Getting up bright and early, we went to meet our tour group to head out to Barton Creek Nature Reserve for a morning of cave canoeing. Well, I say 'group', but it turns out it was just me and Matt on our own private tour! We met our driver and our guide, Dora (the explorer) and clambered into the back of a battered old 4x4. It had more crack than windscreen: they obviously don't have Autoglass here in Belize. We drove through Santa Elena and out to the track for the reserve, while I chatted to Dora. She was lovely (gold teeth and all) and really interesting. She explained how she and her nine siblings escaped the civil war in her native Guatemala with her parents, and had to hide in the Belizean jungle for years as they were illegal immigrants.

Turning off the main road, we had to drive over seven miles on the bumpiest 'road' I have ever been on. Let's just say a sports bra would have been a good investment!! We saw cars coming the other way down the track that were spinning out of control: I'm glad I wasn't trying to drive Dot up there! We drove through lush green forest and through a Mennonite (Amish) farming community.

On arrival at the jungle outpost, we found our canoe in a small, fish-filled lagoon by the entrance of a cave. We were expecting to have to paddle, but it turned out Dora actually did all of the hard work while we just sat back and relaxed! We moved towards the mouth of the cave, which took a bit of negotiation to enter, and we plunged almost immediately into darkness. We had to switch on a powerful lamp to light our way, and we saw literally hundreds of squeaking bats flying overhead! We floated along the river, admiring all the giant stalactites hanging from the ceiling of the cave. Some parts of the cave roof were really low; some so low you literally had to put your head between your legs to get through without getting decapitated! There were also Mayan sacrificial remains in there, which made the whole thing a bit more eerie! We spent about two hours in the cave, it was surprisingly relaxing and absolutely silent in there, just drifting slowly along in the canoe: I wasn't a bit claustrophobic like I was expecting. Afterwards we went for a quick swim in the shaded lagoon where we launched the canoe from - very quick for me, as it was FREEZING!

It was so peaceful in the caves, the Mayans believed that the water dripping from the stalactites was holy, and if some fell onto you, you were receiving a blessing. I'm just pleased to report that blessings are the only things that dropped onto our heads, what with all those bats in that cave...