2003-11-29 Belize Zoo 2003-11-30 Rafting the Caves Branch 2003-12-01 Jungle Biking and Cave Tubing 2003-12-02 Rafting the Macal 2003-12-03 Kayaking the Sibun 2003-12-04 Island Day 1 2003-12-05 Island Day 2 2003-12-06 Island Day 3 2003-12-07 Lamanai Ruins

Day 4 (Monday, 12/1/2003)

Monday morning, we hit the trails for a bit of mountain ... urrr jungle biking.  Ian's and Slickrock have collaborated to build a somewhat difficult 8-mile singletrack trail near the lodge.  I should say that the trail would be somewhat difficult on a dry day.  Seeing as how the afore-mentioned cold front had settled into the jungle and was dumping rain on it practically every evening, the trails were nice and muddy, and traction was something of a luxury.  Ah, but anyone who knows me knows that I am not one to shirk a challenge.  We spun our way through the jungle as best we could, slinging mud and scaring off herds of disgruntled cotimundi and dodging human-sized ant beds.  I'm just glad that I didn't have to wash the bike afterwards!

That afternoon, we piled ourselves and a bunch of inner tubes onto the back of a farm trailer, which was towed by a tractor down the highway, through an orange grove, and to a small creek that led into Footprint Cave.  Footprint Cave is an older cave system than the ones we had explored the day before, and it formed more by solutional activity and less by the mechanical erosion that helped form the Caves Branch River caverns.  Thus, Footprint has more active formations, a higher ceiling, and many areas that are high and dry.  It also contains three in-tact Mayan holy sites, including a large pot that has remained unbroken for thousands of years despite frequent tourist activity.

We hand-paddled upstream into Footprint Cave for about 30 minutes before beaching our tubes and proceeding farther into the cave on foot.  Neri treated us to an in-depth discussion of the history of the site and the relevance of caves in the Mayan religion.  To the Maya, the sun rose and set from caves, caves were home to a variety of deities and spirits, they were channels for the basic elements of the Universe, they could be used to dispose of sickness and destruction, and caves could act as portals to Xibalba, the Underworld.  In general, only shamans were allowed into caves, in which they performed numerous rituals, ceremonies, and sacrifices in an attempt to open the portal to Xibalba or to contact other spirits that might dwell therein.

After our hike, we returned to the tubes and floated back out of the cave, at one point turning off our headlights for fun and attempting to navigate only by sound.  Upon emerging from the underworld, we returned via tractor to Ian's, showered, and relaxed for the rest of the evening.