We’re going international with a trip Zeina took with her best friend, Nicole to do some of the best things to do in Belize. 

You may remember Nicole from the Mexican wedding episode or any of the name drops throughout our episodes. 

Nicole joins as our guest on this episode to talk about their best friends’ trip to Belize, the journey in from Mexico to navigating the Belizean islands.

We share the best places to visit in Belize and the best things to do in Belize as we go through this five day trip. We went to several spots in Belize to bring you things to do on San Pedro Belize, Caye Caulker, San Ignacio, and the amazing Actun Tunichil Muknal Mayan Cave and Xunantunich ruins.

Things to Do in Belize – Episode Transcript

2 (53s):
Welcome to this weeks episode of the Travel Squad Podcast, 5 days in the tropical land of Belize. This was a week long trip that I took with one of my very close girlfriends, Nicole, who you might recognize her from episode one in Mexico city. And this is the Nicole that we went to go to her wedding in Mexico city and where the podcast was born. And she happens to be our special guest on today’s episode to help us recount this super fun girls trip.

7 (1m 20s):
Hi, so excited to be

4 (1m 22s):
Here. So happy to have you Nicole,

3 (1m 24s):
To see you.

1 (1m 25s):
So Jamal and I have only been to Belize for a short stopover while we were on a cruise and we had a blast tubing down the river there, and I’ve heard bits and pieces of this trip. So I’m super excited to hear the more in depth version.

4 (1m 40s):
Well, you’ve only heard bits and pieces. Brittany. I’ve heard tons of stories about this, and I’m actually super excited to get even more into it. And I’ve always been inspired by hearing about Zaina and Nicole’s trip to go to Belize. But from what I did see and experience on our cruise, plus what I’ve heard from Zayna and Nicole, I know Billy’s is a country that is not to be missed

2 (2m 3s):
Better believes that

3 (2m 5s):
I’m the only one on this podcast that hasn’t been to Billy’s, but I’m really excited to hear all about it. I’m super excited to have you Nicole, on the podcast with us. And I can’t wait to hear all of what you guys did so I can start planning my own trip. So why don’t you guys kick us off with some tips, travel tips for Billy’s

2 (2m 21s):
Tips, tips, tips. So the first one is they actually speak English. It’s their official language because they were colonized by the British. And this is the only country in south and central America that has English as their official language. I

3 (2m 36s):
Actually did not know that

2 (2m 38s):
Most people do not speak Spanish. Yeah, exactly. They speak English and the majority of the population also speaks Crail. But a lot of them don’t speak Spanish and you’re not really going to find that many Spanish signs around.

4 (2m 50s):
I remember when we were there on the cruise and they were telling us that information and our guide who took us to do tubing down the river. He was mentioning that just as well. And then he spoke a little bit of the Creole and he even said, it’s not like the fringe Creole that we might be accustomed to. We’re thinking of when we think of Louisiana and it was something completely unique, but you know, I was so happy being down there and like, okay, they know English. It makes it so much easier when that’s the case and you can communicate with somebody. So that’s a real cool thing about Billy’s.

3 (3m 20s):
What else? What other tips?

7 (3m 21s):
So Elise is a really popular scuba diving place. A lot of people go because they have the famous blue hole.

2 (3m 27s):
Oh, do you guys know what the blue hole is?

4 (3m 29s):
I’ve seen numerous photos of the blue hole. I want to go to the blue hole. I know a lot of people do some free diving down in the blue hole, outside of the school Bain, but I am not scuba certified, so I will enjoy it from a boat or snorkeling if I go.

7 (3m 43s):
Yeah. And you might have to be advanced scuba certified to go down with blue because it’s so deep.

2 (3m 49s):
Yeah. And then at the time of this recording, the currency exchange is 50 cents us dollars for every $1 billion dollar.

3 (3m 59s):
So you get a little advantage when moving your money over, it goes a little farther there.

2 (4m 4s):
Yeah. It doubles it exactly. But then it’s weird because you know, you see something for $10 and you’re like $10 and you just have to like wrap your brain around the fact that actually it’s going to be five

5 (4m 15s):
Or

1 (4m 16s):
So. Nicole, why don’t you tell us how you guys got to believe?

7 (4m 20s):
So this was when I was living in, well, I’m still living in Mexico city. So Zayna came and flew to Mexico city to see me. And we actually flew from Mexico city to Chet tomb. Well, which is a city on the Caribbean coast of Mexico. That’s basically touching the border of beliefs because it is actually extremely expensive to fly into beliefs from Mexico city. The flights were five, six, $700, even though it’s really close.

1 (4m 48s):
And how much was it to fly and chat tomorrow?

7 (4m 50s):
Like a hundred dollars Round trip.

1 (4m 53s):
tip.

7 (4m 56s):
Yeah. So I would definitely suggest flying to Chetan wall through Cancun or Mexico city and not directly to Balise because it is expensive flight.

4 (5m 5s):
So when you say shut the malls right on the border, can we use an analogy here? Just like San Diego to Tijuana? Just right there. Pretty much.

7 (5m 12s):
Yeah. Yeah. Maybe about a 15 minute taxi drive. 20 minute taxi ride.

2 (5m 16s):
Yeah. And Chateau mall airport. It’s so small that only two airlines actually fly in there and it’s going to be the two Mexican airlines interject and , and the runway itself is so small that once you land, you, you turn at the end of the runway and then they bring you back

4 (5m 33s):
A few places.

7 (5m 35s):
That’s like a bus stop, basically.

2 (5m 36s):
Yeah. So anyways, that’s why we decided to fly into check the mall because it was going to be easier that way. So from Chengdu mall, we went on a bus ride, 30 minutes north to Bacolod. Now this isn’t an episode about that. But we mentioned this only because we spent the night in buck a lot and we were able to take a bus from Buchalado over the border and then all the way down to Belize city. So Nicole mentioned that you can fly into Cancun because I think that there should be a bus. Of course, you know, you’d have to do a little bit of research, but I think that the bus that we got onto in buck Alade came from or started from Ken Koons. So the bus takes you all the way down to Belize city.

2 (6m 18s):
Yeah.

7 (6m 18s):
It goes to there’s one highway along the Caribbean coast of Mexico. And it goes from Cancun. This bus goes from Cancun all the way crosses into beliefs. And I believe it ends in T call in Guatemala.

2 (6m 29s):
Yeah. The other thing too, is that when you look online, there’s not a lot of information about the buses to get to Billy’s city. So it wasn’t until we were even in bakala that we were able to find out that this bus existed. So when you are there, definitely ask around because we found out from the locals in bakala that we can take this bus. So we were like, oh my goodness, we have to do this.

7 (6m 51s):
I think originally we were gonna fly, take a taxi to the border, cross on foot, and then get a bus to Belize city, which you can do as well. But because we were there, people said, oh no, just take the bus that takes you straight there.

4 (7m 2s):
And you should go to . Oh

7 (7m 3s):
Yeah. Buckler is amazing.

2 (7m 5s):
First off, this was a long bus ride. I think it was about five hours to finally get to Bali city. But before we actually get to Billy city, we’re just going to talk about crossing the border. So number one tip is carry change. They do have bathrooms there, but anywhere that you go there at the border, you will have to pay to use the restroom. And there’s nothing worse than having to pee really bad and not having those coins.

1 (7m 26s):
Is it one of those places where they pre-roll your toilet paper?

