My wife Marilou and I wanted to do the Xunantunich Mayan Ruin tour, zipling, and river cave tubing all in one day while in Belize, without being rushed. We also wanted more of a private type tour, instead of being with a big group. I also wanted to pay in cash, and was told that wasn't going to be a problem, and it wasn't. David, our boat captain, and his son, picked us up at our dock at the Grand Caribe promptly at 6:15 AM, as Donald told us they would and took us to the San Pedro Airport and got us checked in for our flight. We flew to Belize City Municipal airport where we were met immediately by Donald. From there Donald drove us approximately 65 miles across the country to the Xunantunich ruin, which was an incredible sight. On the drive over, Donald told us all about Belize, the history, topography, and other little tidbits about areas we passed thru. He kept things very interesting for us, and seemed genuinely happy to be giving us the tour. We spent roughly an hour with our guide at the site, taking lots of pictures and hearing the history of the Mayans who inhabited the sight more than 400 years BC. Then it was to the jungle for river cave tubing, an zipling....We did the ziplining first, and Marilou, who is afraid of heights, was expectedly a little apprehensive. But after doing the first leg of seven ziplines, she incredibly lost all her fears. We ate a very tasty lunch with Donald , and then from there it was a mild hike to begin the river cave tubing. Donald accompanied us to the cave opening, and on the way gave us a thorough lesson on all the flora and fauna of the Belize jungle, which in itself was quite interesting. As we drifted slowly down the cooling, pristine river thru the cave, Donald again gave us a thorough history of the Mayan cultural beliefs/use of these caves. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day for us, made more so by Donald's enthusiasm and desire to make sure we got everything we could out of the adventure. We finished a little earlier than expected, since it was just the three of us, so Donald was able to get us on an earlier flight back to San Pedro so we would have plenty of time to make our dinner reservations. The whole experience was absolutely fantastic, so much so, that the next time we visit Belize (in the very near future) we will probably do it all again with some of the other ruins in the country. I must say that from the moment we met Donald at the airport, until the moment he gave us our boarding passes and said goodbye, he put us as so much ease, we felt like we had know him all our lives. We made several new friends in Belize, but Donald stands out in our memory well above the rest. We would highly recommend you contact him if you have a Mayan ruin, zipling, or river cave tubing experience planned as part of you Belize vacation.
