Un-BELIZEABLE, Part 2 - San Ingnacio

Like I said in my previous blog post, going back to the mainland after our time in Caye Caulker wasn’t even supposed to happen. What was meant to be a solid week relaxing on the islands off the coast of Belize instead turned into a week filled with part relaxation, part adventure as we shifted our plans to the mainland for the latter part of the trip.

Just goes to show that a spontaneous shift in any trip plans can be the best thing to happen on your vacation.

And while our time in San Ignacio was short, I’d recommend it for anyone who loves a little adventure. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a blast as I did that week galavanting around the Belizean countryside, climbing up Mayan ruins, offroading through the middle of the jungle, and cave spelunking in some of the coolest caves I’ve ever been in.

10/10, 100% would recommend.

Day 1

This was the day that we left Caye Caulker. And while it may have been a little extravagant, we decided to book a little puddle-jumper plane to take us back to the mainland from the island rather than a boat as we had gotten there originally. It was $50 more expensive, but the views we got were incredible.

Only added to the opinion I have that Belize has some of the bluest waters I’ve ever seen.

We got to the airport and picked up our rental car, one of our best ideas on the trip. Having that car gave us so much freedom to see the countryside and the actual country of Belize. And while I love going to the cities and places that everyone always talks about in the countries that I travel to, I also love going off on my own and exploring the country myself.

Our cute little four-door gave us all the freedom to do that.

Driving to San Ignacio took a little over two hours and proved to be our first challenge in navigating around the country.

Which brings me to a bit of advice I’d give anyone, no matter where you travel:

Download Google Maps. One of the best features about the app is that you can download maps of various countries and access them even when you don’t have service. This was the first trip I’ve went on where I opted to not have cell service (it was one of those weeks where I needed to be completely disconnect). But because I had downloaded various maps of Belize, I was still about to use the navigation feature of the app even without service - something that was more than handy when navigating the back roads of of the country…

When we got to the sleepy town of San Ignacio - where we’d be staying the remainder of our trip - our Airbnb host couldn’t have been any kinder and more helpful. Since we only had three full days in the city, we wanted to make the most of our time. So when talking to him about places we could visit that afternoon, he recommended Xunantunich, a Mayan ruin about twenty minutes up the road. To get to it, he told us you’d have to dock your car on a barge and have it transported over to the other side. And seeing as the ruins were only going to be open a few more hours that afternoon, we decided on a whim to go for it.

They didn’t disappoint.

For one, I’m still in disbelief that there were humans hundreds - thousands - of years ago who were able to make such incredible structures without the use of machines. They were MASSIVE. And gave me quite the workout walking up each of them…

But what I think surprised me most was the fact that we were mainly the only people there. And while we were visiting Belize at the end of the peak season, I still didn’t think we’d be some of the only people at some of the attractions in the country. But we were, and it was incredible.

We got back to the apartment a little later that night, popped open a couple of Belikins and planned for our next day. Our Airbnb host was kind enough to even contact an excursion company and book our next day’s adventure for us - cave spelunking.

I couldn’t have been more excited.

Day 2

Everyone we had spoken to before leaving on the trip told us that the ATM (Actun Tunichil Muknal) cave tour was something we COULD NOT pass up. And while we didn’t think twice when booking the excursion to go, we honestly had no idea what to expect. In fact, we didn’t even really know what cave spelunking was…

So to save you the trouble of looking it up on your own (which I could’ve easily done prior to going), cave spelunking is where you walk, swim, and climb your way through a cave. This cave in particular we went more than a half mile into, spanning just over five hours total. And while the water was freezing, it was an incredible experience to swim our way through the cave, ducking between, under, around boulders larger than I’ve ever seen, oftentimes swimming against raging waters and strong currents.

And don’t forget, caves are pitch black. Our guide had each of us turn or headlights off at one point to see how dark it was.

I couldn’t see my hand in front of my own face.

Talk about an adventure.

