Cave Tubing and Zoo

First thing- we slept awful last night. Go figure. NO AC in the jungle.... not a good idea... two nights left though.

This morning we decided last minute to go cave tubing. We are glad we waited last minute because our price was cut in half (score). We drove about an hour north of San Ignacio were we met our guide Victor. We grabbed our tubes and then hiked about 20 minutes through the jungle to get to the entrance of the Mayan Caves. Of course we were hot when we arrived so Victor said the kids could swim upstream... they didn't listen and he had to go in and rescue Halle who started the tubing excursion with no tube. After that brief "this is why you should listen" moment he tied the tubes together and we were off. Victor share with us that the Mayans believed that there were three worlds, the upper world, middle world, and the under world. We were traveling into the underworld where they didn't live but would only visit and use to transport goods back and forth. The caves have been there for houndreds of thousands of years. We floated through and about halfway we got out and climbed out to where there was a collalpse in the tunnels years ago, there he also let us jump off a rock structure in the water- about a 15 foot jump. Once Dustin and Rowe did it none of the kids wanted to be outdone by their 5 year old brother. They all followed. I gladly watched... haha. We got back into the tubes and continued the float through the dark caves. All said and done it was about a 2 hour float. The kids loved it.

After we floated we ate lunch there which was rice/beans, grilled chicken, and a coleslaw type of thing. (None of us touched the coleslaw). It was good... but a veggie of some sort would be oh so nice.

We changed into dry clothes and then headed to the Belize Zoo. I had heard that if you are going to be in Belize you HAVE to go to the zoo. We got in and were one of 3 cars parked there...not so busy. When we walked in I asked about the different animal encounters they have and he told me all about each of them... we opted to do them all! They wanted to do the encounters right away just because the animals would be getting hungry for dinner soon. SO - the first animal we fed was the Macaw. We got to feed it pumpkin like seeds...kids loved feeding them. They are beautiful creatures. After that we went to the Tapir (look up a picture)... they are the funniest creatures! Their nose moves around, almost like an elephant nose- but it is known as the mountain cow and is the national animal of Belize. The kids got to feed it a bucket of carrots -right to it and pet it. Then we hoped over to the Keel Billed Toucan. The Zoo Ranger took the kids into the Toucans cage and let them feed him papaya. While the kids were feeding it another ranger told me that this isn't the original one they usually let guests feed. BUT, the original one got in a fight with this one and this one maimed it enough to kill it... (and my kids are in this cage...) THEN came the best one of all, a Jaguar experience. We paid for just the kids to go do this, but the Zoo Ranger said no all of you are coming. We walked over to the cage, they called the jaguar over to a different part and locked him up and then let us INTO his cage. In the center of his cage is another cage of humans, I couldn't stand up straight in it and there was just enough space for 4 bums to sit. They put us in the cage (with the Zoo Ranger) and then locked the cage. He then let the Jaguar out and he came right up to the cage. Dustin had Rowe on his lap and I had Miles. He had the jaguar to 3 somersaults in front of the cage and then the jaguar jumped onto the cage we were sitting in...Miles just about died. At this point the zoo ranger told us he wanted to give kisses...so stick your forehead up high enough. Rowe went first...stuck his forehead up to the top of the cage and the cat licked his head 3-4 times.... then Bennett, then Dustin and then looked at Miles and Miles said no way. After doing that he stuck whole pieces of chicken up through the cage and the jaguar would grab it, and then lay on the cage so we could pet him through the cage while he was devouring the chicken. This happened about 4-5 times. At one point he started gnawing on the cage and I thought- if he really wanted in I don't think this cage would stop him.... they then called him back and locked him up. Then they came and unlocked our cage. Miles was THE FIRST one out of there. We walked around and observed all the other creatures...most of the animals at this zoo are rescues. And most all of their fences are only about mid-chest (to me) high (except the cat cages). It was a wonderful experience!!