Cave Swimming at Blue Creek

After our tour at Cyrila's, we were taken to lunch at an Indian restaurant. There were many different kinds of rice, beans, meats, bbq and it was all delicious!
One thing about Belize is that they LOVE habeñero pepper. A lot of times they offer a habeñero sauce that is blended with some kind of fruit. So good, but it is potent. They also have jars of pickled veggies: onions, olives, and the habeñero - much like the pickled peppers that you find at mexican restaurants containing jalepeños, carros, onions, etc. - on the table for you to enhance your food.
When in Rome! We totally took a bite!

Yes, it was VERY spicy and our mouths hurt for a good 10 minutes.

After lunch we headed out to start our tour of Blue Creek. It was about a 30 minute drive to get to the parking spot. Along the way, we saw great sites, though.

Maya Mountains

Maya Mountains

giant Mahogany tree

building with thatch roof

After we parked, I saw, what I thought, was the weirdest thing. CHICKENS lying on the ground!

After I got over the chickens, we started our trek to the opening of the cave.

As we walked and came across various plants, our tour guide (whose name escapes me at the moment) would tell us how Mayans used to use them. For example, how to make a thatched roof.

And how to extract the heart of a palm to make heart of palm soup.

We also had the chance to see a Mopan Mayan woman in her traditional attire.

Then we finally got to the river, which lead us to the cave opening.

We then got into our suits, hopped in that cold water armed with life jackets and a head lamp, and swam to the back of the cave where we found a waterfall. Obviously we don't have any pictures because we didn't have a water proof camera and the lighting was horrid, but I suggest that you do this if you ever get the chance. 

Here are some things we saw on our walk back.

busted bridge

spiny palm tree 

giant leaf cutter ant hill