To make up for a weekend virtually devoid of adventure (for me, anyway), my Canadian pal Kirby and I made up for it today by winning the Triple Crown of Adventures by hitting three different awesome attractions-- all a short hop from our headquarters in San Ignacio Town. As per usual, our friend Manny came through for us BIG TIME. He not only set up and transported us to three different places nearby-- he also made it a threesome by bringing along Kitty--- an awesome young lady from Montana who had taken a vacation in Belize for a week by herself! Kitty was a real sweetheart -- pretty, smart, athletic, fun and energetic. In real life she was working as a physician's assistant in Portland, Oregon and seemed to really like her career. Unfortunately she was only 29 so I figured she was out of MY league (of course-- at that time I hadn't heard about Sean Penn and Scarlett Johansen).
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| Kitty Is to My Right (Wearing Red) |
For the first of our adventures-- cave tubing - Manny drove the three of us plus our guide to the famous Caves Branch River area -- once again in the direction of the national capital in Belmopan. The area is famous for its rivers and amazing limestone caves. Shortly after arriving, we were set up with our inner tubes and we embarked on our "jungle trail hike". During the hike, our guide carefully pointed out number of plants and trees along the way, and gave us a great deal of interesting information about the local plants, herbs and roots once used by the ancient Maya. He also shared a considerable amount of his knowledge of ancient Maya history and customs. The hike took us about an hour up the river, and allowed us to strap on our headlamps and life vests, climb on our tubes and lazily float back to the Caves Branch River site where the expedition had begun. The temperature of the air and the water were perfect that day, so even in the darkest of the caves I never shivered a bit. As we slowly floated through the network of caves we were able to observe amazing crystalline formations lining the caves, stalactites AND stalagmites (if you can still remember the difference between these two terms!). The limestone caves and the slowly moving river were incredible-- and the overall experience was as beautiful and relaxing as it was educational. And it was a whole lot more fun because the lovely Kitty was hangin' with us for the entire day.
But that's not all, folks! After our cabe tube experience was completed, we headed over to the adjoining zipline area. Here, they have set up a breathtaking system of cables and towers criss-crossing above the rainforest canopy. For a very reasonable fee of US$45.00 we got to do a series of seven different "zips"-- some from platforms over 100 feet high and some as long as 400 feet! The guides who carefully strapped us in each "zip" and helped stop us at the other end were professional and friendly, and the view of the jungle below was absolutely fabulous. This is something that I have always wanted to do -- and I know that many folks who do it consider it one of the experiences of a lifetime. Check out these photos to get some idea how cool ziplining above the jungle canopy in Belize is!
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| This Is Ronaldo Coming In for a Landing! |
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| Kitty Is Having a Great Time! |
After completing our seven "zips" we loaded back into Manny's waiting van and headed back to San Ignacio town for our final adventure of the day. We visited the natural iguana project/exhibit at the San Ignacio Resort Hotel only minutes from the hotel we were staying at. It is a really famous and classy place-- apparently the Queen of England stayed there back in the day-- and the iguana project is a really cool thing to see (and experience) as you can see in the photos (below):
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| Kitty with Two of Her New Friends |
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Ronaldo Models the Latest Fashion in Caps: The Iguana Special
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