Mayan Ruins and Cave Tubing

Yesterday the family took a 4 hour drive to the Mayan ruins of Xunantunia (pronounced Shoo-nan-tu-nia). The drive itself was amazing - there had been a HUGE storm and we had to travel through 25 miles of unpaved road. Because of the storm, the road looked more like a river, but our driver drove through like he was quite accustomed to it. Xunantunia was one of the centers of Mayan civilization that began around 400B.C. The disappearance of the Mayan civilization around 1200A.D. is still a mystery, and evidence to their continued existence up to 1200A.D. can be found at this site. It was an amazing walk into history as we were able to climb the high steps to get up to the top of the site. Afterwards we drove an hour back toward Placencia and went cave tubing. Cave tubing can only be found in Belize. We hiked 30 minutes into the jungle with a large inner-tube, jumped on, and started the 30 minute tube ride through these old caverns. Imagine an under-ground cavern complete with stalagmites and stalagmites, flow stone, etc. and a river flowing through it. At one point we all turned off our head-lamps and it was PITCH DARK! It was an awesome experience, and probably one we won't be able to do again.

The Road/River we drove through


The Mayan Ruins


Cave Tubing