The drive to the Belizean border from Tikal took about an hour and a half. We clicked with guide Ben and driver Roberto right away, and we had a very nice, talkative ride. We knew immediately that we would enjoy Ben's company very much. When we got to the border there were a lot of money changers, etc. We needed to go through one building to check …

We woke up at 5 am and met Ben in front of the bar at 6 for birdwatching. He had a nice telescope and binoculars. We saw two species of toucan. One had a black body and a yellow bill and belly and there was another one that had more of a green belly. We saw a bunch of other birds as well, including a robin and a woodpecker. We have never really …

We woke up at around 5 am and got ready for the day. We headed down to breakfast for 6. We had juice, scrambled eggs, black beans, and toast. At around 6:40, we left for our hike to Actun Tunichil Muknal, the Cave of the Stone Sepulchre. The hike started in the woods near Pook's Hill, continued through an orange grove, through Mennonite bean and …

We woke up at around 6 am, hoping to get to see Ben before he left to head home to Orange Walk. Breakfast was at 8 but we planned to be down there by 7 to say goodbye to Ben. We were in our room getting things together since we were going to be leaving this morning when suddenly we heard an engine start. We ran out of our room but we ended up …

We woke up at 5 am. We ate a nice continental breakfast of muffins, fruit, raisin bran, orange juice, and coffee in the hotel restaurant. It was a nice little dining room with open walls overlooking the sea. After dropping off our large backpacks at the front office, we took our day packs filled with supplies for the next few days and waited out …

The roosters crowed all night (which we were told was because of the presence of several street lights in Blue Creek). At one point during the night I had to use the outhouse, and I realized that the design of the bunk bed ladder left a little to be desired. The top of the ladder was flush with the top bunk, so there was nothing to hold on to as …

At around 12:30 am, we awoke to the sound of pouring rain. We were glad that Craig had secured the tent fly before we went to bed, but we soon realized that water was leaking right through the tent material itself. Water droplets were dripping into the center of the tent and since the material was failing there isn't too much we could do about it. …

We woke up at around 5:30 am and started packing up all of our stuff. We were careful to separate all of the things we had bought for inclusion in the carry on luggage and to place all of the dirty laundry together in the "do not open" luggage. We went to the dining room for breakfast and had fry jacks stuffed with egg, cheese, and …