January 14, 2012

January 14, 2012

This morning, three nice, air conditioned vans came to take us to mountain pine ridge. The van was so nice! The ride was smooth, the air conditioning was lovely, and it was pleasantly quiet. We drove 1.25 hours to Mountain Pine Ridge where we went to Big Rock. We climbed down a steep descent to see a beautiful waterfall. The rocks were pretty slippery, many of the girls fell on the way down. We took a couple of pictures of the river and waterfall, and then it started pouring rain. So, we all scrambled to get back up the steep climb back to the top of the mountain. We were all soaked, but I really enjoyed the hike. I have found that I love climbing up and down mountains and rocks, but when it comes to stairs- they are my worst enemy. We drove to Pools of Rio where we ate sandwiches by some mennonites. Our tour guide called them the “money-nites” because he said they love money. Our tour guide was pretty cool, his name was Philip. After lunch, we drove to the Caves of Rio where we went inside the biggest, most awesome cave ever! There were stalactites, a river running through the center, and plenty of cool rocks to climb on. It truly was amazing to look out of the cave into the jungle that was covered in sunshine. We had military escorts that came with us because apparently people from Guatemala have been stealing plants and tourist's property in Belize. The cave was very close to the border, so the two men carried AK47s to ensure our safety. The military stay in an old British military training camp that has long been deserted. There were houses and barracks that were shut up with weeds grown around them, and it felt like a scary movie driving through the old camp. After the sweet cave, we went back to the Pools of Rio where we went swimming in the pools. There were multiple waterfalls and rapids, so we had all kinds of excitement. Several people got cuts and bruises falling on the slippery rocks in and out of the water. We all went behind a waterfall, which was a pretty cool experience. We went down the “slides” that were created from the rocks and rapids. I felt like we were the Swiss Family Robinson a little. I did get a couple of nice bruises from going down the slides, but it was a lot of fun. Swimming felt great. Once it was finally sunny, we had to leave. By the way, the roads were pretty awful- the constant holes and washouts reminded me of Ecuador. The road was mud, pot holes, and streams. The whole mountain was covered in pine trees, which was different to see since we have been driving through jungles. The landscape on the way up to the mountain was amazing, there were mountains, creeks, crop fields, and many trees. It is so neat to see banana, orange, and other fruit trees everywhere. We passed by several Mayan villages where we were able to see how the houses were built on levels on the side of the mountain. We passed by the one of the last Mayan Shaman's house and old clinic, which was kind of neat to hear a little about the late Mayan healer. Today was a really cool day, the climbing and hiking made this to be my favorite day thus far. We went back to our campground where we stuffed food into our starving stomaches, then I took a nice shower. We are now watching The Book of Eli.

We learned about the tataduende (grandpa dwarf) which is a old, white-haired dwarf man with feet that are backwards and he only has four fingers because he is without thumbs. The Mayan legend is still passed down to the children and the story goes that if anyone walks into the jungle and sees the tataduende, then they must wave to him with their thumbs folded into their palm because if he sees their thumbs, then he will cut them off for himself. We learned about the weeping woman legend. She is a beautiful woman who leads men into the jungle only to leave them so that they are lost forever. She does this because in her life, an elicit affair with a man took her only child, so now she hates men. We also learned about the Mayan rain god Chaar who cries from heaven.