Saturday 11th June 2011

We are going to the Inland blue Hole. The movie below is to give you an idea of the location.

Just to remind you and to remove any confusion, the Inland blue Hole is different from the blue hole off the coast of Belize.
We woke up early in the morning to no sun and a gray cloud cover. I think every weekend so far we have been greeted by gray skies. The night before had rained so we were pretty worried that today would be a gloomy day, nevertheless we were optimistic. We arrived at the bus station unsure what bus to take but after talking to a conductor at the station we were informed that we were supposed to be on the James line heading to Dandriga/Punta gorda.

I think this has been the most colorful school bus we have been on. The bus line to Dandriga/Punta Gorda was already full and we were unsure if we would be able to get on the bus since the next bus would be coming in another 2 hours. The station conductor let us know that once the bus was full (which we could see that it was getting full) we would not be allowed to get on the bus. He then called a taxi operator who tried to bargain with us and offered to take us the the Blue hole for $60 BZ. NOOOO WAY!!! The Blue hole is 12 miles away from Belmopan and a bus ride is just $2BZ. We told him the Taxi driver no because the price he was offering was such an inflated price (The price hike could have been due to the fact that gas prices here for a gallon is about $6 US).
As the minutes ticked it became very apparent that we would not be able to board the bus. The taxi driver then said he would be willing to drop us off at another bus station so that the bus could pick us up elsewhere. Why would he say this? It is because buses are not allowed to have standing passengers when leaving the bus station so to circumvent this rule, individuals will go to a bus station off the main highway and pick up the same bus they cannot pick at the bus station.

We agreed and the taxi driver talked to the bus driver and we rushed into the taxi to be shuttled ahead of the bus. After paying $8Bz we boarded the bus and since there were no seats we stood for the 12 mile ride to the Blue Hole.

The drive towards Dandriga is beautiful and very very green with its rolling hills and clean air. After 10 minutes we were dropped off on the side of the road to hike for about 7 minutes to the entrance of the park. Once there a park employee told us we had gotten off the wrong part and needed to go back a mile or so and buy the park tickets. He gave us the option of hiking through the park jungle of hiking on the main highway. We choose the jungle.  The walk is beautiful and requires hiking shoes, mosquito repellant, and good company. After 45 minutes we reached the other park entrance drenched and wanting to get into the blue water. After haggling with the tour operators we were able to get to enjoy both park features which included cave tubing, and the blue hole for $25 US (This normally is around $45-50US), (My haggling has been perfected by my Kenyan background).
We then got our tubes, locked away our belongings that we didnt want wet and walked 10 minutes to the entrance of the cave.

The entrance looked like a hole in the side of the mountain but it was so amazingly different. After an introduction by our tour guide we turned on our head lamps, carried our tubes and descended into the earth. (It gets very cool down here and dark so if you are afraid of the dark i would recommend doing this with a group) (when i say dark i mean pitch black).

After trekking through the cave for 10 or so minutes we were led to some Mayan remains which included cookware. We also got to obsevre the wonders of geology and mother nature, stalagmites and stalactites.

Apparently there used to be alot of Jade in these caves since the Mayans believed that the caves were the underworld, but the Jade has disappeared as people have looted the caves.
Within minutes we could hear the sound of water and we began our cave tubing experience. Throughout the entire experience we enocountered bats, blind fish etc. Definitely an experience if you have never done it.

After 45 minutes in the cave covered by complete darkness, lifting our butts to prevent getting hit by rocks in the water, and getting stuck occasionally we finally made it out. By then I was exhausted, thirsty and hungry. We then trekked back to the park office and walked along the main highway to the blue hole. The road was mostly empty but we had to be careful since they were many speeders which had given the highway a nickname as the Audubon highway a play on Germany's Autobahns.

The blue hole is so beautiful and very different, and it is blue. The water was very cool and it took many minutes to inch our way deeper into the water.

But once in it was a great feeling and also an awesome reward after partaking in our own "Journey to the center of the Earth" expedition. This was definitely a highlight of the weekend.

Until later Keep on Beliz-ing and Gooooo Bulls!!!!