Day 5 - Ruins and Waterfalls

Becky and Randy were scheduled to dive today. Josh and I contemplated riding along with them but changed are minds. Partly because of the whether. Partly because there is just so much we want to do and not enough time. The other guests were headed to Blue Creek but we are scheduled to do that Saturday. Josh and I asked if we could go to some waterfalls so they got us a guide to take us to some ruins and then on to the Rio Blanco waterfalls.


We really had no idea what was in store for this. This seems to be a common thread throughout our trip. They told us we didn't need to be ready until 9:30. Since I wake up by 6 at the latest every morning I had a lot of time to send emails, skype with my parents and Holden and just take my time getting ready. Randy and Becky were gone early at like 7:30 am.


We first headed to some Mayan ruins about 45 minutes away. The roads started getting really bad. We gave an older man a ride on the back of the pickup. This was apparently the first of many rides we would give this day.


The ruins were much more interesting than we expected. We learned that you should never agree to a ballgame with a Mayan. If you lose you have to kill one of your family members. Not our kind of game. Only about half of the site we visited had been excavated. I'm not sure what the hold up is. We saw two of the tombs and a bunch of building remnants. Our guide, Marcus, showed us a bunch of plants we could eat. I'm wondering when Josh will learn that just because you can, doesn't mean you should...


He warned us that the drive would be an hour and a half to the waterfalls but it was brutal. I'm not sure if it was the roads, our truck, our driver or a combination of them all. Many hitchhikers later we ended up at the Rio Blanco National forest. It was marked by a ranger station on stilts. We grabbed our cooler and had some lunch underneath it at the picnic tables.


A few minutes after we arrived a group of about 10 arrived. I knew they were searching for a bathroom but I didn't know what would follow. Josh blurted out "don't look over there". I was confused and of course looked over "there". Not a good idea. There was an older woman crouched down, pants down, peeing in the middle of the open. Apparently there were two outhouse options. One was an enclosure with a hole in the ground but no toilet. The other option was a toilet with no enclosure. Strange and disturbing. Josh kept trying to convince me to use the toilet in the open. I told him he lost his mind.


After lunch we started to hike a bit. It wasn't a huge hike. Marcus made some excuse about needing to hike off our lunch. I think they believe a lot of wives' tales here. After a while I started thinking he was just a bit of a chicken. Maybe not the best combination for a tour guide in the jungles of Belize? Just saying. As usual we had no idea where we were going. We heard the waterfall. We saw where the waterfall was as he pointed to all the people. We went the opposite direction. Okay. We head towards the water and Marcus points at a swinging bridge up in the air and says we are going to go on that. It looks normal to me. We head back up to the path and get to a tree with a ladder built onto it that takes you up to the bridge. He kept telling me not to be scared. Josh and I thought he was trying to work me up or something. It really wasn't scary. We got to the top and I realized this bridge was a little stranger. The bottom was comprised of single board planks that often didn't touch. The cable railings were made for a 5 year old - or a Mayan I guess.

Marcus went first and went VERY slow. Again, Josh and I thought that he was trying to scare us or make us think it was a bigger deal than it was just to mess with our heads. Looking back, I'm pretty sure Marcus was terrified. I started when he was halfway across and finished directly behind him. It made for some good pictures and we went back down so that we could get to the good part. Waterfalls!

We hiked back and found the group of 10 that likes to pee in public. One of the ladies was standing on top of the rocks wanting to jump but too afraid. We got our clothes off (suits were underneath) and were poised with the camera while she was still hovering over the top. Finally she went or Josh pushed her out of the way. I don't remember which. Marcus kept saying to go straight in like a pencil so you don't break your arms. That's comforting. Josh set the camera up so I could quickly take multiple shots. Josh completely ignored Marcus and went flailing into the water. Luckily, no arms were broken.

I was next but tried to talk Marcus into going first. He told me he had to wait 5 more minutes to let his knee cool off. What? I asked him if he was the bionic man or something and he said his knee had been next to the transmission in the truck so it needed to cool off more. This was getting strange. Whatever. I went to the edge and Marcus went right up next to me. I'm pretty sure he thought I wouldn't go. Twenty feet is much higher when you are up there. My legs started shaking so I just jumped. My form was perfect. My bathing suit hold not so much. I went under and realized I felt a lot of water straight on my skin. Probably beause the latch on my top had completely come undone when I hit. I stayed under for a sec to grab my suit. Now this took some skill. I came up but the water is crystal clear and I have 10 random strangers staring at me. My arms were covering my top half while my legs were keeping me afloat. I think they thought I was drowning. After I explained that yes I could swim and was breathing I had to quickly figure out how to put a bathing suit top on while swimming and keeping myself covered before I floated to the rock I was to get out on. Skill I say. Everything turned out fine and Josh was very impressed with my fearlessness.

Now it was Marcus' turn. Josh said he wanted to see tricks. I told Josh if he himself did any tricks I would kill him first. Marcus said he didn't do tricks. Apparently, Marcus doesn't jump off the big rock either. He came over to the other side with me and decided to jump off the little jump. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have jumped but he felt like he had to impress Josh. Josh had just jumped again and was downstream getting out. Marcus really wanted Josh to watch and was screaming for him. I'm not sure why but all the Belizean men here love Josh. Josh said he thinks he should get a shirt made that says "I'm funny in Belize". I'll be doing something and a guide will say "are you Josh's wife?" How in the world do they all know Josh?

So Marcus jumped off the wimpy jump. He tried to make up for it (or hide his fear) by jumping from the small waterfall itself. Josh wanted to try but I convinced him walking through a waterfall edge was not a safe thing to do. A few jumps later and we were tuckered out.

The ride back was an hour instead of an hour and a half so I was relieved a bit. We were glad they set up these two activities for us. We wouldn't have picked them on our own but we had fun and had our own personal guide. Becky and Randy had a bit of a rough day. They went out diving and it poured rain on them. Their towels got wet on the way out and they had no dry clothes. They were using blue tarps to keep warm on the way back. Just the luck of the draw in terms of days I guess. Becky said the island and spot they went to was really pretty and would have been perfect on a clear day.

We got back to the lodge and low and behold Chris the owner and his crew showed up at dinner time. They brought what looked like all the supplies in Honduras back to the lodge with them. How they fit all those people and stuff in the boat I have no clue. I'm not sure what we had for dinner. All the food is started to blur now. I do know that I taught the bartender how to make a chocolate martini. They have what I call a cheat sheet for their drinks. Their drink menu gives no indication of what the drink is. Just some fluffy description. The bartenders (who I don't think have a clue how to make drinks) read this cheat sheet and go. I saw them using it and now everynight that is how we pick our drinks. I had to smell the Vermouth for them and explain which one was a Sweet Vermouth. They didn't think they had any so weren't making a number of the drinks. Becky's favorite drink was the Moho River Splash.