Wednesday (April 16) Belize!

‘Hope you have an unBelizeable day!’ said the crewman of the tender as we stepped onto the pier.  Today we find ourselves exploring Belize on a day tour to the Mayan ruins known as Altun Ha.

The northernmost Central American nation, Belize (formerly known as British Honduras)  hugs the eastern coast with Guatemala, its neighbour to the south and west; and Mexico to the north.  It is the only nation in Central America where English is the official language, but both English and Spanish are taught to children in schools.

Belize was once home to the ancient Mayas.  One of the earliest known Mayan cities dates to 2000 BC and at the height of the Mayan Empire, their populations rose to as many as two million.  Belize is home to hundreds of ruins, some that can be visited on organized tours, some that are covered in the tangle of jungle.  This pre-Columbian civilization somehow developed staggeringly advanced systems of astronomy, mathematics, construction and culture.  They were the only known peoples in the Americas to have a written language and though they built an advanced road system and had the whell, they used the latter only for toys. 

We boarded a bus with three guides who gave us plenty of information about Belize City as we did a quick city tour then set out on a 1h 45min drive to the ruins of Altun Ha.  (The last turn off indicated 14miles to the ruins, took 45mins due to the bad condition of the road!)  They have been excavated carefully and yielded much information about the way the Mayan village was set out and their cultural activities.  The highlight for us was being able to climb to the top of one of the temples and look out at the view.  It was an extremely hot day!

Can you see the people on top of the temple?  We're climbing it!

View from the top

View of the whole village from the top

At the bottom - there was a group of boys, one holding this animal and another holding a baby croc.  

'$US1 for a picture, ma'am.'  His friend took 5 pictures - held his finger on the button.

Then he wanted $US5.  I gave them $1 each and left.

Another 1h 45min drive found us back at the pier.   Plenty of shops and a few places to eat.  We boarded the tender having found nowhere to use wifi.  In the restaurant that evening, we shared a table with three other couples from the USA who all had hilarious stories of their adventures that day and gleaned some valuable advice about places to visit once back in the US.