Rio Frio Cave & Rio On Pools

The not-so-pine-filled Pine Mtn. Ridge

Last Friday we set off on a very bumpy road toward the ruins at Carocal, but Carocal wasn't our destination. We wanted to see the Rio Frio Cave and Rio on Pools (where we were told there was great swimming). The previous 2 days had been super hot and so we thought swimming would be perfect. Wouldn't you know though that just as we were pulling out of the driveway, it started raining! Oh well we decided to continue this adventure anyways. It rained off and on during our 2 hr drive to the cave. We entered a region known as Mountain Pine Ridge, and watch the landscape change dramatically. We went from palm trees, thick vines, etc to pine trees- only pine trees! It looked awfully sparse and we found out from a guide we ran into at Rio On Pools that the pine forest is only 10% of what it should be due to an infestation of the Pine Beetle.

Opening to the cave

 1st stop was Rio Frio Cave. Though part of the Pine Mountain Ridge, the cave is set deep in the jungle. It has a 65ft entrance allowing us to easily see inside. The cave is only about 600 ft. long and is open at both ends so we could see all the way through. A narrow creek from the Rio Frio flows through the cave. Rio Frio means "Cold River" and as Kris felt the icy water, he agreed that they'd gotten the name right for sure. We saw some huge stalactites, stalagmities, and flow stone too. We even saw what Kris called a grotto- which was a hole made by water dripping through a rock that led down to the river. The cave even had a sandy beach! The boys enjoyed digging and playing in the sand. There was a small waterfall but it was so dark that we couldn't get any decent pictures of it. We could only climb around on one side of the cave and could only go about halfway through the cave. We saw a stalactite that was dropping water onto a stalagmite so we could actually show Jonathan how they are formed- one drop at a time! He also found a big bug- thankfully dead, although incredibly preserved!

Grotto to river below

Stalactite that was dripping onto...

... this stalagmite

By a big rock that must have fallen from the ceiling all in one piece

Looking out of the cave

The Fam at Rio Frio

Jonathan's big bug!

 We back tracked a bit to Rio On Pools, parked and walked a short way on a path to the Rio On River. The water was amazingly warm here (especially compared to that of Rio Frio Cave) and it didn't take long for us to get in the river and go exploring. The water moves pretty slow through this region and it is also not to deep. The water was clear also allowing us to easily see the bottom and move around easily. Kris found a spot where the water moved a bit quicker and we could ride the current for a ways, kind of like a water slide. He also found a waterfall (about 6ft tall) and took Jonathan behind it. JJ was baffled at the sounds of the rushing water crashing right in front of him! At one point Jonathan asked us "Did we bring any toys to play with while we are swimming?" We told him that he'd just have to get creative and use the toys God made for us. He soon found a pinecone and had fun tossing that around. Aaron spent a lot of time playing the role of excavator, piling up handfuls of sand on a nearby rock. Finally Kris got in on the action and they worked together to make a Mayan Ruin! Such a creative bunch I have!

Lady's face carved in a rock

Upper pools & waterfall that J & K went behind

Lower Pools

Happy Swimmer!

Splashing Mommy! (looks like he's standing on top of the water, lol)

Doesn't he look relaxed?

Look, I found a toy!!

Our waterslide

Building together

Mayan Ruins- Jack style!

All tuckered out!

The sky started to cloud over so we decided we'd better head back. It rained on us a little on our walk back to the car,  but didn't really start dumping until we'd been on the road for a while. Aaron fell asleep during the last 20 minutes of the ride. Oh and one of the best parts about our trip that day was that aside from gas, the trip was free!!! We'd left our house at 11am that morning and got back at 5:15pm. I hadn't prepared anything for dinner so we changed clothes and headed out to eat at a Mexican Restaurant in San Ignacio called Rolsan's. Yum!

Random Recap

Last night's sunset!

