From Tikal we crossed the border into Belize. Belize is completely different to the rest of Central America in that it is an English speaking country and half of the population are descended from Garifuna people of African decent. The country has a distinctly Caribbean feel, with brightly coloured buildings, chilled out (hungover) locals and a go slow approach to everything!

We opted to do a full day caving adventure to the ATM Caves. We started out by hiking for an hour through the Belizean jungle, crossing 3 rivers, slithering through mud and learning about medicinal plants (including the foul tasting leaves that ward off mossies). Once we got to the cave we donned our helmets and head torches and swum, waded, climbed and crawled through caves with amazing stalactites and stalagmites until we reached the highlight of the trip...a series of caves used by the Mayans for sacrifice and rituals. The caves are dotted with 1500 year old pots and with amazingly preserved Mayan skulls and skeletons. Amazingly preserved that is until Kim visited... losing her balance she managed to tread on one of the ancient clay pots... it was broken before Kim got there but was in a few more pieces when she left...shocking!!!!