2 (7m 30s):
That too.

1 (7m 31s):
Yeah. And there’s no toilet paper.

8 (7m 34s):
You

2 (7m 34s):
Get the toilet paper when you pay for the bathroom.

7 (7m 37s):
It’s rationed.

1 (7m 39s):
Do you have to pay extra? If you got to it,

2 (7m 42s):
We were, we just had to piece.

7 (7m 44s):
You asked for more. They usually give it to you, but they’re not so happy about it.

2 (7m 50s):
So we crossed over, there were people on the bus, but they don’t let you cross the border on the bus. You will have to get off. And then you walk over the border on foot and your bus is going to meet you on the other side.

4 (8m 6s):
This is exactly what we did when we were in South Africa, going to Swazi land, if you remember. So I guess that’s a pretty uniform thing. When you border hop in a bus, make you get out and then get back on, on the other side.

2 (8m 19s):
Pretty much. Yeah. I mean, they’re, they’re checking everyone.

1 (8m 21s):
And did you have to pay any fees to cross the border?

7 (8m 24s):
Yes. So to go into beliefs from Mexico, you pay around $25.

4 (8m 30s):
And is that just a fee that they have of the border crossing or is that really for like a visa, your stamp, anything like that?

7 (8m 36s):
It includes all of the costs of crossing the border. So if you flew on a flight, it would be included in your flight costs, but because you’re crossing on foot, you pay this fee going in and there’s like a little booth and they, you pay the fee and they stamp you. They review all your paperwork and then you get to the other side and get back on the

2 (8m 53s):
Bus. And that’s something that I didn’t know, that there is some type of tax that you’re always paying in your airline papers, but this is the first time that I had actually crossed the border by foot. So they’re going to get you

4 (9m 5s):
And is that $25 local currency or us dollars? And do you need to have Billy’s dollars for this? Oh,

2 (9m 12s):
That’s a good question. We paid in us dollars. Yeah.

4 (9m 15s):
And it’s 25 us dollars

2 (9m 17s):
And we paid $25, 25 us dollars. But that’s the last that you’re going to see of the U S dollars because once you cross over, then everything is going to be into Belizian dollars. Because like I mentioned, it does take about five hours to get to Belize city and beliefs. City is the capital, but there’s nothing really there. It’s an industrial port city. So in Bali city is where you’re going to catch a water taxi to any of the Chi islands. So like we went to Caye Caulker, but there’s many, many Chi islands. So that’s where you’re going to catch the water taxi. Or that is also where you will catch a bus to any other city within the country.

7 (9m 54s):
I believe it’s pronounced Caye

4 (9m 55s):
I was going to ask, is that actually something Belizian where it’s Chi or are you mispronouncing it in case I’m glad Nicole clarified. Cause that’s okay. So it’s, Caye,

7 (10m 8s):
It’s K I doubted myself, but I’m pretty sure it was called K.

2 (10m 12s):
Yeah, but you’re really only going there to get to your next spot. And because you need Belizian dollars. Our bus stopped at a very specific ATM that they know is very close to the port, because they said you will need the Belizian dollars. Anyone who doesn’t have that, which we don’t anticipate you having it since we picked you up in Mexico, we will stop at this ATM. And then we were able to take the money out.

7 (10m 37s):
There was a Tim’s close to the central bus station. Cause I remember on the way back, I had to go get more cash and it was walking distance from the main bus station.

2 (10m 44s):
Yeah. And then from there, Nicole and I had decided that we were going to Caye Caulker. So at the port, we were able to catch a water taxi there.

7 (10m 54s):
Yeah. From the port, you can go to almost any of the case and we chose Caye Caulker because it’s a popular backpacking hub. It was cheaper. It didn’t have any big resorts I wanted kind of to go to more authentic islands that didn’t have huge resorts on it. So the Caye Caulker is definitely popular with backpackers and you can find cheaper housing, cheaper food kinds of activities.

2 (11m 15s):
Yeah. It was only $10. One way about a 45 minute water taxi ride. And so yeah, I mean they loaded us on that water taxi. I mean, I love the pictures of me and Nicole, because like this is pre COVID and it was like as many people as we can get on

4 (11m 31s):
Jackets provided

2 (11m 34s):
It. Wasn’t the Titanic bulb.

4 (11m 36s):
But let me ask you a serious question. When you keep referring to dollars. Now, moving forward that you’ve changed to Belizian dollars. Are you telling me in us dollars are still in their local currency? Just so we know moving forward.

2 (11m 48s):
Good question. Anytime we say dollar from here on out is Belizian dollars. So yeah. So when I say $10, that’s 10 Belizian dollars or five American dollars. Perfect. Yes. So the other thing that you should know is that you can’t take your luggage with you when you’re on the water taxi. So they will take it to put it under the boat. And this is important because later we’re going to be taking buses and there’s no place for your luggage. So it is on your lap. In this situation, you will have to give them your luggage in order to get onto the boat.

7 (12m 17s):
So after a super long travel day finally made it. I think we got there, we left buckler at like seven in the morning,

2 (12m 25s):
Super early.

7 (12m 27s):
And then we finally got to Caye Caulker in the evening early. It was like, and

3 (12m 32s):
Then you went out partying.

2 (12m 33s):
Yes. But first I checked into her. Absolutely Kim, but first we checked into our hostel. Now here’s the really cool thing about Caye Caulker. It is very thin island. So you have three main streets, front street, middle street and back street.

4 (12m 49s):
They all parallel to each other. They’re

2 (12m 51s):
All parallel to each other. No joke. Those are the street names. I remember that very specifically because I was like, Ooh, like Backstreet boys

3 (12m 59s):
And there’s streets going the other way.

2 (13m 1s):
Exactly there. You aren’t going to find cars. Like it’s such a tiny island that it’s like golf carts that people are

7 (13m 10s):
On motorcycles.

2 (13m 11s):
And it’s very rare to see those two, like it is a small little island. Nicole booked our hostel. So go ahead and you can tell,

7 (13m 20s):
I believe I booked it on Hostelworld and there’s only about four or five when, when you look online that come up, but there are many more hotels. So we booked one on Hostelworld is probably the cheapest one

9 (13m 30s):
We could find.

7 (13m 32s):
And then we got there and it was actually full. They overbooked it. So they upgraded us to like a nicer one that they owned across the street.

2 (13m 40s):
Yeah. It was Vista Del Mar. It was right there on front street. On the beach. Yeah, it was really nice, but it’s a shared bathroom, but we did have our own room. And just for context, it’s about $15 a night for a hostel dorm. The cheapest you can get, I can’t even say it as well. Laughing. The cheapest you can go is

9 (13m 60s):
Dirty.

2 (14m 0s):
McNasty

7 (14m 1s):
It’s the dirty McNasty that did not exist when we went,

2 (14m 6s):
Does not exist. One of the wet, but there is a dirty McNasty party hostel. I swear that it’s the name of the dirty McNasty party hostile. That’s why I couldn’t say it without laughing $12 a night for their hostile dorms. We did not stay there. It did not exist when we were there, but we paid the $15 and we did not stay at her

7 (14m 26s):
Dorm cheapest dorm, and most expensive

9 (14m 30s):
What we noticed.

2 (14m 32s):
So yeah, so we unloaded there at the Vista Del Mar and immediately we went to go drink. So again, small little island right there on the beach. Their main drink is the Belkin beer of beliefs, which is a logger.

