Casa Blanca Guest House San Ignacio

... long wavy curtains and others looking like giant jellyfish.

They Maya had a great reverence for caves, we found out that they believed caves were the entrances into the underworld. They feared these places because they were ruled by the evil gods of the underworld and yet the elites would make a trek with maybe a total of 15 people to do bloodletting rituals, sometimes while on hallucinogens, give offerings of food, and make sacrifices.

After trekking for about ...

... Learned:

• If you don’t know where you’re going, don’t pretend that you do in the hope that eventually it will seem obvious. And if someone give you directions and you don’t hear them don’t both smile and say thanks and assume the other heard!!!
  
  
  
• You can never have enough plasters.
  
  
  
• Insect repellent needs to be reapplied (at least we’re starting to learn!)
  

... Each of us was issued a helmet with a light attached to the
front and reminded that we will have to take off our shoes for a
large part of the trek as shoes could damage the limestone and
artefacts. We crossed the river 3 times on foot, navigating our way
through the slippery rocks. Finally we reached a small camp where
many anthropologists and journalists stay for months at a time when they are studying the caves. After a
short break and lunch ...

... had a dry bag that we put some dry clothes, socks and our cameras into. While we were waiting on the rocks just inside the cave Martin pointed out this huge spider on the wall - bigger than a huntsman but nowhere near as fat. It scurried away quickly when we got too close.

The caving was EXCELLENT! I was in heaven. I bought up the rear of the group. We waded through neck high waters and small streams seeing amazing stalactite formations and crystallized ...

... effective anaesthetic, and apparently is one that the Mayans used to use - and still do in places - during dental treatment, both for extractions and for cosmetic work: the ruling classes liked to embed gems into their teeth. Á la Ugly Betty. Sort of. By now, Xander has found a selection of nuts. JP takes the ...

... 5 minites of arriving in Belize and I think he really had me goi ng there for a while because the speed and creative brilliance with which he was able to string all of these stories together was something else. But to be honest we were just happy to be speaking to someone in english (languages spoken in in Belize includes english, creole, spanish) and he seemed harmless and friendly enough and we offered to meet up with him again later in the day. He did tell us that we were in for a ...

... the truth. Old me would dismiss it and say you is relative , it mainly speaks to the pagans those who aren't Christians. No it speaks to everyone who refuses to live the truth of Gods word. Old Me again would say, I don't love evil , I don't worship satan, im in church every Sunday , I sing the songs , I listen to the message unless im asleep hehe . Yet by not living every moment for God I wasn't serving him. We can only serve one God or satan. Think about ...

... right now). I went back to the bank to try to get my ATM card on Wednesday June 18th, but between Sunday and then, we went horseback riding, cliff jumping in the jungle, I taught kindergarten and played and read with kids at The King's Home orphanage. All in all, it was a great time. As I departed for Guatemala, I stopped to get my ATM card in San Ignacio, like I mentioned earlier. The bank was closed. Back to Banana Bank, the missions team and Marieke and Natalie. We had a sweet ...

... had a 12 volt searchlight. Getting into the cave was a bit tight as we had to brush up to a rock whilst bumping over rock on the bottom, but then it opened out to between 10 and 20 feet wide. We needed the lights because the ceiling is over 100 feet high in places. The cave is a living cave so there were lots of water drips coming down on us, but it was worth it to see some magic stalagmite and stalactite formations. Some of these where on the ...