Butterfly Morning

I hold you at last in my hand,
Exquisite child of the air.
Can I ever understand
How you grew to be so fair?

–The Butterfly, Alice Freeman Palmer

Yucatan woodpeckers flitted in the tree tops high above us as we ate our final breakfast in Belize. We’d picked a local, roadside restaurant and were now enjoying coffee and quesadillas in the already-too-hot morning sunlight.  I didn’t want to believe that it was actually our last full day of our vacation. The four of us had managed to see a large portion of Belize since we’d arrived nearly two weeks ago, and it felt to me like I could go on traipsing through the jungle and diving with sharks every day for the rest of my life and never tire of it. But real life was calling, and I’d soon be back in Michigan.

Sad as we were to be nearing the end of our trip, we planned to make the most out of our last day and a half, starting with a visit to the Green Hills Butterfly Ranch. After finishing up our breakfast, we drove a short way down the road to the the Butterfly Ranch, where we were greeted by an employee as we stepped out of the Jeep. She gave us the option to take a guided tour of the grounds, or to explore on our own, and we decided to save a bit of money and go it alone.

There were multiple butterfly houses on the property, along with 250 acres of forest complete with walking trails. We had a tight schedule to keep so we started with the largest butterfly house, carefully letting ourselves in through its set of double doors so none of the butterflies would escape.

Once inside, we found ourselves surrounded by hundreds of fluttering butterflies in various shapes, sizes, and colors. Mexican blue wings, and various types of longwings were abundant, but my favorites were the blue morphos and the malachites. Butterflies landed on our shirts, and I couldn’t help but feel a little bit magical as the fragile creatures filled my vision.

We quickly realized that we hadn’t allowed nearly enough time to spend at the ranch. We thought we’d be able to get in and out and be on the road to our next destination with time to spare, but the minutes seemed to melt away as fast as they arrived in the butterfly house.

Bonnie and I especially enjoyed trying to capture pictures of many butterfly species as we could.  Some species, like the blue morphos, were in constant motion making it very difficult to get a shot of them, while others lay motionless on leaves for long periods of time.  Vince and David also seemed to be enjoying themselves much more than any of us expected, although Vince kept a close eye on the time because our next experience was by appointment. 

I was a little wistful at leaving the first butterfly house, but bird song beckoned to us in the jungle just outside and we stepped out to find just as much biodiversity as we’d been enjoying inside.  Yucatan woodpeckers, social flycatchers, and a shy collared aracari flew from treetop to treetop while the call of an oropendola echoed around us.  A pair of gray necked wood rails stilted their way through the water of a shallow pond, and a huge grasshopper landed on a leaf nearby. 

I tried in vain to get pictures of all of the wildlife, but everything was moving too fast for me to get any decent shots off.  An agouti danced across the trail and I missed it, and David and I were startled by a sudden loud crashing sound that moved towards us through the underbrush. The silhouette of a peccary, a pig-like animal native to Belize, briefly appeared before barreling back into the thick foliage.

After some time on the trails, we returned to go through the last couple of butterfly houses where we found even more different species like glasswings and some amazing moths.  Then we took one more swing around the main butterfly house before it was really time to get going. 

Vince was getting stressed about the time as we hiked back up to the ranch’s entrance to pay for our visit.  Unfortunately for him, there was one more surprise that would delay us a bit longer.  The front office had a viewing area that overlooked some hummingbird feeders and several types of jewel-toned birds were zipping around them.  With a pleading look at the guys, Bonnie and I settled in to watch them.

I found a spot where the birds would perch for several seconds at a time between trips to the feeder, which made for some perfect photos.  Hummingbirds are so fast when they’re in flight that it is extremely difficult to capture a photo before they zip away, but when they stop on a perch, you have a better chance.  Of the many species of hummingbird that visited the feeders, my favorites were the long-billed hermit and the white-necked Jacobin.  The Jacobin’s brilliant blue feathers were so beautiful.

Vince seemed to be having a personal dilemma because while he does like hummingbirds, he was also acutely aware that we needed to be on the road fifteen minutes ago.  He finally talked me and Bonnie into abandoning the birds, and we resumed our mission to pay our entrance fees.  After that we hurried to the Jeep, and drove all the way back to the Caves Branch area where we’d had an amazing cave tour a few days earlier. 

We’d booked a last minute tour at a lodge that Bonnie had randomly seen a news article about. Dark Night Cave Tubing Adventures was offering a brand new combo excursion that included a skywalk, and cave tubing. With nothing else on our agenda for the day, we’d gone ahead and booked it, but presently, we were starting to doubt that we’d ever find it.  Our map took us off the main road into what looked like farmland instead of the jungle we were all expecting.  After some time driving down a dirt road, we came to a sketchy looking bridge with an armed guard posted on the other side.  According to Google, this was the place, so Vince cautiously drove over the ramshackle bridge, and I rolled down my window to talk to the guard.

He confirmed that we were indeed in the right place, and pointed out a direction that we should drive in to get to the lodge.  We proceeded, but did not manage to find the correct little dirt road.  Instead we drove off into a vast field that was networked with identical dirt two-tracks.  We were lost in no time, and were starting to actually get worried when we tried unsuccessfully to retrace our turns.  By some stroke of luck we finally managed to find the correct dirt road, and returned to the guard to confirm his directions. 