9 (14m 49s):
Do they have any tropical drinks?

2 (14m 51s):
I’m glad you asked.

7 (14m 53s):
Yes. The very popular panty dropper

3 (14m 58s):
It’s well-known around those

7 (14m 59s):
Parts. Well, every place we went had happy hour and it was just the panty dropper.

2 (15m 4s):
I don’t understand why they’re advertising for happy hour when it’s really just the panty dropper on sale.

3 (15m 10s):
It was at the same at every place.

7 (15m 12s):
Yeah.

2 (15m 12s):
Yeah. It’s like the national happy hour drink. What is

7 (15m 15s):
In it? It was blue. Wasn’t it?

4 (15m 17s):
It was like the blue hole

2 (15m 21s):
Pretty much.

7 (15m 21s):
Right? Tropical drink.

2 (15m 24s):
Coconut Robb, pineapple juice grid

7 (15m 27s):
Degrading.

2 (15m 28s):
I say right. Grenadine syrup and a little cherry.

7 (15m 31s):
Okay. No, it’s not blue. It was a different rate.

3 (15m 35s):
So you guys had it and

7 (15m 38s):
It’s like a peanut come drop.

2 (15m 41s):
I didn’t really make my panties drop, but you know, it was, it was a cheap drink and it was there on the beach and it was nice. But yeah, I mean, I think we had several because one isn’t enough to drop the panties.

4 (15m 56s):
So let me ask you a question. Is there anything else really to do on the island other than the small shops to drink? Cause I know earlier on Nicole said,

2 (16m 4s):
You got ahead of yourself. When you set shops, there are no shops.

4 (16m 8s):
So then that leads to my question then what is there really to do? And now I know you chose it for the relaxation, not a lot of resorts, which I totally respect. It actually sounds really awesome. But what is there really to do? That’s the draw other than the fact that everyone who goes there really is just kind of a budget traveler and it’s that type of travel feel to it.

2 (16m 27s):
Good question. We’re going to get to that on day two, because we did everything that you could do on the island in date two.

4 (16m 34s):
Excellent. I’m so looking forward to hearing

2 (16m 36s):
No, but really, I mean, at this point it’s evening, so all we did was drink panty droppers, the Belkin beer and a few pina coladas. And we walked around and taking pictures and it is very tiny. And then we went to bed because we were going to have a big day for day two,

4 (16m 49s):
Another real quick question. Go for it. Tell me about the scenic beauty on the island. I know it was dark, but what were you able to see and experience there for the scenic beauty point?

2 (16m 58s):
I mean, it was really cool. Cause I mean, everywhere you go, it’s either a hostel or a restaurant. That’s all that there is. And everything is right there on the beach because most everything is there on front street. And so the water’s right there, the water is super clear. It’s super blue. The sand is a very kind of clay, ish white. So even like when you go out into the water, which we went out in day two, it almost feels like weird under your feet because it’s so clay-like so just like really you’re you’re in the middle of an island in the Caribbean with nothing around.

7 (17m 31s):
No, it was really pretty. It was a really pretty island, the water super blue. It was warm. And you can see there’s beaches on both sides because it’s so thin. So front street and Peck street beaches

2 (17m 43s):
Pretty much.

4 (17m 44s):
All right. Well tell us about day two. You got me hanging on the edge of my seat here.

7 (17m 47s):
So one of the most popular things to do and beliefs is scuba diving or snorkeling. So we didn’t do historically, but we went paddle boarding next day. So we rented there’s places on the island where you can rent snorkels or book a snorkeling tour or scuba diving tour. But we opted for paddle boarding because the water was really calm.

2 (18m 8s):
Everything about scuba diving is you have to be scuba certified. There are certain levels. Nicole is scuba certified. I am not.

7 (18m 14s):
Yeah. So I

4 (18m 16s):
Just learned about you, Nicole. Yes.

7 (18m 17s):
I’m skilled with

4 (18m 18s):
Supervise.

2 (18m 19s):
Nicole was the first in her group to go underwater and waited for like about five or 10 minutes for everyone to join because someone had a freak out and couldn’t get into the water

7 (18m 28s):
When I was certified.

2 (18m 29s):
Yeah.

4 (18m 30s):
Yeah. So let me ask a serious question to you, Nicole, Zayna held you back then from experienced believes in a true way

7 (18m 37s):
Maybe, but I actually didn’t really want to scuba dive. I remember not really wanting to, because I didn’t want to spend the money we’re being really cheap,

4 (18m 45s):
But the paddleboarding though does sound fun. I’ve always wanted to do it. And for all the traveling we’ve done, I’ve really never paddle boarded. So you’re telling me this and I’ve heard it before, but I’m really jealous about that.

7 (18m 54s):
People doing it when we arrived, we were like, oh, let’s do that tomorrow. So we ran to the paddle boards and you can actually go along the whole coast and then like loop around because it’s so thin. Yeah.

2 (19m 1s):
Yeah. But I do want to say before we got into the water, cause right there, when you get into the water, they’re going to have like a little hut where you can rent the paddle boards. And we went up to do it. And as we were there, there was a guy who was gushing blood off of his legs, like just everywhere. And he was asking if they had any alcohol or any band-aids. And I look at the guy and I’m like, oh my God, we’re about to get into the water. Did something in water attack you? And he said, oh no, no, no. Because when you get into the water, it’s kind of like a driveway that you get into, you know,

4 (19m 35s):
Like a boat ramp,

2 (19m 37s):
There’s a boat ramp to get in. And he opted not to go on the boat ramp, getting out. And he tried to climb the wall. And when he climbed the wall, he didn’t realize it was filled with coral. And it fucked him.

4 (19m 50s):
What’s funny is when he said he was cut. My initial thought was he cut himself on coral out there

2 (19m 55s):
Badly?

4 (19m 59s):
No joke.

2 (19m 59s):
It really isn’t. So I was like a little bit nervous, but yeah, so we went paddle boarding and the water was like, no more than two feet deep.

7 (20m 6s):
Yeah, we got stuck.

2 (20m 9s):
But it was really pretty because when I didn’t want it, there are a few times that we got stuck. I was afraid to get out of the water because everywhere you look are starfish and I didn’t want to step on a starfish. And so you’re looking at two feet, Clearwater of just starfish everywhere. And at some points, there was a really strong current to where you’re just like, oh my God, I can’t get back. I can’t get back in. The current was taking you away. But it was fine

4 (20m 28s):
Probably being overdramatic maybe,

7 (20m 34s):
But it was fine. It’s really, it was really safe in the water was really calm. And so we did that for a couple hours.

1 (20m 39s):
And then, then I bet you guys came back hungry. What did you guys get to eat on the island?

2 (20m 44s):
Everything was pretty much burgers.

7 (20m 46s):
Really? Rice and beans,

2 (20m 47s):
Burgers and rice and beans.

7 (20m 49s):
Yeah. The food was not so memorable.

4 (20m 52s):
Well, they were a British colony. We know British about food. And it’s a fact

7 (20m 57s):
Yeah. That I can’t remember. It shows that it wasn’t that memorable. It was mainly beans and rice. And they had like stewed meats.

2 (21m 3s):
Yeah. Because I remember just like Nicole and I would walk around every single day. I mean, this is really only day two, but when we would walk around, it was really hard to make a decision on where to eat because nothing was like, oh man, we got to eat here. Like everyone had the exact same menu,

7 (21m 19s):
French fries. We ate a lot of French fries.

