Cave tubing, Xunantunich ruins, please forgive my dumb questions but ....

[countrycruzr]

Please forgive my dumb questions but I've read everything on cave tubing and Xunantunich and can't find what I need.

 

Most people on here say the walk in the forest for tubing is pretty flat. If there are inclines, about how many feet do they continue sloping up and what is the degree of slope? I know this is weird, but I get winded on 20 degree slopes?, not really sure I suck at geometry, and after about 200 feet I'm gasping for air and have to rest for about a minute. I'm fine on flat terrain and rough uneven terrain. Were there a lot of people that had to take it slower on the walk or do the guides just go fast no matter what? From what I have gathered from these boards, Yhony seems to go pretty fast and Xtreme seems to go slower. How about the cruise tours? I would want to pick the tour that walks the slowest. I'm not concerned about navigating the river as I'm an experienced kayaker and know how to judge current and paddle and such. For some reason, I don't get winded on the water. I know this seems like I'm being anal, but I just want to make sure I don't end up holding up a tour because I can't do the walk fast enough and have to stop every 2 seconds.

 

I really want to do Xunantunich instead of the cave tubing, but from the few threads on here, is sounds like there is a very steep hill from the bus to the start of the ruins that lasts for anywhere from 10 minutes to a mile long. Has anyone done this with the cruise lines, and if so, about how steep is the slope and about how many feet is the walk? If it is a mile up a steep hill it'd take me a year! I find it really odd that even though the cave tubing says it's strenuous, the X ruins are only listed as moderate. Seems like that hill could be a real problem for those who are out of shape, while the tubing walk is pretty much flat.

 

One more thing, I posted earlier, and someone told me to post on the Belize forum but I thought that was where I was posting. I went to ports, Belize and start new thread. I've also seen this happen to others. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks for any and all advise!

[Tarheelbelle]

I have not been to Xunatunich, but I did the cave tubing with X-stream last November. The walk from the car park to the river is really pretty flat. The steepest slope was the bank you must descend to the river!!

As far as the speed of the walk with X-stream, I can say that we had 4 in our group with one guide. I am a hiker and the guide and I were walking faster than the other 3 who were sort of strolling and chatting. At times, the guide would stop to allow the others to catch up, and to tell us some interesting info about the caves or the jungle.

By the way, I wore Teva water sandals and found them to be quite comfortable for both the walk and the tubing. Some who wore swimshoes found them too thin to be comfortable on the walk.

[countrycruzr]

Thanks Tarheelebelle! Sounds like they are willing to wait for the slower ones. Of course, I guess they wouldn't have much of a choice. I just want to make sure, that if I do this, I don't ruin someone else's trip because they have to stop and wait for me two thousand times.