Belize City - Lamanai Ruins

I stayed three nights at the Seaside Guest House in Belize city. The staff was super friendly and they have an amazing cook. The first night we had conch and lobster. While I was there I met Jacob, from Arkansas, who was on his way further south to the Honduras and Guatemala. We went out later for a drink at a Chinese restaurant (there are a lot of them in BC) and met a rhyming tour/history guide by the name of Prince Charles Perez. For a few dollars, he will tell you as much history as you are up for and if you pass his test, you get deputized as a Junior Ambassador of Belize. Anyhow, it was an early night because I was planning to take a tour the the Mayan Lamanai ruins the next day.
Lamanai was the site of the longest unbroken occupation of the Mayans in the world, from at least 1500 BC to the 17th or 18th century AD, when they were decimated by smallpox. There are about 700 structures at the site and only a few have been fully excavated since Canada's Royal Ontario Museum began large-scale digging in 1974.
The ruins are located on the banks of the New River Lagoon. To get there, I took an hour and a half ride to a town called Orange Walk, and then another hour and a half river trip to the site.

On our way out of the city.



Enrique from Mexico.



Desi and Moni, sisters from L.A.









At one point we stopped to feed a couple of spider monkeys who came on the boat to take our bananas. It was awesome, I have never been so close to a wild monkey.



We changed boats and joined a larger group. See the colorful cups? That's for the rum punch. They offered three kinds: "strong, panty-ripper, and see you tomorrow."



Can you spot the iguana?



Insect bats, I wish I could carry one around with me. I think I must taste like fried chicken to mosquitoes.



The New River Lagoon.









The Jaguar Temple












The remnants of the Elite Residential Complex.



Stela 9, erected in AD 625, to commemorate the ascension of Lord Smoking Shell.






The longest palm fronds in the world, some up to 50 feet in length.



The smallest ball court in the Mayan world. A ceremonial vessel containing liquid mercury was found beneath the ball court marker.


















At the top, the highest point of Lamanai, 125 ft above the jungle canopy. That's the New River Lagoon behind me.



You could see nothing but jungle for miles.



One last look at Structure N10-43.



The Mask Temple.



We walked through several mounds that are ruins that have yet to be excavated. Excavating the entire site will take many decades and massive amounts of funding.



Howler monkeys sound like zombies and your can hear their calls from up to 2 miles away. When we were at the top of the temple it felt like we were in some grind house movie, about to make our last stand. Haha, turns out they are not so intimidating and very cute :).



Now that the Zombie Apocalypse is over, we can have some punch.



Desi shows off her rainmaker.






The trip was so much fun! Later that night, I met up with Desi and Moni and we had dinner at a nice restaurant called the Smoking Mermaid. I made plans with Jacob to see the Belize Zoo the next day.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad