We started our day off with breakfast at Pop’s, you really can’t beat inexpensive homemade tortillas and refried bean and eggs, and then we spent some time exploring the town. San Ignacio (including the sister town of Saint Elena) has about 20,000 people and is considered a pretty large town here. You can see a little of the leftover colonial style of the British in the main streets. Near the Macall River, which separates the twin towns, is a vast market with fresh fruits and vegetables along with a variety of arts, crafts, and homemade oils and food. This is especially bustling on Saturday when the Mennonites, the Amish, and people from small villages for miles around all bring their produce to market.
In the afternoon we headed for Barton Creek to see the cavernous cave with the river running through it with our personable guide, Cruise. The 45 minute ride (to go 12 miles) to the cave through dirt roads in the rain forest was just as bumpy and treacherous as most of the jungle roads around here. The last few miles were narrow and directly down the side of a mountain. The site of the cave is beautiful with even a small restaurant and facilities for tourists. We all 3 sat in one long canoe with Cruise at the rear and me in front and in charge of the large spotlight. We crossed the large deep pool of crystal clear water leading to the tall, narrow mouth of the cave. Palm trees growing out of the sheer rock face curved toward the sun with vines hanging across the entrance. It looked like a scene setup for a Tarzan movie. Big, fat rain droplets began pattering softly on the surface of the water and through the trees. We glided quietly into the cave and were immediately under huge ribbon-like formations gleaming at us from 100 feet above. Even though we’ve been to several caves these formations were somehow very different. Different colors and more jagged on the tips. Although we had our cameras on this trip, the inky blackness make recording the experience almost impossible. In sections the stone ceiling was so low over our head we had to duck, and in other areas large car sized boulders were seemingly suspended from the ceiling and we had to squeeze beside them. We saw a cave spider as big as a salad plate and an indentation in the ceiling with a colony of fruit bats huddled inside. In about half a mile we came to the end, or at least as far as we could go. Reportedly, the river continues for at least 7 more miles mostly under the rock with occasional cavernous sections (that have been explored only by archaeologists who went in with scuba gear). The return trip was no less intriguing while I was using the big spotlight to see as much of the walls and ceiling as possible. Most of the Mayan artifacts discovered in this cave have been removed by the archeologists, but a few pieces of pottery can be seen on high ledges and even one skull that has become calcified almost into the rock.
The daylight slowly became visible, first as a small fissure and then as a discernible crack in the rock face. Rain pelted the water in a steady rhythm now as the canoe slid into the light of day. The trees of the rainforest kept us partially protected as we crossed the clear lake. We left and wandered around the beautiful grounds of the restaurant for a few minutes before we began the arduous trip back to the hotel.
We spent the next hour talking and laughing with Cruise as we questioned him about life in Belize and he questioned us about life in the states. He pointed out different crops and shared history about the different villages we passed through.
The day ended with dinner at Guava Limb Cafe, a small restaurant in town that boasts organic and healthy food. Their slogan is “slim and trim like the guava limb”. It was delicious, and we sat on a small, brightly painted balcony overlooking a serene park. We have loved our time in San Ignacio. There seems to be endless things to see and do here and we will definitely be back. But tomorrow we will be traveling to Caye Caulker, and we are looking forward to more adventure there.
