Day 17 - Cave kayaking near San Ignacio

Trip Start Jun 26, 2007
1
47
60
Trip End Ongoing


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Flag of Belize  ,
Tuesday, December 4, 2007

I didn't get the best night sleep last night as the owner's dog was trying to get into my tent during the night, whilst everybody else slept in their rooms. Can't complain as I did have the option of sharing a double bed with another male member of our trip but the tent appeared more appealing. Unfortunately I couldn't get up early enough to go for a morning swim in the fresh water lake before we had to board the bus again and say our final goodbyes to Guatemala. Definitely plan to return to this great country in the future.

So for the next few hours we had a bumpy ride to the Belizean border along the muddy rutted road that most have destroyed what was left of our vans suspension. Eventually we arrived at the border where the fun started. Unfortunately the South Korean, Seoun Young needed a visa and passport photos to enter Belize which she had neither. So our tour leader, Jennie left her at the border and told her to walk back half a mile to the nearby photo booth. However she knows very little Spanish and if it wasn't for our German passenger, Andre translating for her we could have been stuck at the border for a few hours.

The actual crossing was quite uneventful with the exception of the Belizean immigration officer attempting to put on his posh English for the UK passport holders. Despite it being awfully bad it was nice to be asked about the weather. We boarded the bus again ready to pass through the border but we were told to walk through immigration again much to the amusement of the passengers. However Bobbie stupidly decided to tell the border control officer what she personal thought of this and almost got us thrown out of Belize before we had even entered.

From the border we continued for another hour before we reached the Belizean town of San Ignacio. Here we had the option of doing some cave kayaking or spend the afternoon in town. Only 7 of us decided to do the cave kayaking (priced at 80 Belizean dollars/40 US dollars). Getting there required us going through some Memonite villages (similar to Mormons living a pre-car lifestyle) and driving through a river. At the river we were split into three canoes, however I was stuck with our guide so I never got a chance to do any kayaking, but I did get to carry the torch. The artefacts in the cave seemed fake and when the cave ceiling got very low our guide wanted to turn back. Luckily the group managed to persuade our guide to continue and despite having to lay down in the boat we did manage to navigate our way through the low hanging stalagmites. Must have only been 40cms above the water level. The duo of Bartosz and Jennie did get their kayak trapped between two hanging stalagmites so they had to jumped aboard the other two free kayaks leaving both vessels a bit overcrowded. At the end of the cave there was a waterfall but before we cold take any photos we had started our journey back. Despite the trip being interesting it was disappointed not to be able to do any kayaking and at 80 Belizean dollars it is definitely overpriced compared to the river cave hike I did in Guatemala and the group refused to tip on this basis.

From here we went to a very basic campsite, which will be best remembered for being eaten alive during the night while having to endure the constant barking and howling of the nearby dog kennels. Lets say we were glad to escape in the morning and make our way to the Caribbean island of Caye Caulker.
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