Belize Adventures: So, What did you do after church today?

With the use of modern technology we are blessed with being able to spend some time in our home church in Lexington, Tennessee via Skype. See, there is much good that can be done with all those gadgets and gizmos out there. It was an exceptional service and Dennis and I got to sit in our room and enjoy seeing friends and family live at church. Our little Keira is getting so big!

As is tradition for many church goers we always ask the question, "Where are you going for lunch after church?" So, I asked and the first reply wasn't our favorite restaurant so Carol said they would go to Las Portales instead just to make me happy. Service came to an end and there Dennis and I sat wanting to go somewhere. Of course there is no place near by to go for lunch but we wanted to go for a drive anyway.

So we started on our Sunday adventure. First we wanted to show you guys how the river looked this morning. This was one of the reasons we couldn't make it to our church in Spanish Lookout.

This is the way to Fountain of Life Church in Spanish Lookout. If you
can read the billboard it even says so.

Not really able to get to the other side. Unfortunately, the village
is over there also. May not have school tomorrow.

Since there was no Mcdonalds, Grecian, or Los Portales to hang out at we decided to continue down the road in search of Barton Creek Cave. We had seen the sign for it and knew that it was about seven miles off the Western Highway.

Right after you turn off the highway in Unitedville there is no more pavement. And that is how the entire trip was. After awhile I looked over to Dennis, "Aren't we getting close yet?" He just laughed, "We've only gone three miles!" Oh my gosh, I have never been on a road like this one. I was sure we were going to get stuck out in the middle of the jungle somewhere. It was even worse than normal because of the constant rain over the last four days. We drove on and on rattling my teeth and shaking the Bronco so hard I thought the tire was going to fall off the back. Eventually, we see a glimmer of hope, a sign....

Yes, this was a sign that we were at least on the right road.

Finally, after some fearful moments (for me at least) we were forced to stop because apparently, Barton Creek was now Barton River and no one was crossing it today. There is no bridge.

Barton Creek/River is on the left. The road is supposed to cross it just up ahead.

Dennis was wanting to know if I wanted to go first.

No, I don't think so.

Bronco looks good in the jungle.

Even though we didn't make it to Barton Creek Cave, we decided to try again another day and we should try to get back out. Up to this point we had passed a few Mennonite people walking home from church with bibles in hand. That made me feel more comfortable about being way out here. As we turned a corner though, we had what could only be called a "Bigfoot Sighting." Only our Bigfoot was slightly shorter, holding an umbrella.

No, it is not Bigfoot or the Chubracabra.

This was actually our new friend, Esmir Cowo. He was hoping to get a ride back to the main road. So, trusting that God is looking out for us, we said of course. As it turns out Esmir is a great guy. Only 25 years old and has been a guide here in Belize often and is currently farming. He spoke of his country in such a positive way that he was inspiring. He loves Belize and farming. He is actually Mayan and his family live on the other side of Belmopan in Armenia Village. He had just finished working as a tree topper for a local man and was very glad to be done. It is very dangerous he told us. He said it would have been easier to top the trees with a machete but the man wanted him to use a chain saw. As we were bouncing along Esmir showed me his art journal. He was very good. You could see his love for the jungle in his art. Dennis and I were very impressed. We enjoyed his company all the way back to the bus stop just down the road from us. We got his email address and told him where we lived if he ever needed anything.