welcome to the jungle

(if you haven't read this post about ambergris caye, read it now)

now we're on our way to san ignacio. from talking with other people, the vast majority of tourists didn't stray far from ambergris caye. after seeing san ignacio and experiencing what it had to offer, i don't think people who only stayed on ambergris caye got a good picture of what belize is like. san ignacio was very different from ambergris. much more diversity (we saw groups of local asian and indians), much different atmosphere, and definitely not as touristy. we had to take a two and a half hour bus ride to get to san ignacio from belize city. the ride was like riding a bus in india, except the BO probably wasn't as bad. i ended up sleeping most of the way. actually, we technically weren't staying in san ignacio. we were staying in a little town called santa elena just outside of san ignacio. when we got into san ignacio, we decided to take care of booking some tours before heading to our hotel.

we post up on a city bench in some park-like area and were trying to figure out where to go when this guy approaches us. he introduces himself as jerry, and he looks like he's high or drunk or both. he tells us he works for a tour guide company and asked if we wanted to book a tour. from research in my lonely planet book, i had a good idea of which tour operators we wanted to use, and we told the guy we weren't interested. he then shows us this jade pendant he has and asks if we want to buy any (even claimed to make them himself). we say no again and move on our way. we eventually find one of the places we were looking for and book that tour. we still have one other tour to book and decide to give the place jerry was talking about a try (lonely planet said it was reputable enough). we run into him again and talk to him a bit before book that one. then we headed to our hotel.

the hotel was nice, the staff was really friendly ... but if we had to do it again, we would have stayed in san ignacio itself. not only was where we were staying not in san ignacio, it wasn't even really walkable, which meant every time we went back and forth, we had to grab a taxi. so after settling into our room and just hanging out a bit, we head back to san ignacio for some dinner. there's actually a good amount of tourists here, but they were all european ... very very few americans. since it's a monday and we don't really know what to do, we end up hanging out the majority of the night on a patio of one of the restaurants on the main street. we sat and people watched ... and drank some beliken, of course. jerry came by again and chatted with us for a bit. he even tried to sell us some weed. some other local came by. he said he was a tour guide and there was this meeting they had to go to tonight. he made the meeting seem really boring and said he had to grab a few drinks before the meeting to make it bearable. jerry came by again, and this time said he had half a joint he saved for us. we declined again, and he was more than happy to smoke it himself then wander off again. shawn and i tracked down a pool table (one of the crappiest tables ever with no 9 ball and chalk everywhere) in the restaurant across the street and played a couple rounds there before moving back to the patio, where a now very drunk/high jerry was dancing in the middle of the street and would every once in awhile yell, "buck buck buck!" while shooting with his hand in the air. very amusing. it was also funny how quickly he would nonchalantly duck behind a pillar whenever the police drove by.

ACTUN TUNICHIL MUKNAL (ATM):

this day was probably my favorite of the whole trip. we got picked up from our hotel around 9am by this afro-mayan guy named patrick. patrick was our tour guide for the day. this guy was awesome. funny, extremely knowledgeable, and light-hearted in general. there was a couple from wyoming that owned a dog sledding business, honeymooners from vancouver, and a girl from san francisco (whose brother goes to cal) in our group. patrick referred to the girl from san francisco as 'san francisco' for the rest of the day. we had a two hour drive to get to know each other. sf told us how she fell in love with this local soccer player on the bus over to san ignacio and had plans to meet him later in san pedro. patrick actually knew the guy and teased her nonstop.

once we got the to where we were going. we hiked for a couple hours through the jungle. we were wet the entire day from wading waist deep through rivers to cross them. patrick, an apprentice to the shaman in his village, would point out all kinds of plants and would tell us how to use them to cure different ailments. very fascinating. we even stopped to swim in one of the rivers, which was nicely cool and refreshing. at the end of our hike through the jungle, we reached the opening of a cave (ATM) that had a river running out of it. the next few hours consisted of us exploring the cave. we even had to don helmets with lights attached to them. to get into the cave, we had to swim a few feet to the other side. once again, we were constantly in water, whether be to our ankles, knees, waists, or even swimming. it was incredible seeing large stalactites, stalagmites, and calcium formations. we had to maneuver through some tight crevices between rocks at many points. eventually we got to a point where we had to climb two large boulders. now we were in the dry half of the cave. patrick's demeanor immediately changed. you could tell he treated this place with a sense of reverence. there were remains of mayan life all over the place. there were pots (broken and whole), some tools, and other stuff. there was this stalagmite that had been carved in such a way that when someone held a torch in front of it, it cast a shadow of a man walking on the opposite cave wall. a little farther into the cave, patrick pointed out evidence of human sacrifices. at the end of the cave, there was an almost entirely visible full skeleton. pretty creepy when you think about what was happening at this very spot ages ago. then we did the whole thing in reverse. more of the same, except for the large tree limb that almost fell on the wyoming lady.

