Waterfall skinny dipping and other slick adventures


12/16/16

San Ignacio, Belize.

106.6 kilometers ridden.

Woke up and got in a quick bit of relaxing before it was time to start getting ready to ride. Ed, Aaron, and I would be heading out to Big Rock Falls and 1000 Foot Falls on the bikes. I got most of the prep done and found out that Aaron had already eaten breakfast so I walked around to the bar and restaurant combo we had been drinking at the night before. I got an omelet with bacon, cheese and veggies and a side of "toast bread". The toast bread was more like fry bread and was very good.

I went back to the hotel and Ed had arrived. We finished prepping the bikes but Ed and Aaron then want to go for a few things so we ended up at a smoothie shop where the guys grabbed wraps and I had a smoothie. Service took the usual forever I have come to expect in Belize but the smoothie was good. We went and geared up before setting off from the hotel Tropicool.

The ride out was spectacular and full of both twisty canyon type passes on good pavement and lots and lots of gnarly two track and logging roads. We stopped for a bit so I could set up some ride-byes on the DSLR on Tripod. It took a bunch of time but I really hope it ends up being usable for later. The majority of the remaining ride out to Big Rock Falls was spent in the rain and on some incredibly slick mud. Ed was riding with his feet out like out riggers more often than not. I had a great time playing aggressively on the bike as I did camera work with the gopro and helmet cam.

We made it to Big Rock Falls and I took my bike down the small trail to where there were a number of horses tied up. I parked the bike and took some photos while waiting on Ed and Aaron. 

Decided to get a little artsy with my editing on this one

We hiked down the canyon to the river, passing the hikers who had come in on the horses as they came up, and finding the rock pools to be totally devoid of any people. A few moments after arriving Ed set the tone by stripping down naked and taking photos by the falls. Aaron was the first into the lower rock pools to swim with me splitting the difference as the second to get naked and the second into the water for swimming. We swam in the lower pools for a while before deciding to work our way up to the upper pools and eventually the falls themselves.


I shot a ton of gopro footage climbing on, jumping off of, and just generally the falls themselves. After what was likely an hour or so we called it and headed back to our stuff where Aaron had posted up sunbathing. Just as I was headed back I saw Aaron motion to me because other people had just arrived. I squatted down and pulled my towel to wrap myself in. It was a bit of a chuckle to walk by the two guys and two girls as they went up to the falls and I went back to my clothes.

We made the hike up the steep canyon wall assisted by the placed rocks and wooden steps just barely more than a foot wide and likely only 9 inches or so deep. The steps were weathered and studded with crushed metal bottle caps nailed in place for traction. We each got our bikes loaded and made for 1000 Foot Falls.
 
The ride was good fun and I got to push myself and the bike a good bit by setting up camera shots with the fender mounted GoPro and my helmet camera.

1000 Foot Falls was not nearly as impressive as I hoped for and was actually a 1600 foot set of falls blocked by lots of trees. We tried to get the most out of the trip though and all took photos and chatted a bit.
 
The ride back put us into darkness and with Ed's exhaust having sheared off at the cylinder we were trying to take it easy and keep the bumps to a minimum. I had a bit of a close call as I made a right hand turn through the really good section of blacktop and an oncoming truck was taking his bit out of not just the middle, but most of my lane too. It gave me a bit of a scare.

We got back and decided to go for dinner at a different curry spot. It was the same place I had taken breakfast as well as our watering hole the night before. I chose poorly and had the tandoori chicken which was dry and basically shit.

The presentation was nice at least
After dinner we joined by a few of Christine's friends. I had actually spent a large portion of the night talking with Cat. When everyone got up to leave I opted to stay behind a bit and finish talking to Cat. When I finished talking to Cat and went to find everyone I had no luck. I went into all the shit clubs and bars in the area but just couldn't find them. I went back to the hotel and just used the Wi-Fi for a bit and messaged them to say I was calling it a night. I stayed up to do a bit of writing and called it a night.

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