The Internet has been really janky here for the last few days, so I'm hoping to get this posted before I lose the connection. Here are some interesting things we've encountered over the last week or so:
- We sang "Joy to the World" at church today. It felt really weird to be singing Christmas carols when it's nearly 90 degrees outside and no chance of snow! Christmas is a big deal here though and we're already starting to see Christmas decorations in the stores and restaurants. Another part of the Belizean Christmas is fireworks. We've been hearing lots of pops and booms near our house. We've been told that since the Belizeans don't celebrate 4th of July (when we get our fireworks fix in the States), they start using fireworks around mid November and keep it up until Christmas day.
- One thing I've noticed is that there is not one Pepsi in Belize. I don't remember seeing any Pepsi in Mexico either, only Coke! I guess Coke somehow has a moratorium here! Sodas come in glass bottles here and you are highly encouraged to return the glass bottle once you are done.
- Garbage pick up happens each Tuesday at our apartment. That in itself is not newsworthy, but what is interesting is that you never know what kind of vehicle will arrive to pick up the garbage. The boys love to watch and see. One week it was a big truck towing a hay bale trailer, then the next week it was a dumptruck. This week was an actual garbage truck like we'd see in the States.
- One lesson I learned this week, nearly everything is cheaper at the grocery stores as opposed to the drugstore. Back in the states I would never buy diapers or shampoo at Savemart, but would go to Rite Aid or CVS (and use a coupon, lol) and get it much cheaper. Here in Belize, the drugstores are more expensive though I'm not sure why.
- The Sunday tradition in Belize is to have a late lunch/early dinner of Rice & Beans, sometimes you also get BBQ'd chicken with it. We'd seen many signs for such a dish outside many restaurants but had yet to try it. Last Sunday when we came home from church, Ruth had made roasted chicken & vegetables and the traditional Rice & Beans. She invited us in for lunch. It was delicious!! She made her rice with pinto beans, green bell pepper, and coconut!
- Abel & Ruth have been great about introducing and sharing some of the local dishes with us! A few days ago Ruth brought up some red snapper. While I had a hard time looking at the fish (it had been cooked, head and all), Kris pulled off meat for me and I ate that- it was sooo good! This last weekend, Abel's parents came from Punta Gorda and his mom made us some Calvo- a traditional Punta Gordan soup that had chicken and vegetables, but the broth is like nothing I've ever tasted- absolutely scrumptious!
- All the windows of our apartment how have burglar bars on them. We also had a guy come to the house (referred to us by Abel) and install a car alarm/automatic door locks on the Suburban. He stayed for 2 hrs and got it put in. He charged us $75BZ so $37.50US! We had some trouble with it the next day and he came back after work and found a wire that had come lose. He fixed it free of charge!
- It's also a common occurrence here in Belize to see/hear cars driving through the streets honking their horns, sometimes as early as 6:30am! They might be selling tortillas, vegetables, bottled water, or be advertising services such as small appliance repair.
- I also haven't seen one lawnmower (unless you count Spanish Lookout, where all the Mennonites have huge lawns that are all perfectly mowed using ride on mowers). Most people here use weed eaters or even machetes to trim their yards!
- Kris has also become quite the chef! He's created wonderful dinners for us such as lime & garlic shrimp with Quinoa (we brought the quinoa from home, you can't get it here), Coconut shrimp (he had to shred coconut from the inside of a dried coconut)- so tasty that we didn't even get any pictures before we ate them all! He's also taken to making salsa and pico de gallo from scratch using fresh veggies from the market!
- Chocolate is expensive here! One 12oz bag of chocolate chips cost $8BZ or $4US!! But we bought some and made some chocolate chip banana bread!
- Oh and we received our utility bills for last month- Electricity was $17.23BZ and water was $37.91BZ, so $25.57US!!


And now for some pictures:

Making Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Found some starfruit at the market!

It looks like a starfish!

Aaron says the banana bread is "Yum Yum!

Another beautiful sunset!

Lime & Garlic Shrimp w/ Quinoa

AJ enjoying the hammock

Another amazing sunset- see the rays in the sky?

Woke up to fog- 3 mornings in a row!

Me & the boys- proof I get out from behind the camera once in a while!

Xunantunich!

The ferry

Off we go!

Saturday while the rest of the burglar bars were going on the windows, we set of for The Mayan Ruins at Xunantunich (soo-nan-too-nich).  It is known as “The Stone Lady.” This was by far the most impressive Mayan site we’d seen thus far! It was huge! Archaeologists believe that it was constructed between 600-950AD and was abandoned between 950-1000AD.  The journey begins with a ride across the Machal River on a hand cranked ferry. This one only holds one car at a time and its construction seems much more superior to that of the Spanish Lookout Ferry. Once parked at the entrance of the ruins we had to walk up a big hill then climb some stairs, the jungle was thick all around us.  At the top of the hill the jungle receded and revealed a flat grassy area with 5 stone structures! To the far left  jutting up into the sky we could see El Castillo, 130 feet tall and the second tallest structure in Belize! We decided to start with the smaller structures to our right and work our way toward El Castillo. 

JJ trying out what looked he thought was a Mayan bed- "not very comfortable" He said!

The Ruler's Palace!

