Today we left Las Cuevas, and it was pretty hard to say goodbye to the Chiquibul forest. Then we started driving to the ATM caves. The road was very bumpy and winding, so about halfway there I got pretty carsick and had to move to the passenger seat. We stopped at a convenience store, and I was able to get a new towel with the Belize flag on it (getting excited to be constantly in my bathing suit).

Once we got to the ATM caves we had to walk to the front of the cave, which also involved swimming across a river a couple times. Then we got to the entrance of the cave and waded into the freezing cold water. Once in the cave and we couldn’t see the daylight anymore it started to get colder but I was mostly distracted by the gorgeous stalactite structures. Inside the cave, after getting out of the water, our guide lead us to where the Mayan artifacts were. There was a bunch of pots, but the most anticipated things were the human remains. There were multiple skulls and even an entire skeleton that was still intact, and it was so amazing the actually be able to see these 1,000-year-old sacrificial remains. Also, on the way back, I was able to see a Basilisk on the side of the trail in the bushes and it looked exactly like the one on my Id card, which was pretty cool.

After the cave, we continued our drive to the Tropical Education Center and I mostly napped and listened to music. I also finally got service on my phone and was able to text my mom, which was nice. After dinner, we headed to a night tour at the Belize Zoo. Me and Andressa got there early and both got to hold a Boa Constrictor, which felt like such an accomplishment for me. I didn’t feel scared at all, it was actually very calming, and after doing all this research on reptiles and specifically snakes I discovered that snakes are actually really beautiful and I might even love them (pet snake in the future??). While on the tour I got to feed a tapir, which is absolutely the cutest animal ever, and I also loved seeing the cats, including the ocelot and jaguar. It’s such a different experience than American zoos because we were able to pet some of the animals and get pretty close to the enclosures as well.