I make the call to Alex’s Mum, Diana. There’s no going back now! She must have been worried seeing a call coming from me and assumed something bad had happened. I reassure her it’s a happy call and let her know my intentions for tomorrow. Diana gives me her blessing and wishes me luck along with many kind words and love. The nerves and the cocktail mean I can’t fully remember the conversation, but I’m glad I called her even if it is a slightly dated tradition.

I then try to genuinely get a haircut, but for some reason the majority of the barber shops are closed today, and the one that is open has a massive queue of shouty locals. I return home and explain I waited a while but wanted to come back and have an explore of the island with Alex. She buys it and the plans are safe for now. We walk out onto the pier opposite our hostel and immediately spot a giant stingray gliding through the shallow waters. Next up, a huge starfish clinging to the wooden pier pillar. It sets us in good standing for our snorkelling tour tomorrow.

For our evening treat, as we’ve agreed this will be a ‘holiday’ within our travelling trip, we head to the Lazy Lizard I’ve read so much about online. Despite Google saying it’s open until midnight, there’s not a soul around at 7pm and it has shut-up shop for the day. Hmm, plan B. There’s a taphouse back in town so we head there instead. We enjoy live music by the band “Greg” as I have a couple of beers and Alex has a cranberry juice. We order ‘chips and dip’ with a basket full of chicken wings. Both of our faces drop as we realise the ‘chips’ are in fact tortilla chips, NOT the potato based delights we were hoping for. The delicious beer cheese dip they come with makes up for it though.

The Big Breakfast

Valentine’s Day, we wake up to our favourite song that I’ve set as my phone alarm, cute. The first task on the agenda is to find breakfast before we join the snorkeling trip. The Magic Cup a few doors down offers Belizian Breakfast (with my new favourite, fry jacks), fruit pancakes with syrup and Alex’s favourite drink, frappucino. I go for the Peanut Butter frappucino and Alex orders a Snickers edition, they taste exactly the same. It’s probably far too much food before a snorkelling trip but I wanted the day to start how Alex would want it, loads of food and sugar!

Worst Things Happen at Sea

After brekkie, we head to Tsunami Adventures where we’ve booked our full-day snorkelling tour. We say hello to Heather who I’ve booked the tour through and sit outside waiting a while for our tour to begin. Long story short, they didn’t have enough people to make up a tour group for Tsunami, so after some more waiting around we join another tour. We board the small vessel and are introduced to our captain and tour guide for the day, Franklin and his son Raymond. Raymond was a Valentine’s present to Franklin 16 years ago to this day. Raymond’s 16th birthday present is to spend the day working the boat with his Dad.

On our way across the ocean, we pause near a protected mangrove swamp. They used to let tourists in here to see the crocodiles, but too many tour operators fed them chicken (the crocodiles, not the tourists) and it upset the ecosystem. The result is that it’s now totally banned for anyone to enter the swamp while the ecosystem recovers.

The first stop is Hol Chan where Alex and I decide to take the offer of optional life vests for extra buoyancy in the choppy waters. Here we see Red Snappers, Barracudas, Angel Fish, Parrot Fish and coral. Franklin has a camera and takes on responsibility for photos as well as guide:

At some points, huge schools of forty or more fish all hide under the protection of a rock, humorously unable to tell we can easily see them in their hiding spots. Franklin bobs around in the water and shouts to us when there’s something worth looking at below him. At one point he takes a deep dive down through a gap in the coral reef and out the other side, it’s a pretty impressive feat, but no one else is brave enough to follow his lead. It’s quite hard work in the water and with the life vests constantly dragging us back up it’s difficult to focus on what’s under the surface.

Next up is a stop called Shark Reef, it doesn’t take long for us to work out why. At the side of our boat is a shiver of nurse sharks, they’re pretty big beasts but we’re assured they’re friendly and won’t harm any humans. “Don’t be scared guys, get in already” Franklin instructs as we all nervously put our masks, snorkels and flippers back on. We all plop into the water one by one. The sharks are much more interested in the morsels of sardines being fed to them by Raymond back on the boat. Once we get used to the sharks we notice Franklin gently playing with a stingray that’s come to say hello. He later tells us that it’s his “girlfriend” and that he once helped it as it had a fisherman’s hook stuck in it’s mouth. It now comes to play with him in the water everyday and make his wife jealous, or so the story goes!

