Today is cave tubing! This is an all day adventure starting at 7 a.m. Hamanasi arranged for a local driver to pick us up and then we picked up two other couples in a nearby resort. This trip took us up to Dangringa, onto the Hummingbird Highway, through the Mayan Mts., past The Blue Hole National Park to Caves Branch. Another beautiful day and we are going to spend it in a cave! We joined a group of 6 and toted our innertubes down to the river to enter this hugh cave system. With only our headlamps for light we paddled and hiked through gigantic caverns studded with crystal, stalagmites, stalagtites, curtain and bacon formations. It was amazing! We ''beached'' our innertubes on an underground sandbar for lunch. Carlos, our guide, whipped out a white linen tablecloth, spread it on the ground and produced a full scale burrito meal. The ambience of ''eating by candlelight'' pales in comparison to eating by headlamp while sitting on your innertube! After lunch we continued hiking through giant chambers with stunning formations. We passed ancient Mayan fire rings with broken pottery strewn around the area. These caves were used by shaman and priests for religious and sacrificial rites. We climbed up walls following Mayan footholds to reach a small hidden ''half-moon'' cave that was used for fertility ceremonies. Several fire rings were locted around the cave and rock formations were carved in spots where the flames from the fires cast shadow images on the cave walls. The precursor of projection T.V.! This cave held several alters and a 5 foot carved image of a fertility god. Awesome!
It was mid afternoon when we finally began our downstream float out of the caves. What an exhilarating and humbling experience! Not to mention exhausting! Back to Hamanasi and another gourmet dinner with our new friends. What fun exchanging the day's adventures with everyone. Tonight we must pack and be on our way in the morning. We hate to leave this magical place. The customer service is incomparable. Jean had some special dietary requirements and the chef and his staff took these into consideration at every meal. Hamanasi is a rare jewel carved out of an unspoiled spot in the emerging Central American country of Belize. No T.V.,no advertising or commercial billboards, no souvenier stands to spoil the natural beauty of the ocean, rivers, reefs and jungles. This was a trip of a lifetime and Hamanasi was instrumental in making it all happen.
The holiday of a lifetime. The company is Alaksa-owned and thhat makes a big difference to the experineces you get i.e. meet genuine First Nations tribes people. The amount of wildlife was beyond my expectation, and seeing everything on sucha small, intimate boat made it even more spoecial and unique.
Liz O
7 hours ago
Adventure Life covered all the details in planning our trip to Ireland. Any questions we had were answered immediately. Any trip glitches, which always happen when traveling, were resolved immediately. There were no worries, just fun!
Kathleen Weller
22 hours ago
It was an outstanding, up-close, educational vacation of nature, culture, history, animals and geology! It was everything they promised! Binoculars were plentiful on the boat, but I'm glad I brought my own. Food was excellent. Rooms had black-out shades. Pack/wear multiple layers of clothing (I carried a small backpack when off the ship). Crew were delightful and very accommodating! Remember to jump FEET FIRST first when taking the optional polar plunge! Spend as much time outdoors as you are able and ENJOY!!!
Janet Dutton
5 days ago
Excellent travel advice and service
This is my second experience working with Adventure Life. I’m sold. Jess Heuermann is an experienced traveler and provides a lot of useful information when planning a trip. These are the questions I like to ask at the outset - What’s it like to go here, there, what would you suggest, what do people report, can we add any additional side trips? Jess took the time to answer my questions and seek additional information to share with me. Petchie Colina is outstanding in helping with travel logistics and final preparations. Adventure Life has excellent guides and offers private guides and small group adventures. We enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the guides and drivers to learn more about their countries, cultures and histories. A highlight was having the guides pick local restaurants where we could share meals together. Highly recommend.
Claire Cordon
6 days ago
Our six-day tour in Iceland went smoothly with one exception. We had asked for two rooms each night. Somehow we were booked with one room with three beds. It could not be fixed at the first hotel in Reykjavik because the hotel was fully booked. Once informed of the problem, however, Adventure Life rebooked for two rooms for the remainder of the trip. As an 85-year-old traveler, I appreciated that one could participate at different physical levels at many of the stops. Iceland is a great place to visit but on the expensive side.