If you can pull yourself away from the beaches and bars for a day you might want to take an excursion up the peninsula because there are some beautiful sights to see on the mainland. We took a horseback riding and waterfall excursion one day with a Canadian couple and a guide who had spent half his life living in California but had returned home to Belize a few years ago. We took a short van ride inland (maybe 45 minutes) to a private ranch owned by relatives of the tour operator. They provided a Guatemalan (I think he was Guatemalan, not positive) ranch hand to match us with horses and set us in our saddles.
Whenever I see horses abroad I’m struck by how much smaller they are than the behemoths we see here in the States. These Belizean horses were beautiful but puny in comparison to our super-sized American horses. I think people underestimate my weight because I’m short and I assume that’s what happened on this particular excursion. I got a small horse; lovely but small.
She started out strong but the last mile or so was a battle. I felt like the quintessential fat American asshole. Nothing will fat shame you like a horse’s deep brown eyes imploring you to get the hell off her. You know exactly what she’s thinking: ‘hey jerk, instead of using your legs to kick me in the flanks why don’t you use them to walk on your own, you lazy sack of shit.’ So I was too big for the horse but inexplicably too short for the saddle; the stirrups were in the smallest notch but I was on tippy toes trying to reach them. Well, at least we were both uncomfortable- the horse and I. The setting more than makes up for it though. Lush jungle, open savannah, and caves! How cool would it be to have a legitimate cave on you property?
After the horseback riding we headed to lunch at a roadside restaurant on the Hummingbird Highway. We stopped for some essentials (Belkins and ice) on the drive from the restaurant to our next destination- more private property, this time it was in the mountains behind a banana and citrus farm. With cooler in tow we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon at a really nice waterfall and natural pool.
The water was fresh, crisp, and clean.
There was a natural stone slide that was bumpy, fast fun.
This was an enjoyable way to spend a day and I’d recommend it to others; unfortunately I can’t remember the name of the tour operator we used. Wap wap, blogger fail.
Addendum: Phil knew the tour operator! He had even reviewed them on Trip Advisor. It was Shane from Pirates Point Adventure. Here’s the link: shorturl.at/sKV25 That’s why we’re a good team- Phil’s all about the details.
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