Made our way back to the room, unpacked, and headed out to Pirate Pizza - Yo Ho Ho and a Pizza to Go! Run by an ex-pat, Steve from Connecticut, who ran to Belize when the Senate enacted the Patriot Act.
But I am ahead of myself! We've been so busy, I haven't had time to update this blog everyday. It's pouring rain here in San Pedro today, so I'll use the time catch it up now...
We got all those bug bites in Western Belize - Cayo District - San Ignacio. Here we stayed at the Moonracer Farm with our wonderful hosts, Tom & Marge Gallagher. They run a lodge which consists of 50 acres of JUNGLE at mile marker 9 on the Georgeville Rd! There are two two-room cabins. They live in one and guests stay in the other. They are built of tropical hardwoods and are beautiful. The guest cabin is two rooms, each room has two queen sized beds, a full tiled bathroom, hot & cold water, no A/C, no electricity. They are lit by kerosene lantern, candles & each afternoon they brought us large rechargeable flashlights.
We rented one of the rooms and there were no other guests there. Each room of the cabin also has a screened in porch complete with hammock - which Rayne always 'called' as we were heading back to the Lodge.
We quickly became friends with Marge & Tom. Not only are they kind, nice, helpful, wonderful people, but each day when we returned to the Lodge, Tom immediately asked if we wanted a beer or something to drink and would bring it over to the cabin. Visiting on our screened in porch and over dinner we found were were about the same age, had lots in common & Tom, too has been an avid Boyslife reader - sharing that sense of humor with Steve and generally kept us laughing. Dinner was in their cabin each night and was delicious - Marge is a WONDERFUL cook. She made her own bread - the loaf was too pretty to eat! We had lots of fresh, local fruit, especially mango & pineapple, her homemade granola and yogurt made from powdered milk ('cuz you can't get fresh milk there) and some kink of cooked goody - like waffles or Johnny Cakes for breakfast each morning. The food was GREAT and there was plenty of it! The company made it all that much better.
Rayne really enjoyed her time there. When we arrived, she wasn't too sure about it. Being way out in the bush, no electricity, and no other people around, I think she didn't know what we would do out there. Tom & Marge were great - making food to please her and letting her go with them to feed the gibnuts they kept in a pen on their property. After our first tour, Rayne was sold!
Thursday, July 22nd, we hit the ground running with a tour of the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) Cave. Marge had told me we should do this one. Steve & Rayne weren't real sure, but I signed us up and it was the HIGHLIGHT of our time in Cayo. After riding for over 1.5 hours on dirt, bumpy roads, to get to the jungle trail, we hiked for 45 minutes, crossing the river 3 times - it was clear & beautiful. Then we got to the cave opening. The river came out of the cave, beautifully clear. Here we stopped and had lunch, saving part of the food for when we came back out. Then we headed in to the cave - swimming the first twenty yards with helmets and head lights.
We climbed through the cave, sometimes swimming, squeezing through tight spots, and gauking at all of the formations. After about 2 hours, we came to the rear of the cave - a large, large chamber with more formations. We put on socks here and were taken to areas with Mayan pots and skeletons. Then we climbed a couple of ladders strung together to a high area in the chamber and here we found lots more pots and the skeleton of a young woman - spooky cool! We turned our lights out a couple of times and just sat in the pitch black and listened to the cave noises.
I should mention, we did this tour with Kim & Koon from Holland - they spoke perfect english and were on a 3 month sabatical. Our tour guide was Carlos - and he was wonderful! As we headed out of the cave, I was exhausted and my knees were protesting - but it was well worth it!
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