MAYFLOWER-BOCAWINA NATIONAL PARK

We went 12 miles North to the road to the Mayflower-Bocawina National Park and started to walk the 4 mile access road and were picked up by one of those resort shuttles on its way in to gather up a van load of guests who had spent the day zip lining and rappelling waterfalls. In no time at all we were at our destination. We checked in at the park office and set up our tent by a stream. When it was up I noticed my legs covered with bugs and swep them away but my legs had been bittwn 100x’s and they burned for an hour and the next day were covered with 100’s of little black spots the remnant of which are still visible on my legs as I type this 3 weeks later as pinprick tiny black scabs.

Once set up we took a walk and checked out the very overgrown and un-excavated Mayan ruins across the road and then hiked a 30 minute loop through the rainforest checking out all the giant ferns and jungle plants. The jungle is really lush with big ferns, tangly vines and tangles brush everywhere. Dinner was Cheesy mashed Potato Pasta and then it was in the tent to escape the bugs. In the middle of the night I awoke to find Colleen peering out the tent at our bag of food, she had heard a noise and we found a jungle mouse in our bag of bread. We shood it away and then brought the food bag into the tent with us.

In the morning it was January 9th, Ambiana’s 12th birthday and we had birthday breakfast with presents from Jakobi, a cookie and a pineapple. Then we hiked 2.6km to Lower and Upper Bocawina Falls where we swam in the jungle streams and stood underneath the jungle waterfalls. There is a fancy resort in this park and we stopped by the restaurant and had a birthday lunch of fish tacos and burgers. The girls were done hiking for the day but there was still Antelope Falls to see so I set out first alone while Colleen stayed with the girls and power hiked 2.8km through the jungle, past more overgrown Mayan ruins and up many many steps cut into the ridge beside the falls to a beautiful cool pool at he base of a small falls above the 200′ Antelope Falls. I had a nice swim and a super waterfall massage then took in the view from the lip of the falls where I could see out the Caribbean sea. There was a white hawk up there and it was beautiful to see it take off and soar out over the jungle and ridges below. I hustled down so Colleen could make the hike as well. It was just as well that the girls didn’t want to hike because the upper third was really steep and gnarly and it would have been difficult and slow going for them. I am glad Colleen and I got the chance though as it was definitely the best hike we did in Belize.

HUMMINGBIRD HAVEN

We left Bocawina at 8am walking out the 4 mile access road. This time we walked a bit farther before being picked up by another resort shuttle which took us back out to the Southern Highway where we waited for a bus to Belize City. When it came Ambiana recognized the fare taker from a previous bus ride, the one she calls the Polar Bear guy. We rode back through Dangriga and then NW 29.5 miles up the Hummingbird Highway to the HUmmingbird Haven, a campground/hostel Colleen had found in the Lonely Planet.

Once again we are the only one’s here. Our Host has a Mayan wife and a 3 year old boy Jimmy and he let us pick any spot out in the big field and we chose one near the river which has a sweet little swimming hole in it which we all jumped in once we had gotten the tent up. That is all we did all day other than sit in the communal kitchen and read. The Haven has several guest cottages and 2 dorm rooms, all empty of people. I found the communal book shelf and found a book on the Hawaiian wife of Kamehameha who tore down the idols after he died and ushered Hawai’i into the modern world.

We spent the afternoon sitting on th 3rd flor balcony of one of the dwellings looking out over the beautiful short steep jungle covered mountains to the west. It is so lush and beautiful here, this is how I imagined all of Belize would look. We saw a Toucan! We had Tuna Noodle for dinner and then listened to a podcast before a long cold night in the tent.

BLUE HOLE & ST HERMAN’S CAVE

Today we rode the bus 12 miles to the NW to the St Hermans/Blue Hole National Park. and hiked down to the cenote. I was not impressed at first but on further exploration discovered the cenote had 2 sides and on the 2nd it looked like the water went into a small cave. We put on our bathing suits and entered the water and swam under the lip of rock and the cavern opened up inside to a huge stalactite cavernous bowl with bats and beautiful acoustics and lots of dark nooks and crannies to swim into and explore. It was a super sweet swim spot and the Colleen and the girls and I had huge fun splashing around in it. It was super beautiful to be back in the deepest darkest recess of the cave and to peer out the small crack to the bright jungle daylight beyond. After we got out we kep telling everyone who hike down how cool it was but no one else put on a swim suit and went it.

We then hiked for half an hour through the jungle to the other park entrance where St Herman’s Cave is. The big tour here is to tube through the cave and as we walked to the cave’s mouth we kept encountering people with tubes returning from their float. We were the only ones without tubes.
The cave mouth was a big hole in the base of a steep ridge with stone steps descending into it and a cool wind blowing out of it. A path led 200 yards into the cave with a stream to our left. Past 200 yards you could only go with a guide and an inner tube and we stopped their and watched a constellation of headlamps float towards us on the stream. Tourism in Belize is centered around these pricey tours which are about US$100 a person, everything is a tour and catered to the people with money who come here for a week and shuttle between the airport, the resort and the tours in private vans. They see Belize out a tinted window as they drive through. This shuts out most of Belize as the common folk are reduced to working for the corporate resorts. There need to be more locally owned stuff like Castillo Beach but the people with $$$ would never stay there. Backpacking options are few because of this set up and it is unfortunate. We have met few fellow travelers in our 3 weeks here and talking story with fellow travelers is one of the things I like best about traveling.

We caught a local bus back to the vicinity of our campsite and bought some ‘Christ Cream” from a local dairy with a missionary bent of helping the locals achieve their full potential in christ. The ice cream was not very good and we walked 1.5 miles back down the highway to Hummingbird Haven and took a nice cool swim in the creek and spent the remainder of the day on that 3rd floor balcony reading and relaxing and enjoying the jungle-licious view. Candi, our Mayan host made us tortillas for dinner and we listened to our nightly podcast from Outside Magazine about the Science of Survival. Tonights episode took us through what happens when one is stung 1000 times by African Killer Bees.

BACK TO HUMMINGBIRD HAVEN

Awoke to a misty morning and was told by Candi that the buses would be crowded today because it is a Friday and that the 9:30am bus would be our best bet. We packed up and were ready in plenty of time and even had time to dry the tent. We walked up the highway and waited 1/2 hour for the bus which took us to Belomopan and then on to Belize City. Jakobi spilleda yogurt everywhere and I got shit from the bathroom attendant at the bus stop when I went in a took some paper towels without paying the BZ$1 bathroom fee. Our bus into Belize City was Express and we were there before noon.