Belize



Mayan face at Lamanai 

Howler Monkey

High Temple Yaxha

Hector (guide) in front of Stella

Jesus Christ bird with wings spread

Yaxha

Tiger Heron

Day 12 Explore Yaxha ruins/Overland to Belize City

After breakfast today, we traveled to Yaxha, believed to be the third-largest Mayan site in Guatemala. Yaxha is an active site in various stages of discovery.  What is unique about it is that most of the site is not uncovered.  It is “raw”.  We felt like archaeologists in the sense that we saw mounds that we knew there was a city under the dirt—yet to be uncovered.

 Yaxha was a bustling Mayan trade and ceremonial hub located about 20 miles from Tikal, one of the greatest centers of Mayan culture. It is now within the largest protected area in Guatemala, the “Maya Biosphere,” which includes Tikal National Park and a series of smaller national parks and protected areas. More than 1,500 years ago, Mayan priest-kings built scores of pyramids just tall enough to poke above the jungle here and reach the cooling breezes of the lake. They also carved stone monuments, constructed handball courts, and laid out the streets of their city in a grid pattern.

 We climbed around and walked for about an hour.  Bob’s pedometer registered about 5 miles.  The roads into the site reminded us of our jeep rides in Africa.  Very bumpy.  We had lunch and then continued our overland journey, crossing the border between Guatemala and Belize.   At the border we picked up our “mandatory” tour guide, who rode with us to Belize City.  Along the way he gave us all the history of the area.  He was very knowledgeable—and when we got to Belize (2-1/2 hours later) the tour guide had to take a bus back to his border town. 

On arrival in Belize City, we check into the Belize Biltmore Plaza Hotel (a Best Western Hotel).  Tomorrow is the 30 year anniversary of the independence of  Belize, and there is a lot of preparation for tomorrow’s celebration.  We had local fish for dinner (Bob had pork chops) followed by a wonderful cheese cake.  Diets, here we come in two days.  The mosquitos are about an inch long.  We are glad that we only have one more day in this hot, sticky, mosquito-infested place.  Think that Belize is going to be our least favorite country.  We will see tomorrow.

Day 13 Explore Lamanai ruins

This morning, we explored the ruins of Lamanai (a Maya word meaning “submerged crocodile”), named for the abundance of crocodiles that make the adjacent New River Lagoon their home.  Nestled amid thick jungle vegetation alive with exotic birds and howler monkeys, Lamanai is accessible only by boat, and boasts the second-largest Pre-Classic structure in he Maya world—its magnificent High Temple. The site also features the 13-foot Mask Temple, a stone temple mask of a Maya king.

 The Maya lived at Lamanai for more than 3,000 years, and the ruins here are some of the oldest in Belize, dating to 700 B.C. Excavation of the site began in the 1970s, and thus far less than 5 percent of the structures here have been unearthed. Excavation of the ruins continues to this day.

We boarded our van and took the one-hour ride to the boat launch where we met our guide Nathaniel.  He was half-Mayan, and he talked like a person from Jamaica—using the Belize type of broken English.  As we cruise up the New River toward Lamanai this morning, we take in sights of tropical trees gracefully overhanging the water, delicate orchids, colorful birds winging through virgin forest, and freshwater crocodiles lazing on the riverbanks.  Nathaniel  stopped to point out some of the birds—one in particular was the tiger heron—a couple of baby birds that are about to fly.  We then spent the morning exploring this fascinating site, including its on-site museum, which hosts an extensive collection of artifacts used both for worship and daily life.

This is the last Mayan site for us.  We attempted to climb up the high temple—but the steps were so narrow, that we decided half way up to come back down—a wise decision for us.  It was very hot—but no rain, so we had nothing to complain about.  It was really too hot for mosquitoes.  We had a lunch at the site, and then returned by boat to the launch and then by van to the hotel.  We spent sometime in the pool at the hotel to cool off—but even the pool was not refreshing. 

We gathered afterwards with all our new friends beside the pool, and Hector did a slide show presentation of our past two weeks.  It was a really fun time, with a beverage of rum and Sprite.  We then went to a restaurant in town for our farewell dinner.  After tomorrow, we return back to the US, and will probably never see most of our new friends again.  It was a great time, and we will miss Central America and the great people who live here.