Bobby, Jack, & Rich

Rich and his sons Jack and Bobby arrived here late in the afternoon after a day spent touring ATM from Pook’s Hill. We were immediately concerned because Jack and Rich jumped out of their car, and then Rich opened the door for 9-year old Bobby – who it turned out had spent part of the previous evening and that day being sick to his stomach. He obviously wasn’t feeling too good, but Rich told us that he’d been a trooper and had done the whole ATM tour. He was even sick in the cave, but managed to vomit into a bag. If you haven’t done the ATM tour, this may not sound like much, but Tom and I were immediately impressed with the kid because ATM is a physically challenging tour, especially for a 9-year old, and for him to have done it while not feeling well took an incredible amount of will and stamina. We got the three of them into their room, and got Bobby settled in the hammock on the porch with a bottle of Sprite and some Pedialyte and instructions to drink as much as possible. Rich and Jack laid low with him for the rest of the evening, and in the morning they took off for Caracol. Bobby had been sick once more in the night, but that day he looked 100% better, and was bright eyed and smiling, and managed to do the whole tour, even climbing to the top of Ca’ana.

That night all three of them were able to join us, as well as Alison and Kris, for dinner, and we had a very enjoyable and social meal.

We were all impressed with Jack’s sculpting talents as he quickly created a crocodile and a salamander which were extremely lifelike. Rich impressed us with his gift of a bottle of wine and some nuts, and we figured he must be psychic since he gifted us with two of our very favorite things. The next morning, we saddled up the horses for them so they could take the Tony Express, along with Ness and Es, on a ride to the Butterfly Ranch before jumping back in the car and heading off to go cave tubing before continuing their trip in Belize.