The water is really choppy here and the currents are stronger than usual, it makes it hard work climbing back into the boat and a few of us start to feel a bit sea sick. Unfortunately Alex seems to be feeling it the worst and sits on the boat all cold and shivering. I don’t often worry about her but she looks quite unwell and I’m concerned she won’t recover in time for my evening plans.

I was hoping we’d stop for lunch on one of the sandy Caribbean islands but no, we have our lunch rocking and swaying around in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Most people eat a couple of bites and leave the rest due to their nausea. I, of course, eat both mine and Alex’s lunches, no food will go to waste on my watch!

The third stop is a ship wreck of an old cargo vessel that sank here during a storm many years ago. It’s super cool to see the giant rusted ship at the bottom of the ocean with the coral starting to claim it back. Fishes bob in and out of the various jagged holes carved into what was once the cargo hold. Sadly Alex wasn’t able to get into the water here as she was still recovering on the boat.

Our final stop for diving is the Coral Garden. Plenty more going on under the sea here and my highlight was seeing a massive school of at least one hundred black and blue fish, I swam right up behind them and they seemed none the wiser. On my way back to the boat I saw a large moray eel slithering across the ocean floor, super cool to see, especially from a safe distance.

As we make our way back to the mainland, Alex starts to feel better and is more like her normal self again, laughing and chatting with everyone on board. We stop by a place where we see Tarpon fish that can grow up to 300 lbs/136 kgs!! They’re absolute monsters, you would not want to be swimming next to one of these even if you knew they were harmless. Sardines are dangled above the water to tempt the huge beasts to jump up and out, like less glamorous dolphins! A couple of people in our group feed the huge seagull like birds by holding a fish on the end of their finger. For once Alex and I are happy to let everyone else partake in the tourist activities while we sit out. Meanwhile a group of pelicans look at us longingly, not getting a look in with the sardines being thrown into the air and snapped up by the gulls.

To get home, we pass through “The Split”, a divide in the island originally created by fisherman for a shorter journey, but widened by various hurricanes over the years.

The Caye Moment

Alright then, the part you’ve all been waiting for… We pick up our luggage and head to what I hope is a peaceful, romantic and quiet Airbnb on the edge of town, Birdhouses.

We’ve been looking for a special place or excursion to spend some Christmas money Diana kindly gifted us, and this seems the perfect time to use it.

Lucrecia greets us at the gates and it soon becomes clear it’s all I’d hoped for and more, the perfect spot. She gives us a long intro and I’m quite concerned she’ll give the game away not realizing I haven’t asked Alex yet. Luckily she doesn’t, and I tell Alex to have an hour’s rest to feel better, then get ready to go out and watch the sunset. I head back into town to try once more to get a haircut so I can look my best for the big moment. However, everywhere is appointment only or again very busy. I can’t be late to my own proposal and I don’t want to miss the golden hour. I rush back to find Alex still in a towel and relaxing on the bed. Hmm, how can I rush her to get ready when she’s not feeling great from the tour. I pretend our dinner reservation is earlier than it actually is and suggest we need to hurry. I go for a shower and dig the ring out of its hiding place, here we go.

I’m relieved that Alex is feeling better enough to join me for a beer out on the private bit of land overlooking the ocean. We pull two seats up next to each other and crack open a beer while watching the white and grey egrets relaxing in the tree in front of us. I put on our travel playlist and “Time of my life” from Dirty Dancing comes on, which we both sing along to. Alex smiles along with no idea what’s coming next. I ask her to stand up while I say a few words to ‘mark the occasion of Valentine’s Day‘. After managing a small speech reminiscing about our four years together, I ask her if she can guess where this is going yet… “no?” She curiously asks. I make it obvious by pulling the ring case out of my pocket and getting down onto one knee. I’ll remember her reaction for the rest of my life, as her hands come up to her face as she’s overcome with joy, excitement and emotion. I’d no idea if she knew this was coming or expected it, but her reaction is so pure, raw and genuine I figured not. I pop the famous question and don’t have to wait long for a resounding yes. We have a big hug and a kiss before I realize I haven’t actually put the ring on her finger yet, back down I go. We then sit down in a slight state of shock to take in the moment. It feels for a few moments like we’re the only two people in the world as we watch the sunset over the ocean and sit in absolute bliss.

