Adventures in San Ignacio

So for right now..Wow..I am absolutely amazed at my time here so far in San Ignacio, Belize. It is so much different than the beautiful island of San Pedro. So we left Monday morning on the San Pedro Water Taxi/Ferry to Belize City. That ride took about an hour and a half but was really cool. I was sitting in the back of the ferry outside and felt a little seasick but I was fine! Then we got our luggage (1 backpack) and waited for our charter bus to drive us to San Ignacio. It was one of the hottest days, and everyone was hot and tired waited for the bus. But we then got on the bus and drove about an hour and a half to San Ignacio (most people slept, including me). When I woke up though and looked outside, the land was so much different. There were actually hills and mountains, which we see none of in San Pedro. It was beautiful. The views were breathtaking and I will put pictures up below. We got to where we are staying, a little hotel called Rosa's. It's not as bad as I thought it would be, but it's really just main essentials in our rooms. Thank god I did not get the mosquito infested room (Kenly and Kelly). Me and Julia are roommates while we are here. So once settled into Rosa's, we went to this restaurant down the street and I had a veggie burrito and Easter Special- 3 for $5 belize dollars rum punches. If you want me to break that down for you, that is $2.50 american dollars for 3 drinks...which is less than a dollar for one drink. Everything here is so much cheaper than in America, I can actually afford it. I also bought some cocoa chewy energy bar type thing from this women off the streets, but she didn't speak english. She tried to explain to me in spanish what it was but I had no idea what she was saying, so I guess I am eating a mystery food. Everyone who tries it has no idea what it is either. After eating we went to this stream down the road and swam with all the locals. There was a rope string and tons of people swimming and picnicking around the stream. We hung out there for a while and then passed a ton of fruit and veggie vendors that I checked out. Later on I got a delicious banana, pineapple, caramel smoothie and went to bed.

claiming luggage

shot from the ride to San Ignacio

  

walking around San Igncaio

some of the best fruit stands

stream that we swam in and hung out

Yesterday, Tuesday, was one of the best days I've had yet. We woke up at 7:30 and took an hour and a half long drive to our first stop: Rio Frio Cave..AMAZING. It was a huge cave with a stream through it. I have never seen anything like it. My words won't exactly capture, but I will try with pictures.

interesting BUMP sign we saw on the drive

sightings on the drive

our ride for the day

entering the cave

picture from inside cave looking out

inside cave

Then, we got back on the bus and traveled an hour and a half longer to Caracol, where the famous Mayan Ruins are. Let me just mention that the ride there was not an enjoyable one. There is no "road" to Caracol, besides a beaten rocky path. There was not a minute of smooth pavement so the whole ride we were just bumping around and moving left and right and hitting our heads..tons of fun! But what an adventure it was and what beautiful sights to see. I could have stayed there for days to explore and look at all the architecture and natural beauty. We walked the whole time we were there and climbed hundreds of steps to get to the top of the beautiful mayan ruins. I am writing this the next day and let me tell you...I am more sore now than after running a 5k. What a great work out yesterday was. While in Caracol, I used all of my senses in ways that I have never before. I saw, smelled, touched, and heard things that I have never experienced before. This was one of those trips that I don't think I can actually put into words, and pictures don't exactly do justice. You need to see this in person to fully respect and appreciate it. I felt so tiny standing in the middle of the HUGE ruins, and here are some pictures.

walking into Caracol

the biggest and baddest

view from the top

panorama from the top

walking to check out the dungeons

view from top

Caracol was AMAZING. We then ate lunch and got back on the bus for about another hour to travel to what I think was the best part of the day..BIG ROCKS. We had no idea what to expect. When arriving, we walked about 10 minutes down this path of rocks that went steep downhill. About 5 minutes into the walk, we started to hear water flowing and the walk went steeper downhill. Once at the end of the trail, I saw the most beautiful sight I have EVER seen in person. A huge stream with beautiful full trees surrounding it and a large breathtaking waterfall to the left creating a stream running down to the right. The sun was shining on it and it was a sight I will never forget. We immediately were in our bathing suits and jumped right in. The current was really strong flowing down but we swam against it all the way to the waterfall, where there was a ledge to sit. Then, we climbed the rocks to the top side of the waterfall and I did one of the coolest, most exhilarating things I have done in my life. Jumping from the top of the cliff was absolutely amazing. So amazing, I kept on climbing back to the top and doing it over and over. Thinking about it makes me want to go back and do it again. The water was so clear and beautiful. We swam and jumped for hours. You had to be careful walking on the rocks though because many of them were wet and slippery, many of us found that out the hard way, including me. I just jumped off the cliff and was swimming with the current to the small waterfall that falls into the calmer swimming area and tried to climb up onto the flat rock and stepped on a slippery rock and fall hard on my you know what, painful to say the least and I have a souvenir right now from that one but I honestly did not care. I had the best time at Big Rocks and would love to come back there again. Big Rocks is definitely one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen and I can't even believe how amazing the day was. I keep on using the word amazing because I don't know how else to describe it. Here are some pictures but this is just one of those thing where you need to see it for yourself to fully capture the beauty.

walking to Big Rocks

Big Rocks waterfall..so beautiful

panorama at Big Rocks

What a once in a lifetime experience I am having right now. In about 2 hours, we are going on the ATM Tour and swimming and hiking through caves for the whole day. This is one of the highly rated tours on National Geographic and I am so excited. I will update my blog about that trip. And then Thursday I am going to Guatemala for the day to go to Tikal to see more ruins and then go zip-lining and end the trip in Flores, a beautiful island right off of Guatemala. Thanks Mom and Dad for giving me this once in a lifetime opportunity. I love you both so much and am so thankful for everything you have done. I will be sure to do some good souvenir shopping for you while I am here :)