From Flores we said goodbye to Guatemala and crossed the border into Belize (Jan 23rd), this was a very simple border to cross, plus we had the advantage of being the only vehicle traffic. This was due to a crane parked on the bridge that crossed the river leading into the border station, at first everyone was saying that it would be closed for at least another hour, but I said I would drive on the sidewalk to get around. They just shrugged their shoulders and let us past, turns out I could fit between the track on the crane and the curb with about 1 inch to spare. The Guatemala portion of the border took about 5 minutes, the officer stamped our passports, $2USD please, then we slid down the counter to the Aduana officer who took back our vehicle permits and our windshield sticker, done. The Belize border was totally free, and they actually asked to look in our saddlebags, this was the first border since Mex/US that did a “search”, then a quick stop at the Insurance office ($29Bz per bike for 7 days) and we were on our way.
It is easy to see that Belize is more developed than some of the other Central American countries, the road is pretty good but the properties along it are exemplary. Grand estates, ranches and resorts lined the 14km’s from the border to San Ignacio or Cayo as it is locally known. We found a nice guest house “Tropicool” for $15US and called it quits for the day, this gave us time to scout out some tours to the national parks in the vicinity.
We decided to do an all day cave tour just outside of town a few miles. Our guide, Elias, was terrific and explained all about the plant life along the 45 minute jungle walk leading up to the mouth of the cave. The Mayan people believe that these caves are the entrance to the underworld and conduct rituals in the caves. These rituals, typically during times of hardship, are to appease the Gods so they will bring either rains, better crops, or whatever was needed.
The deeper into the cave the more exclusive the ritual, and in turn the richer the people participating. Sometimes they would sacrifice someone as an offering to the Gods, these sacrificial people were normally captured from neighbouring tribes and was the main cause of wars between neighbouring tribes. At the deepest point of the tour there is a complete human skeleton that has been left intact, and at another point there is the remains of an infant. All tolled there are 14 human remains throughout the explored part of the cave system.There are also over 1000 pottery artifacts remaining in the cave ranging in size and condition. Our tour was about 1.5km into the cave and the geologists and archaeologists have mapped about 5km deep.
It is amazing that we could walk, climb and/or swim into history and walk amoungst the artifacts. I am pretty sure that in North America the cave would be off limits to tourist until all the artifacts could be removed and replicated in order to preserve them. The cave itself is full of interesting calcium and limestome formations that are created by the continuous water flow. So after about 3.5hrs underground we resurfaced to the upper world of the Mayan’s, ate lunch and hiked back out of the jungle. Very cool.
On the way back into town Elias explained that all the citrus orchards that we drive through are owned by Mennonites. There are two groups of Mennonites in Belize, one group uses machines and the other only uses non-mechanized equipment, so of course there is the debate about which is more profitable and which is better for the land, but regardless, they control the citrus production industry in the country.
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