This time we were able to find the road he’d indicated, and we made it to the lodge where an employee got in his truck to lead us to the actual tour location.  Ten minutes later, we were donning helmets and head lamps, ready to finally start our tour. 

Our guide led us into the rainforest, stopping to tell us about the uses of different plants as we passed by. There were some that we’d already learned about on previous tours like the ceiba tree and the cohune palm, but there were many more that were new to us. Just before we started across the first of three swing bridges, our guide located a termite mound and fished out a handful of termites for us to try eating. I didn’t particularly want to eat a termite, but I also didn’t want to miss out on the experience of eating a termite either. In the end I decided to give it a try, and crunched down on the little insect the moment it entered my mouth. To my surprise it had an herby flavor, somewhere between mint and dirt. It wasn’t at all unpleasant, and the flavor was much stronger than I would have expected from such a tiny bug. Now I know how to get easy protein if I ever find myself lost in the rainforest (I sincerely hope that never happens).

With the flavor of termite lingering on my tongue, I followed our guide up a spiral staircase and onto the first swing bridge. This bridge would be the shortest, but it was just long enough for us to get a feeling for how much the suspended bridges can bounce when you reach the middle of them. Just on the other side of the bridge, we got to sample another jungle delicacy. Our guide picked a few stalks of a leafy plant and told us it was a safe source of hydration. I took a sip from the plant’s stem to find that it was quite sour, but it did contain a lot of water. I chewed on the stem until we reached a large arch carved out of a limestone cliff. 

Underneath the arch was a station set up with drinking water, and some other tourists gearing up to ride Darknight’s cave zipline. We hadn’t booked a zipline tour, so we just drank some water while admiring the cavern, and then went on our way. Soon we approached the second swing bridge, and crossed it as our guide pointed out more plants that we could see now that we were in the jungle canopy.

The third and final bridge was by far the longest and most impressive. It swayed and bounced as we crossed to its middle where we could see a beautiful view of gleaming, white limestone cliffs protruding from the leafy forest. Most of the trees were below us as we tromped across the bridge, save for a few that towered high above the rest.

When we stepped onto solid ground on the far side of the bridge, we found a large stack of yellow river tubes. We each selected a tube and put on life vests, and then our guide lashed the tubes together to form a four-person raft. The four of us climbed into our tubes, happy to get some refreshment from the cool water, and our guide waded into the river and swam alongside us as we floated towards the gaping mouth of a water-filled cave.

Once inside, we were in total darkness save for the dim beams of our headlamps. Bats swooped overhead, and our guide pointed out interesting geological features with his light while the four of us floated peacefully through the dark water. Every once in a while I would feel a drip of water land on me from the ceiling of the cave, as our guide taught us about how the ancient Mayans used the tunnel for ceremonial purposes.

The guide steered our tubes towards a sandy beach, and told us he had something we had to see. We all got up and followed him through the sand to an area with a low ceiling that was covered in glistening droplets of water. Our headlamps reflected off the drops, lighting them up like a massive, crystal chandelier, and our guide explained that these droplets would carry enough sediment downwards to eventually form beautiful stalactites someday.

Back in the tubes, we floated towards the growing light of the cave’s entrance where we were able to hop out of the tubes and swim the rest of the way back to where we’d started the tour. 

We waded out of the river and returned to the Jeep where we dried off and got back on the road. It was about three o’clock, plenty of time to pick one last thing to do before sunset. It would take an hour to get back to San Ignacio, but it didn’t take us that long to decide on what to do. We all agreed that we wanted to stop back at Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve and visit Rio on Pools, one of our favorite spots from a few days earlier, one last time. I was excited to bring my Canon with me this time as I’d only brought my GoPro before, and everyone else was eager to get to go swimming and cliff jumping again.

An hour later, we rumbled into the rutty, dirt parking lot at the Rio on Pools trailhead, and made the short hike down to the swimming hole. The first time we’d visited there had been a handful of other people enjoying the cool water, but this time the skies were cloudy, and we were all alone. Vince, Bonnie, and David hopped away across boulders, disappearing in short order, and I busied myself with taking pictures of the beautiful rocks and waterfalls that surrounded me.

I may have been alone, but I felt happy and peaceful, surrounded by the rushing water. I spent the time reflecting on how the absolutely amazing vacation we’d had in Belize. It had barely rained the entire trip, even though we’d gone during the rainy season, and we’d had most of the attractions we’d visited all to ourselves. Our time spent diving on the Belize Barrier Reef had been idyllic, with amazing weather, and sharks encounters every day. Meanwhile our stay in the rainforest had been filled with mysterious caves, Mayan ruins, and awesome wildlife encounters. 

The others reappeared from behind a boulder when the daylight started to wain, and the four of us hiked back up to the Jeep. That evening we got dinner at our favorite restaurant of the trip, and swam in our jungle lodge’s pool one last time. The next morning I woke much earlier than necessary to the raking call of a keel-billed toucan outside our cabana. I slid into my sandals and went outside just in time to catch a glimpse of the colorful bird in a high treetop.

It seemed appropriate to finally see the national bird of Belize just as we were ready to embark on our journey home. It was the perfect send off to a perfect trip. That afternoon we drove all the way back to Belize City where we boarded our flight back to the US.  Our time in Belize was officially over, but I felt satisfied known that we’d managed to see a large part of such a beautiful country.  Belize definitely has a lot to offer the adventurous traveler, and our time there was wonderful from start to finish.