Bol’s Museum Cave – A Mind Blow 3 times in 1.5 hours

Caribbean Spice owner and friend/hostess for my week in ‘da bush’ introduced me to Bol, her neighbor.  Libby had described her house as “the suburbs of Caracol”, meaning when Caracol was the main city, the folks her lived on her land were suburbanites.  All over this part of Belize you will find mayan bits and bobs – shards, pottery bits, arrow heads.  So, I was super excited when he told me he had a Mayan cave on his property.  He offered tours, and we set a time of Wednesday around 10 am.

After helping pack up a shipment of Caribbean Spice destined for The Greenhouse in San Pedro, I began my 1/2 mile-ish walk to “Bol’s “Museum Cave” as it’s called.  It’s a short walk up the hill (my back is to the hill in this shot) from The Junction.

I saw this sign for a room for rent, and I couldn’t help but think “this is why people should hire me” – imagine if you found this ‘rustic’ place on the internet!  You can see the place for rent in the upper portion of the photo.  I had to giggle.

This is the base of Bol’s Museum Cave property.  I walked up the side of the hill/mountain and Bol was sitting waiting for me.  We sat a while and he told me of his vision for the place.

This will be a small shop with basic things like bread and beer.  A place for tourists to stop, and for locals to shop for staples.  The other small building will be a guest room where someone could stay.  We sat here a while, and he shared with me his vision for the property, and pointed out where the various fruit trees were planted.

We chatted a while and then made our way up the hill to his house.  It was also his base of operation, with two small basic bedrooms off to the left.  There is no running water or electricity, and only a butane stove.  As he gathered the supplies for the hike and spelunking, it struck me – no electricity.  I asked Bol, “Did you do all this by hand? There isn’t any electricity”.  And so began my day of getting my mind blown.

Yes, the entire place was built by hand.  Each board sawed with a hand saw, having been cut from the property and turned into boards with a chainsaw. He then showed me the hand drill.  I thought and said “oh, like a battery drill”, “No”, he said, “Like this”.  Now, i didnt take a pictures, but I wish I had.  I found this one on the internet.

It explained why the door hinges were nailed in, and not screwed, and it absolutely explained why someone would be content with a very simple house.  As I looked around the house, I noticed the details in the angles that had been cut, and what amount of labor it would have taken to build this house.

He asked me I wanted to see the orchid garden, and of course I said yes.  We ascended a very steep hill, and I was instantly regretful that I hadn’t packed a pair of sneakers….but then again, I had no idea I’d be up to such things.  I tried to take a picture, but the pitch of the hill doesnt show up, but trust me, they call them hills – I call these small mountains. It was a pleasure to get moving after so many months of rain, so I was not complaining.  We reached very near the top, and I turned around and saw this:

 

Then he pointed out the 21 varieties of orchids that were growing on his property.  He was gathering them from various areas of the grounds to create a garden.  He had several black orchids, the national flower of Belize.  Apparently they bloom year round, and really are absolutely lovely.  The thing is, the flower is about the size of my pinky finger nail.  They are itty bitty, and just gorgeous.

This is another type of orchid that was in bloom, and this sucker was huge.  He was about 3 feet tall.

I had a little further to go to the top.

Once I reached the top, for some reason I didn’t look ahead, I looked behind and wanted to take one last look from the top, as I’d been just a few feet lower when I took the picture you saw before of the incredible valley and mountains (hills) behind us.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  And then, I turned around.  I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to explain what I felt the second I turned around and saw this.

I can say that I literally felt like I’d been physically knocked in the chest and I stepped back two steps.  It was so beautiful, it knocked me off balance – literally.  After I caught myself, I took a few steps forward and I teared up.  Hell, I’m tearing up thinking about it as I write this – it was so beautiful.  I looked at Bol, after I took the panoramic picture and I said “I dont know why I bother – no matter how good a photo, sometimes no camera can capture it as good as it really is”.

 

I played with the camera a bit trying to capture it, and I just couldn’t.  But here are my attempts.  

Bol pointed out various landmarks of the area, such as San Ignacio Town, the very top of Xunantunich’s El Castillo.  He told me that people could come and camp in this circle at the top of this incredible piece of land, and pointed out the fire pit.   There is a reason I called my company “Romantic Travel Belize” – and this is one of those reasons.   There are few things on earth as romantic as this would be on a perfect starlit night.  Breathtaking.

So, that was “mind blown” twice in the span of an hour or so.

We gathered our things, and began to walk down the other side of the steep hill (mountain) we just climbed.  What lies ahead, is “Mind Blown” number 3 of the day, and I was only 1.5 half into this adventure!

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