Belize, Central America
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The Caves of Cayo: An Inside Look at Belize
By STEPHEN REGENOLD / The New York Times
Tucked under the Yucatán Peninsula, along the balmy shores of the Caribbean, the small country of Belize is perhaps best known for its turquoise waters and colorful barrier reef. But in recent years, as tourism to the country has grown, adventure seekers have tiptoed inland, into the jungle and underground.
It was noon in the Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve of Belize, and Danny Portillo was leading a group of travelers through a cave. Spring water rushed from a black void. Flashlights flicked and pushed shadows off the walls. Ahead, skulls and broken pots lined a corridor that faded from sight.
The cave felt haunted, like a wild portal to a time when human sacrifice, ceremonial bloodletting and hallucinogenic quests were common religious rites. "Welcome to the Maya Underworld," Mr. Portillo said, his voice swirling in a chamber of bats and polished stone.
Cave tours are now offered by dozens of outfitters around the country, most prominently in the Cayo District, an interior region abutting Guatemala where mountains jut into the sky. The treks are as varied as the terrain. Some are casual day trips, taking visitors along flagged routes and stone staircases, with picnic lunches and cool dips in jungle streams. Others are geared to the adventurous and able-bodied, requiring strenuous hikes and upstream swims to remote caves where, once inside, participants perform crawling, climbing and squeezing through constrictions under the pale glow of a headlamp. >>> Go to Full Story >>>
Pursuing Belize’s Feathered Treasure
It was my third day in the Cayo District, a region where mountains ascend thousands of feet into the tropical air. The canoe trip, a daylong expedition to find the scarlet macaw, a rare parrot in the area, would be the high point of my week of ornithological adventures. More than 500 species of birds live or migrate through Belize, where frigatebirds share coastal waters with pelicans and red-footed boobies. Inland, flamboyant feathered residents like royal flycatchers, olive-throated parakeets, keel-billed toucans — and dozens and dozens more — can be spotted on a jungle hike. On my trip last January, I was based out of Black Rock Lodge, an eco-resort on the Macal, and mixed bird watching with area excursions on land and water. As a neophyte birder, I followed guides from the resort — native Belizeans who grew up in the jungle — along river trails, learning to identify fleeting shapes and dots of color hopping on branches and leaves.