4 (21m 21s):
Sounds pretty mundane.

7 (21m 22s):
Sounds a lot like

2 (21m 23s):
Cuba. Yeah.

7 (21m 25s):
Yeah. It was probably a little bit better than Cuba.

4 (21m 28s):
Well, these there and believes they have bamboo chicken because if I’m going back to our cruise trip that we were on, our guide was telling us about bamboo chicken, which if you don’t know what that is, that is some cooked up a Guana.

2 (21m 42s):
That is true. But this is a very resort area. So I didn’t see too much bamboo chicken at all.

4 (21m 49s):
You got to try the local food. Did you

7 (21m 51s):
Try it when you

4 (21m 53s):
No, because we were on a cruise. It was so short. They took us out to do the tubing. Then we got back, but we did see a bamboo chicken fall from the canopy of the trees right into the river. We were tubing down, almost crashed into somebody and then swam away. But unfortunately we had no time to try it, but that’s a whole nother story. I want to get back to your guys’ trip here. But point being no bamboo chicken for you, ladies and food as a whole was pretty

7 (22m 18s):
Monday. That was on the menu.

2 (22m 21s):
The only thing really memorable where the panty droppers and the peanut coladas, that’s pretty much everything that I drank.

7 (22m 27s):
The one place that had coffee because we found one coffee place and it was expensive.

2 (22m 34s):
Yeah. I mean, you don’t really need much else when you’re living on a tropical resort. So Nicole and I were like in the water, on the beach and the water on the beach. And at one point I was on the beach and I look out and I see Nicole talking to a very good looking gentlemen in the water. Ooh,

7 (22m 49s):
Ooh. Yes. I was. This was before the Mexican wedding.

2 (22m 54s):
Thank you for clear.

7 (22m 55s):
When I was out in the water and I don’t remember why he started talking to, I think he just came over, start talking cause he spoke really good English and it turned out that he was from Mexico city. So he was asking what we were doing there and he was traveling and he became our friend and his name was Arturo.

2 (23m 12s):
Yes. And so I remember Nicole comes back to the beach and she’s like, oh, I met this really hot guy and he’s from Mexico city. So I see him. And then when he leaves, he goes, audio’s Nicole. And so I didn’t really know him yet at this point. So I’m excited for Nicole, right? Like I’m so I’m a great wing woman. I am a great wing woman. So later we’re not eating, but having drinks, I guess

4 (23m 39s):
The important

2 (23m 39s):
Stuff on front street,

4 (23m 43s):
Back street, front street

2 (23m 45s):
Street. Cause we were right there in front of the water also where the water taxi drops you off. And we realized that, oh my gosh, our Turo is at a table at the restaurant next to us. But it’s like a fence. So it’s not like this open aired view. Right. So Nicole realizes that Arturo is fair and I’m just like, oh my gosh, Nicole, it’d be really weird if I went over and invited him to have a drink with us. Cause I haven’t actually spoken with him. Right. It was an adios, Nicole, not Nicole Zayna. So I’m just like, oh go, go, go ask him to get a drink with us. And she’s like, oh I can’t. She was nervous.

7 (24m 19s):
Yeah, no I chickened out. But later that same night, cause this is a small island. So

3 (24m 23s):
I was going to ask, do you see the same people on the island? If you’re there multiple days, you see all the same people over and yeah.

2 (24m 30s):
So Ky ended up getting up and leaving after his drink. And when he passed us, he said, hello to Nicole again. So I’m ready to like go talk to him and wing. But he doesn’t know me at this point. So later that evening when we were trying to find someplace to eat because nothing was popping out at us and we were walking along front street there, the water, we see our Turo sitting with other people and he says, hello, and this is our in. And finally I got to meet the Arturo.

7 (24m 58s):
Yeah. So we had dinner with him that night. And we mentioned to him that the next day he told us he was going to go on a snorkeling trip. And we were like, oh no, we’re going to go to San Pedro, which is on the next island over to go bike riding. So we invited him. But he said no, because he was going on the snorkel trip. So we were like, okay, that’s fine.

4 (25m 15s):
Not too good of a wing. Woman’s in it. Cause if you could snorkel, then you guys could’ve gone.

7 (25m 20s):
I could’ve changed plans,

2 (25m 22s):
Dropped the ball on that one. But

4 (25m 24s):
Tell us a little bit about San Pedro then in the bike riding.

2 (25m 26s):
So that was the end of day two. So now the next day, day three, we went out to San Pedro and we’re sitting there on the water taxi. It’s about 10 Belizian dollars, one way to San Pedro or 1750 round trip. And we’re sitting there, sitting there, sitting there. Next thing we know our Turo is running as fast as he can to the water taxi to catch us. So you know what? I was a good woman.

4 (25m 53s):
He

3 (25m 53s):
Canceled a snorkeling trip to come with you guys.

7 (25m 55s):
It got canceled because whether it was, He didn’t cancel it for us. I believe he was scuba diving actually. And it was a private trip, so he didn’t want to cancel it. But then he comes running after us because it got canceled because of weather. He’s like, can I come with you guys to set whole bike riding? And he said, yeah, sure. So the three of us went to San Pedro, which is the next island over. It’s actually the biggest island in the case. And that was where we rented bikes. There was like a little downtown that did have shops and restaurants. And it was a little more developed that

4 (26m 24s):
Island.

2 (26m 25s):
Yeah. But we’re going to get to that.

4 (26m 27s):
I’m just curious off the bat. And then for the bike being, how much was the rentals? I know what you said. It was for the round trip on the boat, but how much to rent the bikes?

2 (26m 34s):
Well, the bikes were about 10 to $15 depending on where you get it and that’s for the day.

7 (26m 39s):
Yes. We rented it for the whole.

3 (26m 40s):
I have a question. So you said it’s the biggest island in the case, but you kind of made it seem like it had just a few shops was how big was it?

7 (26m 48s):
Well, San Pedro is not that big. I believe the, the residential area is further up north on the island. So this was the Southern most tip, which is closest to Caye Caulker. Yeah. So that’s why we went there.

2 (26m 59s):
Yeah. Caye Caulker is south of San Pedro. So when you’re taking the water taxi, you’re getting to the Southern island and that’s why Nicole sane residential’s north.

7 (27m 7s):
Okay. Yeah. Cause San Pedro is not the name of the island name is K

2 (27m 11s):
Amber, Amber

7 (27m 11s):
East. And so San Pedro is a city for the south. So that’s why we decided to go there. Cause we can take a water taxi. And we had read that they have a bike path that you can ride bikes. So we got there and it had like a little town with shops, like a little beach town with restaurants. And then we rented the bikes.

2 (27m 29s):
San Pedro is more of a town feel and you see a lot more families versus Caye Caulker is more for solo travelers and backpackers and is more of beach vibes. But yeah, no, we rented a bike and I was super excited about that. So we just pretty much rode gosh for probably like two hours just north. But it’s so big that we barely even scratched surface just riding our bikes

4 (27m 51s):
Relatively flat trails or are you hiking up into okay. So everything obviously their case. So it’s flat. I imagined, but I just didn’t know if there’s maybe some hilly spots

7 (28m 0s):
And there was like, no, it was flat beach or running along the coast the whole time, which is pretty, there wasn’t really any place to stop along the way to visit. There was like sub clubs that were closed the daytime.

