Barton Creek Cave

I woke up bright and early the next morning. Mostly due to a bunch of dogs (lots of wild dogs roaming the streets all over Belize) barking and fighting outside of my window. I just layed in bed for a while, not really feeling like getting up or going on the Barton Creek trip. Most of the morning consisted in me internally debating whether I should just forget the deposit and skip the trip, or just get off my ass and do it. I felt that I really needed to do something rather than just staying in my room passing time somewhat bored, but not feeling like going out and dealing with people. Eventually I decided that I should just stop being such a bitch and just go on the trip.

I went to the store to buy some water, but all they had was a four-liter jug and I didn't really want to lug that around with me. After some thought, I decided to buy it anyway and pour the water into a smaller one liter water bottle I bought on my busride to San Ignacio. I gathered the few necessary items (I did however forget my camera, which I regret) and around noon headed towards the shop where I was to meet my guide.

When I arrived, there was an attractive woman sitting down in front of the shop and walking by I glanced around and didn't see the guide. I asked her if she was going on the Barton Creek Trip and she replied in accented English that she was. Right then, Sergio the guide appeared and greeted us both and told us to head towards the car. The German girl, Marie (or the german equivalent), and I introduced ourselves and we all talked a bit as we headed towards a run down four wheel drive SUV. We took off towards the Barton Creek area, a 45 minute drive, and talked with each other, Sergio telling us that they are pretty liberal in Belize and that if we wanted to stop and get a beer to drink on the ride to feel free to ask, and to go ahead and smoke in the car.

We drove east on the Western Highway for a few miles before turning off down a rough, rocky dirt road where Sergio alternated speeding up during the smoother patches or slowing down to a crawl on rough parts. We were going to pass through an Amish community of 200 on the road and this was foreshadowed by passing a few horse drawn carriages driven by Amish men.

Along the dirt road we began to pass massive orange tree groves and Sergio told us that the groves were owned by an American corporation which used them for making concentrated juices. I never learned which corporation but eventually we stopped and picked a bunch of oranges for the trip and later on (so I may owe Dole a few bucks… :D). We stopped at a random farmhouse on the way and picked up a Mestizo man named Selwyn who worked with Sergio and Selwyn would be the one to actually paddle us through the cave and tell us about what we were seeing.

We reached the Barton Creek cave area soon after and got out of the car. Sergio told us we could leave our things in the car and pointed out some bathrooms we could use as well as towards a small area where they had a spidermonkey on a leash. Selwyn told us we could go play with the monkey while he set up the canoe and torch (a large flashlight connected to a car battery) for our trip. I went to go look at the spidermonkey and noticed as I did so that Sergio had lit and was smoking a doobie.

Marie went up to the spidermonkey and began to pet him. His name was Mango and he was attracted to bright shiny things; something we found out when he wrapped himself around Marie and began to try and tug her earrings right out of her ears. He had his feet (which were similar to his hands) on the earring, his hands holding on to Maries head and arm, and his prehensile tail wrapped around her head. Marie started to freak out and I tried to get the monkey off of her, but really had no clue what to do, having never dealt with a monkey before. Eventually one of the workers there yelled at him and he let her go. Marie took off her earrings and continued to play with the monkey.

When Selwyn had the canoe ready, we went down to a little pool at the cave entrance and boarded the canoe, and then Selwyn began to paddle us into the cave, describing the history of the cave and it's formations.

The cave had been used my the Mayan Indians of the area to perform ritual sacrifices. It was supposed to be part of the underworld and sacred to the gods. While going through the cave, Selwyn pointed out a few pots that were visible from the canoe as well as an old Mayan skull which had been partially encased in limestone due to the natural processes of the cave. Selwyn told us about the Mayan culture and that many of the skeletons and artifacts which were in the cave (and many Mayan sites) had been stolen by looters and every now and then an archaeologist would come through to study the cave. We weren't allowed to get out of the canoe, so I couldn't really get a close look at anything.

The cave itself was massive, with the ceiling rising to heights of over 100 feet, although at the widest it was only 20 or so feet. Stalagtites and stalagmites (not sure which is which) were present throughout the cave and some of them were a bright sparkly white from calcium deposits. There were also some very low parts of the cave, where the ceiling was only three to four feet above the water. At these parts we had to bend almost in half in the canoe just so our heads did not bang against the rocks. Luckily it was the dry season, because during the wet season the water level is too high to get past these areas. Every now and then we would pass by groups of black rock which Selwyn told us was magnesium deposits, and sometimes there would be a black coating on the rocks which was bat guano.

