Adios Mexico, Hello Belize!

This week started out Toriann sick with a respiratory infection and Heather super sunburned. It was rough being near the beautiful beach and barely being able to make it the short walk to the beach. But, we survived and have had an amazing week of finishing up in Mexico and traveling to Belize!! Our last few days in Mexico we spent near the resort towns of Playa del Carmen and Cancun. We finished up with our first group, and met our next leader, Annika, and our new group. There are still the 6 girls, including us, with 4 new couples from the UK, Australia, and Germany. Plus, one guy from New Zealand. This new group is great and a lot of fun so far.
Before saying good bye to Mexico, we visited the famous ruins of Chichen Itza. They were amazing, its very cool to have seen 2 out of the 5 major Mayan cities so close together. The main temple in the center of the ruins is designed after the Mayan calender, and on the 21st of March and September (the equinox) the picture of a rattling snake appears. Their advanced technology is truly humbling. We had a great guide who was a wealth of information, but it was hard to concentrate for the whole tours because I don't know if I have ever been so hot in my life! But we did learn about their version of football, a game involving two teams of 7 players that had to use their feet, paddles, and a bat to try and get a 5 lb ball through a very small and high ring. The captain of the losing team was decapitated and sacrificed to the gods. wooh, glad we don't do that anymore :)
So, after Chichen Itza, we met our new group, spent a few lazy (and recovering) days in the hotel, and then we headed off to Belize. Belize has proved to be a fascinating mix of Latin, Caribbean, African and Asian cultures. Our first stop was Caye Caulker, a small island close to Belize city. The island was a mix of locals and backpackers from all over, and after you met someone, you usually saw them several more times during the day! We went an incredible snorkeling trip!!! My mom would be so proud and jealous! We saw a manatee, nurse sharks, sea turtles, sting rays, and wide assortment of fish and coral! Our guides caught and held the sting rays and sharks, so we actually got to pet them! The reef is the second largest after the Great Barrier. The only down part of the day was more sunburn :)
After 2 nights in Caye Caulker, we drove to a small city close to the Guatemalan border called San Ignacio. We stayed at a very cool Ecolodge run by several locals and a retired couple from Michigan. There were many critters, as we were deep in the jungle, one called the 'Jesus Christ' lizard because it runs on its hind feet and can run on water. One of our girls on the trip swore she had seen a dinosaur. We were later informed that there were no dinosaurs in Belize. :) The toilets were a little different too. They were 100% compostable, just basically porta-potties but you flushed with sawdust. Toriann felt like she was in a hamster cage every time she went.
Our adventure from San Ignacio outside the lodge was a going caving. We went 1 mile into a nearby cave that was used by the ancient Mayans to hold religious ceremonies and make sacrifices. It was SO cool. The cave was filled with stalactites and stalagmites some of which looked like Christmas trees, waterfalls, and even the nativity scene! After about an hour of swimming, climbing over and in between rocks, we entered into a massive cavern filled with ancient pots, ruins, and skeletons. We were lucky to have one of the archaeologist that has worked in this cave for 8 years to be there that day. The remains were mostly of people, royalty that were sacrificed to the gods. They can tell that they are royalty because of the formation of the forehead. Royal babies had their foreheads bond until their skulls were flattened. The eyes were also often crossed and teeth sawed to points and jewels drilled in. These were considered very beautiful and royal. At the furthest point we saw a perfectly preserved (from the calcium carbonate) female skeleton. They believe she was tortured and left to die as a sacrifice.
Today we said good bye to Belize and entered into Guatemala. We are now in the small city of Flores, an island in the middle of a lake. People again speak Spanish (Belize is an English speaking country!) and we are planning to have traditional Mayan cuisine for dinner with our group! Tomorrow morning we leave at 3:30 am to leave for a trek through the jungle to the Tikal ruins to watch the sunrise!
Toriann is feeling greatly improved! Heather is avoiding the sun and peeling. We love hearing updates from home, esp about the elections! Its amazing how interested the whole world is in who the next US president is going to be. Adios until next time!! Much love from Guatemala!
***PS, more pictures added to the slide show on the previous post! We are still learning how to manage all this blog stuff :)**