2 (28m 12s):
Yeah. And poor Arturo on our way back, he ended up falling off.

7 (28m 20s):
He fell off the path, remember

2 (28m 23s):
Guy, he was bleeding so bad too. And so we were like, oh my gosh, are you okay? Like blood is just stripping down. No, no, no, I’m fine.

7 (28m 31s):
He was trying to play it. Cool. But he was like blood everywhere. So, and there was no, we finally found it was like an old club restaurant or a club restaurant that was closed, but they let him use the bathroom together.

2 (28m 40s):
Yeah. You would’ve loved it, Kim. Cause you can go to the rooftop. And so it was kind of like this rooftop bar feel, but you’re pretty much looking at nothing but open, empty land.

7 (28m 49s):
And it had a little store where we bought cookies and I guess a snack cause we were hungry by then.

2 (28m 54s):
Exactly. Yeah. So we just rode our bike back to San Pedro. We didn’t feel like we needed that much time. Of course we were hungry. So we did go eat and we’ll talk about that. But in terms of San Pedro, I mean, there really wasn’t too much that we felt like we could do other than ride the bikes. And then we went back to Caye Caulker, but we did eat, we were super, super, super hungry. And we went to an El Salvadorian restaurant and I never realized how delicious El Salvadorian food is. And I’ve never really found a restaurant, an El Salvadorian restaurant since then. And we have

3 (29m 27s):
One in Miami and I thought the same thing, the food is so good,

7 (29m 31s):
But way better than police.

2 (29m 33s):
It was so, so, so, so good. We had pupusas From an El Salvadorian restaurant. Oh my goodness.

7 (29m 41s):
Yeah. Super yummy.

4 (29m 42s):
How much are those pupusas out there? And again, I know it’s been awhile, but approximation cheap food, cheap eats I’m imagining. Yes,

7 (29m 50s):
It was cheap.

2 (29m 52s):
Yeah. Say it less than five Belizian dollars.

4 (29m 55s):
It

2 (29m 55s):
Really was. It really was.

7 (29m 57s):
So that was pretty much everything there was to do on the island.

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7 (31m 6s):
So the next day, a day four, we left Caye Caulker and we went back to Belize city to catch a bus to San Ignacio,

1 (31m 15s):
Whereas San Ignacio.

2 (31m 16s):
Okay. So good question. So beliefs is on the Eastern side of central America. So beliefs city is there on the Caribbean and San Ignacio is all the way super close to the border of Guatemala. On the west side,

7 (31m 32s):
It’s deep in the jungle

4 (31m 34s):
Getting into the jungle. And how long did it take you to get there from Belize city to San Ignacio?

2 (31m 41s):
It was about two hours and 30 minutes. And so in Billy city they do have a Balise terminal, commonly known as no Vellows bus is one of the main ways that they use to get around the country. And they usually have a bus leaving every 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the schedule, depending on where you’re going. And these are converted school buses that are painted green. They’re not comfortable. They don’t have AC and they are not built for luggage. So in these pictures of Nicole and I, you will see our luggage was on our laps because there’s no place to store the luggage. But it was, I think like $5, one way for that two and a half hour bus ride all the way into the jungle of San Ignacio.

4 (32m 23s):
Sounds like a fun way to rough it though.

2 (32m 25s):
You know, you see the pictures, you see the luggage on our laps, you see the sweat beating down our faces. It was a great time.

7 (32m 31s):
It’s definitely a backpacker’s trips. So if you’re going to travel this way, bring a backpack

4 (32m 35s):
Once you’re. And once you’re in Balise city though, I know you said they have the bus terminal hub, figuring out the bus system. There is relatively easy. It’s pretty much telling you, Hey, we’re going here or there. And it’s simple to figure out and that’s the best way to get around the country. Then

2 (32m 51s):
Everything is posted online, but we didn’t have internet. So just ask once you’re there, that’s what we did. And they just directed us to the bus that we wanted

7 (32m 59s):
Sending us. He was a popular tourist spot because from there you can go to several my yin ruins. So there’s lots of routes and there’s usually a lot of other foreigners or travelers on the bus. Also

2 (33m 9s):
The one thing about beliefs is you are in former Mayan land. So you see ruins practically on every corner. Like it’s just so crazy. How many ruins are there? You are driving through their native area. That’s cool. Yeah,

7 (33m 24s):
That’s really cool. Yeah. And that was the reason we went to setting mouse here because we wanted to see specific ruins that were almost along the border of Guatemala, very close to T call, which is in Guatemala. But these ruins are on the Belizian side and it is a famous Mayan temple.

2 (33m 39s):
Hm. So we dropped our stuff off at our hostel there in San Ignacio. Now San Ignacio itself is kind of like a hub to stay at. There’s nothing really there. It’s more of you catch buses to go to different places around the area. So we stayed there and then we jumped on a bus there to go to Xunantunich, which is the Mayan ruins that Nicole mentioned.

7 (34m 2s):
And you can also book tours from setting nastier. You can take tourists into D call or you can go to these Mayan ruins soon to niche or other areas that are close by, but we did it the old fashioned way on the bus.

4 (34m 14s):
And so these Mayan ruins, what did they look like? Are they temples? Are they old cities? How in depth can you explore? And could you climb them? Do you go into them? What do you do there

2 (34m 22s):
Actually, you know, real quickly before you get there, the bus drops you off on the side of a street and you have to cross a river to get there. So they have a car trans if you have a car, it’s basically a bridge that moves from one side of the river to the other side of the river. So you park your car and it moves you. We obviously did not have a car. So we just got on the bridge and it moves you to the other side. And then Nicole and I walked to the remainder of the way. I think we walked maybe about a mile to a mile and a half to actually get there. So it is a little bit of a walk, but we were very adventurous and eager to see it. Xunantunich it means sculpture of a lady Zunon means noble lady to niche is stone for sculpture.

2 (35m 5s):
And these are huge, impressive ruins.

7 (35m 9s):
One of the periods of main one has a whole strip of really well-preserved Mayan carvings. That is really, really beautiful. So the, the pyramid in it in itself is big. It’s really tall and well-preserved, and they have little pyramids all around it, but the main pyramid has this really beautiful carving that’s well-preserved.

2 (35m 31s):
And then on a clear day from the top, you could see to call, which are the ruins in Guatemala to the west.

4 (35m 40s):
And was it a clear day for you guys? We

2 (35m 42s):
Did not see it

4 (35m 43s):
Unfortunately. And how much is the entrance to these temples and ruins?

2 (35m 47s):
It’s 10 Belizian dollars for entrance into the Xunantunich ruins.

3 (35m 51s):
And when you go to the pyramids and the ruins, how long did you spend?

7 (35m 55s):
Okay. A couple of hours, a few hours. Cause it’s one main pyramid,

2 (35m 59s):
But there’s a lot around it. Like after you go up to the top of the pyramid, there’s still a lot to explore because it’s just, I mean, it was a former city for them, right? So you can just like walk around, but it’s the pyramid itself that’s been preserved and what remains and what’s was funny was that at the very top, Nicole and I were taking very safe selfies because it’s such a beautiful view and it is guarded by their army. And the army guys were taking selfies of theirselves with these huge ass guns around their necks at the top of the pyramid. And we’re like, shouldn’t they be guarding this? But now, I mean, they were just having just as much fun taking selfies of themselves.

