Tonight, we have the full story for you from the Bocawina National Park, and Jaguar Reef Resort. Here's how day 1 of the weekend looked when our Daniel Ortiz and camera man Codie Noralez went out to be tourists in Hopkins Village:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
After a 4 hour drive, the outskirts of Hopkins Village, the first item on media's itinerary was a rappelling tour at the Bocawina National Park.

The manager and the employees tell us that the attraction to this destination is the thrill of adventure seeking in the jungles. Surrounded by nature, the Manager tells us that they seek to capitalize on the outdoor events.

Andy Aspinal - GM, Bocawina Rainforest Resort and Adventures
"They come for a little bit of adventure, maybe to get away from the City, enjoy the national park. We offer a 14-station 9-line zip line. We offer rappelling at three locations within our national park. So, we do Antelope Falls, Bocawina Falls, and Big Drop Falls. There's lots of great hiking within the national park. It's well kept by the rangers. So, it's a great place to come and relax. You can swim in the river, and they're an awesome amount of birds here. There are over 200 birds in the national park, if you are a birder, or interested in that kind of thing. The first time I came to Bocawina, I travelled down the road from the highway, and you feel like you're getting into the rainforest. And you come through the national park, the rangers are really inviting, and you get into here, and it's a beautiful, beautiful place, lots of birds, lots of wildlife, and you're right on the trails, hiking on the trails, all the way up to the waterfalls."

Having learned a bit about Bocawina, we were off to our first adventure of the weekend. It was a brief 15 minute hike up to the top of the Bocawina Waterfalls. There, we were provided with the harnesses and safety equipment.

Once properly outfitted, we all made a single file trek up the last few hundred meters. Now, from the ground to the top of the Bocawina Waterfall is 100 feet. It doesn't look that menacing from bottom, but if you are scared of heights, it certainly would be a bit intimidating.

We were given a demonstration of what to do, and what NOT do to make our first ever rappelling attempt as successful as possible. Our guide showed us what it should look like. Even with years of experience, his climb down demonstrated that even veterans fall, and that it's nothing to be embarrassed about.

I signed up to be first down the waterfall, an adrenaline fueled pretense at courage. All the while I was trying not the think of all the horrible things that I suspected could go wrong. The first few meters were a breeze. Following the instruction of leaning back, keeping my legs spread a part and feeding myself rope to climb down, it felt easy.

I was soon lured into a false sense of security, and as shortly after the torrent of rushing water hit my legs, my footing started to give way. Passing the first challenging part of the climb, I placed my feet wrongly and I slipped and fell. I panicked, and as the water rushed into my face, I forgot for a moment that I was hooked up to safety cables.

Determined not to look like a complete failure on camera, I got back up, and kept inching my way down the side of the waterfall.

The next 10 minutes went by in a blur, as I tried my best not to fall on my ____ again. The tour guides gave me a thumbs up, and said it was an excellent first attempt.

I respectfully disagree; that looked - and felt - rather clumsy, but being a good sport, I accepted their kind words.

Next, it was the rest media, and one by one, people lost their footing from one bad step or another. Some journalists, like Michelle Sutherland from the Reporter Press, climbed down like Pros.

Whether they descended flawlessly, or a with number of mis-steps, each journalist eagerly drank in the experience, all except my good friend, Duane. I'm told he had a change of heart the moment he saw me get slapped in the face by the rush of the waterfall.

Some 3 hours later, after our hostess from BTB climbed down as the last person in the group, it was time to leave. Our brief stay at Bocawina was exciting, and the Manager seemed delighted that he and his staff could be our hosts.

Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, what is the general reaction of the guests having gone through and experiencing all the amenities?"

Andy Aspinal
"Well some people can find it a little bit of a challenge. You guys have all experienced the Bocawina Waterfall Rappel. It can be a bit of a challenge, but you all faced really well, and did an excellent job. The Antelope Hike is a little bit challenging, but its two rappels. We have a vertical rappel through the waterfall; that's an awesome hike as well. And the zip line, again, can be really quite adventurous. But, we get very few people who are not up for the challenge."

