10-7-2015 Barton Creek Cave, Rio On Pools, and Big Rock Falls

We were to meet for our tour at 7:30 am, so we went for an early breakfast at Eva's Restaurant, and this was our view. 

Our tour company, Mayawalk Tours, was right across the street, so we sat outside until it was time to go.

Our trip took us through the little Mennonite village of Upper Barton Creek.  Of course, they are traditional farmers, and here
you can see that they have a second crop of beans growing up the old corn stalks.

Thank goodness we didn't have to cross this bridge!  (We just saw it from the road.)

Barton Creek Cave, here we come!

Mike's Place, at Barton Creek Cave, has beautiful grounds and a lovely looking restaurant.

Ross and Kathleen, ready to paddle.

Cara and Eric are always up for an adventure, and Eric is armed with the GoPro camera.

Cara's foot photo - it looks more like her feet are hanging over an abyss than over water.

Just over halfway up this photo, near the middle, is a small round clay pot placed there by the
ancient Mayans that used this cave for religious ceremonies.

There were several natural bridges that we paddled under in the cave.

The cave formations were varied and beautiful!

The end of the road - we paddled back as far as you can.

In a couple of areas you had to lean way forward or backward to get under the stalactites.

We all agreed that Barton Creek Cave was one of our favorite things to experience.

Then we continued on our journey.

We were headed to two places in the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve.

Our first stop was Rio On Pools.

We had lunch at this perfectly placed overlook.

What a lunch view!

Then our guide, Pedro, drove us to a place that is a short walk to the pools.

On the way everybody stopped to examine a carving in the rock.

While we do not condone defacing places of natural beauty, we do appreciate the artwork itself.

Approaching the natural pools...

The place was beautiful, but the pools were pretty shallow, so you could sit and enjoy the cool water, but not swim.

We continued on to our last stop, which took us right by the exclusive resort, Blancaneaux Lodge, which is owned by Francis
Ford Coppola.  We also drove by the resort owned by Harrison Ford.

Last stop - Big Rock Falls!  Our guide for ATM Cave (Carlos) had told us to be sure to visit this place.

Big Rock Falls is a truly breathtaking place!

There is a nice upper swimming pool at the base of the falls.

There is also a nice (and larger) lower swimming pool.

A few pics Eric took with the GoPro camera in its waterproof case...

Headed back up after a lovely swim

Cara and Kathleen loved the way the stairs were constructed, and the upturned bottle caps that
give added traction on the steps.

The trip home took us through the village of San Antonio, where the speed bumps (known in
Belize as "sleeping policemen") had these cute warning signs.

After cleaning up back at the guesthouse in San Ignacio we headed out for dinner.  We had just arrived at Martha's Kitchen & Pizza House when the power went out throughout the city.  (We later learned that it was a country-wide power outage.)  So, we had a lovely dinner by candlelight (okay by flashlight turned up in the middle of the table) until the power came back on about a half hour later.