7 (36m 42s):
And they were just really beautiful, beautiful ruins because they were in the middle of the jungle. It was a really green and lush. And then you see these pyramids rising out of the jungle. It was really beautiful.

4 (36m 51s):
So maybe an unfair question, but I’m going to ask it anyway to you. Nicole, being that you live in Mexico. I know you’ve seen a lot of Aztec ruins, potentially Mayan ruins just as well. How would you rate to what you see in Mexico versus what you saw here in Belize in terms of ruins?

7 (37m 7s):
So the ones in Mexico that I’ve seen are bigger, like they’re huge, huge pyramids. This one was smaller. It was big, but it was smaller than the ones in Mexico, but it’s in the middle of the jungle. So it’s greener when the ones around Mexico city are drier. So the jungle atmosphere with the pyramid is really spectacular to see. And there’s a lookout point on the other side, across from the main temple where you can see the whole explanation that with, with the main pyramid. That

2 (37m 32s):
Sounds really good.

4 (37m 33s):
Cool. I’ve never seen ruins in the jungle. That sounds really intriguing to me the way you described

7 (37m 38s):
It, that area is really beautiful.

2 (37m 39s):
Yeah. You know, it’s, it’s almost like I never actually made that connection, but you’re, so right now that you mentioned that because everything was green around us, like everything,

4 (37m 48s):
Was there anything else in San Ignacio in these ruins that you did or that’s really it for the day?

2 (37m 53s):
That was pretty much it because we took the bus back to San Ignacio and then they’re sent, Ignacio has pretty much like one street that you can walk along. And there’s a lot of people selling tours. And so as we were walking, we see, you know, this very, very nice guy calling us over. And he told us about the ATM Mayan cave tour, ATM meaning act, tune Tunichil Muknal cave. And Nicole and I were like, ah, do we really want to do it? And he was telling us it’s 150 Belizian dollars. And I remember thinking it’s kind of expensive.

4 (38m 29s):
Yeah. 75 us, especially if everything else has been so cheap, I mean, not feels like you’re getting stuck at real hard to ya. I

2 (38m 36s):
Knew that I was going to have to go to the ATM to take out even more money. And so I knew that the trip that tomorrow is going to, or not tomorrow, but like day five is going to be the last day there and then day six, we’re going to be going back to Mexico. So I’m like, do I really want to take more money out? So I’m actually really, really, really glad that we said, yes. Do you want to say anything about that?

7 (38m 57s):
So this wasn’t planned. We had an extra day in setting now. So you, and I think we thought we were going to take longer to visit the pyramid where we actually saw it the same day that we got in because we were going to get in and then go the next day to see tuna and to niche. But we had time still. So we would just went that same day. So we did it all in one day and then we had a whole free day the next day. So what, that was one of the reasons why we decided to take this tour, but I was really attracted to the tour because they had photos of skeletal remains inside the cave. So that was something you saw on the tour.

1 (39m 28s):
Ooh. Like they were going to do sacrificial ceremony. It

7 (39m 30s):
Was, it was a sacrificial site for the Mayan people. So the bones of the people who had been sacrificed were still well-preserved inside the cave. Wow.

4 (39m 42s):
So when you say skeletal remains, I mean, are we just saying, we’re finding bones in there and obviously not that people are going there and just picking them up and playing with them or are they really bones that are calcified now into the stone? And like within the stone almost like fossils.

7 (39m 57s):
Yeah. They’re calcified into the stones. That’s why they’re so well preserved. So there was one, that’s the main one that’s complete skeleton and there was lots of heads and arms and bow. Thank God. Yeah.

2 (40m 7s):
So that’s what you see on the pictures for all of that. And like Nicole said, it was unplanned. I didn’t even know that this existed, but Nicole and I were like, okay, well, what else are we going to do? So let’s go ahead and do this. And again, I’m so, so glad that we did it. And this leads us into day five for the ATM Mayan cave tour.

7 (40m 27s):
And this tour did take a whole day. We left at 7:00 AM and we didn’t get back till four or 5:00 PM. It’s about an hour and a half to get to the entrance. And then from the entrance, you have to hike over an hour to get to the cave. And then once you’re in the cave, you spend about three to three and a half hours inside the cave on the tour. And then they feed you lunch. It did include a meal and then another hour hike back and then an hour drive back to sending NASCIO

4 (40m 52s):
Sounds like a long day. It wasn’t worth it.

2 (40m 54s):
Yeah, absolutely. So why you cannot go without a tour. So make sure that you book a tour and absolutely. I mean like, this is one of the coolest things that I’ve ever done traveling. Like it’s so crazy because like Nicole said, it’s an hour hike to get there and you have to cross the river three times. Like it’s, it’s just, it’s so crazy. So first off you should know that you will be going into the cave. You will be swimming in the cave. You need to know how to swim. And I remember asking the tour guide, have you ever taken people who don’t know how to swim? And he said, we say over and over, you have to know how to swim. You have to know how to swim. And you’d be surprised at how many people who do not know how to swim, take the tour. And I’m like, how is it? He said it is a disaster.

2 (41m 36s):
Yeah. I mean, I can’t even like, like, wait until we get into the cave because I’m like, I cannot believe people who do not know how to swim, do this tour.

4 (41m 43s):
If I went on this tour and somebody didn’t know how to swim and slowed us back and prevented me from seeing stuff, I would be so fricking pissed.

2 (41m 52s):
I mean, I just want to say, like, if you do not know how to swim, do not do this tour.

4 (41m 56s):
So if you have to know how to swim, should I just say, should you even bring a change of clothes or the clothes you wear should you should just expect to be getting wet and get in the water this way?

2 (42m 5s):
Pretty much. Okay. So you are, this is very, this is a very sacred cave. The acts that were done there and the preservation of it. And so out of respect, they will not let you wear just your bathing suit in there. So we did have our baby in suits on, but you have to keep your clothes on top of it to remain respectful. You also have to wear socks. You will not be allowed in without socks because you will be climbing the cave and they do not want your oil from your feet to, you know, affect

7 (42m 37s):
The minerals that are growing inside

2 (42m 38s):
Exactly ass. So you have to wear shoes and you have to wear socks and you have to wear clothes over that. So the trail starts you on the hike to the cave, but because the trail ends, this is why you have to cross the river and then your cross you’re walking on the other side and then it ends. And then you cross the river and then you’re walking and the trail ends and the new cross, the river for the third time, the water is not warm. You are in a jungle for freezing. It is for freezing. It is waste deep. They described the tour as moderate and fairly agile. And there were two kids with us and I’m just like, oh my goodness.

2 (43m 20s):
Like those kids were wonderful, but like, it was, it’s intense just getting to the case.

4 (43m 24s):
So when you say you’re crossing the river the three times and getting to the cave, have to hike, you’re literally hiking through the jungle. So it’s lush green. Is it humid out there in terms of the weather outside? And then the water is just cold or give me a sense of the environment of what you’re tracking through before you get to the cave.

2 (43m 42s):
Lots of greenery. I wouldn’t say there’s too much humidity, but it is decent weather. And the water itself is very cold. So like, I remember when I first stepped foot in it, it’s kind of like,

12 (43m 58s):
It’s cold.

7 (43m 59s):
Just expect to get wet and you can bring a change of clothes and leave it in the car for when you go back. And there was lots of mosquitoes I remember.

