Then we caught the 9am boat to Belize City and headed inland. When we arrived, we rented a car that had a GPS so we wouldn't get lost as we got deeper and deeper into the forests. But eventually, even the GPS announced that we were on an unknown road.
An unexpected, but glorious, find was a chocolate farm along our path. We had to stop. :)
The owner explained their organic farming process to us that come straight from the Mayan fields.
The cacao beans are then crushed and sorted by ancient methods using coconut shells and wind. They sell the cacao nibs in raw form, or you can crush further into a paste which you can consume for a quick "high".
We got to sample some in both forms, and they were super yummy! Bought a few sacks, too.
Nearby was a hike to St. Herman's Cave and Blue Hole National Park. We couldn't resist the adventure.
It didn't take long for that pure chocolate "high" to engage. I was leaving my family in the dust on that trail, and they had never been so slow! I think they were doing that on purpose. Gosh they were slow! I was even way ahead of this athlete...
The views were nice when we had a break in the lush canopy forest. We kept our eyes our for jaguars, though.
Once in the cave, I was glad we had our headlamps. Pitch black. We walked through as far as we could go without a guide. This is one of the cave tubing excursions that are popular with tourists.
The river in the cave flows down through a series of tunnels.
and empties into a Blue Hole that's popular to wade in.
We enjoyed the refreshing water for a bit and talking with the park staff. Now to find our AirBNB for the next few nights.
