Canoe Ride & Mayan Ruins

Monday, November 6, 2017 - San Ignacio, Belize

This morning we were being picked up at 9:00am, so we got up early to have plenty of time to eat breakfast.  And what a beautiful view we had for breakfast.

While we were waiting for our driver I took a couple of pictures of the front of the resort.

Fidelio picked us up right at 9:00am and it was not long before we were off the paved roads.

But the views were awesome.

Soon we came to the sign that showed we were still 4 miles from our destination, Barton Creek.

The first dirt road was in great shape compared to this one.

The pictures don't really show how rough the road was.  :)

Along the way Beverly, the wife of the other couple on the tour, wanted to stop and take a picture of the cows we were passing.  So I took one also.  :)

Soon we came to a creek crossing.  The only problem was there was a tour bus stuck in the middle of the creek.  Dave, another tour guide, decided to try to drive around the van and he made it!

Fedelio decided we would also give it a try.  Beverly and I were saying our prayers as we drove through it, and we made it!

Soon we arrived at Barton Creek!

Of course I had to take pictures of the grounds and some of the beautiful flowers in the area.

 Once everyone got their life jackets picked up we headed down to Barton Creek to take a cave tour via a canoe.  Beverly, Bill and Fedelio were in one canoe and we were in the other.  It was a nice relaxing ride back into the cave.  These are a couple of pictures of the launching area and the entrance to the cave.

The people at the launching area were the group that came via the tour bus that was stuck back in the creek.  :)

This was going to be our first attempt at using the GoPro and I used the night mood, which I think would have worked better if I wasn't moving while taking the pictures.  Most of the next few pictures are blurry.  But the cave was really awesome and we really did enjoy the ride.

I really could not believe how tall the cave was.

Before leaving the area Fedelio took a couple of pictures of us by one of the signs.

We all loaded back in the car and headed back down the dirt road.  Once again Beverly and I said a couple of prayers as we crossed the creek and we made it again.  :)  The tour bus that was stuck was gone.

I am truly amazed as to how many Mennonites live here in Belize.  Beverly wanted to stop and take pictures of their road grater, so I took a picture also.  :)

Eventually we made it back to San Ignacio and stopped at Hodes Place for lunch, where we had rice and beans again.

 After lunch we went to Xunantunich (Stone Lady) to see the Mayan ruins.  In order to get there we crossed the river on a hand crank ferry.

We finally arrived at Xunantunich.

Once we arrived at Xunantunich we had a short hike up to the ruins.  On the way up I took a picture of another unique flower.

 Also Fedelio pointed out a tree that I thought the roots looked like snakes.

This is a picture of our tour guide Fedelio.

The ruins were awesome.

This is a picture of the inside of one of the tombs.

This is the outside of the tomb.

Here are some more beautiful pictures.

Before climbing to the top of the big structure I heard a noise and and found out it was a couple of monkeys.

 As I was taking the pictures one of the branches broke and one of the monkeys fell to the ground with the branch, about 40 feet.  At first we were not sure he lived through the fall, but soon he got up and moved over by another tree where he sat for a little longer before climbing up the tree.

 I am sure he is going to be hurting for a while, but it look like he is going to live!  :)

Mike and I were the only ones that wanted to climb to the top of the tall structure and I am thrilled we did, the views were awesome!

 Coming down was harder than going up, at least in my opinion.  :)

Once we got down we checked out the ball court.

We also saw a couple more monkeys up in the trees.

We also went inside one of the buildings where they had a couple of the monuments.

Fedelio let us know we needed to get going the park closes at 4:30pm and it was already 4:10pm.  Beverly and I hustled down the hill in hopes the gift shop was still open, but no such luck.  They were already closed and now it was time to head back to the hotel.

Once we got back to the hotel Mike and I walked down to town (down a big hill) to find a gift shop.  I wanted a t-shirt and was hoping to find a patch to add to my collection.  But I only found the t-shirt.

After we walked back up that hill we ate dinner at the hotel and called it a night.  :)

It was another wonderful day!