2 (44m 6s):
Yeah. And you know, even our core guide was you are in the jungle. Our tour guide was saying that, you know, sometimes when it is right. Cause they were open 365 days a year and there are times where it’s raining and it’s almost like the flash floods. So he has said that they’ve had to wait it out before. I can’t even imagine doing that.

7 (44m 24s):
You can’t get in and out of the cave if the water’s too high. Yeah.

4 (44m 26s):
Yeah.

2 (44m 27s):
So when you see the trail end, like, you know that it’s time to cross the river because legit you’re on a trail. And then all of a sudden you’re in the, like it’s the jungle and you just see that there’s no trail. There’s no way to go through because there’s so much shrubbery and trees.

4 (44m 41s):
Very nice. Well, tell me about inside the cave now.

7 (44m 43s):
Well, in order to get into the cave, the entrance is kind of narrow entrance and you jump into the water. It’s about ways deep at first, it’s really cold and you can walk, but eventually it gets so deep. You have to swim. So there’s kind of this tunnel and you swim through it and the guide was in front. So when we got finally out of the tunnel, they help you out of the water, but that’s why you have to swim because otherwise there’s no way to get into the cave.

2 (45m 7s):
Yeah. I mean like it’s deep water once you get in and you do where, because you are in caves, there’s no light or electricity. So they give you one of those hats with the lights, headlamp. Yes. A headlamp. You can not get that wet. They’re very clear about that. So in our group, there was a guy named Andy. He was from South Korea and he was so funny because he never had any expression on his face and he was hardcore like an adventurer. So he jumped into the water first and then our tour guide was like, who wants to go next? And I was like, I’m going to go next. So I jumped in the water and I screamed because the water is so cold. I could barely breathe.

2 (45m 48s):
Like it was just that cold. And I started to scream

13 (45m 51s):
And you lied

2 (45m 53s):
To us. You love

13 (45m 55s):
It’s so cold. You didn’t even make

2 (45m 58s):
Expression or say how cold it was. Like, it was so cold. I could barely breathe. It was like, oh my God. So then you swim through. And I’m just thinking to myself, I believe that I’m an excellent swimmer. I don’t understand how someone can do this tour without swimming. Like you have to swim across.

7 (46m 17s):
Yes. And then once you get in the cave, out of the water, you do the tour, mostly walking around the cave, but you do have to get back in the water in certain points to cross over to other sides. And that’s where they take you around to the different sites where there had been sacrifices and you could see different human bones and you can also see artifacts that were left and found in the cave.

2 (46m 38s):
And so once you actually get to that area, they have you take your shoes off and then you actually climb huge ass boulders to get there

7 (46m 47s):
On your hands and knees and something that’s important to know is that you can’t take pictures or bring cameras or GoPros. Because back in 2003, someone was leaning over one of the skeletal remains with their camera, taking a picture and he dropped it and it broke the skull. Oh

2 (47m 2s):
Really?

4 (47m 3s):
Yes. Somebody always has to ruin it for everybody. Don’t they?

2 (47m 6s):
Yeah. So no GoPros. They’re very clear about that. Like there’s no pictures from that day for us, because like, you cannot take a camera.

4 (47m 13s):
Let me tell you something. If I was that guy who dropped the camera, I would be scared the rest of my life I’m cursed somehow in some way, no one has that feeling. And that was the first thought to come to mind other than fuck. He ruined it for everybody.

7 (47m 26s):
What was the, I don’t know how he was taking the picture that he was so close, that it dropped on

4 (47m 30s):
The tour company should follow up and see if he’s still alive.

7 (47m 34s):
That would be interesting because there’s no pictures. We have no pictures of this cave, even though it was so cool.

2 (47m 39s):
Yeah. And you know, the, they talk about, you know, like the word sacrifice sounds maybe almost negative, but you have to understand in those times it was an honor to be sacrificed. So you do have people who were volunteering to do that because it was such an honor to be given to the gods.

7 (47m 57s):
Yeah. It doesn’t necessarily mean they were forced to be human sacrifices, but it was a really interesting cultural experience to see how they use this cave for their religious expression.

2 (48m 7s):
So I think we went about three kilometers in, and then finally, we come three kilometers out water is still very, very cold, but you start to adapt to it and you are sliding through several rocks. At some point you do take a life jacket. So you have that on. But there were just like a few points where it’s like, you’re sliding through and you’re just like, oh my gosh, this is so narrow. And you go through and at one point the water was going so hardcore between the rocks that you had to slide through that I lost my shoe and Andy was ahead of us. And I was like, Andy, my shoe, my shoe, my shoe. And so he saved my shoe for me,

4 (48m 41s):
Saved the day he

2 (48m 42s):
Did, because it was going so fast. And like, it just like I lost my shoe and the tour guide had to keep telling Andy to slow down because he was so adventurous and he was trying to lose the

4 (48m 52s):
Green, like the rugged one.

7 (48m 54s):
I don’t think he talked at all. He didn’t really talk anything.

4 (48m 57s):
They’re soaking it all up.

2 (48m 59s):
I, you know why he really was dude, he was like a hardcore adventurer who saved my shoe and didn’t let us know how cold the water.

4 (49m 6s):
So I think I remember you one time telling me that they came up with a rule that you can’t use the restroom in there obviously, no one’s going to go in there and straight a I imagine, but I mean, you’re in the water. Let’s not kid ourselves. I think everyone here can admit that we peed in a pool peat in the ocean. So did they not tell you that you have to hold it the whole time? Because it is sacred in there?

2 (49m 29s):
You know, I don’t remember whether or not they talk to us about that, but I just know for myself, I was so afraid. Like it’s so sacred that I was afraid to pee. Like I was afraid that, you know, I don’t want anything coming at me

4 (49m 41s):
And the idiot who broke the skull.

2 (49m 43s):
Yeah. It’s so disrespectful. And so I didn’t, and then Nicole told me that she didn’t pee in there because

7 (49m 50s):
Well, the water is so cold. And when you’re going on this tour, you’re like in a row with people in front of you and behind you, I figured they’d fill the warm water.

4 (49m 58s):
I knew there was a reason. I forgot what it was. I didn’t know if they told you, but now that you both have said that it’s jogged my memory as to why it makes a whole lot of sense.

7 (50m 6s):
So do we just wait until we were out of the tour to go to the bathroom?

2 (50m 9s):
Yeah. We just went behind the bushes as soon as you get up

7 (50m 11s):
And you might want to do that before you go in. If you have to peel up

4 (50m 14s):
Total time in the cave,

7 (50m 16s):
Three and a half hours inside the cave.

2 (50m 19s):
Cause cause you’re going three kilometers in and then you’re climbing the boulders and then you’re going around and it’s not just like one spot they’re you around in like an organized low

7 (50m 30s):
To see all the spots as well, where there are remains or artifacts it’s throughout the whole cave. So you’ll have to go further, further, further back.

2 (50m 38s):
And then you climb down the rock too. And you know what, like I know that they said that it’s moderate and agile, but I would say that this is kind of for someone advanced. I’m so glad I did it. And I wouldn’t say that it was necessarily hard, but it is challenging. And if you’re not athletic, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. It was a lot of work. I

7 (50m 57s):
Wouldn’t bring small kids either.

4 (50m 59s):
So the Zen of today could not do it at her attainment.

2 (51m 4s):
Oh, I would still dominate. I would still dominate, but

4 (51m 8s):
Kim might be past her prime over here. We know all about Kim now at

3 (51m 11s):
31 here.