As we started toward Plaza A-3 we passed another couple who told us to be sure to look for the stairs behind the structure so that we could see the view from the top. We headed toward the first structure and climbed some steep stairs. It was only from the top that we saw a second structure behind it! So down we went and headed toward this structure called The Ruler’s Palace. I was so glad that couple said something because the stairs on the front of the palace were roped off. It is the second tallest building at Xunantunich. We found the hidden stairs around the left side of the building and climbed up the 15 or so stairs (about 30 feet up)to get a great view of the rest of Xunantunich. We also made sure to tell others that we saw nearing the Palace about the back set of stairs so they could enjoy the view too. ** You might have wondered how we’re climbing and tackling all these stairs with two children 5 and under? Very carefully! Many of the stairs don’t have side walls and are very steep and can be slippery too. Most of the time Jonathan would go up with me behind him, Aaron would climb up with Kris behind him. Going down was a lot trickier. I would climb down with Jonathan holding my hand, we perfected the side-step as we inched down each stair. Kris had the utmost challenge with climbing down with a wiggly very uncoordinated Aaron, so Kris would just hold him (after instructing Aaron that he was to put his head on Kris’ shoulder and hold very still) and climb down one step at a time. Kris is not a huge fan of heights and adding Aaron to the mix heightened his anxiety a bit, but to date he & Aaron have made it down every stair without any issues.

At the top of the Ruler's Palace looking at El Castillo

AJ looking at the flowers down the backside of Ruler's Palace

 Next there was a smallish structure that wasn’t fully excavated- just the stairs. But it was only 10 feet tall so I let the boys climb up themselves and look around on the grassy top. We did find a small house-like area with what appeared to be a fire pit in the center. We supposed maybe it had been a kitchen. We investigated two other structures before gearing up for El Castillo, or The Castle. We also started hearing the loud bellows of howler monkeys from the jungle nearby and we saw a couple iguanas lounging on the rocks in the sunshine. 

We did it! All by ourselves!

Yep, this is one of the big structures!

Mayan fire pit?

My boys!

El Castillo- notice how small the people are at the top? (click on the photo to enlarge it)

 El Castillo was enormous! The people who were already at the top looked like tiny ants (makes me a bit intimidated to even think about the pyramid at Carocal, which is the highest structure in Belize)!  We each took a child and then took deep breaths and headed up. The first set of stairs was wide and easily traversed by everyone, even Aaron!  

Taking on El Castillo!

Pretty Butterfly #1

Iguana

Pretty Butterfly #2

Halfway up!

   Jonathan and I stopped to investigate some butterflies while Aaron and Kris continued up to get a head start. We found our way to the west side of El Castillo and started our way up a long set of narrow stairs… and we weren’t even halfway up yet!  We stopped in a grassy patch to get a good look at the West Frieze, carved into the side of the building. The west frieze was discovered in 1993. A fiberglass replica was created in 1996 to protect the original stucco frieze which remains buried and preserved about one meter behind the replica. Elements in this frieze represent the World Tree, or the central axis of the Mayan World, the Mayan sun god, and various ancestors of the ruling family.   

The route J & I took up the West Side

JJ on the Western Stairs

The West Frieze

 Once past the Western Frieze, the trek up El Castillo became much more perilous. Jonathan and I took our time going up shallow steep stairs that wound up and through a room before ending up on the top of El Castillo! I looked down to see Kris and Aaron sitting down nearly halfway down! He was just as surprised to see us at the top. I guess he’d been whistling and calling to us but we didn’t hear anything. They joined us at the top and we all sat down to catch our breath and take in the breath-taking view! We met a couple from Canada and they took our picture. It was certainly unnerving looking down, my stomach dropped quite a bit and we made sure the boys stayed way back sitting against the rock wall. We could see San Ignacio in one direction, Benque in another, and Guatemala as well.  

View from the Top- farthest building is the Ruler's Palace

Looking down! EEK!

Looking down the Eastern Side of El Castillo

The Fam at the top of El Castillo!

 After a good 30 minute rest at the top, we all went down the east side together. Once we reached the halfway point, a grassy area where the boys were all too happy to run around, I got my first look at the East Frieze.  It was first found and excavated in 1950. It is thought that the frieze went around the entire building, but all that remains today are remnants of the eastern and western sides.  This frieze shows the Mayan Pax gods, Chac (the center mask)- an important deity in the creation of the Mayan world, the u-shaped elements represent the moon, and it also shows figures holding up the sky. 

The Easter Frieze

Once at the bottom with our feet planted on terra firma, we brought out our picnic lunch and ate hungrily. PB&J never tasted so good! The boys ran around in the grass some more before we walked back down the hill toward the car.  Kris noticed a huge ball of mud up high in a tree, as we saw more of them we figured they must be a nest of some kind- maybe ants or bees? A guide and his group walked past as Kris was getting close to one and he warned us to be careful of the termite nest. The guide also said that termites are pretty tasty and a good source of protein! ICK! No thanks!

See my flower Mommy?

I found one too!

 Back across the ferry and 10 min later we were back at the apartment. Just in time too as the men installing our burglar bars had finished up only 20 minutes before. We all had a quiet rest time and laid low the rest of the day.