But the best part wasn’t even the actual climbing through the cave - thought that was incredible. It was the Mayan ruins and artifacts we stumbled on all throughout our trek. Our guide had such vast knowledge in explaining each item we came across, elaborating on various Mayan rituals, why certain artifacts were positioned the way they were, what different items were used for. There were several skeletons we came across as well of human offerings the Mayans had made. And while it may seem a bit morbid, it all added to the feeling that we were travelling through a cave that’s remained largely untouched for hundreds of years. We were a select few privileged enough to enter and see what the Mayans left behind.

Truly one of the best parts of trip.

For those of you who go on the excursion, I recommend asking your guide to let you go down Devil’s Spine. It’s a portion of the cave coming back where the trail splits into two - one a leisurely stroll through still waters, the other a raging current through a one meter thin opening between two cave walls. “Don’t miss the first turn on your right,” our guide told us. “You miss it, you’ll have to swim back against the current because the cave walls will close in too close and you won’t be able to get through.”

We made damn sure we took that first right turn…

What an adventure though.

*Note - no photography is allowed in the cave, and rightly so. There was a portion of time where the cave was threatened to be closed down by the national archaeological organization because several of the artifacts, including the skeletons were damaged by falling lenses from cameras. Since then, no flash photography is allowed.

So make sure you really soak in everything you see.

Day 3

The last day of our trip, but probably one of the more adventurous.

We had said that we wanted to go off-roading through the country for an afternoon, so we found another Mayan ruin site to visit in the southeastern part of the country to travel to for the day.

The only thing I can say is that off-roading is what we wanted. And off-roading is what we got.

We drove from San Ignacio to a Mayan ruin site called Coracol. We knew that it’d take a couple hours to drive there, but never anticipated that it would actually take much longer than that. And that none of the roads would be paved. And that there would be a good majority of the trip where we’d be perched precariously on the side of a mountain with no guardrail keeping us from going over the side.

If we had known what we were getting ourselves into, I don’t know if we would’ve went. But in looking back, it was one of the best parts of the trip.

Visiting Coracol, it was much larger than Xunantunich - the first ruin site we visited two days prior. We actually had to be transported to the site by armed guards from Belize’s military. All of their sites are heavily guarded, seeing as they’re an integral part of Belize’s identity and a large part of their tourism economy. We walked around for a couple hours, climbed up a few more ruins (the glutes got a good workout that day), and headed out for our next destination.

Rio on Pools.

We had been told that this was a fun place to visit if you wanted to relax in the cool, natural spring waters that flow through it. And they didn’t disappoint. The water was crystal clear and - again - we were some of the only ones there, meaning we got to enjoy it largely all to ourselves. We had packed our lunch for that day and ate there before heading out to our next and final destination, Big Rock Falls, the highlight of all the places we visited that day.

It’s always been on my bucketlist to stand beneath a waterfall, something I was able to accomplish when visiting the falls. Standing at 150 feet tall, the falls were perched in some of the most gorgeous surroundings you could imagine, the water cool and refreshing to swim through. It was the perfect end to the day, giving us just enough rest and relaxation to finish our off-road journey back to the Airbnb.

And while it had been a bit nerve-wracking at the start of the day to set off for the unknown Belizean countryside with nothing but some downloaded Google maps and a lunch for each of us, the gamble proved one-hundred percent worth it. Sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone and go for it when traveling to see all that you can of a country.

It truly is the best way to travel.

Day 4

This was our travel day back to the states. And while our day of travel to Belize had been seamless and smooth, our travel day back wasn’t so much. Between flights being delayed, almost missing our connecting flight, and nearly losing my luggage, I was ready for another vacation by the time I got back. But as I Uber’d back to my place from the airport, I flipped my phone out and cruised through the many photos I had take of the paradise I had just left behind and was reminded of how amazing the trip had been.

Between the INCREDIBLE food and drinks we had all week, the amazing travel buddy that Alli was, and the unforgettable experiences we went through, it’s a trip I won’t ever forget.

For those of you with just enough adventurous spirit looking for an exhilarating trip-of-a-lifetime, San Ignacio needs to top your list.

It’s certainly one I won’t ever forget.