Mai Gate

The following day we headed deeper into the jungles of Belize near to a town called San Antonio. Our hotel comprised of jungle cabins and apart from a small nearby corner shop and a bar run by an aging American hippie there wasn’t much about which meant we could slow the pace a little. After arriving we took a walk to the local butterfly ‘ranch’. A project set up in the 80’s by a gentleman from the UK. They breed a variety of butterflies for release into the wild, shipping round the world (a lot go to London) and for show to visitors. Elana was blown away by the sheer variety in every colour and number of butterflies, Bert was a little taken aback initially but enjoyed himself! We were shown the process the team go through on a daily basis to harvest the eggs, care for the caterpillars, collect the chrysalis and hang them out to emerge as butterflies – the full lifecycle! They also have a healthy hummingbird population (wild) that they feed. We were able to sit and watch the majestic birds as they fought for pole position to drink from the feeders, they’re mesmerising to watch and the sound (humming) of their flapping wings as they hover! After walking back to the hotel we spent a well deserved couple of hours in the pool before dinner!

The following morning we headed off for a trip to Barton Creek Caves, one of a few cave systems in the region with evidence of ancient artifacts probably from the ancient Mayans. The route took us through some beautiful countryside (unsealed roads were a bit bumpy) and we got to see the Amish community, being a Sunday they were all heading off to church. We had to head into the caves by canoe in order to view them due to the water levels, we could only explore 1km of the caves due to stalactites blocking the way, but they extend to some 8km in total. Along the way we were able to see immaculate ancient pottery and skeletons. Archaeologists think that the caves were used for sacrifice with the remains of at least 28 people found within the cave. The children really enjoyed going off in to the darkness, Elana was responsible for controlling the spotlight! The Mayan communities still exist around central America, something we hadn’t fully appreciated. Our guide is of Mayan heritage and speaks the language, so it’s not an extinct culture in any way; their practices have evolved of course, they don’t sacrifice themselves or others for a start! After stopping off for lunch in a small village we headed back to our hotel, the afternoon was spent following a local walking route in the jungle. We were spoilt by the sighting of toucans in abundance as well as more hummingbirds, the children are still learning the necessity to be quiet on nature walks so any wildlife would have been scared off in any case, they did enjoy trying to scale the Tarzan style vines! Fortunately we didn’t come across any jaguars which are known to frequent the area!

And that rounds off Belize for us, on the 30th January we headed over the boarder into Guatemala. We found Belize to be safe, friendly and charming and really enjoyed our time discovering the country. Similar to Mexico the deprivation was clear to see in places. It was a lot easier to get about due to English being their official language, although not spoken by all. As in Mexico we learnt more about the ancient cultures which helped piece together the evolution and downfall off the ancient cities.Les mer