Some hiking and nature

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Sleeping in the jungle, waking up in the jungle.  It's a beautiful thing!  But ya know what?  It was darn hot!  Over and over the staff at Chaa Creek kept telling us "this is the rainy season, it's not hot - you haven't felt hot yet!"  Well, it was about 95 degrees with 93 percent humidity and no air conditioning.  I can handle it during the day.  I don't mind it when I'm outside, especially if I have water to drink and there's shade nearby.  But sleeping in the heat - that's another story.  We survived though and by the second or third night I must have adapted, or we must have figured some method to keep our cottage cooler because sleeping came much easier.  Or maybe we were just exhausted!

Our first full day...after a long day of travelling, we decided that this day would be mainly a day of relaxing and getting to know where we were.  No planned activities.  We'd hang out, maybe do some hiking and relax at the pool.  Perfect.

After breakfast, we hiked along the River Trail. This is a short walk from the cottages to the Macal River. The pathway was lined with some of the biggest bamboo trees I've ever seen!



Once at the river, you can take one of the canoes and paddle downstream to San Ignacio if you'd like too....we chose to just sit on the bank for awhile and enjoy the scenery.  Quite peaceful.  But it's so evident how the river has turned brown from the Chalillo Dam....very sad.  We were told that just weeks before the river was clear.
Later in the afternoon we also hiked along the Medicinal Trail.  This is a self guided hike that shows you how so many of the plants and trees have been used to treat so many different ailments ranging from skin irritations to stomach issues to actual research for cancer drugs.  It was fascinating.
We had a really great day, but had a early morning coming up.  Our first big adventure....Tikal.  This was one of my main reasons for coming to Belize and for choosing this location.....I couldn't wait!

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