that night, after grabbing some dinner, we were wandering around san ignacio looking for something to do when a random local guy started talking to us. we asked him what there was to do around here on a tuesday night. he was like, "here, i'll show you." ludwig aka charles first took us to some bar, and there was no one in there. after talking to a couple people, charles came back and was like, "let's go somewhere else. no one's here." then he took us to cocopele's. we never would have found this place on our own. it was a small place with a single pool table but a decent crowd. as soon as we get in, charles starts talking to some girl. actually, let me first tell you a bit about charles. charles is the type of guy who talks a lot of game, but obviously has none (i at least accept the fact that i have none). on the entire walk to cocopele's, he was telling us how he was going to take home some girl tonight and this and that. he even said that shawn and i could easily pass for belizeans and was worried we were going to take his girls. so yeah ... he starts talking to this girl. we find out that she's from maryland studying abroad in belzie. upon hearing that this girl is from maryland, charles starts cracking up. he says his gf is from maryland. she asked what part of maryland, and he answers, "uhh ... west maryland ... you know ... maryland." uh huh, riiiight ... you have don't have a gf. charles then starts talking to maryland girl's (didn't quite catch her name) rather large friend hannah. shawn and i shot some pool and ran the table for a few games. we met another american guy named dominic from virginia doing peace corp work in belize. charles comes back, tells us he just got weeded downstairs, and is now making even less sense than he was before, which was very funny (though not too fun shooting pool when he's on your team). he's amazed by the fact that shawn and i drank gin and tonics. he even seemed a little nervous about drinking one when i bought one for him (he went back to belikens after that). maryland girl and hannah leave, we chat with dominic a bit more, charles is now trying to hit on two rather hot locals, and we decide to call it a night.

CAVES BRANCH RIVER:

the next day was much more chill and less strenuous than the hiking/climbing/swimming of the day before. after another long van ride, we reach the caves branch river. each of us (the two of us, a couple, and our guide) are handed a large inner tube, and we start through the jungle. there were many more people here than there were at ATM. apparently this area was a hotspot for daytrippers coming off the cruise ships. our guide decides to take us further upstream than all the other groups. 20 minutes into our hike through the jungle, it starts POURING! it seriously starts coming down hard. shawn and i are like, "cool ... true rain forest experience." (inexplicably, the pictures we took with the waterproof camera in the jungle while it was pouring are nowhere to be found. no prints, not in the negatives. no idea what happened there). 10 minutes before we reach the point of the river where our hike ended, the rain stops and clouds disappear. talk about great timing. now that our hike was done, we hop in the river on our inner tubes and float back. talk about relaxing. the river went through a few caves, and it was pretty tight floating in almost complete darkness and quiet. really relaxing ... till we got to where the cruise boat people jump in. now the river is completely filled with people on inner tubes. little kids are screaming and splashing. so much for the serene cave experience. we decide to get out of the river, grab some sun, hang out, and wait for the crowds to subside. while we were hanging out, we find out that some guy lost his passport in the river. why would you bring your passport with you?!? to make it better, they were searching for it in the area of the river where the current was the fastest. it doesn't take a genius to realize it won't still be there. while out of the river, shawn had a great time trying to figure out what shape rock sounded the best when he threw it into the inlet nearby (*plop* vs *thwiiiip*). we get back in the river and float down some more. somehow, our guide finds the passport at the bottom of the river inside of one of the caves. of course, he didn't mention he also found a $20. after we got out of the caves, we floated for another hour or so under sunny skies.

that night, we tracked down an indian restaurant that some cabby recommended (that cabby was awesome ... really nice old guy that basically gave us the life story of him and his family). my chicken tikka masala wasn't what i was expecting, but shawn loved his food. the staff at our hotel told us there was a big soccer match in town, and we decided to check it out ... and we're definitely glad we did. not so much because of the game, but because there was some creole guy in the audience sitting next to us who took it upon himself to add play by play commentary to the game. this guy was comedy ... constantly complaining about the 'fuckin refs fixing the game,' going nuts when his team took a shot on goal, and we even got to hear a "gooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!!!!!." and all of this is in creole, which is basically english, just faster and jumbled together. good times ... especially since the home team won. then we went back to cocopele's (dominic said he's there every night for the most part). once again, shot some pool, drank some beers, talked to some locals (one of which was helping patrick on our tour of ATM and was convinced we were professional pool players in cali ... uhh, we're not that good).

that was it for our time in san ignacio. the next morning we headed back to the bus stop for our long trek back to belize city. in the commotion to get a seat on the bus, i ended up sitting down next to charles. we talk for a bit, and i decide to ask him which girl he took home that night. he smiles big, "the big one ... she was gooooood." in my head, i'm thinking, "she left before us, there's no way he took her home. she also didn't seem like the type that would do that." i decided to be nice and not call him on it. when i asked why he was heading to belize city, he said he had to check on his visa. when i asked where he was going, "maryland ... to visit my girl." hahha ... maybe he wasn't lying about that one.