It’s a big relief for me to get to this moment, weeks in the planning, sleepless nights thinking it all through and worried about letting it slip. Now we can both relax and enjoy this huge moment in our lives. If nothing else we’ve now got something new to think and talk about for the second half of our big trip! Oh and that ‘Valentine’s Day’ card I snuck off to get in Flores was in fact the engagement ring…

Recreating the moment:

Engagement Evening

I’ve booked dinner at The Wine Bar and Bistro. In Flores, I was secretly communicating with them on Whatsapp letting them know that it will be an extra special evening. They’ve got the message and greet us with big congratulations and a private table tucked away from the rest of the diners. We take a few photos and order a bottle of prosecco, it’s time to celebrate!

Typically you can’t help the weather and a tropical storm opens above us just after we finish our heart shaped bread! As a consolation it’s a lovely atmosphere inside the bistro and we’re serenaded by cheesy love songs all night long. The starter is watermelon, feta and cucumber salad. Followed by tenderloin steak, lobster tail and potato gratin. Desert is a lovely rich chocolate tart with whipped cream and a cherry flan too. We excitedly discuss future plans and how much we’re looking forward to telling everyone our news.

After our relaxing meal, we head back to Birdhouses and play a YouTube quiz and finish a crossword puzzle together before bed. Two staples of our relationship. Having confirmed the good news to Diana earlier on, around midnight UK time, we are surprised to receive a lovely voice message congratulating us. We go to sleep excited to call our friends and loved ones in the morning.

The Morning After The Night Before

We wake up and are back to our usual breakfast of porridge, granola, fruit and peanut butter. What a view though as we look out over the ocean from our Birdhouse balcony. Our two chairs perched next to each other from last night. As we get ready to call everyone back home the WiFi stops working and there’s no answer from our hosts to reset it. Doh.

After waiting a while we can’t hold on any longer and decide to head into town and find a cafe with good WiFi. We cycle on bikes provided by our Airbnb and find The Magic Grill (not the same place as yesterday). I order an iced tea and we call friends and family back home to tell them the happy news. There’s a few clairvoyants out there who “knew” this was coming, especially Romi who brands herself a witch for her foresight. It’s heartwarming to tell my folks who beam smiles and congratulations back at us, before swiftly segwaying back into asking for technical support 😂

We have a bit of an explore of the island on our bikes and I finally manage to get a haircut. I’ve been desperate to get one in Belize as they’ll speak English, especially after a couple of difficult encounters with Spanish speaking barbers.

Returning to our Airbnb we don our Chasing Lights gear and take a picture to share with the group. Immediately after that I post on Instagram and now the whole world knows. Time to relax.

For lunch I cycle up to Martinez’ street food stall, this time there’s plenty of chicken left so I get a couple for Alex and I to share. Mine is, of course, covered in the hot pepper sauce. As I’m waiting in line, the heavens open and a downpour has the locals worrying about the weather. “Don’t worry, it’ll pass. It’s a passover shower, the clouds are high” a local guy says. According to his logic when the clouds are low, the rain will stay, when the clouds are high, it’s a passing shower. A few minutes later and his theory is correct, it stops raining and doesn’t rain again that day.

In the evening we cycle around the small airport to the South of the island and watch the sunset from the dock. We return to town and buy a couple of souvenirs to mark this special location.

For dinner we make proper chips and dip with a mountain of homemade fries and guacamole. We enjoy eating them on our balcony overlooking the spot where we got engaged 24h ago and wishing we could stay here forever.