We had a late start, and so, that was all we could do to for the day. It was time to check in at our hotel for weekend, the Jaguar Reef. Currently, it exists as a merger between 3 separate hotel properties: the Almond Beach Resort and Spa, the Villa Margarita, and the namesake of the Hotel complex, the Jaguar Reef Lodge.

Each of the properties were tailored to their specific type of guest, such as the adventure traveller, the vacationer, the romantic getaway for couples, and the high-end luxury accommodations for couples and families.

It's all run by Viva Belize Hotel Group, a hotel and adventure company which owns and manages 5 separate hotel properties in Southern Belize.

Clive Myers - Director, Sales & Marketing, Viva Belize
"We manage 5 resorts in the country. These include Sleeping Giant Rainforest Lodge, Belize 3 Houses at Ian Anderson, and of course, the 3 properties in Hopkins Village. These are Jaguar Reef, Almond Beach Resort, and Villa Margarita. So, what we're trying to do; we're pretty much consolidating the experience for our guests, both local and international. So, when they check in here at Jaguar Reef, being the mother resort, they get a holistic experience across the board. But, each property will have a different team, where Jaguar Reef, if it is known as a family oriented property, Almond Beach will be a more romance/couple oriented, and Villa Margarita will be like a luxury end property. So, our entry level rates are $299 US a night, and it can go up as far as $799 US a night. However, we, throughout the year, offer a series of different discounts to both internal and Belizean travelers. For this year alone, during the months of June to December 20, we're offering Belizeans not just a discount, but we're giving them a special promotional rate of $199 Bz a night, for them to come and experience their country, and experience Hopkins."

And while our hosts want a standardized guest experience, they also offer different categories of luxury accommodations. The General Manager had one of their centerpiece suites prepared just in time for the press to take a look at their super high-end accommodations. He showed us around 2 two other rooms.

Andre Johnston - GM, Viva Belize Southern Resorts
"We actually just finish this room today. The reason why we were pressing for this is because we wanted to show you guys what our next step would be, taking the resort into a whole new idea of bringing more people to us, bringing better quality of business to the resort itself. Welcome to the Orchid Unit. Now, Jaguar Reef, apart from having its cabanas surrounding the main building, we also have 4 suites/condominiums which are perfectly suited for families of 4 to 6 or more. Now, this is one of favorites for a lot of reasons. First, it's on a lower flat. It's right in front of the kiddies pool over here. So, it's pretty easy for families to monitor their kids whenever they're having a little bit of a beach day. So, this is the final room I wanted to show you. There's a reason why I saved this one for the last. This is basically Cabana #3. This is what the predeceasing Jaguar Reef looked like. Now, these ones are pretty nice. They're lush. They're a little comfortable, as you can tell. Each comes with a nice king bed, again with all the amenities. A couple months from now, you guys will be seeing a whole new Jaguar Reef, a little something with a twist. And like I said, we're trying to bring all the rooms, to sort of seemingly look alike. So, that way, we don't have any more confusion in our room types that we're offering."

Daniel Ortiz
"I as a budget minded customer might not be able to afford these luxurious properties."

Clive Myers
"Well, for me, it's where as a Belizean I encourage Belizeans to experience Belize. It's one of the best marketing tool that anyone can use where Belizeans, once they experience their country, they will sell their country. And for us, what we do at Viva Belize, we allow and invite our Belizeans to come and experience everything we have to offer, whether that's just to come and have breakfast, or to come and have lunch, or to come and have dinner, or to spend the night. We are extremely flexible when it comes to our Belizeans calling to check in and see if they can spend a night here. So, whether we have a promotional rate or not, we encourage all Belizeans to give us a call at 822-3851, or send us an email at vacations@vivabelize.com, and we can definitely work out something for you."

Tune in tomorrow for part 2 of our coverage, when we'll show you their visit to Silk Caye, where they went snorkeling with logger head turtles and nurse sharks.