We woke up early and left Crystal Paradise to begin our journey to Caracol. We made a stop at the Rio On Pools on the way and were surprised with beautiful waterfalls and pools of fresh water. Swimming in the pools was such an amazing experience, but after about an hour I heard Veronica shouting about leeches. I promptly jumped out of the water onto a rock and proceeded to check myself to make sure there wasn’t any on me, thankfully there wasn’t any.

Once we left the beautiful Rio On Pools, we headed towards Caracol to see an ancient Mayan city. Our tour guide Leo gave us a brief history of the Mayans of Caracol and then led us to some of the monuments and structures. Climbing up the steep steps of one of the monuments and being able to see to treetops of Guatemala in the distance was a breathtaking view. While at Caracol, I also spotted a brown anole on the side of one of the Mayan structures and later on the tour Scott was able to grab another brown anole so we could see it up close.

We then piled back into the van and continued the drive to Las Cuevas research station. I slept a good chunk of the ride, which was surprising because it was so bumpy. Once arrived at Las Cuevas we met Raphael who runs the station. Then we went on a hike around the station to get better used to the area. On the trail, we saw a Mexican tree leaf frog that we disturbed by trying to get a better look, so it squirted pee on us. Finally, we ended the hike back at the station and saw the beautiful and endangered scarlet macaws, which was absolutely amazing.