Vamos a la México

All good things must come to an end, and sadly it’s time for us to depart this wonderful island that will remain significant to us for the rest of our lives. We take some final photos of our favourite spot, collect some mementos and say goodbye to the lovely Lucrecia, who is over the moon for us.

We come crashing back down to the reality of backpacking as we join a huge queue of gringos waiting to board the ferry. For some reason even though we already have tickets, we need to check them in along with dozens of other confused and frustrated people. A drunk American woman queue jumps, pisses everyone off by barging past them, then asks Alex and I what language we are speaking! Back to the madness of travelling…

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Adventure – Cycling around the island along the sandy roads, avoiding the various golf carts. Snorkelling with sharks. Watching the sunset from a jetty while a group of locals play football behind us.

Excitement – Seeing a sunken shipwreck. Nervous phonecall to kick things into motion. The build up to getting down on one knee and the feeling of relief and joy once it was all over. Waking up to an ocean view from a gigantic bed. Sharing our news with everyone and receiving lovely comments.

Trauma – Feeling sea sick.

San Igancio

Our first stop in Belize is a small town called San Ignacio just along from the Guatemalan border. San Ignacio is the mid-point for many a maya ruin/temple, but also the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) cave. It’s a cave that comes highly recommended pretty much everywhere, although it’s also highly out of our usual budget limit, so it’s not a decision we take lightly. Many calculations are done on our budget spreadsheet (yes, we have a spreadsheet) to find a way to make it work, and we decide to do it, so here we pit-stop.

The town is small with a beautiful, low river running through it, big trees and white benches at the side to enjoy the water inside or out, and a metal bridge that is apparently a small replica of the Brooklyn Bridge. We get to ‘enjoy’ it a couple of times as Google Maps tells us the completely wrong location for our next Airbnb. Note to all, read host directions above Google.

Our accommodation here is a humongous room in the home of Maria and Arturo. The room is so big we even have a hammock in it! It’s wonderful to be back in a giant bed, with ample enough pillows, some privacy, a kitchen we can use, and our own private bathroom, which becomes more valued than usual as it’s time to rejoin the Bad Belly Club. Thankfully we still have some of the super-strong pills from Bolivia to help with the pain.

We’re excited and confused to be in an old British colony and back in an English speaking country, giggling at each “Buenos dias” and “gracias” we now say without thinking at passers by greet us who greet us instead with “Good morning”. Despite my excitment at being able to take a back seat of stranger communications now James can partake again, my hopes are piqued too soon. Our hosts, Maria and Arturo are Belizian but have Mexican and Guatemalan heritage. Whilst English is technically the country’s first language, for many (especially this close to the Guatemalan border) Spanish is most people’s first language as the language of the home. However, the only thing thwarting their understanding of our English is Arturo’s hearing, so we all speak in a mixture of English and Spanish depending on the moment.

They are a super sweet older couple, with Arturo having lived here his whole life. He’s been here before electricity and water was piped in. He tells me about two folklore tales of the area. Tataduende (or papaduende in other regions), a mischievous imp that only comes out in the dark and is conveniently used to scare children. Maria’s mother has apparently seen tataduende a couple of times. The second is a story of the ‘wailing woman’ haunted who the village once, wailing in three spots around the village consecutively so quickly she could not have been a human getting between the locations. A group of locals went to investigate after a few nights… lying in wait for the spirit… then she appeared! They pounced on her and… she was just some pranksters. If my Spanish brain understood correctly, it wasn’t something they were likely to do again after the treatment they got. He also explains that the religion of the African descendents here don’t follow voodoo but something called ‘obvio'(?), which sounds a lot like witchcraft. When he was younger there was a girl who liked him, and the girl’s mother, a known witch, made him a cake. Arturo was too scared to eat the cake for fear it contained a love spell. So his dad ate it and ended up marrying the young woman! Just kidding, nothing happened, except probably a lot of rib-tickling for Arturo being scared of a cake.

