In the latter part of the day, we were scheduled to canoe into Barton Creek Cave. It was today that I realized that I could do a lot more in one day than I expected. We had already seen one amazing ruin, and now we were on our way to a cave. Other than Lost River in NH, I had never been in a cave before. I also hadn''t canoed in years.
We were picked up in a large pickup truck. It had a metal framework over the bed, which is where we joined some other travellers.
This truck went over a number of dirt roads. We even had to get off the back of the truck and walk up hills. We drove through a river, just like an adventure movie. We saw a huge snake on the way --it had been tied up by some workers by the side of the road. Despite my love of reptiles, I resisted the guide''s offer to put it around my neck.
On the long ride there, we also saw a Mennonite community. It was very much like an Amish community, only I''m used to seeing these people in the farms of Pennsylvania, not the jungles of Belize! They were driving in a horse and buggy over the rutted dirt road, and it actually looked like the buggy might be able to handle it better than the truck we were in.
When we got there, we walked for a bit. We rejected the life-jackets as the water is shallow, and got into the canoes. I gave Alli the front seat, so that she can take pictures, and then, as it turns out, the person in the front is responsible for holding the canoes together inside the cave as well as holding the lights. My job is to connect the lights to a battery with jumper cables, as well as occasionally hold the two canoes together. I manage to snap a few pictures inside the cave.
This tour does get a bit boring once you''ve been in the cave and seen some of the broken Mayan pots and lots of stalagtites. Then you start thinking "My butt hurts" and "How much longer til we get out of here?"
The last part of the trip, after turning around, they tell you to turn out all the lights. You just sit in complete blackness. Then in the distance, you see a light. This light formed the shape of an angel or a woman, or for me, it resembled the Virgin. What you don''t realize is that you''re drifting slowly towards the cave mouth, and what you are seeing is the crack of the opening of the cave. As you draw closer, the brilliant greens of the river outside the cave are accentuated by the blackness you are leaving. The world looks so bright, and I felt so grateful for sunlight.