Your journey takes you north-west up the Southern Highway, before turning off for the graded road through San Antonio and on towards the Guatemalan border. Pueblo Viejo, which is largely Mopan Maya, was founded by people who returned to the area from San Luis, Peten, in Guatemala, bringing a deer mask, clothing, a statue, and a marimba with them!

Whilst the village has undergone several changes in recent years with a school, health services, a police station, and all-weather roads, Pueblo Viejo remains a traditional Mayan village at heart. The villagers’ main occupations are farming, raising livestock, hunting and fishing.

Your guide will take you on a hike through secondary growth rainforest and across crystal clear streams to reach a most remote and beautiful spot where the river tumbles over an eighty foot drop before running through a deep limestone gorge.

You can scramble through caves in the cliff side or take a refreshing dip in the deep pool at the foot of the falls, and then continue through some of the best preserved forest in southern Belize. Here a rich variety of ferns, heliconia and shade loving palms such as the broom, ‘give and take’, and bay leaf palm flourish under the tall canopy provided by giant forest trees reaching above 100 feet (33 meters). There are unexplored caves to visit along the way before heading back for a picnic lunch and a soothing water massage in the cascading lower falls close to Pueblo Viejo village. We leave Pueblo as the sun moves behind the hills, heading homeward through the villages of San Antonio and Mafredi, and back to the Southern Highway for the return journey to Punta Gorda.