Arturo makes us fantastic breakfasts for the two mornings we stay here, including a Belizian stable, the “fryjack”. They’re basically deep fried triangle dough pockets, and Arturo tells us you use them like toast, loading them up with the obligatory beans and eggs.

Alongside each meal, a tiny bottle of hot sauce is ready to go, provided by Arturo who assures James it has just the right amount of kick. It’s also Belizian-made, branded as Marie Sharps. I avoid Ms Sharp best I can whilst James begins a long-standing affair.

Whether it’s because I’m ill, or it’s from being looked after by this lovely older couple, I’m somewhat missing family and home these days. There’s no place like home as they say, especially when you’re poorly! James does a wonderful job looking after me though as I spend most of our down-time lying in front of the fan feeling sorry for myself.

No time for that though when you’re on the trip of a lifetime. Time to down some Bolivian-strength pharmaceuticals and spend the day swimming and clambering through caves!

Thanks to three events of tourists dropping cameras on century old skeletons and wrecking them forever, cameras have been banned from the caves since 2013, so what follows are some stock photos from our tour guide, to break up what I can remember from the trip.

ATM Cave Tour

We made it to the tour agency on time and took a seat and are assigned to our guide Eric. I’d read good reviews mentioning him so I felt very lucky. I thought we might sleep on the journey up to the cave but Eric gave us info basically the whole way, including the now customary warnings of how dangerous and difficult the experience is going to be, but we’re confident we’ll be okay. He recants tales of people who don’t admit they can’t swim, or have had operations or dodgy knees or are hungover, who end up passing out or flailing in the water and having to be rescued as they literally flounder at the entrance that you have to swim through to start the tour. This isn’t said to stop people doing the tour, but to explain they will manage the group specifically based on each individual’s needs. If you aren’t honest, you may just join the “Another Tourist Missing” club they joke! The two guides are clearly very experienced and have fantastic energy.

The other thing to note here is that whilst Eric is distinctly of Latin-american descent, his English has a Caribbean twang, reflecting the Creole dialect in Belize. It’s a curious juxtaposition to see a Latino speaking like a rasta!

We arrive to the starting point and get kitted out with helmets and life jackets. The life jackets are little triangular ones that have a pouch for us to store our waterbottles, and are way comfier than your usual bulky vest types. These prove to be incredibly useful and helpful and I would definitely recommend anyone doing the tour to take the life-jacket!

The tour starts with a half hour walk to the entrance, including three river crossings. None of the following photos are mine or of us unfortunately, but you get the idea…

Whilst the river is ‘refreshing’ you get used to it quickly and then you’re out of it again. We get to the cave entrance and it’s straight back into the water, there’s no way in but to swim. Again it’s a chilly start but actually isn’t too bad once you get used to it. Much of the route involves clambering in and out of the water. At the entrance, as Eric gives us the intro, a fish (mini piranhas as Eric calls them) properly bites me on my thigh, it was no nibble! I spend the next few pools constantly moving to avoid another bite. Thankfully their presence dissipates as we go further in.

We’re told how the Maya culture believes in 13 levels above our one, and 9 levels below into the underworld. There is no hierarchy to the levels, they just are. A theory is that these reflect the hours of daylight and nighttime. With one hour for sunrise and the other for sunset. Hello 24 hours.

The Maya believed they needed to appease the god of the underworld, and so would come and give offerings and thanks at the entrance to the cave. It’s 4.8km long, so there’s no way they got to the end (there is evidence they first entered between 300 and 600AD). There is only evidence of them in the entrance for the oldest part, they believe this is because life was good at this point. However, as the droughts came, they started to go further and further in to get closer to their god.

They also upped the ante of their offerings in desperation. In ultimate desperation, they followed the flow of the water up into a huge open space, which is where they left all their final offerings. There are remnants of clay pots in the deepest part they got to, with signs of smoke and ‘cooking’ where they would put these pots atop three rocks with a fire underneath and cook the contents.

Some would contain a hallucinogenic concoction that they would put up their butt, others would contain different organic matter as offerings. These pots were then smashed or cracked to release the ‘spirit’ or energy within. This is why almost all of the pots are broken.

