Forgotten Mr. Cotton

The Toledo district of Belize is known as "the forgotton land." Remnants of a land and people groups before time subsist in these jungles.  I'm told I happened to stumble into the least visited area of Belize.  There are very few roads sprinkled within this area's preserved and protected marine and rain forests.  30 different Mayan villages exist in this part of the land.  I was told to paddle one hour up the Rio Grande, take a left turn at the second opening I saw, pass a few row boats, go 30 minutes more, see dugout canoes and park my kayak.  A Mayan family invited me to a Caldo lunch and the waterways were my road.  The river is calm and I cannot tell between branches and meek crocodiles.  I paddled upstream for 2 1/2 hours until I reached the village.  By the first hour, I wrapped my dress around my head.  I must have looked strange to the three men in a motor boat who asked where I come from, "you are really far out here."  I said "I'm meeting my friend Nick for lunch,"  As if I was passing a neighbor in the states.  The village was an hour much farther then expected.  I was told it would have been shorter by foot, but the river was a pleasant reverse response to modern development in transportation.  The soup was earned and appreciated.  The community was a welcomed addition to the constant sound of water paddle water paddle.  I was to learn how to cook tortillas without burning my hand.  I was to swim into one of the extensive caves running 6 miles through the Mayan mountains.  I was to learn "the secret of the Cottonwood Tree" the most sacred tree of the Mayans.  For in Belize the Cottonwood tree is thankfully holding the world's sky and grounding the world's dirt.  I was to see the Mayan Stones made into a Catholic Church.  And meet Santiago who's mother was a potter. Santiago's heart yearned for antiquities.  He made replicas of remnants of the Mayans from the old.  The Mayans will now be titled "Blissful tellers of fortunes from history."  The ones I met believe that that in 2012 the world will not end, but there will be a shift in Mayan culture.  "Perhaps the old ways of Mayans will be lost forever on the young ones."