Away from the sea

"The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected." -Swedish Proverb-

Bren and Kate stayed another night at the crazy hippie house.  Trish made them a wonderful dinner with salad, Thai noodles, and skate (similar to sting ray).  This was Bren and Kate's first experience with skate.  The last thing to mention about the Kismet Inn was the outdoor shower. The cool water came flowing out of a conch shell, NEAT!

Then the two travelers were off to the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary with the high hopes of seeing a jaguar in the wild. No such luck but on the plus side they were not eaten by wild jaguars. CBWS is in the rainforest.  There are a few buildings to stay in surrounded by trails.  Upon arrival, they hiked up Ben's Bluff viewpoint where (if not cloudy) one can see Victoria's Peak, the second highest mountain in Belize.  On the way back down they visited a waterfall and stopped for long enough to enjoy a swim.  They went to bed early because they had plans to wake up at six to go on a morning hike.

The antelope trail was a pleasant 7 km morning stroll through the woods.  They managed to see a rabbit squirrel thing and some birds.  After refueling the brave children (Bren and Kate) put on their swimmers and rented some tubes with the hopes of floating down a river.  They succeeded.  They slowly drifted down the jungle river singing the 'bare necessities' and taking in the view.  Then after more refueling on ramen noodles they set their sights on the gem of the afternoon, the double falls.  A fairly challenging hike up the Tiger Fern trail led them to some quality swimming in the pools below the falls. Bren jumped from one of the falls making the adventure complete. Then they took some time to meditate perched on some giant boulders between the two waterfalls. It was off to bed early again for another early start the next day.

5:30 am came quickly and Bren and Kate got up in the dark, ate breakfast and put on their packs for the 7 mile hike out of CBWS back to the bus stop along the highway. They decided this hike was necessary because of the $20.00 cab fare to get out of the park was too costly! Upon reaching the highway they caught the first of three buses that would eventually take them inland to San Ignacio. The bus rides were long and packed but and they survived a little bit of vomit and managed to keep their large packs on their laps despite the bus boys who really wanted to place them in the back with the rest of the luggage.

Bren and Kate stepped off the last bus at about 12:30 and found their next temporary home at Bella's Backpackers Hostel where they settled in for the evening and just relaxed from the long travel day. The next day they wandered up to the second Mayan ruin of this trip, Cahal Pech. More impressive than Santa Rita in the North, this ruin had multiple buildings and plazas to explore and a visitors center that gave a brief overview of this site's history. Cool.

Regards,
Bren and Kate