The Maya would have to do all this in an airless cave, deep inside, with only the light from their torches, there’s evidence of smoke on the walls and ceiling. They couldn’t stay in there long as otherwise they would suffocate.

One of the pots has a little creature decorated onto it, rumour has it this is tataduende! Although it is more commonly known as “The Monkey Pot” (or “jazz-hands” to the Friends fans!).

The Maya would carve into the stalagmites to create symbolic shadows. Eric shows us how they would move and distort in the light of a flickering torch. We see an old lady, a leader in a headress with a crooked nose and slanted forehead who appears to swallow as the light moves, and three rowers whose oars move with the light. Eric does a great job of bringing the experience they would have had to life.

All the artifacts have been left pretty much in tact. Some look like new because they’ve been unearthed by floods. The government has decided to leave the culture and history as it is, to not desecrate this holy spot, so there’s not many answers to be had for many of the questions. There have been some discoveries made by way of xray photography, and analysing some of the displaced relics, that can confirm that all the skeletons of the human offerings were boys or young men, and the organic matter contained in the pots.

Each flood of the cathedral adds another layer of calcite to the relics in the line of the water run-off, so much is now covered in a hard layer of yellow. The ‘crystal maiden’ is no maiden, and no longer sparkles, due to said calcite.

A university found that a body would decompose in these conditions in 20 years. The other saddest offering is that of a young boy who they can find no evidence of how he died, just that he was bound, suggesting he was left there alive to die bound with no way of escaping from the pitch black. At one point Eric tells us to turn off the lights on our helmets, and close our eyes, and then open them again. There’s no difference at all. This is a form of torture and can make people go insane if left in the absolute dark and total silence for a prolonged period. I can’t imagine being left in there bound in the darkness, poor kid. The ‘crystal maiden’ was their final offering of desperation, the victim was disemboweled, his sternum stabbed, his chest cracked open, and his heart removed. Grim. After this, the drought continued, and believing there was no further way to appease the gods, they abandoned their settlement and headed north.

The experience is like no other I’ve had as we swim, wade, squeeze and duck our way through the caves. Eric is a great guide at keeping us separate from other groups so we can really enjoy the experience without feeling on top of others. We only see two descendents of spiders (just as creepy but only with six legs as two have turned into feelers to get them around in the darkness), and a huddle of little fruit bats clustered into a hole in the underside of a rock formation.

All around, the rocks glisten and sparkle from the calcite. Huge formations of stalactites come down from the ceiling, with some joining their stalagmite counterparts forming columns. The stalagmites here are oddly lumpy and bumpy compared to the pointy ones I’m used to seeing. Eric explains it’s because of the variable water flow.

It’s so cool to float about in between the narrow rocks and this huge natural space. Whilst most of the people in their stock photos are walking, I can assure you we spent most of the time swimming or wading through water. It was brilliant!

Thankfully the super painkillers we still have from Bolivia have done the trick and, despite feeling a bit weak, I’m able to enjoy the day without any pain.

The experience ends with us coming back the way we came, and enjoying a lovely cooked meal with rum-punch. We chat a bit with our teammates and they’re all impressed by our adventure and the treks we’ve done. It’s a reminder of how lucky we are for this to be our life for a year and not just a holiday. Another fantastic experience.

James makes a lovely stir fry for dinner and it’s time again to pack and have an early night before heading back into a bus the next day to take us to Belize City, where we get on a boat to the stunning Caye Caulker. Don’t worry though, Arturo reassures me that Tataduende can’t cross water, so we should be safe 😉

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Adventure – exploring the cave system of ATM

Excitement – being told we were “cool” for the trip we’re doing by our group who are all here on holiday. Experiencing being in the darkness of the cave system, imagining how they did that high on [everything it seems] with only a torch to light their way, amazing!

Trauma – some young adults from the USA throwing a water bottle up at a cacao tree to try and knock off a pod dangling off its trunk. They fail but leave the tree damaged from the attempts. So sad each time to see the various ways people disrespect nature.