Belize is a beautiful country, just south of Mexico and east of Guatemala, on the Caribbean coast.  It has the 2nd largest Barrier Reef in the world. Belize is a tropical paradise, with monkeys, birds, jaguars, and amazing coral reefs. It boasts hundreds of limestone caves - including the longest in Central America. It is also rich with Mayan archeological sites, nestled in the jungles near rural Mayan communities living much as they did a thousand years ago. The official language of Belize is English.  We will be staying at Cotton Tree Lodge, in beautiful Toledo District of Belize, in private air-conditioned cabanas.  Cotton Tree has over 100-acres of hiking trails available for you, with the Moho River next to the Lodge for kayaking. 

Arrive at Belize City's international airport in the early afternoon (be sure your flight arrives by 3pm), and meet up with our group!  We will take an afternoon flight on Tropic Air (a small plane) to Punta Gorda (PG), the capital of Toledo District in southern Belize.   Arrive in PG, and take a boat ride to Cotton Tree Lodge.  Check into your cabana, walk around the hotel and its tropical flowered paths, take a walk by the river, or rest in your hammock.   Dinner is in the Lodge's open-air dining room around 7:00pm.

After dinner, get to know each other in a 45-min Wesak ceremony to celebrate this auspicious day (the most powerful Full Moon of the year), and to get-to-know your new crystal skull.   This gathering will be at the riverside gazebo. We will use this ceremony to send peace into the world and within ourselves.

It is said that Wesak is that time at the Full Moon of May in which the Christ gathers the entire Spiritual Hierarchy together in meditation to invoke the forces of Shambhalla. The Buddha, representing those forces, appears and blesses humanity.  The ceremony of Wesak is held in the actual Wesak Valley in the Himalayas at the time of the full moon of May, and a vast crowd assembles.  It is said that the Christ and the Buddha conduct the ceremony of Wesak from a rock table at the end of the valley described by Alice Bailey as "...an immense rock, rising out of the floor of the valley like a great table" (in The Unfinished Autobiography). In this beautiful "water ceremony of communion" is portrayed the symbol of the new age which is upon us, the Aquarian Age, the age of the Water Carrier.

This morning, travel to San Pedro Columbia, a village about 45 minutes away from Cotton Tree Lodge, meet Eladio, a Mayan farmer, and participate in a 1/2-day service project planting cacao trees with Sustainable Harvest International (SHI).  Hear an explanation of why cacao is precious to the Maya, and its importance in today’s economy.  SHI is a non-governmental organization (NGO) working to introduce agricultural practices that have lower environmental impact, like organic pesticide-free growing and smokeless stoves for roasting cocoa beans.  We will also be talking to The Moho River Protected Habitat Organization, MoRPHO – a foundation based in New York City and established in partnership with the Mayans of the Toledo District, with the purpose of protecting precious Belizean rainforest and river basins from destruction while fostering sustainable prosperity to the indigenous community.

Afterwards, enjoy a traditional Mayan lunch with Eladio’s family at his farm, learn about the animals spirits that work with him on the farm, taste his various cultivated plant species, and attend a demostration of how chocolate is made from the cacao seed pods.  Evening 1-hour Peace class at Lodge, to prepare for our trip to Lubaantun.     Learn also about the Maya Atlas Project!

Morning trip to the Mayan archeological site, Lubaantun, “The Place of Fallen Stones.”   We will walk the site and see the perfection of these stacked stone pyramids with no mortar.  Learn about the 1924 discovery of the Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull.  We will do a guided meditation to tune-into its wisdom, the location where it was discovered, and its personal message for you. As a group, we will perform a Prayer-Wheel Ceremony to honor all crystal skulls, and to access them with your crystal skull.  This ceremony will include a medicine-wheel layout, with natural objects we collect from the area, and sacred objects you care to bring.  We will sing prayers for peace, and do some toning, as well as drumming. 

After Lubaantun, if re-opened to the public, we will visit “Fallen Stones Butterfly Farm,” and see the beautiful Blue Morpho butterfly in all its life stages.  Return to the Lodge in afternoon, and take time to reflect, journal, and relax.  Late afternoon, take a 45-min. medicinal plant walk at the Lodge with guide Santiago; in evening meet with his brother, a Mayan Shaman, and talk about Mayan cosmology and peace.

We will visit Blue Creek Village, hike into Blue Creek Cave and swim with the source of the river in the cave.  If you choose not to swim into the cave, you can sit and relax beside a beautiful pool at the cave’s entrance.  Bring your crystal skull, and we will do a sacred Five-Element ceremony and meditation at this pool, connecting with Ix Chel (Mayan Goddess of Healing and Medicine), honoring the spirits of the cave, and receiving wisdom from them to store in your crystal skull, and to use on your own peace journey forward.

DESCRIPTION:  We drive inland along a road bordering the Mayan Mountains. As we come into the tiny village of Blue Creek, we leave our vehicle and begin our journey by foot. The cave is a 20-minute hike from the village. Following the river's edge, we make our way further upstream as we begin to recede into the mountain gorge. Either side of the gorge is covered from high above with a blanket of emerald green vegetation cascading down to the blue creek's source.  This is Hokeb Ha Cave. From here the true adventure begins. As we swim into the cave’s opening, through a pool of emerald blue cool water, we soon come into darkness. We have entered into the underworld of the Maya. The Maya name for this cave is "Hokeb Ha" or "Where the water enters the earth". We light our lanterns and the magic of this place begins to appear.  Stalactites and stalagmites lead us from one chamber to the next as we explore this seldom visited world. Archeologists have found many Late Classic ceramics and an altar inside the cave, leading them to theorize that the Hokeb Ha cave was used specifically for ceremonial purposes. The calm water at the main entrance is perfect for us to take a leisurely swim. An unforgettable experience! After we exit the cave we'll relax and enjoy a picnic lunch. Before heading back to the lodge, we will walk back to the village and we'll stop and see some local Maya selling crafts.

At Blue Creek Village, we will dialogue with Mayan elders about peace and their way of life.  Be prepared to learn, and to make wonderful connections!

FREE DAY!  Your trip price includes access to kayaks and horses at Cotton Tree Lodge – choose to spend time in the river, or riding/hiking over the 100-acres of jungle trails. Check with the desk for daily tours.  Or lay in your hammock and read and relax!  OPTIONAL tour for $50 per person is a snorkeling day trip out to Snake Caye, a beautiful, small, uninhabited island, about 45 minutes by boat.  Enjoy the reef fishes and coral, sandy beaches and shady palm trees.  Have lunch, and return in the afternoon to the Lodge.  After dinner, attend our Peace wrap-up class, with a campfire and local storyteller.