By: Charlie Mitchell
On February 17th, the Wyoming Warriors left for Belize. We headed to Riverton to get on a plane to Denver to start our travels. While in Denver, we stayed at the Microtel before we headed out to Belize the next day. We also had pizza for dinner, which was delicious. The day after, we had to wake up at 2:30 in the morning to get to the airport for our flight, which was around 5. We were all exhausted. Once we got on the plane from Denver, we headed to Houston. In Houston, we had a little bit of a layover, so some of us decided to explore the airport. After that, we boarded the plane to Belize, and when we got on the flight, we were so excited to get there and experience the scenery and the culture of the people. When we landed in Belize, we got off the plane, went through the immigration lines, and got all the papers signed, and our passports stamped. We got our bags and went to wait for the van to start our journey. When the van picked us up, we stopped at a little store to buy water jugs for our trip because we were not allowed to drink any of the tap water. We continued the drive to our first stop for the first few days, the Trek Stop, which would be our “home” for most of the trip. That night we met our tour guide, Miguel.
Our first destination in Belize was to Xunantunich, which was the first set of Mayan ruins that was to come on this fantastic trip. During this part of our journey, we saw two sets of Mayan ruins, explored several caves, visited a tropical island, and also went to Guatemala. Miguel took us to visit the Mayan ruins, to the ATM cave, cave tubing, and to get street tacos in Guatemala. He went with us everywhere, and we all had such a fun time with him. He always had a great attitude! We all went to the Mayan ruins called Tikal in Guatemala, and this had to be my favorite part because 30 years ago, my dad was in the same place. I am so glad I had the opportunity to stand and do the same tours he did. The night before we left for the island named Tobacco Caye, Miguel, and the people that owned the Trek Stop had a Habanero pepper eating challenge. Rowan won, Taha cried, Grant ran into the kitchen for milk, Tyler ran like something was after him, and Ryan had ran after he put Habanero sauce on the pepper, but that night was so fun, and it was the last time we would see Miguel on this trip.
The next morning we got in the van and went to the shore where our boat was waiting for us to take us to Tobacco Caye. When we got there we met Indira, who was the housekeeper. She was so much fun to be around. She fell in love with Grant, and there was always laughter when she was with us. She made that part of the trip so much fun, always having a smile on her face and always making conversation with us to brighten up our day. After the three days on the island, we sadly left Indira. Our boat trip back to mainland Belize was an adventurous cruise because we encountered what felt like a tropical storm at sea. When we got back, we loaded the van and drove to the Tropical Education Center for the last night in Belize. While we were there we did a nighttime zoo tour, which was super cool because all the animals that you don’t see during the day are out at night and you can see them. The next morning we got breakfast there and then got packed up. We went to the airport to begin our travels home. If you were to ask me what my favorite part about Belize wass, I would say all of it, and you have to experience it for yourself. You can never have one favorite thing about Belize because there are so many amazing views and things to experience there. Would I do this trip again? Yes, a hundred times yes, because Belize is such a special place – the culture, food, people, and history is so breathtaking and you really have to experience this place for yourself!
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