After a little bit past a kilometer into the cave we turned around and began to head back. We stopped at an area with a lower ceiling and as Selwyn held onto the ceiling, we turned off the flashlight and were encompassed in complete and total blackness. Even though we were perfectly still, I felt as though we were rushing backwards at great speed, being dragged further and further into the depths of the cave. After a minute we turned the light back on and I immediately felt normal again. We continued on our way out of the cave, asking questions about Belize and talking with Selwyn until we reached near the entrance of the cave.

When a hint of light could be seen from the entrance, Selwyn turned off the light so we could adjust our eyes a little to the dark and appreciate the view better as we exited the cave. At first it looked like it was dusk, with only a hint of light making it down the cave, and I felt as though we were not moving at all. Looking around I could see the stalagmites or stalagtites (the ones hanging down from the ceiling) moving in the shadowy light that made it's way that far down the cave, so I mentally knew that we were moving towards the cave entrance but my body felt otherwise.

There was an immense feeling of relief and satisfaction upon coming around a bend and seeing out of the cave entrance. I don't really know how to even describe the feeling. The sight of the bright green jungle encompassed in bright sunlight as well as the shimmering of the light in the pool of water outside the cave entrance lightened the mood and made me very happy. Maybe the darkness of the cave was oppressive and I did not even notice until exiting the cave but it was a magnificent sight.

Once disembarking from the canoe, Marie and I went to go play with the monkey some more while Selwyn put up the canoe and equipment. Marie and I talked while the monkey sat on her lap until the monkey noticed her earrings which she had placed next to her. The monkey snatched up the earrings and ran around the cage with the earrings in his mouth. We had to grab the leash and pull him to us to get the earrings back and then the monkey became violent. He started to wrap himself around her arm and bite on her arm until I pulled him off, whereupon he wrapped himself around my leg and began gnawing on my leg. I was wearing pants so I did not really feel anything but I started to swing my leg around to get him off but he continued to cling on. Marie made some joke about how my swinging my leg around with a spidermonkey attached to it looked like some strange kind of yoga.

Around this time Selwyn asked if we were ready to go, so we headed back to the car and headed back to San Ignacio. The drive back was interrupted however by car difficulties. The SUV kept losing power as we drove forward, bucking as it got power and then lost power. Sergio and Selwyn got out and opened the hood to figure out what was wrong. Marie became nervous and wanted a cigarette and I was just thinking that we were going to have to walk back.

I guess the air intake had come loose and after re-attaching it, we took off again. Not a quarter of a mile down the road, the car started bucking again. They hopped out and the intake had come loose again. This time they reattached it and tightened it up. We had no more problems after that. We dropped Selwyn off at a random farm (different from the one we picked him up at) and continued to town.

When we reached San Ignacio, Sergio dropped us off at our hostel. Apparently Marie and I were staying at the same hostel, and after paying Sergio the remainder that I owed him for the trip, we made plans to go eat dinner together. I washed up a little and Marie got changed (she had dripped orange juice all over her shirt from eating one of the oranges we picked earlier in the day), and headed out to the same American place I had ate at the night before. I didn't care where we ate and Marie chose it. I ate a chicken sandwich and Marie got a vegetarian sub and we talked about our travels and native countries.

Marie was from Western Germany and spoke four languages (German, French, Spanish, and English). She was a therapist and had just spent seven months working in a small village in Mexico helping to train disabled children to cope with their disabilities. She had six weeks to travel by herself before her family was flying out to travel with her for two more weeks. She was going to Tikal the next day after leacing San Ignacio to visit the Mayan ruins site Tikal. After visiting Flores and Tikal, she was planning on going to Antigua to study spanish some more while doing a homestay with a Guatemalan family and then doing the same thing again near Lake Atitlan. Then she was going back to Mexico to meet her family.

After dinner, she decided to take a nap, so we returned to our rooms and I never saw Marie again. I read some more, watched a movie I had on my laptop and went to bed early, around 10 o'clock.

I was happy I had gone on the tour and not pussed out like I had wanted to in the morning. It is hard for me to get to know people but I generally enjoy it when I do take the time to talk to them. I just need to do it more often and try and learn to open up easier.