On Belize - there are Mayan Temples.. and we just HAD to see them!!
After our Snorkeling day - we got up at 4:30 and headed to San Pedro. In the early morning there are maybe 2 restaurants open - where all the workers go to eat... so we jumped in.
Fresh corn tortillas and all sorts of yummy breakfasts - then we headed to the Water Taxi. Of course, The tour would be on the Main land.
Our Water Taxi stopped at Caye Caulker, and a lot of kids in uniforms got on. One girl told us, she goes to High School on the Mainland - so every day she has to take the water taxi in ( 1 hour ride) and back home. Their schools are not Government funded, they are paid for out of their income. I am told that only the wealthy can send their kids to school on the mainland.
We arrived at Belize City and were picked up - and we headed out!
First Stop : AltunHa Mayan Temples
it was Jungly and Rain Foresty. Our tour guide told us that a lot of this land is open because things just don't grow there and it is marshy or floods seasonally.
He also told us that they discovered AltunHa by accident. they were creating new roads and came across these hills, in flat county. so they started excavating and found the first temple. Road construction stopped - and digging began.
This is a pretty cool site - so far they have excavated a lot and identified over 500 mounds.
This is kind of what they found - the mounds just came out of flat ground ( or flat ish)
When they started excavating - the things they found!!
There are a lot of history sites on it. But Our guide was half Mayan, so he told us a lot of what he had learned as a kid, and lore from his family. It was really cool!
This one ( above ) is called A1:
A tomb was discovered under the temple floor with Jade Objects in it - they dated it to about 550 AD.
you could climb up to the top of it - so you know we did!
It is like Two plazas - they called this one Plaza A - and the Structures lined up perfectly - East and West. So they could follow the sun - rising and setting.
This was behind the Structure we were on
My New Friend (above)
This was also behind A 1 - they were very symmetrical folks - so if you found this on one side, there was another exactly opposite of it.
This is the Temple in Plaza 2
Our guide told us the the High Priest would go to the top of it to give his speeches - to the right ( or left if he was standing on top) was the Houses of the Elite. The Elite were the protectors of the high priest, and to the left -was the admin buildings.
The commoners would live outside of these structures.
But!! if you got on the top and talked normal - your voice really carried and you could hear down at the bottom!
This view 👇 Is from Plaza 2 ( the structure above) looking out at Plaza 1! ( yes we climbed BOTh!!!)
My son went to the Very Edge and I think my husband had a heart episode. He got a little pale watching him go so close
This is us up on the Top of Plaza 2 - Behind the Kid is the leftovers of where the elite would have lived, and behind K ( to the right) is the Admin buildings.
There is also a little museum. and of course, when you leave the site - there are people selling things. Lots of things, but the one that caught our eye - a lady made fresh fried plantains - like big old chips - so we had to try them
They include hot sauce - but blech - the plantains were great by themselves.
next.... We drove further into the jungle for lunch and another adventure.... which will be in another blog post!!!
Check out Day THREE on the Dust off a Book Blog Hop too!
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