Yesterday we woke up at our usual 6 to 6:30 am. Theo makes us lunch and dinner here, homemade, every morning and night. While I feel a little badly about not exploring the local cuisine more, the Parrot Nest is a little far back in the jungle, and it is really nice after or before a crazy day of stuff doing to be able to sit down and eat at what has become temporary home.
Coston and I walked to the bus stop and took a shared cab into town for $3 Belize, $1.50 US. There is a big open air market every Saturday morning in the middle of town, and I feel like I got some pretty great pictures out of it. Many of the places selling trinkets to tourists, however, have all the same stuff, and the sellers will always accost you the moment you stop to describe each item in detail that you've seen a million other places. I bought some gifts, we snacked on some shave ice, and we decided to try for the nearest ruins, Cahal Pech.
Cahal Pech is just up the hill from town, completely within walking distance up a very steep hill. By 9 am it was already solidly in the upper 80's, and Coston very kindly waited for and encouraged me as I huffed and puffed my way up, sweat dripping down my face and back. It was worth it, though. The view was amazing over the town, and the ruins were covered in moss and tree shade. That early in the morning they were very peaceful too, only one other couple and two or three wanderers made their way in and out of the massive stone structures. My favorite photos to take were of the trees slowly taking over the ruins, their roots simultaneously pushing their way through the walls and holding them together. They grew out of the walls of the main temple and over the open courtyards.
Next was Xunantunich (Pronounced Soon-an-tun-itch). We hiked back down into town, ate some lunch and caught another cab to the site. There was a line of stands selling wares alongside the river and the taxi had us get out to ride the hand-cranked ferry across. We got back in and he drove us the mile up to the site's visitors center. After wandering through and reading about it, we hiked the rest of the way to the site. The main structure, which they call El Castillo, is the second highest point in Belize. It looks over a beautiful courtyard flanked by other, smaller structures and ceremonial mounds. Parts of it were cordoned off, but we found our way up the back and to the top.
The view, my God. Epic is really the only way I can think to describe it. At your feet are the whole of the ancient Mayan site, and outward it feels as though you can see all of Belize. It's green in every direction, and mountains rise and fall on the horizon. The wind was cool and steady, and I tried to imagine how it must have looked in its heyday with villagers milling down below and crops farmed in the surrounding flatlands. It would have been quite the power trip to be so high, lording over all of that.
As we climbed down, I noticed that the stops of my feet were getting pretty sunburnt. I have a few triggers, and burning is one of them stemming from a terrible sunburn as a kid. I had put on sunscreen, but not well enough as Coston informed me that my back was getting pretty burnt as well. My immediate desire to get out of the sun warred with my knowledge that this was a once in a lifetime experience and I didn't want to cut it short. We did see more and take more pictures, but I was getting flashbacks of being bedridden with blisters all over my face, so we ended up staying less than I would have liked. After hiking back down the mile-long road and taking the hand-crank ferry back over the river, we waited at the merch stands for a while before we were able to flag down a cab to take us back to Bullet Tree Falls.
By now I was fighting full panic mode. We were cave hiking again the next day and I thought there was no way the tops of my feet weren't going to blister overnight. They hurt like hell, looked swollen, and in general felt completely fucked. I started trying to think of ways to bind them up to shove them in hiking boots, tried to imagine climbing in caves with blisters bursting open in my shoes. We put aloe on them, and my back, and I slept with my feet hanging off the end of the bed.
When I woke up this morning, they looked okay. Not blistered, a little swollen and red, but not worth yesterday's panic attack. They hurt, but nothing like I was expecting. Today we are hiking Actun Chapat and Actun Halal. They are Mayan caves located on private land, and only one company in all of Belize is permitted to tour them. I am excited, I think caves are my favorite so far and it sounds like we'll be down there all day. I can think of no better way to spend a day. Try to update again tonight.
Tomorrow we fly home. I'm pretty bummed about that part.
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