4 (51m 13s):
I don’t know. Once you hit 30, I’ve seen you kind of like athletic ability to go down a little bit. Kim.

2 (51m 18s):
I just think that this would be such a fun squad trip. And again, like the uniqueness of it, just how cold the water was. The funny stories from it. What a great experience.

4 (51m 28s):
Let me say something. I’m going to say something here. Real bold. Billy’s opens back up to Americans is first on the list.

2 (51m 34s):
Let’s do it. Yes,

4 (51m 35s):
Let’s

2 (51m 35s):
Do it.

7 (51m 36s):
And don’t miss either of these two spots. The last two days they were definitely the highlights.

2 (51m 40s):
Yeah. Yeah. Seriously. It really was because you can go to the beach anywhere, but like, to be able to do this experience was just out of this world. So that’s really, that’s pretty much everything that we did and we were going to stay another day, but we realized that actually, you know what, there’s not too much to do. So we decided that early the next day we would just take a bus back to Bali city and then catch a bus into check them all Mexico.

1 (52m 4s):
So I have a question. What happened to Arturo? I

7 (52m 6s):
Was wondering the same thing. We forgot about Arturo.

2 (52m 9s):
Or we hung out with him in Caye Caulker. And then we tried to connect in Mexico city, but he wasn’t free on the night that we were free. And then we didn’t feel like going out the night that he asked us out

7 (52m 22s):
And then we never heard from him again.

4 (52m 25s):
He said, Kai, did I?

2 (52m 26s):
Oh, okay. Cocker. Yeah.

7 (52m 27s):
Yeah. He stayed longer on the island. Cause he was going to do scuba diving. We left and we exchanged numbers because we were all in Mexico city. And we said, when you come back, we’ll hang out and yeah. Never happened

4 (52m 37s):
Kind of fizzled out. Yeah.

7 (52m 39s):
Damn

2 (52m 40s):
Fizzled out.

4 (52m 41s):
Did you ladies have any final thoughts or things you wanted to say before? We get to questions of the week?

2 (52m 47s):
I, you know what? The lease was a really, really great time. Like just, it was such a fun trip.

7 (52m 52s):
I would definitely recommend it. I would say maybe you could take some time to visit some of the other K islands. If you had a little more time than we did. I definitely recommend what we didn’t set Ignacio and the caves. And if you’re a scuba diver, this is a great place to go. Scuba diving.

3 (53m 5s):
And you think just four days is good amount of time. If that’s all you have, you can see it, do it.

7 (53m 11s):
You could do it in four days, the beach and the jungle. That’s basically the two main areas. If you want to see more beach, more jungle or even go into watermelon CT call, which is also recommended, then I would stay a week.

3 (53m 22s):
Nice.

1 (53m 23s):
And we’re all going to have to go back and call. You’re gonna have to come with us and go scuba

7 (53m 26s):
Diving. Yes. I’ll go back and see that part that I didn’t see before.

4 (53m 29s):
I’ll get scuba certified just to go scooping with unicorn

7 (53m 33s):
Because I also didn’t want to go by myself, which is

4 (53m 35s):
Yeah, we can’t trust Zane on this funny. We don’t, she, she let you down once already. She’s not going to do it again. I can’t

3 (53m 41s):
Believe you guys didn’t at least go circling.

7 (53m 43s):
Yeah. I don’t remember why we didn’t do snorkeling at the end either. I think the really good views or the really cool things to see is a scuba diving. Not so much on the shore.

4 (53m 53s):
All right. It’s that time questions of the

3 (53m 56s):
Week questions of the week. All right. So I have a question that I like to ask guests, and this is one that we’ve discussed at length as a Travel Squad. But my question for you, Nicole, is do you think it’s okay to take their plain blanket?

7 (54m 24s):
You know, I’ve never taken the airplane blanket because I find them kind of gross and not very warm. So I usually use them and then I leave in there, but I don’t think there’s a problem with taking

3 (54m 33s):
It. No problems.

7 (54m 36s):
I don’t think it’s a crime.

4 (54m 38s):
You know, I thought you were going to have a specific Billy’s question, Kim. Good question. But kind of let me down. So I’m going to get to a belief specifically.

2 (54m 45s):
I just want to say I liked that question. It was hella funny because I wasn’t expecting it. And it made me laugh because you know, Nicole is staying at my place as she’s here in San Diego. And at one point I remember laughing to myself because I have three blankets sitting there on my couch and the top one is the one from air China and

7 (55m 2s):
I was using It’s a good place. So I just had bad blood could experience.

2 (55m 8s):
It’s the blue one that you’re using in my bedroom on top of the comforter.

7 (55m 12s):
I don’t know. I would take that one. The one that I’ve used are like super thin and small. And I was like, I would not want this blanket.

2 (55m 18s):
Oh, there you have it. Air China gives the best airplane.

4 (55m 23s):
So my question, I know you ladies, didn’t go for specific reasons, not throwing Zana under the bus, but Zane is the reason why you guys didn’t go to the blue hole. Do you know how much it would cost to get out there on a tour and from Bali city, how long it would take to get out there if anybody wanted to do it, or you guys didn’t do any of that research. Cause you just knew you weren’t going asking out of curiosity. If you don’t know the answer, you don’t know the answer.

7 (55m 44s):
Scuba diving trips were more expensive. I believe they’re usually it’s minimum 50. This will, and this was several years ago. It might be more now for two tanks or two dives. So I remember I would didn’t want to pay and I didn’t want to do it by myself and leaving it behind the blue hole. I don’t remember how far you could probably do a day trip from Bali city. If you didn’t want to go stay on one of the islands

2 (56m 6s):
About the blue hole. Remember is that when you’re scuba diving and certified there’s different levels and the level that Nicole was at, cause I think you will you’re one

7 (56m 16s):
Level one, not an advanced diver.

2 (56m 17s):
Yeah. Arturo was. And so he was going to do some of the more advanced ones, but like, if you just, your beginner’s scuba certification, you wouldn’t have been able to do the blue hall like that. I

7 (56m 28s):
Think it made me nervous too to do it.

2 (56m 30s):
Yeah. That’s I’m advanced level. Right.

4 (56m 32s):
All right. So if people aren’t scuba certified, maybe they have tours that you can snorkel at least on top and look down maybe or something to that. Yeah.

7 (56m 40s):
There’s lots of snorkel. And if you just want to do a fun dive would usually you don’t have to be certified. You could do that where you just don’t go as deep

4 (56m 47s):
In. Very nice.

3 (56m 49s):
All right. That’s it for this week’s episode. Thank you so much for tuning in everybody. Keep the adventures going with us. Follow us on Instagram. Subscribe on YouTube at Travel Squad Podcast, tag us in the ventures. You’re going on and send us in your questions of the week.

2 (57m 3s):
And if he found the information in this episode to be useful, or if you thought we were just playing funny, please make sure to share it with a friend that would enjoy it too.

4 (57m 10s):
Please subscribe, rate, and review our podcast and tune in every travel Tuesday for new episodes,

1 (57m 16s):
Stay tuned for next week’s episode, we have some more amazing adventures and tips in store for you.

4 (57m 22s):
Thanks

3 (57m 22s):
So much for being on this episode and

7 (57m 24s):
For having me it’s so

3 (57m 25s):
Fun. My guys, I got.