Belize Breeze
"Cave tour guide Esmeralda shows tourists the underground rivers of Belize, but when adventure journalist Ryan follows her into the darkness, they discover light in each other."
The caves were ancient. Sacred. Dark in ways that tested the brave.
Esmeralda moved through them like she'd been born underground, thick body navigating passages that seemed impossible.
"Keep up," she called to Ryan. "The river waits for no one."
"I'm more interested in following you than the river."
"Then yuh priorities are right."
Underground rivers, crystal formations, Mayan artifacts preserved for millennia. Ryan photographed everything.
Especially Esmeralda.
"Yuh camera loves mi," she observed.
"My eyes love you more. The camera's just documentation."
"Smooth." She waded deeper into the water. "But can yuh swim?"
"For you? I'd learn."
The secret chamber she showed him wasn't on any tour. Private. Perfect.
"This is mi place," she said. "Mi ancestor's place. Mi show no one."
"Why me?"
"Because yuh see the sacred. Not just the story."
She kissed him in the dark, and the darkness became warmth.
"Yes! Ryan! Right there!"
Against ancient stone, in waters that had flowed for ages, they added their own history.
"Don't stop! We part of this place now!"
His article on Belize caves won awards. But the real story stayed unwritten.
"Come back," she texted. "The caves miss yuh."
"Just the caves?"
"Yuh know what mi mean."
Ryan's travel writing now focuses on Central America.
Esmeralda still guides.
But the best tours are just for him.
In darkness, they found light.
Belize breeze.
Cooling eternal heat.